A Guide To All Of The Arrondissements of Paris – Goats On The Road

There are twenty neighbourhoods or “Arrondissements of Paris” which are numbered in a spiral, like the shell of a snail (escargot) counting up from the center of the city outwards. Each Paris Arrondissement is different and offers visitors a different vibe.

When visiting Paris one of the best things to do is to walk around the different neighbourhoods, but it’s important to get to know each of the Arrondissements of Paris is so that you know what to look for in each.

The smallest Arrondissement in Paris is the 7th, at less than a square-kilometre, while the largest is the 12th at over 16 km².

In the center of Paris, where most of the sites are, the Arrondissements are less than 10 blocks in length, so you can easily tackle a few in a day while stopping to see their most notable monuments, plazas, parks and museums.

The center-most Arrondissements of Paris – like the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th – are where you’ll find the majority of the main tourist sites like The Louvre, the Notre Dame, La Marais etc.  But as you get further out, the neighbourhoods become more and more local.

Getting lost in different Arrondissements was hands-down our favourite thing to do in Paris and it’s something you need to give yourself time to do while in the city.

So many people only have 2 days in Paris and yet they spend 6 hours in the Louvre, 3 hours in the Notre Dame (when it was still open to the public before the fire) and 3 hours going up the Eiffel Tower.

Consider prioritizing getting to know the real Paris, rather than spending too much time in the most touristy areas. Of course, you have to tick the highlights off your list, but be sure to have plenty of extra time for just getting lost, being charmed by Paris and getting to know the city of love a little more intimately.

In this post, I’ll list each of the Arrondissements of Paris, but I’ll also include useful information like the sights you won’t want to miss, the best restaurants, where to stay and more.

The 1st Arrondissement

QUICK FACTS:
📍Location: 1st Arrondissement, Paris France
🗺 Total Area: 1.83 km² (452 acres)
👀 Most Notable Sight: Louvre Museum

This is where you’ll find the Louvre Museum as well as a few Hausmann-era boulevards and fashion chic streets like Rue de Rivoli, Rue Saint-Honoré and Place Vendôme.

The first is also home to a few notable landmarks like the Palais de Justice de Paris, Place du Châtelet, Colonne Vendôme, Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois church, Jardin Nelson-Mandela and more. You can basically just walk around the river in the 1st Arrondissement and get lost in a sea of famous buildings.

Must-See Sights in the 1st

• • Musée du Louvre: The famous Louvre Museum. The largest single-building museum in the world.
  • Musee des Arts Decoratifs: The Decorative Arts Museum
  • Musee de l’Orangerie: An art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings
  • Eglise Saint-Eustache: A church in the 1st arrondissement of Paris built between 1532 and 1632
  • Pont Neuf Bridge: The oldest bridge in Paris
  • Tuileries Gardens: A public garden located between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde
  • Palais Royal: The former seat of royal power
  • La Comédie Française: This classic Paris theatre is where French playwright Molière once performed
  • Place Vendôme: A famous square located north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine
  • Jeu de Paume-National Galleries: An arts centre for modern and postmodern photography and media
  • Forum des Halles: A large shopping center and district
  • Ile de la Cite: The Island of the city, a natural island on the Seine
  • Sainte-Chapelle Chapel: A royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité
  • The Conciergerie: The former Revolutionary prison

Where To Stay in the 1st

The first is one of the most expensive areas to stay in Paris, but there are some lovely accommodations. These are a few of the top-rated on Booking.com and Airbnb.

• Maison Albar Hotels Le Pont: This place has beautiful modern rooms that start at around $178 / night and get raving 9.0 reviews on Booking.com.
• Hotel Le Relais des Halles: Another super highly-rated place, Hôtel Le Relais des Halles Paris is 500 meters from the Georges Pompidou Museum and has lovely rooms (starting at $139) with antique-style décor.
• Hôtel Le Relais des Halles: This is one of the best-rated places in the 1st Arrondissement of Paris on Booking.com for under $275/night. It’s bright, clean, comfortable and is in the perfect location.

