DK Travel : Paris : St-Germain, Latin and Luxembourg Quarters

This area of the left bank is possibly the most stimulating in Paris. St-Germain-des-Prés, centred around the city’s oldest church, is a synonym for Paris’s café society, made famous by the writers and intellectuals who held court here in the first half of the 20th century. Although it’s more touristy today, a stroll around the back streets reveals lovely old houses plastered with plaques noting famous residents. The Latin Quarter takes its name from the Latin spoken by students of the Sorbonne until the Revolution. The scholastic centre of Paris for more than 700 years, it continues to buzz with student bookshops, cafés and jazz clubs. It was also the site of a Roman settlement and remains from that era can be seen in the Musée du Moyen-Age. The area’s western boundary is the bustling boulevard Saint-Michel and to the south is the tranquil greenery of the Luxembourg Quarter.

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Petit Gaulois

Just the place to wind down after a night of joie de vivre .
Pierre Hermé Paris

Here are some of the city’s very finest cakes and pastries, including what is said to be the best chocolate gâteau in Paris.
Poilâne

Get the best bread for your picnic, made from the recipe of the late king of bread-makers, Lionel Poilâne.
Quai de la Tournelle

From this riverbank, just before the Pont de l’rchevêché there are lovely views across to Notre-Dame. The main attraction of this and the adjacent Quai de Montebello, however, are the dark-green stalls of the bouquinistes (see Bouquinistes). The Pont de la Tournelle also offers splendid views up and down the Seine.
Rue de Buci Market

If your tastes are refined, head for this chic, daily market where you’ll find the very best regional produce, wine, pastries and everything else for the perfect picnic (see La Closerie des Lilas).
Ryst Dupeyron

A specialist wine shop, selling French wines, spirits and liqueurs and champagne.
Shakespeare and Co

Bibliophiles spend hours in the rambling rooms of Paris’s renowned English-language bookshop. There are books in other languages too and poetry readings most Mondays at 8pm.
Shakespeare and Co

This bookshop has played host to many celebrated writers including Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Gide and Stein.
St-Sulpice

Begun in 1646, this enormous church unsurprisingly took 134 years to build. Its Classical façade by the Florentine architect Giovanni Servandoni features a two-tiered colonnade and two incongruously matched towers. Notice the two holy water fonts by the front door, made from huge shells given to François I by the Venetian Republic. Jacob Wrestling with the Angel and other splendid murals by Delacroix (1798–1863) are in the chapel to the right of the main door.
Tea & Tattered Pages

An excellent venue for a relaxed afternoon’s browsing among thousands of English-language books; you can have a cuppa, too.