DEPARTMENT STORES (LES GRANDS MAGASINS)
Place de la Madeleine to Place de l’Opéra
Map: Place de la Madeleine Shopping Walk
Sèvres-Babylone to St. Sulpice
Map: Sèvres-Babylone to St. Sulpice Walk
Map: Puces St. Ouen Flea Market
Traffic-Free Shopping and Café Streets
Shopping in chic Paris is altogether tempting—even reluctant shoppers can find good reasons to indulge. Wandering among elegant boutiques provides a break from the heavy halls of the Louvre and, if you approach it right, a little cultural enlightenment.
If you need just souvenirs, visit a souvenir shop. A neighborhood supermarket is a good place to find that Parisian box of tea, jam, or cookies—perfect for tucking into your suitcase at the last minute. For more elaborate purchases, large department stores provide painless one-stop shopping in classy surroundings. Neighborhood boutiques offer the greatest reward at the highest risk. Clerks and prices can be intimidating, but the selection is more original and the experience is purely Parisian. If you leave your shopping for Sunday, when most stores are buttoned up tight, head for one of the department stores or snappy boutiques listed below.
Even if you don’t intend to buy anything, budget some time for window shopping, or, as the French call it, faire du lèche-vitrines (“window licking”).
Before you enter a Parisian store, remember the following points:
• In small stores, always say, “Bonjour, Madame/Monsieur” when entering. And remember to say, “Au revoir, bonne journée, Madame/Monsieur” when leaving.
• The customer is not always right. In fact, figure the clerk is doing you a favor by waiting on you.
• Except in department stores, it’s not normal for the customer to handle clothing. Ask first before you pick up an item: “Je peux?” (zhuh puh), meaning, “Can I?”
• By law the price of items in a window display must be visible. It’s often written on a slip of paper set on the floor or framed on the wall and gives a good indication of the shop’s general price range.
• For clothing size comparisons between the US and France, see the appendix.
• Forget returns (and don’t count on exchanges).
• Observe French shoppers. Then imitate.
• Don’t feel obliged to buy. If a shopkeeper offers assistance, just say, “Je regarde, merci.”
• Saturday afternoons are très busy. Some small stores may not open until 14:00 on Mondays.
• Shops are generally closed on Sunday. Exceptions include the department stores listed in this chapter, the Carrousel du Louvre (underground shopping mall at the Louvre with a Printemps department store), and some shops near Sèvres-Babylone. You’ll also find shops open along the Champs-Elysées, in the Marais, and at the Les 4 Temps shopping center at La Défense.
• For information on VAT refunds and customs regulations, see here.
Avoid souvenir carts in front of famous monuments, and instead look for souvenir shops. You can find cheaper gifts around the Pompidou Center, on the streets of Montmartre, and in some department stores. Those green riverfront stalls near Notre-Dame sell a variety of used books, old posters and postcards, magazines, refrigerator magnets, and other tourist paraphernalia in the most romantic setting. You’ll find better deals at the souvenir shops that line Rue d’Arcole between Notre-Dame and Hôtel de Ville and on Rue de Rivoli, across from the Louvre. The cheapest souvenirs you’ll see are sold by vendeurs à la sauvette (vendors on the fly), usually recent immigrants from Africa who find public spaces to roll out a tarp (illegally) that can morph into a handy bag when they need to vacate the premises tout de suite.
Like cafés, department stores were invented here. These popular stores are often crowded and may seem overwhelming at first, but the ones listed here are accustomed to wide-eyed foreign shoppers and should have English-speaking staff. The stores are not just beautiful monuments; they also offer insights into how Parisians live. It’s instructive to see what’s in style, check out Parisians’ current taste in clothes and furniture, and compare the selection with stores back home.
Parisian department stores begin with their showy perfume and purse sections, almost always central on the ground floor and worth a visit to see how much space is devoted to these luxuries. Helpful information desks are usually located at the main entrances near the perfume section (with floor plans in English). Stores generally have affordable restaurants (some with view terraces) and a good selection of fairly priced souvenirs and toys. Opening hours are customarily Monday through Saturday from 10:00 to 19:00 or 20:00. The major stores (like those listed here) are open shorter hours on Sundays, and all are jammed on Saturdays.
You’ll find both Galeries Lafayette and Printemps stores in several neighborhoods. The most convenient and most elegant sit side by side behind the Opéra Garnier, complementing that monument’s similar, classy ambience (Mo: Chaussée d’Antin-La Fayette, Havre-Caumartin, or Opéra). Both stores sprawl over multiple buildings and consume entire city blocks. The selection is huge, crowds can be huger (especially on summer Saturdays), and the prices are considered a tad high.
Galeries Lafayette is a must-see for its colorful ceiling, trad-chic ambience, and city views from the rooftop. To reach the store, circle around either side of the Opéra Garnier to the main building (of three) located right at the Chaussée d’Antin Métro stop, at 40 Boulevard Haussmann (look for “La Coupole” over the entry door). Enter and work your way to the heart of the store, where you can gaze up at the main attraction: a dazzling, stained-glass belle époque dome hovering 150 feet overhead. Ride the escalator up. Cafés on the second and third floor have brilliant dome views. The fifth floor has good children’s toys, and the sixth floor has Paris souvenirs and a good-value cafeteria with views and a salad bar. Finally, ascend to the seventh floor (la terrasse) for a grand, open-air rooftop view of tout Paris, starring the backside of the Opéra Garnier. Fashion shows are open to the public once or twice a week in high season (€18, 30 minutes, usually at 17:00, details at https://haussmann.galerieslafayette.com [URL inactive]).