Best Restaurants in the 1st

• L’Absinthe: Excellent typical French restaurant with a seasonal homemade menu with high-quality and fresh ingredients. The service is great and the decor is really cool with an old clock as the centrepiece of the restaurant.
• L’Ardoise: Not to be confused with the above L’Absinthe, L’Ardoise is another great French restaurant in the 1st Arrondissement of Paris.  This restaurant has slate-clad walls and pays a nostalgic tribute to bistro heritage in Paris by honouring its style and its food.
• Happy Caffé: This is one of the most famous creperies in the 1st Arrondissement of Paris making delicious crepes with organic ingredients.

The 2nd Arrondissement

QUICK FACTS:
📍Location: 2nd Arrondissement, Paris France
🗺 Total Area: 0.992 km² (245 acres)
👀 Most Notable Sight: Rue Montorgueil Neighbourhood

The eclectic and fun 2nd is still close to all the major sites in the 1st but is where you’ll find more textile shops, hip boutiques and the Rue Montorgueil Street Market. This is also where the cities Japanese quarter is located so many people flock here for cheap ramen and delicious sushi.

Must-See Sights in the 2nd

• • The Rue Montorgueil neighbourhood: A fun pedestrian district paved with marble and filled with some of the area’s best restaurants, cafes, markets and bakeries
  • La Tour Jean-Sans-Peur: A fortified tower dating back to the medieval period
  • Le Grand Rex: A historic movie theatre, club and concert hall
  • Opéra Comique: A classic old Paris theatres
  • Paris Stock Exchange (Bourse de Paris): The Paris Stock Exchange isn’t really a tourist sight onto itself, but worth checking out the square it’s in which is lined with decent restaurants, brasseries and shops.
  • Grands Boulevards neighbourhood: A beautiful old area with covered passageways (arcades)
  • Bibliothèque Nationale de France: The French National Library is only accessible to those with a reader’s (researcher’s) card, but worth the hassle for book-lovers.
  • Passage des Panoramas: There are many stunning arcades in this area, but this romantic passageway is arguably the most beautiful

Where To Stay in the 2nd

Being that this district is very central and near many of the most famous tourist attractions, it’s not really a big surprise that it can be hard to find rooms in the 2nd Arrondissement and prices tend to soar here, particularly in the high season (July-August).

• Maison Albar Hotels Le Pont: This place has beautiful modern rooms that start at around $178 / night and get raving 9.0 reviews on Booking.com.
• Hotel Le Relais des Halles: Another super highly-rated place, Hôtel Le Relais des Halles Paris is 500 meters from the Georges Pompidou Museum and has lovely rooms (starting at $139) with antique-style décor.
• Louvre 2 on Airbnb: This is one of the best-rated places in the 1st Arrondissement of Paris on booking.com. It’s bright, clean, comfortable and is in the perfect location. With prices starting at $275 / night and suites available, it’s a great deal.

Best Restaurants in the 1st

• L’Absinthe: Excellent typical French restaurant with a seasonal homemade menu with high-quality and fresh ingredients. The service is great and the decor is really cool with an old clock as the centrepiece of the restaurant.
• L’Ardoise: Not to be confused with the above L’Absinthe, L’Ardoise is another great French restaurant in the 1st Arrondissement of Paris.  This restaurant has slate-clad walls and pays a nostalgic tribute to bistro heritage in Paris by honouring its style and its food.
• Happy Caffé: This is one of the most famous creperies in the 1st Arrondissement of Paris making delicious crepes with organic ingredients.

The 3rd Arrondissement

Frequently dubbed “The Temple” because of the Knight’s Templar medieval fortress that used to be found here, or “Haut-Marais” because of it’s position in the Northern Marais district, the 3rd is an energetic enclave of funky shops, cool eateries and hip boutiques.

This is where you’ll find plenty of cool museums, leafy parks, buzzing market squares and relaxed residential streets. It’s also home to the Musée Picasso, The Musée des Arts et Métiers and the international food stalls of Marché des Enfants Rouge.

