Updated in January 2025
Paris - It somehow feels as if everything has been said about the capital of France already. I also somehow feel that this will never become true. The city changes all the time, Parisians change, and we as visitors change too, maybe every day. Every time I visit Paris, I find something new. As I was sipping coffee in a pavement café just by the Ile de Cite I overheard two women, and what they said made me smile. One of them said knowingly “Paris is so large, you would certainly need a full week to see it all.” That is a rather ambitious project and not only that, it is complete nonsense. It is never going to happen, no one will ever know everything about Paris. Isn't that what makes towns like Paris so exciting, we all know there will always be something new to see on future visits.
In any case, as Marcel Proust said, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Look at these random magical places in Paris I just visited. I will tell you why on the left bank everybody loves Les Editeurs, and about a place where you can visit the ones who walked the streets of Paris before us, and about one of the hottest places in Paris, where the digital art revolution is happening as we speak. When in Paris, you will instantly stop wanting to be elsewhere. Book your trip to Paris now.
Halle Saint-Pierre at the foot of Montmartre
Halle Saint-Pierre in the incredibly beautiful building in Baltard-style architecture is worth a visit by itself. Read more about it here: Travel the World - A fewmost beautiful bookshops.
Information:
Halle Saint-Pierre, 2 Rue Ronsard, 75018 Paris, France. Tickets museum EUR 10.
Hours: Monday to Friday 11am to 6pm. Saturday 11am to 7pm. Sunday 12 to 6pm.
Les Éditeurs Restaurant and Literary Café
They love books and interior design in this place. It is just a delight to pop into Les Éditeurs be it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and to spend some time surrounded by their large choice of books.
Information: Les Éditeurs, 4 Carr de l'Odéon, 75006 Paris, France. Suitable for vegetarians. Hours: Monday to Sunday 8am
to 1am. Best to book in advance.
Claus Paris – The left bank café where breakfast is queen
Oval Room – a reading room in the heart of Paris
The Richelieu site has been the place of the National Library of France for 300 years. Building this oval reading room took about five years, from 1897 to 1932. In winter 1936 it opened its doors until it closed for refurbishment works in autumn 2016. It reopened in 2022 and is now open to all, and that free of charge. Read all about it here: Travel the World: A few of the most beautiful libraries.
Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection
Contemporary art in a refurbished and redesigned imposing circular historic building. Initially built in the 18th century as a grain storage facility, it was later given a round dome as a roof. Over time it became the bourse and the seat of the chamber of commerce. The city of Paris bought the property and leased it to Francois Pinault. After refurbishing works, it is now used as a place to showcase the art collector’s (and billionaire businessman) vast collection of contemporary art.
The Japanese architect Tadao Ando use of concrete and light creates an immersive experience for visitors. Wandering the structure, you feel like being part of the art. If you climb the stairs, the exhibition rooms can be reached via walkways. The remarkable giant mural remains in its original design and tells the story of commerce and the role China, Europe, and the US played over the centuries.
Information: Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection, 2 Rue de Viarmes, 75001 Paris, France. Hours: Monday to Sunday from 11am to 7pm, closed on Tuesday and May 1st, Friday 11am to 9pm. The first Saturday of the month, free from 5pm to 9pm. Tickets adults: EUR 15. 18 to 26 year olds EUR 10.
Père Lachaise Cemetery - Visit the ones who walked the streets of Paris before you
Atelier des Lumières – The digital art revolution is happening
This is innovative and exciting. The Atelier des Lumières is Paris’s first digital art museum. Well-known artworks are projected with the help of laser video projectors onto every space of the ten-metre-high walls, a tall brick chimney, a pool, a tank, and the floors throughout the complete venue. I love to visit museums and I love to look at art and read about painters and sculptors and learn about times gone by. Often, I hear that people don't enjoy visiting museums, as they consider it boring.
