Sitting in a terraced café sipping wine while smoking cigarettes and people watching is a national pastime in France. This hobby is elevated to an art in a small neighborhood on the Right Bank noted for its cultural diversity, ancient history, stunning architecture, and avant-garde style. Join us for a tour of Le Marais, one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Paris.
Journey to Medieval Paris
To stroll through the streets of Marais is to enjoy a trip back in time to the Paris that existed in the Middle Ages; a place of palaces, royalty, and grandeur. You can see more pre-revolutionary buildings still standing in Marais than in any other Paris neighborhood.
Our tour guide is Delphine with the tour company Triple.co. Triple offers tours led by locals so you can enjoy the area like an insider. We meet Delphine at the St.Paul Metro station. We quickly learn that Marais, which sounds trés chic to our American ears, actually means swamp.
Considered by some as the original Paris, settlers can be traced back to the 12th century when the Knights Templar (think “Da Vinci Code”), a Catholic military order, built a fortified church in the northern part of Marais. The aristocrats came in the 13th century, followed by the bourgeois. In the 1600s, artisans made their way to the Marais. The modern Jewish quarter was reestablished in the 1800s. Today a thriving LGBTQ community has joined the eclectic mix.
Our first stop is Hotel de Ville, a medieval mini-castle whose walls still bare the scars of the French Revolution of 1830. Built with turrets, arches, and gargoyles, the castle is classic, but look closely at the exterior and you will find something unusual: a cannonball protruding out of a high wall like a dark sunny-side up egg. During the French Revolution of 1830, which led to the overthrow of King Charles X, cannons were shot into the old city and one lodged into the castle’s eastern façade. The date—July 28, 1830—is carved into the stone under the cannonball, making it one of the most distinctive memorials to France’s past.
Wander to the back of the Hotel de Ville and you will find a secret hideaway: a stately garden open to the public.
Le Marais: Artisan shops and cafes
We turn down a few more narrow streets and voila! We are in a square filled with tempting small shops and a delightful café, perfect for taking a moment to relax and enjoy a petite bite. On Sundays the square is filled with vendors selling a variety of wares and Parisians looking for just the perfect treasure for themselves or their apartment.
A millinery shop filled with hats of every color and for every occasion catches our eye. We wander in and hear the soft hum of a sewing machine. A milliner hunches over the machine, her face close to the needle, while she carefully crafts her next piece of wearable art. She calls out “Bonjour” over her shoulder without ever looking up.
We continue strolling. Store displays tempt us everywhere we look. Here there is a window filled with scrumptious-looking chocolates. There we see a thrift store stuffed to overflowing with oddities. Another shop’s mannequins are dressed in black leather, chains, and top hats.
Next we come to Nirvana wrapped in a soft pastry shell: L’Éclair de Génie. This is no ordinary éclair shop, declares Delphine. It offers the very best eclairs in Paris. One step inside and we are smitten. This is pastry as fine art. Shall we have the Chantilly Fraise with strawberry and orange blossom confit? Or perhaps the Caramel Beurre Salé, an éclair filled with salted caramel and mascarpone crème. Then we spot the mother of dark chocolate desserts: the Grand Cru Taïnori. Knowing this is not the time to fall into a chocolate stupor, we bravely keep on strolling, but vow to return.
Le Marais: The Palace Royale
Le Marais’s aristocratic roots are evident in the oldest public square in Paris. In the early 1600s, King Henry IV had the vision for Place Royale, which combined public, commercial, and residential areas in a perfectly symmetrical square surrounded by 36 buildings. Today known as the Place des Vosges (named after a mountain range in eastern France), the lush green square surrounded by red-brick buildings with steeply pitched rooftops and arcaded plazas quickly became the place to be both then and now.
Once the residence of Victor Hugo (a portion of “Les Miserables” was written near this square), Delphine tells us politicians, movie stars such as Johnny Depp, and the richest of the rich still call this home. Scarlett Johansson once owned Yummy Pop, a flavored popcorn boutique in the Marais. And it’s said to be Sarah Jessica Parker’s favorite neighborhood.
Strolling on, we turn on to Rue des Francs Bourgeois, known for its boutique perfumeries. We breathe in the soft scents of fruits and flowers.
Our guide Delphine takes us to La Mercerie Parisienne, a sewing and crafts shop. Filled with all types of fabrics, notions, and bobbles, the store is bustling. It is a French tradition to give handmade gifts for the holidays, birthdays, and special occasions, Delphine tells us.
