TAKE PARIS PERSONALLY
DISCOVERING QUINTESSENTIAL PARIS

Table of Contents & Sample Chapter

Use Take Paris Personally to get the MOST out of your Paris sojourn—on and off the beaten track. To be sure, there are many different Paris Guidebooks--- but this one focuses on helping you to tailor a memorable trip that is true to your own tastes, budget and desires.

With Take Paris Personally you will feel like a Paris ‘insider’. Whether is it your first or fifth Paris trip this e-guide is full of useful information.  You will learn how to explore the best Paris neighborhoods and to move around the city with ease. You will understand your accommodation and dining options. You will enjoy memorable restaurants, bistros and wine bars. You will visit superb famed and out-of-the-way museums and monuments, find the most vibrant markets, verdant parks, the top shopping streets--- all with confidence.

Be it art, architecture, antiques, fine design, shopping, incomparable food, wine, lively neighborhoods . . . Paris has it all! But like many great cities, Paris can be slow to yield its charms, replete with curious cultural differences, sometimes overwhelming to the visitor. Time in Paris is just too precious to waste on inefficiently planned days or a lack of “local knowledge”. Along with information about what to see and do, and how to do what you want to do--- you’ll use my Ten Great Days in Paris On and Off the Beaten Path” chapters featuring full-day activity clusters in must-visit neighborhoods, complete with wine bar and restaurant recommendations.

Take Paris Personally is written by Sally Peabody, President of Your Great Days in Paris.  It gathers and distills the information that she repeatedly is asked for by her consulting and trip coaching clients, her culinary tour guests, and the students in Boston-area classes she teaches on savvy travel to Paris.

Table of Contents

Take Paris Personally : Your Guide to Discovering Quintessential Paris

Discovering Quintessential Paris

  • Introduction: How This Guide Will Help You To “Take Paris Personally”
  • If you have a week:  Paris’ Top Twenty-One Sights and Venues
  • If you have two weeks:  More Top Sights and Venues in and around Paris

Choosing Accommodations and Quarters to Visit

  • Where and How to Stay in Paris? Hotels, Apartments, B&Bs
  • Which Paris Neighborhoods Are Best for You to Stay In or to Visit? Snapshots of the 20 arrondissements

Accessing Quintessential Paris

  • Enjoying Paris With Children
  • The Best of Paris Shopping
  • Dining In Paris:  When and How to Eat Well
  • Cheese, Chocolates, Patisserie and more!  Accessing Paris’Specialty
  • Food Shops, Markets, Gourmet Emporiums
  • Shopping The Paris Markets and Market Streets:  Top Picks
  • Enjoy Wine?  Sally’s Picks for Paris Winebars
  • Special Spots to Savor and Shop for Tea in Paris
  • Art and Culture:  Choosing Museums & Monuments
  • Lesser-known Paris Parks: Urban Oases that Reward Exploration

Trip Planning and Trip Tips

  • Tour Planning:  Useful Paris Websites
  • Trip Tips
  • Getting Into Paris From Charles DeGaulle Airport
  • Moving Around Paris with Ease

Ten Great Days in Paris, On and Off the Beaten Path:
Exploring Seven Top Quarters of History, Character and Charm

  • A Quintessential Paris Walk: Champs Elysées, Place de la Madeleine, the Tuileries, and the Louvre
  • A Great Day In Montmartre
  • A Great Day In And Around The Marais 
  • A Great Day In The Heart of Paris—Around Ile de La Cité, Ile St. Louis, Les Halles, and the Rue Montorgueil
  • A Great Day In St. Germain and St. Germain des Prés
  • A Great Day In The Latin Quarter
  • A Great Day Around The Eiffel Tower, On The Right And Left Banks

Paris Off-the-Beaten-Path:  Three Great Quarters to Explore:

  • Behind Bastille’, Exploring the Faubourg St. Antoine, Rue Paul Bert, Aligre Market and the Viaduc des Arts in the 11th and 12th
  • Parc Monceau, Rue de Levis and Batignolles: ‘Village’ Paris in the 17th
  • So-Pi (South of Pigalle) and the Rue de Martyrs Market Street in the 9th
Sample Chapter

Shopping The Paris Markets:  Top Picks for Marché Volants and Market Streets

Why shop the markets of Paris?    First, they are incredibly enjoyable, quintessentially Parisian experiences!   You can shop like a local for the freshest foods and find much, much more, besides.    You’ll often encounter certified artisans who love their wares and who love to talk about them— that is, if they aren’t too busy servicing other customers.    Plus, the people-watching can’t be beat.

