Saint-Germain-des-Prés is the Left Bank at its most concentrated. A neighbourhood where the oldest church in Paris stands a few steps from the cafés that gave the post-war years their voice, where publishing houses, galleries and one of the great art schools have sat side by side for generations. It rewards walking slowly, and knowing where to look.
We move between the medieval and the modern, from the abbey that gave the quarter its name to the terraces where writers, philosophers and musicians made it the centre of intellectual Paris after 1945. The streets in between hold the detail most visitors pass without noticing.
What you will see
The abbey and its church. The abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, founded in the sixth century, is the oldest church in Paris and the heart of the quarter that grew up around it. Its Romanesque tower has watched over the square for a thousand years, and inside lies the philosopher René Descartes. The streets fanning out from it still follow the lines of the monastic grounds that once filled this stretch of the Left Bank.
The literary quarter. A short walk away are the cafés that made the neighbourhood famous, the terraces where Sartre, de Beauvoir and a whole generation of writers worked and argued through the years after the war, and the jazz cellars that filled the basements at night. The publishing houses that gave French letters their address are still here, woven into ordinary streets.
Art and the river. Around the quarter run the galleries of the rue de Seine and the rue Bonaparte, the school that has trained French artists for two centuries, and the quays of the Seine looking across to the dome of the Institut de France. It is a neighbourhood that has never stopped making and selling art.
The oldest church in Paris · the post-war cafés · galleries and the river
Pépin's advice
Come for the cafés, stay for the streets. The famous terraces are worth seeing, but it is the quieter streets behind them, the rue de Furstemberg and the small squares, where the neighbourhood really shows itself.
Pair it with a museum. The Musée d'Orsay sits a short walk along the river, and the small Musée Delacroix is hidden in the heart of the quarter. Either makes a natural extension of the morning, and we can build the day around it.
Bring an appetite. The rue de Buci and the streets around it are among the best in Paris for a coffee or a bite as we walk, and a stop along the way is part of the pleasure.
Good to know
The abbey church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés is an active place of worship. Its interior is usually open to visitors, but access can be limited during services and ceremonies. When that happens there is always plenty to see and tell from the square outside, and we simply fold it into the rest of the walk.
