Underground & cool · Covered passage · € · 2e · Bourse & Sentier
Passage Choiseul
At 190 metres the longest covered passage in Paris, built 1826–27 and reopened in 2013 after restoration. Céline grew up above it and set part of 'Death on the Installment Plan' here. Art-supply shops, booksellers, ateliers, and the stage door of the Bouffes-Parisiens.
Cut through it to reach the Palais-Royal rather than walking the boulevard; the art-supply shops are the standouts.
Getting there
- Pyramides714170 m · 3 min walk
- Quatre Septembre3280 m · 5 min walk
- Opéra378450 m · 8 min walk
Around the corner
Palais-Royal · 280 m away
The Palais-Royal is a former French royal palace located on Rue Saint-Honoré in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The screened entrance court faces the Place du Palais-Royal, opposite the Louvre. Originally called the Palais-Cardinal, it was built for Cardinal Richelieu from about 1633 to 1639 by architect Jacques Lemercier. Richelieu bequeathed it to Louis XIII, before Louis XIV gave it to his younger brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans. As the succeeding Dukes of Orléans made such extensive alterations over the years, almost nothing remains of Lemercier's original design.
Wikipedia ↗Walks that pass nearby
- Secret Gardensstop 2 of 6 · 280 m
Jardin du Palais-Royal
1633. The interior garden of the former royal palace, surrounded by 17th-century arcaded buildings. Quiet and almost monastic — the city's most underrated central garden. The black-and-white striped Buren columns at the south entrance (1986) are controversial but iconic.
Enter from the south through the Cour d'Honneur (Buren columns). Walk the perimeter under the arcades — the small shops are antique stamp dealers, vintage perfume merchants, and the city's best vintage tin-toy collector at no. 22 Galerie de Montpensier. The fountain in the centre and the rose garden at the north end are the picnic spots.
- Covered Passagesstop 2 of 6 · 380 m
Galerie Vivienne
1823. The grandest of the arcades — barrel-vaulted glass roof, mosaic floor by Italian craftsman Giandomenico Facchina, and a famous bookshop (Librairie Jousseaume) that has been there since 1826. Used as a film set every other month.
Enter from 4 Rue des Petits-Champs. Walk all the way through to the rotunda — the floor mosaic is the photograph. À Priori Thé in the middle is a classic spot for a slow tea. Exit at Rue Vivienne.
- Rainy Day Parisstop 1 of 6 · 380 m
Galerie Vivienne
1823. The grandest of the covered passages — barrel-vaulted glass, mosaic floor by Italian craftsman Giandomenico Facchina, bookshop running since 1826. Already a stop on the Covered Passages tour but the obvious starting point on a rainy day.
Enter from 4 Rue des Petits-Champs. Sit at À Priori Thé for an hour with a book — full menu, slow service, glass roof above. The Galerie Colbert (next door, sister arcade) is worth a five-minute look immediately after.
- Cocktail Barsstop 1 of 6 · 430 m
Harry's New York Bar
5 Rue Daunou, opened 1911 by an American jockey turned bartender. The Bloody Mary, the Side Car, the White Lady, and the French 75 were all invented here. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Sartre, Coco Chanel, Humphrey Bogart, all regulars. The interior — mahogany bar, stained glass, college pennants — is unchanged.
The downstairs piano bar (Le Piano Bar du Sous-Sol) opens around 22:00 — Gershwin played here in the 1920s, supposedly composing An American in Paris in his head. Order a Bloody Mary and ask for the original 1921 recipe — they'll humour you.
Within a few minutes' walk
- HigumaRamen€ · 2 minOne of the long-standing institutions of rue Sainte-Anne, working an open kitchen and a no-reservations queue. The lamen comes in a gentle chūka-soba broth, the pan-fried gyoza are the reliable add-on, and the bill is about half a typical Parisian sit-down.
- AkiJapanese okonomiyaki€ · 2 minAn Osaka specialist on the Japanese stretch of rue Sainte-Anne, where the okonomiyaki is griddled on a hot plate in front of you. The same family runs a bakery two doors down if the line is long.
- Sugo Pasta FrescaFresh pasta€€ · 4 minA tight Roman-leaning menu of six fresh pastas a few steps from the Bourse, four of them vegetarian. The cacio e pepe leans on 18-month Pecorino Romano; the house sugo is built on Sardinian tomatoes slow-cooked four hours.
- Daroco BourseItalian trattoria & pizza€€ · 6 minNeapolitan pizza and trattoria standards served under a mirrored ceiling in Jean-Paul Gaultier's former couture atelier off the Galerie Vivienne. The room is the headline act, but the wood-fired margherita holds its end up.
- DanicoCocktail bar€€€ · 6 minReached through the Daroco restaurant off the 19th-century Galerie Vivienne, this is Nico de Soto's bar — globe-trotting flavour combinations executed with precision, his clarified and split-base drinks the things to order.
- SanukiyaJapanese udon counter€ · 6 minSanuki-style udon made with wheat flour from Kagawa, served thick and chewy at a counter where you watch the noodles go into the bowl. The queue down rue d'Argenteuil moves faster than it looks.
Landmarks nearby
The district · 2e
Bourse & Sentier — Covered passages and start-upsThe smallest arrondissement, threaded with nineteenth-century glass-roofed passages and, lately, the city's tech and restaurant energy around Rue Montorgueil and the old textile Sentier.
Best for: Eaters and drinkers who want to walk home; central without the Louvre crowds.
Everything we've verified in the 2e →How we verified this
Confirmed currently operating as of June 2026,cross-checked against 1 source:
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