Where to stay · Historic-mansion hostel · € · 4e · Le Marais & Île Saint-Louis

MIJE Marais

Three seventeenth-century hôtels particuliers — Fourcy, Fauconnier and Maubuisson — run as a single hostel within a few minutes' walk of each other, a few streets back from the Seine. Stone courtyards, beamed dorms, a non-profit that has held these buildings since the 1960s.

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Getting there

• Saint-Paul (Le Marais)1140 m · 3 min walk
• Pont Marie (Cité des Arts)7200 m · 4 min walk
• Sully Morland7390 m · 7 min walk

Walks that pass nearby

• Secret Gardensstop 6 of 6 · 90 m

  Jardin de l'Hôtel de Sens

  Behind the late-15th-century fortified Hôtel de Sens, now the Bibliothèque Forney (decorative arts library). A small formal garden with topiary, a fountain, and benches looking back at the medieval mansion. Open during library hours.

  Enter the courtyard from Rue du Figuier (gates open during library hours, ~13:00–19:00 weekdays). Walk through the courtyard to find the small back garden — most visitors stop at the courtyard and miss this. The library upstairs has rotating poster exhibitions, all free.

• Phantom Parisstop 4 of 6 · 130 m

  Hôtel de Sens

  1 Rue du Figuier. Late-15th-century fortified mansion — one of only three medieval homes still standing in Paris. Margot de Valois, ex-wife of Henri IV, lived here 1605–1609. Now houses the Bibliothèque Forney (decorative arts library), free entry.

  Walk into the courtyard from Rue du Figuier — public access, no reception. The garden behind the mansion is open during library hours. The library upstairs has rotating poster and wallpaper exhibitions, all free, almost always empty.

• Saint-Louis Loopstop 5 of 6 · 180 m

  Hôtel de Lauzun, Quai d'Anjou

  17 Quai d'Anjou. Built 1657, named after a colourful 17th-century duke. Baudelaire lived here 1843–1845; he and Théophile Gautier founded the Club des Hashischins ("Hashish Club") in the upstairs salons, where Balzac and Dumas attended monthly. Now city-owned, used for receptions; rarely open.

  Walk along Quai d'Anjou (north side of the island) past nos. 17, 19, and 27 — three of the original 17th-century mansions, all with their original masonry. The view across to the Pont de Sully is the photograph; the lampposts are 19th-century cast-iron.

• Bridges of Parisstop 7 of 7 · 220 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

• Hôtel Émile Le MaraisBoutique hotel€€ · 3 minA 29-room independent off rue de Rivoli, two minutes from Place des Vosges, done in high-contrast black-and-white graphics that have aged better than most of the Marais's mid-2010s makeovers. Top-floor rooms take the rooftop view.
• Musée de la Magie et des AutomatesMagic & automata museum€€ · 4 minIn sixteenth-century vaulted cellars under the Marais, a thousand years of deception laid out as hardware: more than 100 automata, distorting mirrors, trick boxes and Robert-Houdin ephemera. Admission folds in a short live conjuring turn.
• Le Studio des ParfumsPerfume atelier€€€ · 5 minA Marais atelier where you blend and bottle your own fragrance from raw essences under a perfumer's eye, then leave with the formula kept on file for reorders.
• Hôtel Caron de BeaumarchaisBoutique hotel€€ · 5 minAn 18th-century conceit named for the author of The Marriage of Figaro, with a period harpsichord and gaming tables in the lobby, set on the Marais's central artery.
• MiznonIsraeli street food€ · 5 minEyal Shani's pita operation, transplanted from Tel Aviv, runs loud and fast on a narrow Pletzl street. The whole roasted cauliflower, charred and dressed in nothing but salt and tahini, has outlived the hype that first surrounded it.
• L'As du FallafelLevantine / falafel€ · 6 minThe Rue des Rosiers benchmark since 1979: the 'special' pita, fried aubergine and red cabbage under tahini, eaten on the move.

Landmarks nearby

• Fontaine de Jarente · 330 m

More where to stay, nearest first

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