A block to the west past Galeries Lafayette Hommes (men’s) store (Mo: Havre-Caumartin), Printemps, established in 1865 (30 years before Galeries Lafayette), has an impressive four-dome facade, best viewed from the opposite side of Boulevard Haussmann. The store spans two huge buildings. The one closest to Galeries Lafayette offers a must-see blue glass dome on the sixth floor. The elevator (l’ascenseur) is the easiest way to get there. The second building houses an amazing assortment of eating options on the eighth floor and a panoramic view from its ninth-floor rooftop, which includes an unobstructed view of Montmartre (find the elevators at the west end of the building; the one on the right runs to the rooftop, with breezy and reasonable bar/café Perruche and good interior and exterior seating).
Teens and twentysomethings will flip for the Citadium mall of shops (filling a third Printemps block) on Rue Caumartin, under the skyway.
Continue your shopping by walking from this area to Place de la Madeleine (see next).
Give yourself a vacation from sightseeing by sifting through window displays, pausing at corner cafés, and feeling the rhythm of neighborhood life. (Or have you been playing hooky and doing this already?) Though smaller shops are more intimate, sales clerks are still formal—so mind your manners. Three very different areas to lick some windows are described next: Place de la Madeleine to Place de l’Opéra, Sèvres-Babylone to St. Sulpice, and along Rue des Martyrs.
Most shops are closed on Sunday, which is the perfect day to head for the Marais. Many Marais shops remain open on Sunday (though some may close on Saturday). For eclectic, avant-garde boutiques, peruse the artsy shops between Place des Vosges and the Pompidou Center. Consider combining a shopping stroll with my Marais Walk; most of the neighborhood is off-limits to cars.
The ritzy streets connecting several high-priced squares—Place de la Madeleine, Place de la Concorde, Place Vendôme, and Place de l’Opéra—form a miracle mile of gourmet food shops, glittering jewelry stores, posh hotels, exclusive clothing boutiques, and people who spend more on clothes in one day than I do in a good year. This walk highlights the value Parisians place on outrageously priced products.
This level walk takes about 1.5 hours. Most stores are open Monday through Saturday from around 10:00 (or earlier) until 19:00 (or later). Most close on Sunday.
• We’ll start at Eglise de la Madeleine (Mo: Madeleine). From the Métro stop, look for Sortie Eglise de la Madeleine and start with the square’s namesake church. From there, we’ll work counterclockwise around the square. (To get directly to the shopping, skip ahead to #2).
1 La Madeleine: Looking like a Roman temple with 52 Corinthian columns, this church dominates the center of the square. Designed as a secular temple to honor Napoleon’s army, it didn’t become a church until 1842; today it’s used as both a church and a concert venue. Yes, this is a shopping stroll, and there’s nothing on sale inside, but this church is free to enter and worth a quick look.
The facade received a face-lift in preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games, but if it remains covered during your visit, you can still go inside. Enter through the massive brass doors and approach the altar featuring a striking marble Mary Magdalene with three angels. The ceiling fresco celebrates great French Christians—from St. Louis (King Louis IX) to Jeanne d’Arc—in the company of Mary Magdalene and Christ in heaven above. Look for Napoleon and Pope Pius VII in the lower part of the fresco. They’re signing the Concordat of 1801, marking the reconciliation of church and state and allowing Catholic churches to reopen their doors in France. During Chopin’s funeral in 1849, 3,000 mourners packed this church as musicians played the famous dirge of the composer’s Funeral March.
As you leave, appreciate the fine view down Rue Royale to the similar facade of the Assemblée Nationale (National Assembly), where the lower house of France’s parliament meets.
• Exit the church and go around it counterclockwise, passing the massive columns of La Madeleine and colorful flower stalls. Head to the northeast corner (at #24). Before diving into shopping, consider this bit of history.
The neighborhood surrounding you was originally a suburb of medieval Paris, but by the time La Madeleine was completed in the mid-1800s, it had become Paris’ most fashionable neighborhood. Glitzy belle époque Paris revolved around this square and its nearby streets. In years past, the whole square was a gourmet’s fantasy, lined with Paris’ most historic and tasty food shops. Perhaps the most famous of all was Fauchon, which anchored this corner of the square starting in 1886. This bastion of over-the-top edibles became famous around the world, catering to the refined tastes of the rich and famous. Fauchon was where you could find that perfect bottle of cognac for only €9,000 (flawlessly packaged, of course). But all pricey things must eventually come to an end. Many of Fauchon’s franchises have closed, including its flagship store here—to be replaced by more practical shops that better serve modern Parisian lifestyles. Today, part of the space once occupied by Fauchon is a European Union information center (Europa Experience) with good exhibits in English describing what the EU does and whom it serves.
• Continue counterclockwise around Place de la Madeleine. The western side of the church still hosts a row of delicacy shops. First, step inside tiny...