Le Marais: The Jewish Quarter
From the Place Royale we stroll on to the Little Plaza, an English translation of the Yiddish word Pletzl, the most famous Jewish neighborhood in Paris.
The heart of the Jewish quarter is rue des Rosiers, which means Street of the Rosebushes. Here Jewish bookstores sit amidst kosher bakeries and restaurants. We stop to enjoy some potato latkes at the Sacha Finkelstein bakery and deli. As the area gentrifies, these culturally significant shops are punctuated by high-end clothing boutiques and upscale chain stores.
Despite the changes, tradition is still in evidence. We walk along on the ancient cobblestones and see men in black jackets with long, curled sidelocks (peyots) bouncing from beneath their black hats. Many of the women are conservatively dressed; their heads covered with scarves or wigs.
One of the most striking buildings in the Jewish Quarter is the Agoudas Hekehilos Synagogue. Built in 1913, the synagogue was designed by famed Art Nouveau architect Hector Guimard. Guimard also designed the stunning floral-style Art Nouvea entrances to the Paris Metro stations.
The synagogue’s architecture and beauty were desecrated on the evening of Yom Kipper in 1941 when it was one of six Paris synagogues dynamited by the Nazis. It was rebuilt after the war.
Nearby is the historic Synagogue Tournelles, which features a striking cast iron interior created in the workshops of Gustev Eiffel.
Le Marais: The best falafels in Paris
Although Middle Eastern food can be found throughout Paris, Le Marais is where you will find the best falafels in the city, Delphine says, pointing to the L’as du Falafel. “We Parisians like to come get our falafels from here on Sunday.” A walk-up window offers 10 falafel balls for €3.50; too good a deal for Harv to pass up. His verdict: fresh, warm, subtly seasoned, and not overly crunchy. Next time we’ll try the falafel sandwich with hummus and eggplant.
Le Marais: Gay Paree
When evening descends on the Marais it becomes the epicenter for gay bars and dance clubs. Many are open all night so revelers can travel safely home on the metro when it reopens in the morning. The Gay Pride Parade in June welcomed more than 700,000 people supporting equal rights.
Le Marais is a model for the beauty and gifts that can be found when tolerance and diversity are celebrated. And exploring with a Parisian like Delphine who loves the city and knows exactly what she likes (“Eclairs? Oui!”) and doesn’t (“Contemporary art mixed with 16th century architecture? No!”) adds to the fun. Her passion for this diverse, inclusive neighborhood made our walking tour a delight for the mind, eyes, nose, and tastebuds.
We experienced so much more during our tour with Delphine, but we must stop writing now and get back to our eclairs!
Use this link to schedule your own tour of le beautiful Marais.
Triple.co offers many tours in Paris and we wish we had had time to explore more. They also offer tours in Barcelona, London, Stockholm, Madrid, and Berlin. Visit their website to find out more: Triple.co.
GETTING THERE: Metro Line 1, Saint-Paul station
COST: $30 per person with Triple.co tour
You might also like …
You might also enjoy reading our guide to shopping a Paris market here, visit a classic film lovers’ Paris bookstore here, or a step-by-step guide to making European travel insanely affordable here. And remember to subscribe to our newsletter via the sign-up box on this page for insider tips, pictures and recipes. Thank you for visiting! We are glad you are here! Happy travels!
Slow Stroll Travel is a better way to see the world. More adventures, less money. Like our Facebook page to find out where we are in the world.
Disclaimer: Slow Stroll Travel was provided with a free tour in exchange for our honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are ours and not influenced by the company and/or its affiliates in any way.
Ann Crawford says
I could practically taste those eclairs! Thank you for taking us along for yet another glorious tour. My husband and I can’t wait to do it ourselves. Maybe meet you there next year? 🙂
Diane Bishop says
Hi, Ann, Yes, let’s meet there next year! We are already dreaming of our next trip.
Marilyn J Cavener says
Diane and Harv,
Delphine of Triple.co lead a great tour. It was a perfect glimpse of food, garden, culture and people. We plan to use your suggestions on our next trip. Thanks!
Amanda Socci says
Your descriptions and mental recall of all that is Paris were just lovely. I only visited Paris one time and barely remember any of it. I believe yours would be an excellent description to entice people to take their own tour of Paris, explore these gorgeous neighborhoods, and experience the fullness of the sights, sounds, and especially the culinary delicacies as you’ve aptly pictured and described them.