The 4th Arrondissement

The narrow alleyways of the Marais are what make the 4th one of the most popular arrondissements in Paris, but it also encompasses the area of Beaubourg and Ile St-Louis.

This is where you’ll find some of the cities most iconic sites like the Notre Dame Cathedral and Place des Vosges as well as the city’s Jewish Quarter, the Centre Pompidou modern art museum and the tree-lined Île de la Cité.

The 5th Arrondissement

Also known as the Latin Quarter, Paris’s 5th Arrondissement is an administrative district and the center of educational and intellectual achievement in France. Home to the Sorbonne University and student-crammed cafes, the 5th has been this way for centuries.

Not surprisingly, there are some famous bookshops here like Shakespear & Company, as well as some beautiful botanical gardens like Jardin des Plantes. This is also where you’ll find the National Museum of Natural History and the impressive Panthéon.

The 6th Arrondissement

Stretching out across the edge of the Seine River, the 6th was once the favourite backyard of mid-20th century writers and famous intellectuals like Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Hemingway.

Dominating the chic and fascinating Left Bank district of Paris, the neighbourhood is home to posh eateries, expensive boutiques and the oldest church in the city – the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (built in the 6th-century).

It’s also where you’ll find vintage book stores, famous Hemingway-frequented cafes like Camus and Les Deaux Magots, as well as antique furniture stores, charismatic art dealers and some of the cities most beloved churches like the Diocese of Paris.

The 7th Arrondissement

Home to the Eiffel Tower and the Champs de Mars park, you’d think that the 7th is nothing but a tourist spot, but that’s simply not the truth. Far enough from the main visitor Arrondissements of the 2nd and the 4th, this neighbourhood is sophisticated, laid back and incredibly charismatic.

Located on the Rive Gauche (Left Bank) in the true heart of the city, the 7th offers an enigmatic mix of the city’s most iconic sites, along with site a village-like ambience and a vibe that is quintessentially Parisian.

The 8th Arrondissement

This is where we stayed during our stay in Paris and I have to say that it was definitely one of our favourite Arrondissements. Close enough to the Eiffel Tower that you feel like it’s looming overhead at every turn, but far enough away that the crowds have effectively thinned out, the 8th is set on the Right Bank of the Sienne and it’s a bustling but elegant center of commerce.

It’s also home to the famous Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Élysées, but the 8th is more about ducking into cool patisseries, wine bars and bistros than it is actually visiting sites. The great thing is that it’s only 10-minutes by Metro into the more tourist-active Arrondissements like the 2nd and 4th.

The 9th Arrondissement

Stretching from Palais Garnier in the south to the foot of Montmartre in the north, the elegant 9th is where you’ll find the 19th-century Palais Garnier and the Grands Magasins, but there are other hidden treasures to be found here as well.

Fashion consumers flock to the Galeries Lafayette and the chic boutiques of Printemps, but non-shopping visitors can enjoy the amazing gourmet restaurants and cool museums like the Musée Gustave Moreau and the Musée de la Vie Romantique.

The 10th Arrondissement

Now we’re getting into the less-visited and more up-and-coming Arrondissements of the city. The 10th was the location of the 2015 terrorist attack on Paris which saw 130 deaths and 300 more injured.

Today the Place de la République has a monument that memorializes those lost in the attacks and while this was the locale of that horrible incident, today the 10th has bounced back and boasts a hip and progressive blend of cultures.

Here you’ll find quaint footbridges, bohemium cafes, artsy enclaves and contemporary artwork. The 10th is home to Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est, as well as the Rue Sainte-Marthe, a quiet boulevard lined with art studios and international eateries.

The 11th Arrondissement

This hip, bustling and ethnically diverse district is where you’ll find a lot of fun bars and parties, particularly along Rue Oberkampf and the nearby alleyways. It’s also home to Opéra Bastille, Atelier des Lumières, Colonne de Juillet and The Place de la Nation.