2 La Maison de la Truffe (#19): Get a whiff of the product—truffles, those prized, dank, and dirty cousins of mushrooms. Check out the tiny jars in the display case. Ponder how something so ugly, smelly, and deformed can cost so much. Choose from a selection that varies from run-of-the-mill black truffles (a bargain at €55 a pound) to rare white truffles from Italy—up to €3,000 a pound. At the counter they sell every possible food that can be made with truffles, including Sauterne wine. The truffle salt fits my budget and the truffle-shaped brushes at just €12 might be the cheapest item here. The shop also houses a sharp little restaurant serving truffle dishes (for example, truffle omelets and chocolate cake with truffle ice cream).
Next door, the venerable Mariage Frères (#17) shop demonstrates how good tea can smell and how beautifully it can be displayed.
• A few steps along, you’ll find...
3 Caviar Kaspia (#17): Here you can add caviar, eel, and vodka to your truffle collection. Find the price list for these cured fish eggs. The sharper-tasting Iranian caviars run €50 for a tiny but decorative tin. The “finer” ones, from beluga sturgeon in the Caspian Sea, sell for up to €12,500 a kilo (that’s about €5,700 a pound—think I’ll pass on that today). The restaurant serves what you see at equally exorbitant prices. Demand for fish eggs must be strong, because a competitor (Café-Caviar Prunier) has opened next door.
• L’Ecluse wine bar/restaurant next door is a cozy place for lunch or a glass of wine. Next up is the the modern reinvention of Fauchon.
4 Fauchon Thé et Infusion and Le Grand Café are the vestiges of the once great Fauchon empire: a shoebox-size shop selling fancy teas with the iconic black and pink Fauchon colors and a café serving meals and pastries in its pink-and-black interior. The café houses a boutique with a selection of wines, chocolates, and fine groceries. Good WCs hide in the basement.
• Pass Fauchon’s razzle-dazzle hotel, then cross to the island in the middle of...
5 Boulevard Malesherbes: Look to the right, down the boulevard. This kind of vista—of a grand boulevard anchored by a domed church (dedicated to St. Augustine)—is vintage Baron Haussmann. (For more on the urban planner who shaped modern-day Paris, see the sidebar on here.) When the street officially opened in 1863, it ushered in the golden age of this neighborhood.
• Continue across Boulevard Malesherbes and turn left at the Tesla showroom, then pass an exclusive restaurant (Lucas Carton) and a stylish whiskey boutique to find...
6 Patrick Roger Chocolates (#3): This place is famous for its chocolates, and even more so for M. Roger’s huge, whimsical, 100-pound chocolate sculptures.
• Continue on, turning right down...
7 Rue Royale: Along this broad boulevard, we trade expensive food for expensive...stuff. There’s Dior, Chanel, and Gucci. A half-block down Rue Royale, dip into the classy Village Royale shopping courtyard—an oasis of calm with its restful Le Village Café.
If you went a few hundred yards farther down Rue Royale—which we won’t on this walk—you’d reach the once-famous restaurant Maxim’s (at #3) and then spill into Place de la Concorde, with the still-famous Hôtel Crillon. The US Embassy is located nearby, and this area has long been the haunt of America’s wealthy, cosmopolitan jet set.
• At Rue St. Honoré, turn left and cross Rue Royale, pausing in the middle for a great view both ways. Check out Ladurée (#16) for an out-of-this-world pastry break in the busy 19th-century tea salon, or to just pick up some world-famous macarons.
If you’ve had enough, you’re a few blocks from the Place de la Concorde Métro stop, the Tuileries Garden, and the Orangerie Museum. If you have more shopping in you, continue east down...
8 Rue St. Honoré: The street is a three-block parade of chic boutiques—L’Oréal cosmetics, Jimmy Choo shoes, Valentino, Versace, and so on. Looking for a €1,000 handbag? This is your spot. (Or, maybe it’s a good place to ponder the fact that about half of the eight billion people living on this planet are doing it on a few dollars a day.) The place has long been tied to fashion. Industry titans like Hermès, Givenchy, and Lancôme were launched a few blocks west of this stretch. You’ll pass the domed Church of the Assumption, a former convent that now caters to Paris’ Polish community.
• Find the shortcut on the left at #362 or turn left on Rue de Castiglione to reach...
9 Place Vendôme: This octagonal square is très elegant—enclosed by symmetrical Mansart buildings around a 150-foot column. On the left side is the original Hôtel Ritz, opened in 1898. Since then, it’s been one of the world’s most fashionable hotels. It gives us our word “ritzy.” Hemingway liberated its bar in World War II (it’s at the rear of the hotel, opens at 19:30, and is usually jammed).
The square was created by Louis XIV during the 17th century as a setting for a statue of himself (then called Place Louis le Grand). One hundred and fifty years later, Louis XIV was replaced by a towering monument to Napoleon capped by a statue of the emperor himself. That column, designed in the style of Trajan’s Column in Rome, was raised by Napoleon to commemorate his victory at the Battle of Austerlitz. The encircling bronze reliefs were made from cannons won in this and other battles. Look for images of the emperor directing battle with his distinctive hat as you scroll up the column. Elsewhere on the square is where Chopin died, at #12.
The square is also known for its upper-crust jewelry and designer stores—Van Cleef & Arpels, Dior, Chanel, Cartier, and others (if you have to ask how much...).
• Leave Place Vendôme by continuing straight, up Rue de la Paix—strolling by still more jewelry, high-priced watches, and crystal—and enter...
