Underground & cool · Jazz cellar · €€ · 5e · Latin Quarter
Caveau des Oubliettes
A 12th-century stone cellar, once a dungeon, given over to nightly jam sessions rather than ticketed billings — soul on Wednesdays, jazz-funk on Thursdays and Sundays. Sets run on a fixed clock at 21:45, 22:45 and 23:45.
It runs on jams, not advance tickets, so just turn up after 21:00 — but note the summer shutdown 3–25 August.
Getting there
- Cluny - La Sorbonne10210 m · 4 min walk
- Saint-Michel Notre-Dame4RER BRER C210 m · 4 min walk
- Maubert Mutualité10240 m · 4 min walk
Walks that pass nearby
- Hidden Parisstop 2 of 6 · 20 m
The oldest tree in Paris
A Robinia pseudoacacia planted in 1601 by botanist Jean Robin in the garden of Notre-Dame's medical school. Now in Square René-Viviani, propped up with a metal crutch, hollow but still alive. Officially the oldest tree in the city.
Square René-Viviani is on the Left Bank facing Notre-Dame, just behind Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre church. The tree is fenced in the south corner of the square. The plaque is in French; touching the bark is allowed.
- Phantom Parisstop 2 of 6 · 30 m
Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre
12th-century church on the Left Bank, opposite Notre-Dame. One of the oldest surviving churches in Paris, built circa 1170 — older than most of Notre-Dame itself. Saved from demolition by being too small to bother with.
The square out front (Square René-Viviani) holds the oldest tree in Paris, planted 1601. Inside, the apse and three aisles are original 12th century. Now a Greek Catholic church; usually open in the afternoons.
- Latin Quarter under 30 minutesstop 3 of 6 · 30 m
Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre
Romanesque church begun around 1170 — older than most of Notre-Dame across the river. Now a Greek Catholic Melkite chapel; the iconostasis at the front is 20th-century but the rest of the building is pure 12th century.
Free, usually open afternoons. The square out front (Square René-Viviani) holds the oldest tree in Paris (1601). Walk into the apse and look at the capitals on the columns — each is carved differently with vegetal motifs from the late Romanesque period.
- Paris Undergroundstop 3 of 6 · 140 m
Crypte archéologique du Parvis Notre-Dame
Beneath the cathedral square: foundations of Roman Lutetia, medieval streets, and the original Hôtel-Dieu hospital. Excavated 1965 when the city built an underground car park; turned into a museum that almost no one visits.
Entrance is in the small staircase on the parvis itself, in the centre near the bronze "Point Zéro" disc. Combined ticket with the Carnavalet Museum is good value. Allow 45 min — small but extraordinary, and never crowded.
Within a few minutes' walk
- Shakespeare and CompanyIndependent bookshop€ · 1 minGeorge Whitman's English-language bookshop, opened in 1951 opposite Notre-Dame. Narrow stairs, beds among the shelves where 'Tumbleweeds' have slept since the 1950s, a piano, a wishing well and a reading library upstairs — a bookshop and a stubborn anachronism at once.
- Le Caveau de la HuchetteJazz cellar€€ · 2 minA vaulted 16th-century stone cellar run as a swing and bebop club since 1949, with a live band and a packed dance floor every night. Come to dance, not to watch.
- Le LoubnaneLebanese / mezze€€ · 2 minA Latin Quarter Lebanese kitchen run by the same family since 1984, where the case to make is for the cold-and-hot mezze spread — tabbouleh, kibbeh, the lot — rather than a single plate.
- Le Grenier de Notre-DameVegetarian restaurant€€ · 2 minFrance's oldest vegetarian dining room, running since 1978 a few steps from the cathedral, and it has outlived most of the fashions that came after it. Lentil burgers crowned with Bleu d'Auvergne, gratins, and a mango-and-avocado tartare; vegan and gluten-free marked plainly.
- Hôtel MarignanBudget hotel€ · 4 minA family-owned holdout with a guest kitchen and free laundry — economies rare in the 5th — though there is no lift and the rooms are slight.
- Hôtel Dame des ArtsRooftop-view design hotel€€€ · 6 minA board-formed concrete building at the Danton–Saint-Germain corner, interiors by Raphael Navot, opened 2023. The seventh-floor terrace gives a true 360 — Eiffel Tower one way, Notre-Dame the other.
Landmarks nearby
The district · 5e
Latin Quarter — The student hillThe oldest quarter, Roman under the surface — the Panthéon, the Sorbonne, the Arènes de Lutèce, Rue Mouffetard's market hill. Bookish and steep, with cheap eats that have fed students for centuries.
Best for: Readers, walkers, and anyone who wants character and value over polish.
Everything we've verified in the 5e →How we verified this
Confirmed currently operating as of August 2026,cross-checked against 1 source:
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