Underground & cool · Artist house-museum · € · 6e · Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Musée national Eugène-Delacroix
Delacroix took this apartment and built the garden studio behind it in 1857 to be near the Saint-Sulpice murals he was finishing, and died here in 1863. The real draw is the green courtyard and the purpose-built atelier off it.
A Louvre ticket from the same day gets you in free; the garden is the quietest seat in Saint-Germain.
Getting there
- Saint-Germain-des-Prés4160 m · 3 min walk
- Mabillon10160 m · 3 min walk
- Odéon410420 m · 8 min walk
Walks that pass nearby
- Where the Writers Livedstop 3 of 6 · 100 m
Sartre & Beauvoir, Hôtel La Louisiane
60 Rue de Seine. Sartre and Beauvoir lived here in adjacent rooms in the 1940s — small, cheap, with a curving Art Nouveau staircase. Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex partly in room 50; Miles Davis stayed here on his first visits to Paris.
Still operating as a hotel — the lobby is open to the public, with a small display of the philosophers' invoices and Beauvoir's room key on the wall. Look but don't loiter; rooms 50 and 60 are upstairs and not visitable.
- Saint-Germain in 90 minutesstop 1 of 6 · 110 m
Saint-Germain-des-Prés
The oldest church in Paris — first built 543, mostly rebuilt 990–1014 in Romanesque style. The sole surviving Romanesque tower in the city; the bells inside are 12th-century and still ring. The interior was repainted in vivid colour in a 2018–2021 restoration.
Free entry. Walk to the apse (back) for the painted ceiling — the central blue-and-gold roof is the restored medieval colouring. Mass on Sundays at 11; the choir is one of the best in central Paris. Outside, Café de Flore is across the boulevard.
- Literary Cafésstop 4 of 7 · 140 m
Les Deux Magots
Two doors down from Flore and its eternal rival. Named for the two Chinese figurines ("magots") above the bar — leftover signage from a silk shop that occupied the space before 1885. Picasso, Joyce, Brecht, all regulars.
Sit on the terrace facing Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés — the church across the way is the oldest in Paris. The two figurines are inside, behind the bar; ask the staff to point them out. Service is brisk; if you want to linger, order a second drink.
- Sweet Parisstop 6 of 6 · 270 m
Pierre Hermé
72 Rue Bonaparte. The contemporary master — credited with reinventing the macaron as a pastry vehicle for unexpected flavours (rose-litchi-raspberry; truffle; olive oil and mandarin). The Saint-Germain shop is the original 2002 boutique.
Smaller and quicker than Ladurée. Buy a small box of six different flavours — at this price-per-bite it's worth tasting widely. The Ispahan (rose-litchi-raspberry) is the signature; the seasonal flavours change every few months and are usually superb.
Within a few minutes' walk
- Hôtel des MarronniersGarden boutique hotel€€ · 2 minReached down a paved courtyard off rue Jacob, with a chestnut-tree garden where breakfast is served in summer and a glass conservatory looking onto it.
- La Villa Saint-Germain-des-PrésDesign hotel€€€ · 3 minTwenty-two rooms on rue Jacob, the bookish Left Bank street that has housed writers since the eighteenth century, redesigned by Bruno Borrione with clean lines and a counter-current pool and sauna in the basement.
- Kodawari Ramen (Yokochō)Ramen€€ · 3 minAn Odéon ramen-ya dressed as a Tokyo back-alley, with house-made noodles and broth and a Bib Gourmand for value. The chicken-based shoyu and shio bowls do the heavy lifting, with gyoza alongside.
- Little BreizhCrêperie€ · 4 minA small Saint-Germain room where the buckwheat is organic and the galettes are folded with intent. The goat's-cheese-and-honey galette and a dessert crêpe of honey with buckwheat ice cream are the reasons to book.
- Tiger BarGin cocktail bar€€ · 5 minA Saint-Germain bar built around gin — more than 200 bottles on the back wall and a menu that treats juniper as a subject rather than a base. Quiet street, serious list.
- L'Avant Comptoir de la MerStanding seafood wine bar€€ · 7 minCamdeborde's standing seafood annexe: a zinc bar, a corridor, and fifty photo-posters strung overhead in lieu of a menu. The warm whelks with wasabi mayo and the razor clams marinière justify the elbowing.
Landmarks nearby
The district · 6e
Saint-Germain-des-Prés — The literary Left BankThe cafés where the existentialists held court — Flore, Deux Magots, Lipp — plus the Luxembourg Gardens and the city's densest run of galleries and antiquaires. Expensive, polished, and aware of it.
Best for: Those who want the postcard Left Bank and have the budget for it.
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