10 Place de l’Opéra: You’re in the middle of Right Bank glamour. Here you’ll find the Opéra Garnier and the Fragonard Perfume Museum. If you’re shopping until you’re dropping, the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps department stores (both described earlier) are located a few blocks up Rue Halévy. If you’re exhausted from counting the zeros on price tags, relax with a drink at venerable Café de la Paix across from the Opéra (daily, 5 Place de l’Opéra). It’s an appropriately elegant—and pricey—way to end this tour.
• When you’re ready to go, look for the convenient Opéra Métro stop.
This Left Bank shopping stroll runs from the Sèvres-Babylone Métro stop to St. Sulpice Church, near Luxembourg Garden and Boulevard St. Germain, finishing near the Odéon Métro stop. You’ll sample smart clothing boutiques and clever window displays—and be tempted by tasty treats—while enjoying one of Paris’ more attractive and boutique-filled neighborhoods. This shopping walk ties in well with the Left Bank Walk chapter. Some stores on this walk are open Sunday afternoons, though the walk is better on other days.
Start at the Sèvres-Babylone Métro stop (take the Métro or bus #87). You’ll find the 1 Bon Marché directly across from the Métro and a small park. The Bon Marché (means “inexpensive,” but it’s not) is Paris’ oldest and most upscale department store. It opened in 1852, when fascination with iron and steel construction led to larger structures (like train stations, exhibition halls, and Eiffel Towers). The Bon Marché was the first large-scale store to offer fixed prices (no bargaining) and a vast selection of items under one glass roof, arranged in various “departments.” This rocked the commercial world and changed the future of shopping. High-volume sales allowed low prices and created loyal customers—can you say “Costco”? But what began as a bargain store has evolved into one of Paris’ most elegant shopping destinations.
Start your tour in the center, under the atrium with a high glass ceiling and crisscross elevators. Browse the purses and perfumes, then take the escalator up to higher floors for a better perspective. Find the less glamorous escalators in the corners of the store to bring you to the third floor, where you’ll find a treasure trove of children’s books, toys, and clothing. If you’re hungry, there are trendy restaurants in the basement. Behind the main building hides 2 La Grande Epicerie de Paris, an amazing selection of gourmet foods and groceries well worth a quick look.
From the Bon Marché, walk alongside the small park, cross Boulevard Raspail, and start heading down Rue de Sèvres (along the right side). The imposing Hôtel Lutetia to your right was built for shoppers by the Bon Marché’s owners; its dazzling facade is thanks to a multiyear floor-to-ceiling renovation. A few steps down Rue de Sèvres, you’ll find 3 La Maison du Chocolat at #19. What began in the 1970s as a boutique chocolaterie is now a worldwide chain for chocoholics. Its mouthwatering window display may draw you inside for handmade chocolates in exquisitely wrapped boxes and delicious macarons. Parisians commonly bring chocolates or macarons when invited over, and no gift box better impresses than one from this store.
Be sure to lick the chocolate off your fingers before entering the world of Hermès (a few doors down, at #17), famous for its pricey silk scarves—and for the former designer of its fashion house, Jean-Paul Gaultier. Hermès’ 19th-century origin as a bridle and harness maker is reflected in its horse-and-carriage logo—and in many of its scarf designs. Don’t let the doorman intimidate you: Everyone’s welcome here. Ask to try on a scarf or two and have the salesperson teach you a few quintessential French ways to tie it. Then pause for a coffee in the airy café. This store is housed in the original Art Deco swimming pool of Hôtel Lutetia, built in 1935. Take a spin through this ultratrendy space, which covers more than 20,000 square feet.
Almost next door, find 4 Maje, a French store with prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear) fashion a notch above mass market. “Maje” derives from the family and first names of its three sibling-founders: Milgrom, André, Judith, and Evelyn. While this neighborhood is rife with those who can afford haute-couture (custom-made high fashion), even the well-to-do appreciate a good bargain.
Next, pop into Chantelivre (#13), France’s first bookstore specifically for young readers. This location has everything from nursery-rhyme books to educational resources to coloring books to the much-beloved (by adults as well as young ones) bandes-déssinées (comic books or graphic novels). An illustrated French children’s book is a charming souvenir for kids and a smart resource for savvy travelers wanting to learn the language.
Across the street sits the marvelously old-school 5 Au Sauvignon Café (open daily; 80 Rue des Saint-Pères). Its corner perch is well situated for watching the conveyor belt of smartly coiffed shoppers glide by. Check in for a hot or cold drink, and check out the zinc bar and picture-crazy interior.
Continue a block farther down Rue de Sèvres to Place Michel Debré, a six-way intersection. A wicked half-man, half-horse statue (ouch), the Centaur, stands guard. Designed by French sculptor César in 1985 to pay homage to his friend and mentor Pablo Picasso, it was originally intended for a more prominent square but was installed here after many deemed its metallic genitalia to be too provocative. The face is of the sculptor himself.
From Place Michel Debré, boutique-lined streets fan out like spokes on a wheel. Each street merits a peek if shopping matters to you.
Make a short detour up Rue du Cherche-Midi (follow the horse’s fanny). This street offers an ever-changing but always chic selection of shoe, purse, and clothing stores as well as fun restaurants (see here). Find Paris’ most celebrated bread—beautiful round loaves with designer crust—at the red brick, low-key 6 Poilâne at #8 (closed Sun). Look for samples. Parisians love getting their punitions (punishments—buttery shortbread cookies) here.
Now track back and turn right down Rue du Vieux-Colombier.