You’ll find great buys on wares like pashima or other beautiful scarves and shawls, leather goods, and provencal textiles.   You can purchase the finest fresh ingredients for memorable meals or picnics, or buy a range of delicious food gifts for the gourmets at home. 

Paris markets vary in size, scope, ambience and quality— and virtually all of them provide a sumptuous slice of neighborhood life.
(Note that this chapter does not cover the specialty markets like the Bird Market, the Flower market, the Flea Markets, and the Stamp Market.  These will be referenced in the chapters covering shopping and walks in the various quartiers.)

First, a couple of definitions: a “Marché Volant” is a “temporary” market that sets up along an appointed street or boulevard on one, two, or even three days each week.  (Never on Mondays.)   These can be a block or several blocks in length, with two or three aisles of vendors.   A “Market Street”, on the other hand, generally refers to an entire street featuring a permanent collection of food shops, along with other types of shops (such as tailors or cleaners) that are essential to everyday life.   Shops along market streets often augment their indoor sales areas with stalls set up outside the shops.   Every quartier  of Paris has at least one such market street--- and usually a good marché volant too.

What can you buy at such markets?

  • Accessories like cashmere/pashima scarves, shawls, wallets, pocketbooks
  • Makeup:  look for Bourjois cosmetics at deep discount, and other name brands
  • Clothes (usually not the height of fashion but there will always be some good finds and some great used or vintage clothes) 
  • Shoes
  • Wine from regional, small scale producers
  • Delicious prepared foods, French and ethnic
  • Beautiful fresh food to take away for a picnic—cheeses, charcuterie, roasted chickens, patés, bread, fruit, olives of all kinds, fruit, vegetables, pastries--  it’s all there!
  • Food gifts—artisanal confitures, honeys, duck and goose confits, patés and foie gras, unusual spices, wonderful sea salts and salt/herb mixtures, fine oils, vinegars
  • Linens and provencal style table cloths, placemats
  • Herbal scented soaps, candles
  • Housewares-kitchenwares (sea salt or pepper grinders, kitchen gadgets, pots, dishes)
  • Sometimes, second-hand or semi-antique items for the kitchen or home

How and when to find these Marché Volants and permanent Market Streets?

Marché volants generally set up in one specified location, usually along a major boulevard and near a Metro station.  Vendors don’t tend to vary very much from week to week, and indeed many will have had their stalls for years.   Market hours are strictly limited, typically running from earlier morning to early afternoon.   Shops on the permanent “Market Streets” are generally open all day (except Mondays and Sunday afternoons/evenings, when many of the smaller shops close).

Savvy Shopping  in the Markets

Vendors take cash only, with the rare exception that credit cards are accepted by some of those who sell more expensive items (for example, foie gras).   However, you will likely need a credit card with a European chip to work in the hand-held terminals used in the markets.  Best to bring cash!  Unless you know the market well enough to have developed a repertoire of favorite vendors, it would be wise to walk its whole length, both to look for inspiration as well as to pinpoint the best- quality items at the best prices.  Bring an expandable bag in which to consolidate all those unexpected treasures, since you will probably buy more than you thought you would.   And please remember that unless a sign says “service libre”, you do not pick out your own fruits and vegetables or other foods.    Request what you would like to buy, and the vendor will compile your purchase.   Note: In crowded markets keep an eye on your wallets--- pickpocketing is not uncommon.
Examples of Excellent Marché Volants:

Top quality and comprehensive

  • President Wilson, Wednesdays, Saturdays.  Chaillot Quartier.  16 ème.   Metro: Iena or Pont de l’Alma.  Located in a wealthy residential quartier, this temporary market, several blocks long, offers TOP-quality foods, beautiful flowers, excellent traiteurs, and good scarf and tableware vendors. 
  • Saxe Breteuil, Thursdays, Saturdays.  St. Germain, Invalides Quartier 7  ème.   Metro:  École Militaire.   In an upscale residential neighborhood—like President Wilson, this is a large-scale market featuring high-quality goods and foods and offering great variety in its selection of stalls.
  • Richard Lenoir, Thursday, Sundays.  Marais/Bastille, 11 ème.  Metro: Bastille.   This is a vast market, at its biggest and best on Sundays—when there are usually performers singing, music being played, and an enjoyable general hubbub.   It features excellent traiteurs, and vendors of fish, cheese, and meats.   All manner of foods are on offer, including several vendors of Middle-Eastern cuisines and delicious paellas.   You will find good leather goods as well, including wallets and pocketbooks.  Also lingerie, shoes, and textiles.