The 12th Arrondissement

The 12th was once a gritty and edgy neighbourhood that would intimidate the uninitiated, but today it’s cleaned up a bit. The small cluster of residential backstreets and restaurants now attracts more families and young people.

Here you’ll find the Coulée Verte René-Dumont gardens, Parc de Bercy, the Aligre Market, the old warehouse district and concert arena, as well as Cinémathèque Française which shows classic movies.

The 13th Arrondissement

Stepping further out of the touristed center of Paris, the 13th is home to Paris’s Chinatown, as well as some more modern high-rises, the countries primary Library  (Bibliothèque Nationale François Mitterrand), Chemin de fer de Petite Ceinture (a cool railway/park), and The Quai de la Gare, where you’ll find live music bars, night clubs and river party boats for those looking for a bit of off-track Parisian nightlife.

The 14th Arrondissement

Also known as Montparnasse, this is one of the main shopping districts of Paris, despite its undeniable bohemian feel.

Here you’ll find the entrance to the eerie and fascinating Catacombes de Paris, where brave visitors can navigate a small two-kilometre portion of the 320 km long tunnels that carve into the bedrock of Paris, 30 meters below the surface.

The catacombs are filled with the bones of between 6 and 8 million people and are well worth the visit if you’re not too squeamish or claustrophobic.

The 15th Arrondissement

An eclectic residential area with little to attract tourists on shorter visits to Paris, the 15th is a quaint shopping district that spreads out from the La Motte Grenelle metro station.

Most people who venture to the 15th come to climb the Montparnasse skyscraper, the tallest building in Paris and the best place to go for views of the city (yes, much better than the Eiffel Tower).

The 16th Arrondissement

The swanky and chic 16th is where the wealthiest Parisians reside. Here you’ll find trendy restaurants, chic shopping streets and a few notable museums (like the 15th-century cellars of the wine museum), Bagatelle park, Palais de Chaillot as well as Place Charles de Gaulle.

The 17th Arrondissement

A quiet, leafy residential neighbourhood on the far northwestern corner of the city, the 17th is a haven for those who can no longer afford the more gentrified center arrondissements of Paris.

Thanks to a recent influx of new bars, restaurants and nightclubs, the 17th isn’t completely silent and is becoming a hip place for those looking for a bit of nightlife in the city.

The 18th Arrondissement

It took us a while, but we finally came around Paris and climbed our way to the top of the city in the 18th. The arrondissements between 8 and 17 are a bit quieter and not so touristy, but the 18th is the artistic capital of Paris and is where you’ll find Montmartre.

The Moulin Rouge and the stunning Sacré-Cœur basilica make this one of the must-visit neighbourhoods in the city.

Give yourself a few hours to walk along the narrow backstreets of Montmartre, gaze at incredible street art, listen to romantic music echoing through the narrow streets and find yourself rubbing shoulders with the city’s most creative inhabitants.

The 19th Arrondissement

The northeastern-most Arrondissement, the 19th is a beacon of urban restoration and innovation in Paris. Thanks to the bike lanes and walking paths along the waterfront promenade of Canal de l’Ourcq and the leafy center of Parc de la Villette, the 19th is a well-manicured, natural and fascinating part of the city, where few tourists venture.

The 20th Arrondissement

We’ve made it all the way around the spiral of the 20 arrondissements in Paris and we’ve ended up in the trendy, undeniably bohemian, former-industrial heartland of Belleville.

Here you’ll find a few budget restaurants, some fascinating contemporary art galleries, cool music venues, edgy bars and some of the city’s best street art, as well as the Père Lachaise Cemetery where Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde, among others, have been buried.

Arrondissements of Paris Overview

Now you know all of the Arrondissements of Paris, so hopefully, you can better understand the city and plan your stay.

From the foodie sectors of the 7th and 2nd Arrondissements to the budget-friendly 14th and 17th, I hope this post gave you a better grasp of the city of Paris.

Before we visited Paris, I was really confused about the city and how it was broken up. But now after spending a while there and talking to locals, I hope that this guide will clear things up for future visitors.