You’ll pass the 7 Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier (1913), one of three key venues for La Comédie Française, a historic state-run troupe. The theater has hosted a wide range of acts, from playwright Anton Chekhov to poet T. S. Eliot to folk singer John Denver.
In the next two blocks, you’ll pass many stores that specialize in just one or two items, but in a variety of colors and patterns. At 8 Longchamp (#21), you can hunt for a stylish French handbag in any color, and Victoire (several doors down) offers items for the rugged gentleman.
Cross busy Rue de Rennes—glancing to the right at the dreadful Montparnasse Tower in the distance. If you have a teenage girl in tow, take a short detour down Rue de Rennes to #71 and Brandy Melville (trendy and inexpensive clothes with a one-size-fits-most approach).
Others can continue down Rue du Vieux Colombier. Here you’ll find more specialty boutiques. If the man or petit-garçon in your life needs a swimsuit, check out 9 Vilebrequin (#5). There’s 10 Aubade (#4) for lingerie and Hervé Chapelier (#1) for travel totes and handbags.
Spill into Place St. Sulpice, with its big, twin-tower church. 11 Café de la Mairie is a great spot to sip a café crème, admire the lovely square, and consider your next move. Sightseers can visit St. Sulpice Church or Luxembourg Garden (both described in the Sights in Paris chapter). You’re also near several points along the route of my Left Bank Walk. Or you can head left on Rue Bonaparte two blocks to Boulevard St. Germain for more shopping and several grands cafés (described on here). If it’s eating time, two good crêperies are a block down Rue des Canettes.
Our walk continues east, exiting the square (with the church on your right) along what is now called Rue St. Sulpice. Dueling chocolatiers occupy opposite ends of the block. 12 Patrick Roger’s wild chocolate sculptures (#2) contrast mightily with Chapon et la Chocolaterie (#34), where chocolate mousse tastings are not uncommon, and where master chocolatier Patrice Chapon roasts and processes his own cocoa beans to produce the shop’s delicacies. Farther down, at 13 Atelier 144, you can admire the window display of extravagant and wildly expensive hats (23 Rue St. Sulpice).
Now turn left onto Rue de Seine. What’s the best pastry shop in Paris? According to local shopkeepers, it’s 14 Maison Mulot’s pâtisserie (daily until 20:00, 76 Rue de Seine). That’s saying a lot. Ogle the window display and try his chocolate macarons and savory quiches—oh, baby. Pick up lunch to go and munch it at nearby Luxembourg Garden. If you’re missing any other food supplies for the picnic, pop into 15 Marché Alimentaire St. Germain, a covered food market (on the block behind Mulot) that’s also home to Avant Comptoir du Marché, a popular tapas bar (at the corner).
Cross Rue de Seine, walk to 10 Rue des Quatre Vents, and find 16 Au Gré du Vent, a well-established consignment clothing and accessory shop where you can rummage through the designer and even mass-market cast-offs of well-heeled neighborhood residents.
If you’d like more shopping options, you’re in the heart of boutique shopping. If you’ve had enough, catch the Métro at St-Germain, Odéon, or Mabillon to your next destination. As for me, stick a fourchette in me—I’m done.
As they race from museum to monument, visitors often miss the market streets and village-like charm that give Paris a warm and human vibrancy. Traffic-free Rue Cler is my favorite market street (covered in my Rue Cler Walk). But for a younger and more trendy, less-touristy market ambience that still serves village Paris, stroll down Rue des Martyrs. While cars are allowed on the street, it’s still a pleasant shopping stroll.
This walk starts at the base of Montmartre’s hill, a block from the Pigalle Métro stop, and glides downhill for six blocks, ending at the handy Métro station Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. Like any market street, it’s generally quiet on Sunday from 12:00 on, all day Monday, and the rest of the week from about 13:00 to 15:00, when shops close for a break.
From the Pigalle Métro stop, head east a short distance along Boulevard de Clichy to the first street and turn right on Rue des Martyrs, before a Carrefour supermarket. Peaceful and sophisticated, Rue des Martyrs makes a stark contrast with the Montmartre scrum; here you’ll enter a calmer neighborhood with broader streets, richer buildings...and signs of the reality of raising a family in an urban setting.
Security is a concern. The school a block down on your right (find flags above the doorway) has fence barriers to keep possible car bombs at a distance. The carousel at the intersection is a reminder that families here live in tight quarters. Along with small children, they have small merry-go-rounds, small kitchens, tiny fridges, and minuscule cars. They shop daily for small amounts, which helps keep the neighborhood strong. Several side streets are “voie privée”—private lanes or high-rise, gated communities. Behind big carriage doors, lanes lead to peaceful inner courtyards serving clusters of apartments.
Slalom past baby strollers and cute dogs. Notice the variety of small shops. Goods spill out onto the sidewalk. People know their butcher and baker as if they lived in a village (in their opinion, they do). Locals willingly pay more in a shop that’s not part of a chain, and le fast food is not cool.
Paris is one of the most densely populated cities in Europe, which makes the streets particularly vibrant. Look up and imagine how population density is great news for fishmongers, flower merchants, and bakers. In some areas, fishmongers and butchers are being replaced with coffee shops and trendy deli-type restaurants, though a good bakery still seems in demand.
At #56, find one of Paris’ countless late-night grocery stores. These are generally run by North African immigrants who are willing to work the night shift for the convenience of others. Beware: Produce with the highest prices is often priced by the half-kilo.
