Where to stay · Boutique hotel · €€ · 1er · Louvre & Les Halles
Hôtel de la Place du Louvre
An Esprit de France address two minutes from the Louvre's east colonnade, with twenty rooms that look onto the Gothic face of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. Breakfast is laid in a vaulted stone cellar once connected to the palace.
Booking through this link may earn par.is a commission. Same price as anywhere.
Ask for a room facing the church rather than the courtyard; the bell-tower view is the reason to stay.
Getting there
- Pont Neuf7130 m · 2 min walk
- Louvre Rivoli1170 m · 3 min walk
- Châtelet1471114460 m · 9 min walk
Around the corner
Pont des Arts · 270 m away
The Pont des Arts or Passerelle des Arts is a pedestrian bridge in Paris which crosses the River Seine. It links the Institut de France and the central square of the Palais du Louvre, which had been termed the "Palais des Arts" under the First French Empire.
Wikipedia ↗Walks that pass nearby
- Bridges of Parisstop 4 of 7 · 270 m
Pont des Arts
The first iron bridge in Paris (1804), and the long-time location of the love-locks tradition. The padlocks were removed in 2015 after a section of railing collapsed under their weight.
Walking direction matters here: cross from the Louvre side toward the Institut de France for the better composition. The benches in the middle are popular for picnics — bring a baguette. No locks, but the city now sells small art prints from boxes attached to the railing on summer weekends.
- Golden Hour Parisstop 1 of 6 · 270 m
Pont des Arts
Cross-river footbridge between the Louvre and the Institut de France. Looking east, the sunset lights the dome of the Institut from behind, with Pont Neuf and the eastern tip of Île de la Cité in silhouette. The classic central-Paris sunset.
Stand at the centre of the bridge facing east. Best Sept–April when the sun sets due west behind you; in summer the sun sets too far north for this angle. Bring a small bottle of wine — picnics on the bridge are the local Sunday tradition.
- Iconic Parisstop 3 of 8 · 280 m
Louvre Pyramid
I. M. Pei's 1989 glass pyramid in the Cour Napoléon — the main entrance to the museum and a permanent argument with traditionalists.
If you're not going inside the museum, walk through the small archway under the north wing of the Cour Carrée — fewer tourists and the symmetry of the courtyard is the secret photograph. The southern arch frames the pyramid perfectly.
- Île de la Cité & Saint-Louisstop 1 of 7 · 290 m
Square du Vert-Galant
The downstream tip of Île de la Cité, named for Henri IV. Below river level — the island's original height before centuries of urban fill raised it. The best riverside picnic spot in central Paris.
Take the steps down from the middle of Pont Neuf — easy to miss. The little weeping willow at the very tip is the photo. River-tour boats pass directly below; an excellent free spectacle from above.
Within a few minutes' walk
- Le Tout-ParisRooftop bar€€€ · 2 minThe 7th-floor bar at Cheval Blanc, a terrace panorama from Notre-Dame to the Eiffel Tower over the Seine. The bar takes no reservations; a summer-only rooftop, Le Céleste, sits above it.
- La SamaritaineDepartment-store experience€ · 2 minReopened in 2021 after sixteen years dark, restored by LVMH. Frantz Jourdain's Art Nouveau hall keeps its wrought-iron staircase, enamelled-lava signage and the Jourdain peacock fresco — 115 metres of painted birds running below the glass roof.
- BO&MIE Louvre-RivoliBoulangerie-pâtisserie€€ · 3 minA polished bakery-café a short walk from the Louvre, with more than fifty seats. The pain au praliné and the Madagascar-vanilla flan are the reasons people queue; the croissants use Charentes-Poitou butter and behave accordingly.
- Le Garde RobeNatural wine bar with food€€ · 4 minA narrow natural-wine bar near the Louvre that pours organic bottles and feeds you charcuterie, cheese and a few cooked plates without ceremony. Bottles line the walls; you eat off whatever surface is free.
- 59 RivoliArtist squat€ · 7 minA legalised former squat on Rue de Rivoli — six floors of working artist studios you climb through, meeting painters at their easels, with a ground-floor gallery that turns over every couple of weeks.
- Galerie Véro-DodatCovered passage€ · 7 minTwo pork butchers built this neoclassical run in 1826 and spent the money on it: marble columns, brass fittings, painted ceiling panels and a black-and-white tiled floor almost intact. Now home to Christian Louboutin's flagship and antique-instrument dealers.
The district · 1er
Louvre & Les Halles — The centre of the centreThe geographic and royal heart: the Louvre, the Tuileries, the Palais-Royal arcades, and the glass belly of Les Halles. Grand and central, emptier of residents than it looks, and priced accordingly.
Best for: First-timers who want everything within a walk — and don't mind paying for the address.
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