Underground & cool · Department-store experience · € · 1er · Louvre & Les Halles
La Samaritaine
Reopened 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.
Booking through this link may earn par.is a commission. Same price as anywhere.
Walk in purely to see the peacock frieze and the central staircase under the glass roof; no purchase expected.
Getting there
- Pont Neuf770 m · 1 min walk
- Louvre Rivoli1220 m · 4 min walk
- Châtelet1471114320 m · 6 min walk
Around the corner
Place Dauphine · 230 m away
The Place Dauphine is a public square located near the western end of the Île de la Cité in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. It was initiated by Henry IV in 1607, the second of his projects for public squares in Paris, the first being the Place Royale. He named it for his son, the Dauphin of France and future Louis XIII, who had been born in 1601. From the "square", actually triangular in shape, one can access the middle of the Pont Neuf, a bridge which connects the left and right banks of the Seine by passing over the Île de la Cité. A street called, since 1948, Rue Henri-Robert, forty metres long, connects the Place Dauphine and the bridge. Where they meet, there are two other named places, the Place du Pont-Neuf and the Square du Vert-Galant.
Wikipedia ↗Walks that pass nearby
- Île de la Cité & Saint-Louisstop 2 of 7 · 230 m
Place Dauphine
Triangular square laid out in 1607 by Henri IV, named for his son the future Louis XIII. André Breton called it "the sex of Paris" because of the shape — make of that what you will.
Two cafés at the eastern point — sit at the smaller one, Le Caveau du Palais, for an unobstructed view across to the Palais de Justice. Lunchtime here is half lawyers in robes, half locals with their dogs.
- Bridges of Parisstop 5 of 7 · 280 m
Pont Neuf
Despite the name ("new bridge"), this is the oldest standing bridge in Paris — completed 1607 under Henri IV. The first bridge in the city designed without houses on it; that was a radical idea at the time.
The bridge has 384 carved stone faces (mascarons) along the cornices — each is different. Stop at the small semicircular pavement bays sticking out over the river; those were where 17th-century vendors set up booths. From the western tip you can drop down to Square du Vert-Galant.
- Secret Gardensstop 1 of 6 · 320 m
Square du Vert-Galant
The downstream tip of Île de la Cité, named for Henri IV. Sunken below river level — the island's original height before centuries of urban fill raised it. Weeping willow at the very tip; the best free river-level picnic spot in central Paris.
Take the steps down from the middle of Pont Neuf — easy to miss. River-tour boats pass directly below; an excellent free spectacle from above. The gates close at sunset.
- Bouquinistes of the Seinestop 2 of 6 · 370 m
Quai de la Mégisserie
Between Pont Neuf and Pont au Change. The right bank's most photogenic bouquiniste stretch — the boxes line up against the view of the Conciergerie's medieval turrets across the river. Mix of literature, comics, postcards, and engravings.
Cross to the south side of Quai de la Mégisserie to walk past the bouquinistes with the river at your shoulder. Stop at any stall to look at the rolled posters — most sellers will negotiate by 10–15% on prints in summer.
Within a few minutes' walk
- Le Tout-ParisRooftop bar€€€ · 1 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.
- BO&MIE Louvre-RivoliBoulangerie-pâtisserie€€ · 4 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€ · 4 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€ · 8 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.
- Bourse de Commerce — Pinault CollectionContemporary-art foundation€€ · 8 minFrançois Pinault dropped a nine-metre Tadao Ando concrete cylinder inside the old grain exchange, leaving the 1889 glass dome and its painted frieze of colonial commerce overhead — a juxtaposition the curators don't pretend to resolve.
Where to stay near La Samaritaine
- Hôtel de la Place du LouvreBoutique hotel€€ · 2 minAn 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.
- Hôtel BritanniqueBoutique hotel€€ · 5 minAn English-run house off the Seine since 1861, where guests cite the breakfast and the soundproofing ahead of the décor; the Louvre and Notre-Dame are each a ten-minute walk.
- Citadines Saint-Germain-des-PrésAparthotel€€ · 8 minThe Ascott group's aparthotel chain — dependable if dated — with studios and one-beds that carry kitchenettes; this branch sits on the Seine opposite the Pont-Neuf.
Booking through this link may earn par.is a commission. Same price as anywhere.
Landmarks nearby
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.
Everything we've verified in the 1er →How we verified this
Confirmed currently operating as of October 2026,cross-checked against 1 source:
The full verification ledger — everything checked this week, and what we marked closed →More underground & cool, nearest first
par.is is a living map of Paris. Every place here is a real, currently operating destination — re-checked over time and removed the moment we can no longer confirm it's open. No paid placements, no scraped directory: just opinionated picks worth your trip.