At #50, the cheesemonger has been serving the neighborhood ever since it actually had goats and cows grazing out back. Notice the old milk jugs and small artisanal cheeses (see photo).
At #46 bis, the English-owned Rose Bakery serves a young, affluent, and health-conscious crowd with top-quality organic and vegetarian breakfasts and lunches. The selection of mouth-watering foods at their takeout shop next door merits a look. Across the street in a gorgeous building, the baker Delmontel (at #39) proudly displays his fresh-baked temptations. The metal windmill sign above the store advertises the bakery’s traditional approach. Another temptation lurks at La Meringaie (#35), where every week a new meringue fruit tart is created.
Continuing your stroll on Rue des Martyrs, you’ll pass the traditional butcher at #21. You know he’s good because the ceiling hooks—where butchers once hung sides of beef—now display a red medallion that certifies the slaughtered cow’s quality. Just as carrots come with greenery intact for the discerning shopper, here the chicken comes with its head on, the rabbit with his heart exposed, and the fish with eyes open. Freshness is expected.
Sebastian Gaudard’s pâtisserie at #22 is worth popping in to see the typically French edible works of art. Bakers enjoy making special treats in sync with the season: Easter, Christmas, First Communion, and so on.
Nearby, at #20, the tabac/café copes with the smoking ban by putting out as many tables as will fit on the sidewalk—plus heaters if it’s cold. Shops like this—once run by rural people from what was then France’s poorest region, Auvergne—are now often managed by Chinese immigrants. Traditionally the corner café was the community’s utility sales outlet—where you could pay parking tickets, pick up stamps and Métro tickets, and play the lottery. Despite the giant letters reading “fumer tue” (smoking kills), cigarettes sell well. Oh...and there’s good coffee, too.
Down the street (at #9) sits an ultraspecialized food shop: La Chambre aux Confitures, displaying fruity creations like fine jewels that will forever change the way you think of jam (they’re generous with samples).
The “City” Carrefour at #7 is a small version of a big supermarket chain. With long hours daily and more convenience, modern supermarkets are threatening many smaller shops. Across from Carrefour, browse the street market with a long line of produce. Note how price tags identify the place each item was grown. The bakery Farine & O at #10 proudly displays its “MOF” award. Meilleur Ouvrier de France is a prestigious designation granted for life to the best workers in many trades. Two more butchers and a cheese shop later, you reach the neighborhood church (the Neoclassical Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, circa 1836) and the end of this street.
Our walk is over. The Métro station Notre-Dame-de-Lorette (line 12) awaits. Find the discreet entrance on the opposite (front) side of the church.
Paris’ sprawling flea markets (marché aux puces; mar-shay oh-pews; puce is French for “flea”) started in the Middle Ages, when middlemen sold old, flea-infested clothes and discarded possessions of the wealthy at bargain prices to eager peasants, allowing buyers to rummage through piles of aristocratic garbage.
Puces St. Ouen (pews sant-oo-an), at Porte de Clignancourt, carries on the Parisian flea market tradition, but at a more elevated level—the fleas are gone, as are the bargain prices. But the selection is incredible at this mother of all flea markets. It’s a sprawling complex of covered market halls and vendor-friendly streets, attracting interior designers and those who appreciate this ever-changing museum of household goods. More than 2,000 vendors sell everything from flamingos to faucets, but mostly intriguing antiques and vintage silver and art. Some find it claustrophobic; others find French diamants-in-the-rough and return happy (Fri 8:00-12:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-18:00, Mon 11:00-17:00, closed Tue-Thu, pretty dead the first 2 weeks of Aug, +33 1 58 61 22 90, www.marcheauxpuces-saintouen.com). There’s a TI dead center in the market at 120 Rue des Rosiers. Secure your valuables; pickpockets dig these wall-to-wall-shopper events.
Getting to Puces St. Ouen: Take Métro line 4 to the end of the line at Porte de Clignancourt, then carefully follow Sortie, Marché aux Puces signs and walk straight out of the Métro down Avenue de la Porte de Clignancourt toward the white overpass (should you exit at a different Sortie, cross the big square with your back to the lone red-brick building to find Avenue de la Porte de Clignancourt). Approaching the flea market, you’ll pass blocks of tents hawking trinkets and cheap clothing. There are also street vendors selling knockoff designer bags, watches, fake Marlboro cigarettes, and more. Your destination is just beyond the elevated freeway. Cross under the freeway—leaving Paris and entering the suburb of St. Ouen—and turn left on Rue des Rosiers, the spine that links the many markets of St. Ouen (see map).
Bus #85 runs (slowly) from central Paris right into the St. Ouen market along Rue des Rosiers, letting you skip the scruffy stretch between the Métro station and the market. Catch it (direction: St-Ouen-Les Docks) from stops located near Hôtel de Ville or Montmartre. Find your return bus along the south side of Rue des Rosiers.
Visiting the Market: The area just outside the market complex shows off Paris’ gritty, suburban underbelly (in Paris, the have-nots live in the ’burbs, while the haves want to be as central as they can get). No event brings together the melting-pot population of Paris better than this carnival-like market. Even if antiques, African objects, and junk jewelry aren’t your thing, you may still find this market worth the trip. Pretend you just rented a big, empty apartment...and need to furnish it. Come for a reality check—away from the beautiful people and glorious monuments of Paris. If you’re considering buying a large item, be aware that shipping is very expensive (the Camard company has a good reputation, +33 1 40 12 84 45).
