Underground & cool · Free viewpoint · € · 5e · Latin Quarter
Institut du Monde Arabe rooftop terrace
Take the lift to the ninth floor of Jean Nouvel's building — its south wall a grid of 240 photosensitive metal apertures that open and close like camera diaphragms — and walk onto a free terrace facing the apse of Notre-Dame across the Seine.
Free, no museum ticket and no obligation to order at the café. Closed Mondays, and it shuts in bad weather.
Getting there
- Jussieu710360 m · 7 min walk
- Cardinal Lemoine10440 m · 8 min walk
- Sully Morland7470 m · 9 min walk
Around the corner
Berthillon · 270 m away
Berthillon is a French manufacturer and retailer of luxury ice cream and sorbet, with its primary store on the Île Saint-Louis, in Paris, France. The company is owned and operated by the Chauvin family, descendants of the eponymous Monsieur Berthillon, who from 1954 operated a café and hotel called "Le Bourgogne".
Wikipedia ↗Walks that pass nearby
- Sweet Parisstop 4 of 6 · 270 m
Berthillon
31 Rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île. Family-run since 1954. Closed every August (the family takes holidays), and the queue down the street is the giveaway when they're open. The marrons glacés ice cream is the dark-horse pick over the bright fruit sorbets.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays — and all of August. The shop itself takes only takeaway, but most cafés on the same street serve Berthillon scoops with shorter lines. Try the marrons glacés (chestnut) and the framboise sorbet together; that's the local two-scoop.
- Saint-Louis Loopstop 3 of 6 · 270 m
Berthillon
31 Rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île. Family-run since 1954, sourcing its dairy from a single Norman cooperative. The shop closes every August (the family takes holidays) and on Mondays and Tuesdays year-round.
The shop is takeaway only, with a queue down the street when open. Most cafés on Rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île serve scoops with shorter lines — Le Flore en l'Île and Le Sorbet d'Antan both work. Try the marrons glacés (chestnut) and framboise sorbet together.
- Île de la Cité & Saint-Louisstop 7 of 7 · 350 m
Église Saint-Louis-en-l'Île
Late-17th-century church on the island's spine. Île Saint-Louis was farmland until 1614; the whole island was master-planned and built within 50 years, which is why it's so geometrically tidy.
The church often hosts free Baroque concerts on summer evenings; check posters at the door. Berthillon ice cream is two doors down at no. 31. Walk the length of Rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île — every shop is independently owned, by edict.
- Bridges of Parisstop 7 of 7 · 450 m
Pont Marie
1614, named after its architect Christophe Marie. The oldest bridge connecting to Île Saint-Louis. Local lore says blowing a kiss while crossing it makes a wish come true.
Cross from the Right Bank to the island. Halfway across, look downstream — the next bridge (Pont de Sully) is the eastern tip of the island, and it's the prettiest view in this section of the river. Berthillon ice cream is a five-minute walk from the island end.
Within a few minutes' walk
- La Rôtisserie d'ArgentRotisserie bistro€€ · 3 minThe Tour d'Argent's plain-spoken little sister across the quay, where the spit turns chickens and ducks within sight of Notre-Dame. The poulet rôti with its dripping-roasted potatoes is the whole point.
- Le Buisson ArdentTraditional bistro€€ · 6 minA 1950s room with painted murals near the Jussieu campus, doing seasonal French cooking with more imagination than the price suggests. The weekday formula keeps the university crowd's tables full.
- Les Bouquinistes de la SeineOpen-air booksellers€ · 6 minRoughly 900 wagon-green boxes bolted to the river parapets, worked by licensed second-hand dealers in books, old prints and postcards. Recognised in 2019 as French intangible heritage, and defended in 2024 when a plan to remove them for the Olympics was overruled.
- Piscine PontoiseArt Deco pool€ · 7 minA 1933 Art Deco municipal pool with a 33-metre basin under a listed glass roof, swimmable from early morning through to a blue-lit nocturne that runs to midnight on weekdays.
- Familia HôtelBudget hotel€ · 7 minRun by the Gaucheron family, with hand-painted sepia frescoes of Paris monuments and flower-decked balconies; a few top-floor ones catch a sliver of Notre-Dame.
- SO/ ParisRooftop-view splurge hotel€€€ · 9 minA bold five-star on the Seine whose top-floor Bonnie wraps a 360° terrace around the city, with Sunday sunset DJ sets. A splurge you remember.
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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