Left Bank, Paris
The Latin Quarter, St-Germain & the Left Bank
The Rive Gauche — the Left Bank of the Seine — has long been the intellectual and bohemian soul of Paris. In the narrow cobblestoned streets of the Latin Quarter, Hemingway, Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir once argued over philosophy in café booths that still exist today. The prestigious 13th-century Sorbonne University looms over streets packed with bookshops, jazz bars, and crêperies.
Strolling west into Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the city's most literary neighbourhood unfolds — anchored by Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots, where the 20th century's greatest thinkers held court over un express. Nearby, the magnificent Luxembourg Gardens offer shaded paths, a grand fountain, and the city's finest spot for an afternoon book and a stolen hour of doing absolutely nothing. This is Paris at its most timelessly, unapologetically Parisian.
Insider Tip: Shakespeare and Company — the legendary English-language bookshop on the banks of the Seine directly opposite Notre Dame — has been a literary institution since 1951. Browse its famously cramped shelves and look for a reading event on their programme.
- Luxembourg Gardens — Paris's most beautiful public park
- Panthéon — mausoleum of France's greatest citizens
- Sainte-Chapelle — medieval chapel with extraordinary stained glass
- Musée de Cluny — medieval art collection, Roman baths on-site
- Rue Mouffetard — one of Paris's oldest and most atmospheric market streets
Icon of Paris