With showcasing artworks digitally, this is an excellent way to bring art and with that history closer to people and to wet people’s interest in art. It might even open up what many consider an elitist world. It is a spectacular experience, the 360-degree display allows visitors to dive straight into it. The immersive art accompanied by music surrounds you and for the time being, you become part of the artwork. Culturespaces, the company who is running Atelier des Lumières, wants to further the digital revolution in the cultural sector. You must experience this. Book your trip to Paris now.
The history of the Atelier des Lumières venue: In 1835 a foundry was established at this exact address to supply navy and railway companies with high-quality cast iron parts, it turned out to be so successful that it was in business for a whole century. After that and until 2000 manufacturing tools were produced here. For years, the foundry was abandoned and forgotten about until in 2013 Bruno Monnier, the President of Culturespaces, rediscovered it. He dreamed of a Digital Arts Centre in Paris and rented the space. After renovations, the Atelier des Lumières opened in the spring of 2018.
Information: Atelier des Lumières, 38 Rue Saint-Maur, 75011 Paris, France. Atelier des Lumières is wheelchair accessible. Hours: Monday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm. Please buy tickets in advance. On weekends you won't even have the chance to buy tickets at the museum, as ticket-desk is closed. Tickets Adults EUR 14, Youth 5 to 25 years old EUR 9.50. The program in the Studio may present risks for people with epilepsy and young children.
Musée Gustave Moreau
Only a five-minute walk from Pigalle, on a cobblestoned side street sits a house where, at first, only a small plaque reveals that it is the childhood home of the Parisian Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau.
The Musée Gustave Moreau in the 9th arrondissement is the former studio-living quarters of the artist. You can visit the artist's flat with its furniture, china, and art and get an idea of his life and life in 19th-century Paris.
At the time, he extended his property by two floors. His atelier sits atop his flat and runs over two floors above the former. To reach the second floor of the atelier you have to climb a handcrafted spiral staircase. There are 1,300 paintings, watercolours, sketches and about 5,000 drawings in Moraeu's typical mythical and biblical style, whereas some of the paintings are several metres tall.
Gustave Moreau had no children, and he decided to gift his house and his works to the state – but only if they would dedicate the museum to him. The thrilling thing is that Gustave Moreau created all of this himself. At one point in his life, he held on to his most favourite paintings, he simply stopped selling them to showcase them in his museum. And the whole museum is in the same state as he left it when he died in the spring of 1898. Following his wish, his home was opened as the Musée Gustave Moreau to the public five years later in 1903.
Information: Musée Gustave Moreau, 14 Rue Catherine de la Rochefoucauld, 75009 Paris, France. Hours: Tuesday to Monday 10am to 6pm (rooms close 15 minutes before closing time). Closed Tuesdays, 1 January, 1 May and 25 December. Tickets: Adults EUR 8, reduced ticket EUR 6. Free on the first Sunday of the month. Please note: the museum has staircases and is not accessible.
Bouillon Julien – an Art Nouveau lovers dream
Bouillon Julien is a delicious example Art Nouveau style. Constructed in 1906 by the French architect Edouard Fournier and decorated by experts in Art Nouveau. There is stained glass, there are colourful ornaments, there are nymphs, there are peacocks, there are flowers, there is reddish-brown mahogany furniture.
What is a bouillon, and why is a restaurant called a bouillon? ‘Bouillon’ restaurants first entered the scene in the late 19th- and early 20th centuries. They were serving traditional French cuisine, and one staple is broth. Hence the name. Back in the day, one could choose from about 250 bouillons in Paris. Today you will only find a few of them, and if you come across a ‘bouillon’ in Paris, you can be sure that it serves food at affordable prices.
To keep this beauty glorious for future generations, Bouillon Julien was painstakingly restored in 2018 by British heritage design expert John Whelan.
Information: Bouillon Julien. 16 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, 75010 Paris, France. Suitable for vegetarians. Hours: Monday to Sunday 11.45am to 12am. Book in advance to avoid disappointment.
Do you like to look at street art?
Travel France. 22 Street Art photos from five different arrondissements in Paris.