Paris Neighborhoods

Paris vacationers (and even locals on occasion) are awe-struck by the sight of the axe historique (historic axis), which runs from the Arc de Triomphe down the Champs-Élysées to the Egyptian obelisk on place de la Concorde and through the graceful symmetrical park, Jardin des Tuileries, to the glass pyramid at the entrance to the Louvre. This majestic part of Paris is home to the French president (at the stately 18th-century Élysée Palace) and haute couture houses and flagship boutiques in the Triangle d'Or (Golden Triangle), as well as many of the city's most lavish hotels and restaurants.

Paris neighborhoods around the Louvre become less grand and more focused on the hustle-and-bustle of day-to-day life as you head east towards the Les Halles area. The actual Halles­—Paris’s former produce markets—were relocated outside the ring road in the 1970s, but many of the market traders' old haunts, including late-opening or round-the-clock restaurants, remain. Below ground, the endless corridors of the shopping mall Forum des Halles link to the city's busiest metro and RER station, Châtelet-Les Halles.

To the north of this central stretch of the Seine, Paris landmarks include the colonnaded Madeleine church and the Palais Garnier opera house, as well as grand department stores in the Grands Boulevards neighborhood. Beaubourg, home to the Centre Pompidou, abuts the western edge of the Marais on the eastern right bank.

Continuing north from the Grands Boulevards find Pigalle, Paris’s illustrious red light district (don't expect anything too sordid; it's actually well-lit and safe), which sits at the base of Montmartre. Famous cabarets here include the iconic Moulin Rouge. This fabled Paris neighborhood was home to pretty much anyone who was anyone in the art world, including Degas, Renoir, Picasso, Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec, and throughout Montmartre you'll find plenty of artists willing to sketch your portrait today. Montmartre's narrow streets and staircases twist uphill to its most famous landmark, the basilica Sacré-Coeur.

Heading south of the central right bank area, you come to the narrow, cobbled medieval lanes of the Marais. Eastern Right Bank, one of the most diverse Paris neighborhoods, is made up of two areas: the lower Marais, home to Paris’s Jewish community, gay and lesbian community and scores of one-off boutiques and cafes; and, to its north, the Haut-Marais (upper Marais), where burgeoning boutiques, galleries, bakeries, bistros and food shops include the city's best new gelato bar, Mary (1 rue Dupuis, 3e). High on the list of Marais museums is the mansion-housed Musée Carnavalet recounting Paris history. *Note that the Musée Picasso is closed for renovations until 2012.

The Marais stretches south to place de la Bastille, with its gilded statue-topped column at the centre reminding of the famously stormed former prison on that site. Across from the Opéra Bastille, one of Paris’s best street markets happens every Thursday and Sunday. Nearby, the cherry- and chestnut-planted elevated park, the Promenade Plantée, runs 2.8 miles south to the residential 12e.

Paris’s long-neglected northeast has become hot property in recent years among Parisian “bobos” (bourgeois bohemians). The charming iron-bridge-crossed waterway Canal St-Martin flows through the western part before disappearing underground and re-emerging at Bastille (if you have time, board a canal cruise, which passes underground through this historic area). Further east are the neighborhoods of Ménilmontant and Belleville, both home to great bars, neighborhood bistros and ethnic restaurants. At Belleville's eastern edge, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, and Belleville-born Edith Piaf are among the famous graves at the atmospheric cemetery, Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

The Seine slices the city in half (more or less), but in the center of the river are Paris’s two small islands, the Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis. The larger of the two, the Île de la Cité, plays shadow for the city's landmark cathedral, Notre Dame. As such, it's a busy, but peaceful place to escape with a park at the island's westernmost tip, square du Vert Galant. Also on the Île de la Cité is the beautiful 13th-century stained-glass church Sainte-Chapelle, which hosts spellbinding classical concerts. Little Île Saint-Louis doesn't even have a metro station, but it does have the most famous ice cream parlor in Paris, Berthillon (still run by the same family who created it here in the 1950s), along with cute shops and boutique hotels. The two islands are linked by the Pont St-Louis as well as to the Seine's left and right banks. 

Rising from the western left bank is Paris’s emblem, the Eiffel Tower. Despite harboring such a major crowd-puller, much of this Paris neighborhood is actually residential, with expensive apartments lining quiet, stately streets. Heading east brings you to Faubourg St-Germain (the even-more-upscale neighbor of St-Germain-des-Prés to the east) and the Musée d'Orsay's exceptional Impressionist collections. Other reasons you're likely to come here are to view indigenous art at the strikingly designed Musée du Quai Branly, and to pick up a river cruise.

St-Germain-des-Prés was a hotbed of intellectualism back in the early 20th century, with Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus and others keeping company at such cafes as Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots. This Paris neighborhood is also home to the city’s most cherished park, the Jardin du Luxembourg, and elegant shopping extending south towards Montparnasse. While Montparnasse has lost much of its charm since its mid-20th century heyday, it's loaded with mainstream shops and cinemas, especially around the base of the hideous 1970s-built skyscraper, Tour Montparnasse. To be fair, Tour Montparnasse actually did Paris a favor: since its unveiling, planning codes ensuring such architectural abhorrences weren't repeated have prevailed. OK, two favors: the view from its 56th-floor observation deck might just be the city's best.