The St. Ouen “market” is actually a well-organized collection of five markets, each with a different name and specializing in a particular angle on antiques, bric-a-brac, and junk. The markets feel safe and calm; they get downright peaceful the farther in you venture. Avoid the crowds along Avenue Jean-Henri Fabre, parallel to the freeway, and you’ll do fine. You can bargain a bit (you’ll do best offering cash at the end of the day), though don’t expect swinging deals here.
Space for this flea market was created in the 1800s, when the city wall was demolished (its path is now a freeway), leaving large tracts of land open. Eventually the vacuum was filled by street vendors, then antique dealers. The hodgepodge pattern of the market reflects its unplanned evolution. Strolling the stalls can feel more like touring a souk in North Africa—a place of narrow alleys packed with people and too much to see.
Explore by walking down the “spine” of the market area, Rue des Rosiers—look for a map that tries to explain the general character of each (get it at shops or the TI branch at 120 Rue des Rosiers). Here’s a brief rundown of the markets accessed from Rue des Rosiers: Vernaison is mostly small shops selling a mishmash of stuff from lace doilies to clock parts to coffee tables. Dauphine is a glass-roofed arcade with quiet, mostly eclectic furniture shops lining its interior-only lanes; you’ll find vintage clothing upstairs. Biron and Serpette have classy antiques, and Paul Bert features open lanes of shops selling high-end designs for your home, with clean—and free—WCs.
Eating at Puces St. Ouen: Time your trip around lunch; there are many lively and reasonable cafés. Buried in Vernaison Market, $$ La Chope des Puces bar has a down-and-dirty, très local feel and is famous for its live concerts of Roma music on Saturday and Sunday afternoons (bar open daily, next to the TI at 122 Rue des Rosiers, +33 1 40 11 28 80). $$ Café Paul Bert has the market’s best outside setting and a hard-working, fun-loving wait staff. The cuisine, classic brasserie fare, is what keeps the regulars coming back (closed Tue-Wed, in the heart of the Paul Bert Market at 20 Rue Paul Bert, +33 1 40 11 90 28).
Comparatively tiny and civilized with sidewalk stalls and a more traditional flea-market feel, Puces de Vanves is preferred by many market connoisseurs (Sat-Sun 7:00-14:00, best to arrive before 13:00—when the best stalls close, closed Mon-Fri, Mo: Porte de Vanves).
Several traffic-free street markets overflow with flowers, produce, fish vendors, and butchers, illustrating how most Parisians shopped before there were supermarkets and department stores. Shops are open daily except Sunday afternoons, Monday, and mid-afternoon throughout the week (13:00 to 15:00 or 16:00). Browse these markets for picnics, or find a corner café from which to appreciate the scene.
Rue Cler—a wonderful place to sleep and dine as well as shop—is like a refined street market, serving an upscale neighborhood near the Eiffel Tower (Mo: Ecole Militaire; for details, see the Rue Cler Walk chapter and the Sleeping in Paris and Eating in Paris chapters).
Rue Montorgueil and Rue Montmartre are thriving, café-lined streets that run parallel just north of Forum des Halles, a huge modern shopping mall under a vast, dirty yellow, eye-catching (and water-catching) glass-and-steel canopy. Several traffic-free lanes cross these streets, creating a pleasing area for pedestrians. Rue Montorgueil (mohn-tor-goy) is famous as the last vestige of the once-massive Les Halles market (Mo: Etienne Marcel). Once home to big warehouses and wholesale places, the area is now home to countless cafés and cute bistros. The irresistible creations at Pâtissier Stohrer may have inspired the French expression “window licking” (51 Rue Montorgueil). Nearby, you’ll find the arcaded shopping streets Passage du Grand Cerf and Passage du Bourg l’Abbe, described later.
Rue Mouffetard, originally built by the Romans, is a happening market street by day and does double-duty as restaurant row at night. Hiding several blocks behind the Panthéon, it starts at Place Contrescarpe and ends downhill at St. Médard Church (Mo: Censier Daubenton). The upper stretch is pedestrian and touristic; the bottom stretch is purely Parisian. Pause for a drink on picturesque Place Contrescarpe, then make your descent down this popular street.
Rue Daguerre, near the Catacombs and off Avenue du Général Leclerc, is the least touristy of the street markets listed here, mixing food shops with cafés along a traffic-free street (Mo: Denfert-Rochereau).
Rue de Seine and Rue de Buci combine to make a central, lively, and colorful market within easy reach of many sights (Mo: Odéon; see also “Les Grands Cafés de Paris,” on here, and the Left Bank Walk chapter). This is a fine place to enjoy a late-afternoon drink and observe Parisian shoppers at work (also fun for dinner and late-night café action).
Rue des Martyrs, near Montmartre, makes Paris feel like a village. Consider exploring this lively (though not traffic-free) market scene as part of my Rue des Martyrs boutique stroll, earlier in this chapter.
