Paris

Atelier Renault

Renault has opened its Champs-Elysees showroom at this location in 1910. The highlight of its current form, launched in 2011, is the cafe/restaurant/bar in the "floating" mezzanine, where you can enjoy some good drinks and food as well as a nice view over the Champs Elysees and the Renault cars from the past and present exhibited below.

Su-Th 10:30-22:30, F Sa 10:30-01:30)

Cafe Philo in English

Cafe Philo in English meets on the first Wednesday of each month upstairs at the famous Café de Flore. Everyone is invited. You don't have to be knowledgeable about philosophy. Meetings begin with a two round voting process to determine a topic. The topic is discussed for two hours.

Free

Caffe Panem

Pasta and bruschetta featured in this small family-run café that serves good and cheap coffee (90 cents for an espresso cup), croissants and great home made sweets such as tiramisu (standard and with chestnut purée). Evenings feature pasta and toasted bruschetta.

Closed · opens 8:30 am tomorrow·€8-20

Café de Flore

This café is famous as the favored coffee and smoking venue for the Surrealists during the 1920s and '30s, the Existentialists in the 1940s and '50s, and still attracts an artistic and literary crowd. Also does breakfasts and light meals.

Daily 07:30-01:30

Caféothèque de Paris

Coffee in Paris is usually found to be lacking, but not in this mini temple to coffee. A gem tucked into a backstreet by the river in le Marais roasts their own beans from around the world and has a small laid-back café area with armchairs. Staff are passionate about great coffee, not just a scaldingly hot coffee! They have some cakes and wine, and speak Spanish and English.

Daily 09:30-19:30

Centre Georges Pompidou

Centre Georges Pompidou closed its doors in 2025, for a major renovation project, which is expected to be completed in 2030. The vast collection of the museum will be exhibited in various venues across France, as part of the Constellation Program. Please see the website for more information. Another site, Centre Pompidou Francilien – fabrique de l’art in Massy, is expected to open in 2027. Those who are unfamiliar with conceptual art sometimes don't know quite what to expect, or how to approach it. They should rest assured that the curators at the Pompidou Centre have assembled a marvellous introduction consisting of mostly approachable works which delight, amuse, and entertain. The art is far from the only reason for a visit, as the building also contains a vast public library and a fine restaurant (run by the Costes brothers) on the roof. In fact the place is literally surrounded by some of the nicest pavement cafés in the city, in its superb location between the car-free above ground part of Forum Les Halles and the Marais art district.

closed – check website for reopening (expected 2030)

Hôtel de Ville

Town Hall

Many feel that this, Paris' town hall, is one of the loveliest buildings in the city. You might not get that from the front view, but try watching the light change on its roofs and towers during sunset from one of the cafés on the Ile de St. Louis, the Lutece for instance. Alternatively, go to the top floor of the Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville (BHV) department store opposite, on rue de Rivoli and walk up a flight of stairs to the roof terrace (terrasse), from which there is a dramatic view of both the roof of the Hôtel de Ville and the immediate surroundings and river. The present Hôtel de Ville replaced the 16th century original which was burned down during the Commune in 1871. A pastiche of its predecessor, but on a far larger scale, it was designed by the architects Ballu and Deperthes, chosen after a competition, and was mostly completed by 1882. The building is lavishly, and some would say heavy-handedly, decorated both inside and out, and finished in an arrestingly white stone, similar to that used for the even more eye-catching Sacre-Coeur basilica. The statue on the garden wall on the south side is of Etienne Marcel, the most famous holder of the post of "prevôt des marchands" (provost of merchants) which pre-dated the office of mayor. Marcel came to a sticky end, lynched in 1358 by an angry mob after trying to assert the city's powers a little too energetically. The Hôtel de Ville was for many years the private fiefdom of Jacques Chirac, France's president before Sarkozy, and was the site of a scandal centring on both illegal jobs given to Chirac's party members and an immense entertainment budget. General de Gaulle greeted the crowds from a front window in 1944 when Paris was liberated from the Germans and Robespierre was shot in the jaw and arrested in the original building in 1794. Admirers of Hôtel de Ville's architecture will want to know that Ballu also built the Church of La Trinité in the 9th arrondissement and the belfry of the town hall of the 1st arr

Jardin des Tuileries

Built adjoining the now-lost royal palace of the Tuileries, these gardens lying immediately west of the Louvre offer a central open space for Parisians and visitors with semi-formal gardens (an outdoor gallery for modern sculpture), various cafés, ice cream and crépe stalls, and a summer fun fair. The gardens are frequently home to a giant Ferris wheel and enclose the Musée de la Orangerie and the Jeu de Paume.

Musée du Petit Palais

The Petit Palais was built as a complement to the Grand Palais for the 1900 universal exhibition, and afterwards became the prime exhibition venue for the City of Paris' vast collection of artworks spanning centuries from ancient history to around 1914. Later material is at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris in the 16th. There is a permanent exhibition of selected artworks of artifacts, complemented by temporary exhibitions of historic artworks. The Petit Palais also features an on-site cafe/restaurant, as well as a book and gift shop.

Open daily except except Mondays and public holidays from 10:00 to 18:00. Thursdays until 20:00 for temporary exhibitions only. Ticket office closes at 17:00·Free admission to the permanent collections. Admission charge for temporary exhibitions (EUR 5-11)

Promenade Canal St. Martin

Enjoy a leisurely stroll along the water's edge while viewing amazing sunsets over the canal. Linger over a coffee and tuck into a pastry while feeling that you are experiencing the true Paris.

La Chaise au Plafond

The Chaise is one of those truly warm and welcoming cafés. The proprietor usually makes an effort to spend at least a couple of minutes at each table, and somehow manages to remember visitors even years later.

Le Cafe des Lettres

The charming cobblestoned courtyard makes this an ideal place to sit down and linger over a glass of wine. Excellent cocktail list.

Mon-Sat, noon-23:00

Le Piano Vache

A legendary part of student life in the real Latin quarter this dark barroom has walls covered with posters and photos of bands, but also a wall covered with passport-type photos of regulars past and present. At night things get going with DJs, bands of all styles, and on Tuesday nights, a pop-rock jam session.

Beer €3.50, mixed drinks €6.50, coffee €1