Underground & cool · Covered passage · € · 2e · Bourse & Sentier
Galerie Vivienne
The grandest of the surviving 1820s arcades, built in 1823 between the Bourse and the Palais-Royal. A vaulted glass roof throws light onto floor mosaics laid by Italian craftsmen; the tenants run to rare-book dealers and a long-established tea room rather than chains.
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Enter from rue Vivienne and look down before you look up: the Facchina mosaic floor is the reason to slow your pace.
Getting there
- Bourse3300 m · 6 min walk
- Pyramides714380 m · 7 min walk
- Quatre Septembre3450 m · 8 min walk
Around the corner
Galerie Vivienne · 70 m away
The Galerie Vivienne is one of the covered passages of Paris, located in the 2nd arrondissement. It is 176 metres (577 ft) long and 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide. The gallery has been registered as a historical monument since 7 July 1974.
Wikipedia ↗Walks that pass nearby
- Covered Passagesstop 2 of 6 · 70 m
Galerie Vivienne
1823. The grandest of the arcades — barrel-vaulted glass roof, mosaic floor by Italian craftsman Giandomenico Facchina, and a famous bookshop (Librairie Jousseaume) that has been there since 1826. Used as a film set every other month.
Enter from 4 Rue des Petits-Champs. Walk all the way through to the rotunda — the floor mosaic is the photograph. À Priori Thé in the middle is a classic spot for a slow tea. Exit at Rue Vivienne.
- Rainy Day Parisstop 1 of 6 · 70 m
Galerie Vivienne
1823. The grandest of the covered passages — barrel-vaulted glass, mosaic floor by Italian craftsman Giandomenico Facchina, bookshop running since 1826. Already a stop on the Covered Passages tour but the obvious starting point on a rainy day.
Enter from 4 Rue des Petits-Champs. Sit at À Priori Thé for an hour with a book — full menu, slow service, glass roof above. The Galerie Colbert (next door, sister arcade) is worth a five-minute look immediately after.
- Secret Gardensstop 2 of 6 · 230 m
Jardin du Palais-Royal
1633. The interior garden of the former royal palace, surrounded by 17th-century arcaded buildings. Quiet and almost monastic — the city's most underrated central garden. The black-and-white striped Buren columns at the south entrance (1986) are controversial but iconic.
Enter from the south through the Cour d'Honneur (Buren columns). Walk the perimeter under the arcades — the small shops are antique stamp dealers, vintage perfume merchants, and the city's best vintage tin-toy collector at no. 22 Galerie de Montpensier. The fountain in the centre and the rose garden at the north end are the picnic spots.
- Bouillons & Brasseriesstop 2 of 6 · 490 m
Au Pied de Cochon
6 Rue Coquillière, opened 1947 to feed the workers of Les Halles market. Open 24 hours since 1948 (briefly closed for COVID). The eponymous pig's foot — grilled, breaded, with béarnaise — is still the move at 4am.
Best between 1 and 4 am — the room fills with chefs from other restaurants finishing their shifts. Order the soupe à l'oignon gratinée and the pied de cochon panné. The basement bar is open on the weekends and serves until dawn.
Within a few minutes' walk
- Daroco BourseItalian trattoria & pizza€€ · 2 minNeapolitan pizza and trattoria standards served under a mirrored ceiling in Jean-Paul Gaultier's former couture atelier off the Galerie Vivienne. The room is the headline act, but the wood-fired margherita holds its end up.
- DanicoCocktail bar€€€ · 2 minReached through the Daroco restaurant off the 19th-century Galerie Vivienne, this is Nico de Soto's bar — globe-trotting flavour combinations executed with precision, his clarified and split-base drinks the things to order.
- HigumaRamen€ · 5 minOne of the long-standing institutions of rue Sainte-Anne, working an open kitchen and a no-reservations queue. The lamen comes in a gentle chūka-soba broth, the pan-fried gyoza are the reliable add-on, and the bill is about half a typical Parisian sit-down.
- AkiJapanese okonomiyaki€ · 6 minAn Osaka specialist on the Japanese stretch of rue Sainte-Anne, where the okonomiyaki is griddled on a hot plate in front of you. The same family runs a bakery two doors down if the line is long.
- Le MesturetTraditional bistro€€ · 6 minA seven-days-a-week bistro near the old Bourse where the kitchen cooks blanquette de veau and bœuf bourguignon straight, with no irony attached. The set menus do most of the work of keeping the bill sane.
- Passage ChoiseulCovered passage€ · 6 minAt 190 metres the longest covered passage in Paris, built 1826–27 and reopened in 2013 after restoration. Céline grew up above it and set part of 'Death on the Installment Plan' here. Art-supply shops, booksellers, ateliers, and the stage door of the Bouffes-Parisiens.
Where to stay near Galerie Vivienne
- Hôtel Filigrane & SpaBoutique hotel & spa€€€ · 10 minA 2025 opening on rue Vivienne behind the old Bourse, worked in ink blues and forest greens. The distinction is below ground: a private indoor pool, hammam and sauna you can book by the 45-minute slot — uncommon at this size on the Right Bank.
- Hôtel ChopinBudget hotel (in a passage)€ · 12 minBuilt into the glass-roofed Passage Jouffroy in 1846, so no room faces a street — the quietest look over rooftops, and the Musée Grévin shares the arcade.
- The Hoxton, ParisDesign hotel€€ · 12 minAn 18th-century residence turned design-led social hub in Sentier, with a leafy courtyard wine bar, an all-day brasserie and a speakeasy below.
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Landmarks nearby
The district · 2e
Bourse & Sentier — Covered passages and start-upsThe smallest arrondissement, threaded with nineteenth-century glass-roofed passages and, lately, the city's tech and restaurant energy around Rue Montorgueil and the old textile Sentier.
Best for: Eaters and drinkers who want to walk home; central without the Louvre crowds.
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