It’s easy to combine visits on Sundays to both Richard Lenoir and the Place D’Aligre markets.  The Place d’Aligre is located approximately ten minutes walk from the Place de la Bastille (Metro: Ledru Rollin).   See the description below.

Reasonably comprehensive, Neighborhood Markets

  • Maubert and Monge, 5 éme, Latin Quarter, Metro: Maubert Mutualite for Marché Maubert or Monge for Marché Monge.  Maubert: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  Monge: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.  Good small markets, very good quality.   Monge is charming and located on a lovely small place.   Its vendors offer fresh salad greens, meats, cheeses, pain d’épices, fish and more.  (This is near the rue Mouffetard Market-Street too.)

  • Auguste Blanqui, Thursday, Fridays and Sundays:  Butte aux Cailles quartier,           13  ème.   Large and lively market, it feels like a country-village setting.   Primarily offers food: wine, jams, spices, prepared foods, etc.   Metro:  Place d’Italie

3.  Marchés Biologique (Organic Markets)

The Batignolles Biologique Market, 17  éme, is on Saturdays along Boulevard de Batignolles.  This is well attended by neighborhood residents and shoppers from around the city who care about organic foods.  This market has a friendly, informal ambience. Metro: Rome or Place de Clichy.

The Raspail market is the Sunday Marché Biologique in St. Germain.  Upscale, large, very well attended (a place to see and to be seen bien sur),  draws shoppers from around the city.   Metro: Sevres/Babylone.

4.  Souk-like atmosphere, multi-cultural, a little bit of everything!

  • Barbès, 18 éme.  Wednesdays and Saturdays.  Barbes is not for the faint of heart—this dense and always-packed market runs along blvd.  de la Chapelle and Blvd. Roucheouart (to the left and right of the Metro stop).  Food, fragrant piles of fresh mint, cilantro, rosemary and other fresh herbs, lots of clothing, housewares, textiles--  just about anything is for sale here.   It features great prices—and quality is good if not at the level of the elegant President Wilson market.    You’ll find lots of ethnic food and crafts, spices, exotic patisserie,  plus Middle-Eastern and African breads hot off the grills.  Metro:  Barbes/Roucheouart, near Gare du Nord
  • Belleville, 19 ème.   Tuesday and Friday.   Along boulevard de Belleville.   Spreading for blocks, this market in a multi-ethnic quarter is full of good buys.  Ethnic foods, spices, and a broad variety of goods are on offer.  Bigger market on Fridays than on Tuesdays.  Metro: Menilmontant or Belleville.  
  • ***Place d’Aligre, Bastille quartier, 11  éme.   This is a permanent covered-market (open Tuesday through Sunday) with a weekend flea-market and an expanded fruit and vegetable market on the square.   The covered market is well worth a visit on account of the high quality of its vendors including one with excellent olive oils and Spanish hams.   The weekend market includes a small flea market, often with antiques and collectibles, some vintage clothes, and the food vendors offer expanded food choices often with an Arabic/African flavor. Great prices, lively atmosphere.  For additional choices walk up or down rue Aligre one block to rue Faubourg Saint Antoine.  This street is lined with small food shops including a good fromager.

Nearest Metro:  Ledru Rollin or Faidherbe Chaligny

  Sally’s Selected “Worth-a-Visit” (Permanent) Market Streets

Market streets generally run for several blocks and include various traiteurs, boulangeries, fish markets, charcuteries, florists, fromageries, patisseries, chocolatiers, cafés, small restaurants, and wine stores—as well as useful shops selling non-food items.  The shops will be open every day except Mondays, and are generally closed on Sunday afternoons.

Notable Market Streets are:

  • rue Cler, St. Germain, 7 ème,  be sure to visit *Marie-Ann Cantin Fromager/Affineur, 12 rue du Champs de Mars,  just off the top-quality rue Cler market street.   Metro:  La Tour Maubourg or Champ de Mars.

