Green Paris Walks

April 11, 2012 | By Heidi Ellison | Secret Paris

Who knew that Paris’s 13th arrondissement, bristling with towering apartment buildings, was also home not only to the city’s largest Chinatown but also many discrete green spaces and a terribly charming little triangular enclave of small houses (originally built for … Read More

Square Edouard VII

September 6, 2011 | By Louis Fraysse | Secret Paris

British King in Paris Just steps from the Opéra Garnier and the Eglise de la Madeleine in Paris’s ninth arrondissement is the quiet Square Edouard VII, a home to the Théâtre Edouard VII and many restaurants and offices. The square … Read More

Cité Durmar

July 5, 2011 | By Louis Fraysse | Secret Paris

A Fight to Keep the Peace Located at number 154, rue Oberkampf, in Paris’s 11th arrondissement, the Cité Durmar is a leftover of 19th-century industrial Paris. Its inhabitants – sculptors, graphic artists, publishers, bric-a-brac traders and craftspeople – see themselves … Read More

Square des Peupliers

May 10, 2011 | By Louis Fraysse | Secret Paris

Poplars to Mark a Lost River The Square des Peupliers is a triangle-shaped street near the Butte aux Cailles in Paris’s 13th arrondissement. Its name is a reminder that poplar trees (peupliers) once grew alongside the Bièvre, a river that … Read More

Rue des Thermopyles

May 3, 2011 | By Louis Fraysse | Secret Paris

As Narrow as Termopylae The Rue des Thermopyles is so-named because the street is as narrow as the pass where the legendary battle of Thermopylae was fought in 480 B.C. The cobblestoned, plant-filled, cat-friendly Rue des Thermopyles, off the busy … Read More

Port Royal Cloister

April 26, 2011 | By Louis Fraysse | Secret Paris

The Silence of the Cloister The 17th-century Port Royal Cloister on Paris’s Left Bank was once the heart of the Port-Royal Abbey, which had a rich yet troubled history as the stronghold of Jansenism, a 17th-century Catholic theology that was … Read More

Collège des Trente-trois

April 19, 2011 | By Louis Fraysse | Secret Paris

One of Paris’s hidden treasures, the 17th-century Collège des Trente-trois, can be found behind a carriage entrance at no. 34, rue Sainte-Geneviève (Métro: Maubert-Mutualité or RER: Luxembourg) in the heart of the Latin Quarter. Beyond the gate, you’ll feel cut … Read More

Secret Paris

April 12, 2011 | By Louis Fraysse | Secret Paris

Villa Santos Dumont Villa Santos Dumont, one of the most picturesque streets in Paris, is a quiet, cobblestoned dead end full of flowers and trees located in the eastern part of the 15th arrondissement. The street dates back to the … Read More