Marché des Enfants Rouges is a compact, covered market for the northern Marais neighborhood. It’s also the oldest covered food market in Paris, built when Louis XIII ruled in 1615. It’s named for an orphanage where the children wore red uniforms (the name means “Market of the Red Children”). Here you’ll find everything under one roof: organic produce; stands offering wine tastings; fun, cheap, international lunch options—and wads of character (Tue-Sat 8:30-19:30, Sun 9:00-14:00, closed Mon; a 15-minute walk north from the heart of the Marais at 39 Rue de Bretagne, Mo: Filles du Calvaire or Temple, see the East Paris color map at the back of this book). Find the man making socca—a chickpea-flour crêpe specialty from Nice—and consider lunch at any of the food stands.
Every Paris neighborhood has a marché volant (“flying market”), where food stalls take over selected boulevards and squares for one to three mornings each week. Ever since the magnificent and massive food market at Les Halles was demolished in the 1970s, Parisians have had to rely on neighborhood markets for their connection to the farmers and producers. Paris is peppered with thriving neighborhood markets selling everything from rich cheeses, fresh produce, and wines and liquors to bric-a-brac. These markets draw all Parisians; they’re a melting pot of Europeans, North Africans, Portuguese, West Africans, and Asians. And what’s best is that you’ll often find a few casual stalls to eat at for a deal.
Marché d’Aligre, 10 blocks behind the Opéra Bastille down Rue de Faubourg St. Antoine, is a small open-air market where you’ll encounter few tourists and find some of the cheapest produce in Paris. There’s a small but atmospheric market hall, a swap-meet-like square for trinket shopping, and some tasty food stalls (closed Mon, Place d’Aligre, Mo: Ledru-Rollin). From Métro Ledru-Rollin, walk east (with your back to the Bastille column) and veer right at the second traffic light onto Rue Crozatier.
Marché Bastille is the best of the lot, with a vast selection of products extending more than a half-mile north of Place de la Bastille along Boulevard Richard Lenoir (Thu and Sun until 14:30, Mo: Bastille); consider combining either of the next two markets with a stroll through La Coulée Verte Promenade-Park (see here) and my Marais Walk.
Marché Place Monge is small, with produce, clothing, and a few crafts (Wed, Fri, and Sun 7:00-14:30; near Rue Mouffetard, Mo: Monge).
Marché de Saxe-Breteuil, near the Eiffel Tower, is a thriving street market that runs along Avenue de Saxe from behind the Ecole Militaire building to Place de Breteuil (Thu until 13:30 and Sat until 14:30).
Marché Boulevard de Grenelle, a few blocks southwest of Champ de Mars park and the Rue Cler area, is packed with produce, nonperishable goods, and Parisians in search of a good value (Wed 7:00-13:30, Sun until 14:30, between Dupleix and La Motte Picquet-Grenelle Métro stops).
Marché Belleville is big, favored by locals, and very untouristy (Tue and Fri until 13:30, Mo: Belleville).
Marché Maubert, in the Latin Quarter, is handy for those sleeping in the Luxembourg Garden and Ile St. Louis neighborhoods (Tue, Thu, and Sat 7:00-13:30, on Boulevard St. Germain and Place Maubert, Mo: Maubert Mutualité).
Marché Raspail, between Rue du Cherche-Midi and Rue de Rennes, is where the rich and famous shop for organic and high-end foods (Sun 9:00-13:30, traditional market Tue and Fri 7:30-14:30, Mo: Rennes).
Marché Biologique des Batignolles is Paris’ largest organic market, located along Boulevard des Batignolles between Métro stations Place de Clichy and Rome (Sat 9:00-15:00). Saturdays are also big wedding days in Paris: Sneak up Rue des Batignolles to the neighborhood Hôtel de Ville (16 Rue des Batignolles), have a post-market coffee in a café across the street, and watch as the colorful wedding parties stream by.
More than 200 covered shopping streets (passages) once crisscrossed Paris, providing much-needed shelter from the rain. The first were built during the American Revolution, though the ones you’ll see date from the 1800s. Today only a handful remain to remind us where shopping malls got their inspiration, although they now sell things you would be more likely to find in flea markets than at Macy’s. Here’s a short list to weave into your sightseeing plan. (They’re found on the map in this chapter and on the East Paris color map at the back of this book.)
Galerie Vivienne, behind the Palais Royal off Rue des Petits-Champs and a few blocks from the Louvre (ideal to combine with a visit to the courtyards of Palais Royal), is the most refined and accessible of the passages (Mo: Pyramides, Bourse, or Palais Royal). Inside this classy arcade, you’ll find a chic wine bar (Legrand Filles et Fils, +33 1 42 60 07 12), a tea salon, a funky café, and trendy dress shops.
Passage Choiseul and Passage Ste. Anne, four blocks west of Galerie Vivienne, are fine examples of most Parisian passages, selling used books, paper products, trinkets, and snacks (down Rue des Petits-Champs toward Avenue de l’Opéra, same Métro stops).
Passage du Grand Cerf and Passage du Bourg l’Abbé, near Les Halles, are two elegant arcades separated by Rue St. Denis and home to small offices, artsy galleries, fabric shops, and paint stores. Savor a drink at the atmospheric Le Pas Sage Bar a Vins at the eastern entry to the Passage du Grand Cerf. These passages combine well with a visit to the nearby Rue Montorgueil street market described earlier (a block from Rue Montorgueil up Rue Marie Stuart, Mo: Etienne Marcel).
Passage Panoramas and Passage Jouffroy are long galleries that connect with several other smaller passages to give you the best sense of the elaborate network of arcades that once existed (on both sides of Boulevard Montmartre, between Métro stops Grands Boulevards and Richelieu Drouot).