  • Rue des Martyrs in the 9 ème is an excellent market street in an up and coming ‘bo-bo’ neighborhood.  Be sure to visit Rose Bakery, 46 rue de Martyrs, an intimate bakery café with exceptional baked goods and salads, quiches and such (including very English crumbles and scones).  This street, primarily running between rue St. Lazare and rue Condorcet, is loaded with excellent food shops and cute shops selling, for example, children’s clothes.  A. Delmontel, 39 rue de Martyrs, is a superb baker/patissier.  His baguettes, whole grain breads, fougasse,  and fianciers are vaut le voyage.  Metro: Pigalle (upper end) or Notre Dame de Lorette (lower end and walk up the hill along rue de Martyrs). 
  • rue Lepic, Monmartre, 18 ème,  **classic market street, a must for “Amelie” fans.  There are lots of good butchers, fromagers, bakers, and some charming cafés.  Metro: Abbesses.  Rue Lepic runs all the way from Boulevard de Clichy to the Place du Tertre near Sacre Coeur.  The best shopping for food is the concentration of shops from rue des Abbesses down to Boulevard de Clichy.
  • rue Montorgueil, Les Halles area—Central Paris, 1ème.    Be sure to visit **Patisserie Stohrer, 51 rue Montorgueil.   This market street is the remnant of the venerable Les Halles markets, now relocated to modern warehouses out near Orly Airport, at Rungis.   Rue Montorgueil is just off the side of St. Eustache Church.   It has a number of nice cafés and bistros, and there’s good shopping for kitchenwares in this area too.   Metro:  Les Halles or Chatelet
  • rue de Bretagne, Temple, 3   ème,  includes a typique market street with several food shops and  Les Enfants Rouge covered market.  Metro: Arts et Metiers.
  • rue Mouffetard, Latin Quarter, 5  ème, Rue Mouffetard is a lively market that’s a big draw for visitors.   You’ll find lots of shops and cafés, and it’s fun to browse.   Not as upscale as some, but it’s a great market street to visit. Metro: Monge

  • rue de Seine/rue de Buci, St. Germain des Pres, 6  ème.  Go to **Gerard Mulot: 76 rue de Seine, for superb Patissèrie, and to *Le Dernier Goutte for wines of the French Southwest—6 rue Bourbon-le-Chateau.  (The Dernier Goutte offers excellent wine tasting options for free on Saturdays, approx. 11:30-6:30.) This area sports some nice chocolate shops including Cacao et Chocolat on Buci, and you can buy fabulous and unusual oils at the tiny Huilerie LeBlanc, 6 rue Jacob.  Metro: St. Germain des Prés.

  • rue Levis, Monceau quartier, 17  ème, a several block long well-stocked market street that caters to the affluent neighborhood residents.   Particularly notable in a street of excellent shops is Le Moulin de la Vierge, at # 6, a lovely little boulangerie that makes excellent breads in wood-fired ovens.  Metro: Villiers. Note this is near the Parc Monceau or Park de Batignolles for picnics.

  • rue des Moines, Batignolles, 17  ème,   **Check out the friendly Fromagerie des Moines on rue des Moines, and the Boulangerie of Laurent Conant on rue des Batignolles.   This market street offers an excellent variety of lovely shops (food and otherwise), along with the very pleasant park de Batignolles nearby.  Also, check out rue Brochant, which runs parallel to rue de Moines for nice small shops and restaurants. Note Christian Rizzuto, chocolatier/glacier at 14, rue Brochant. Metro: Brochant on the north end of Batignolles, or walk up rue de Batinignolles from the Boulevard de Batignolles, metro stops either Place de Clichy or Rome.

  • rue Poncelet-rue Bayen, Monceau/Arc de Triomphe quartier, 17  ème.  Within this market street, note Daugerre Marée, an excellent fish store, and Stubli for Viennese patisserie.  Very nice top quality shops.  Metro: Ternes.

  • Rue Dejean.  For a totally out-of-Paris as you generally know it experience, take the metro to Château Rouge in the 18 ème and take a walk on and around the rue Dejean.  This is a market street and surrounding quarter full of the foods of Senegal, Algeria and other lesser known cuisines.   Bustling, fascinating, definitely off the beaten path on the edge of the still a bit edgy Goutte d’Or quarter.

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