The different Quarters, or districts, of Paris | | 
The districts of Paris
| Like any big city, Paris is not a homogenous block of urban development; an ancient city, dating back to before Roman times, it is a city that has grown organically over the centuries, to the point that it has reached today, a city with an intra-muros population of 2 million inhabitants, an urban/suburban area of 6 million, and a metropolitan area of close to 10 million inhabitants.
Paris intra-muros
"Paris", in the strict sense of the term, is an area covering 10,539 hectores or 105.39 sq. km, corresponding to the "departement" of the Seine (75), the smallest in France in terms of size. This area is almost exactly delimited by theroute of the Paris inner ring road, or "Boulevard Périphérique", which circles the city.
Within this area, Paris is divided administratively into 20 urban boroughs, called arondissements, conveniently known by their numbers, rather than historic names. Parisians know the numbers, and often use them to refer to parts of the city; yet the historic areas of Paris also have names, some of them well-known, other less. Here therefore is a short guide to the main "Quarters" of Paris. | | * | La Cité - the city: Part of the 1st District (premier arondissement); La Cité is one of the the islands in the middle of the Seine, and is the historic heart of Paris. L'Ile de la Cité is today home to a number of historic monuments and administrative buildings, including Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Sainte Chapelle. Next to l'Ile de la Cité is the Ile Saint Louis, another very old quarter, which is more residential, with shops, restaurants and small hotels.
Louvre / Champs Elysées: 1st to 8th arondissements. The Champs Elysées bisect this quarter from south-east to north-west. This quarter includes the Louvre and the Tuileries, the Place de la Concorde, the Champs Elysées, the Place de l'Etoile and the Arc de Triomphe, as well as several other museums including the Orangerie, the Grand Palais and Petit Palais
Les Grands Boulevards - the district of the Grand Boulevards (2nd and 3rd Arondissements, and 8th to the 11th). Running more or less from the Place de la Madeleine (8th arondissement) to the Place de la Bastille (11th arondissement), this is the main shopping area of central Paris. The heart of the shopping area is the Boulevard Haussmann, near the Opéra (RER Auber, Metro Opéra), with some of the biggest department stores.
Le Quartier Latin The Latin Quarter - Covering part of the 6th arondissement, and also part of the 5th, this is the traditional student quarter of Paris, centered on the Sorbonne and the Panthéon. The narrow pedestrian streets are full of cafés and restaurants, and the busy boulevards, particularly the Boulevard Saint Michel, known as the Boul'Mich, have bookshops, cinemas and other shops.
Le Marais - the 4th Arondissement. This district, lying on the north bank of the Seine, has become a chic residential area; it is a district of narrow streets, with a lot of attractive historic buildings, and has become particularly popular since the opening of the modern art museum and library at the Pompidou Centre.
Le Septième - Quartier des Invalides. This district on the south bank of the Seine is largely administrative and residential. It contains, among other things, the Eiffel Tower, the Hotel des Invalides, the French National Assembly (parliament building), the residence of the Prime Minister (Hôtel Matignon), and the Musée d'Orsay.
| Pigalle / Montmartre - the 9th and 18th arondissement. Pigalle is the night-life district of Paris, famous for its clubs, cabarets and bars. It is also known as the red light district of Paris. Among the world famous cabaret bars are the Folies Bergère and the Moulin Rouge, popular tourist attractions. It borders on Montmartre, the hill on which sits the famous Sacré Coeur church, and the so-called artists quarter of Paris, today rather commercial.
Le Seizième - the sixteenth arondissement: over in the west of Paris, this is the chic residential area of the Paris west end, where housing is most expensive. A large number of foreign embassies are situated here. Beyond the ring road (boulevard péphérique) lies Paris's biggest and most famous park, the Bois de Boulogne.
Chinatown, le Treizième: Paris has a large Chinese and south-east Asian population, which is concentrated in the 13th district, around the Place d'Italie. This area has lot of oriental restaurants - Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodgian, and more, plus exotic shops and commerces.
Quartier de la Bastille. The area round the Place de la Bastille (4e, 11e, 12e) is a popular bustling area of Paris; it is an area with lots of shops, including all kinds of specialist shops which have set up in this part of town which is cheaper than the other end of the Grands Boulevards. This is also a chic cultural area, with the new Paris Opera, and chic boutiques.
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La Défense. Strictly lying outside Paris, la Défense, in the north west of the city, is the modern business district. La Défense lies at the edge of the city, following the line of the Champs Elysées, beyond the 16e / 17e arondissements. |
About-France.com - Paris for free
There are plenty of things to see and do in Paris, without spending a single centime. They include;
Museums that are always free:
These museums are permanently free:
- City of Paris Museum of Modern Art, at the Trocadéro
- Maison de Balzac, devoted to France's great 19th century novelist.
- Musée Carnavalet - the museum of the history of Paris
- Petit Palais, City of Paris museum of fine arts; a large collection of great master paintings and artefacts. Located just off the Champs Elysées
Museums that are sometimes free:
Free only on the first Sunday of each month:
The Louvre, Musée Rodin, Musée Picasso, Musée d'Orsay and others. |
Other free attractions in Paris:
Free monuments;
Notre Dame cathedral, other Paris churches.
Free to wander :
Wander along the banks of the Seine, through the parks, through the narrow streets of the Latin quarter, up to the heights of Montmartre.
Free travel:
Walk! But if you have a travel pass, then all your public transport is free.
| Hiring a Velib bicycle.
The cheap way to get round Paris.... if you take care!
 All over Paris, approximately every 300 yards in all directions, visitors to the city cannot help noticing bicycle racks, full of identical bicycles. This is Paris's successful "Velib" bike-hire scheme, which - if used correctly - can prove an excellent and cheap way to get around the capital.
You can hire a Velib bike for just one Euro a day, if you use the system properly: on the other hand, if you do not use the system as it is intended (for short hires only), it can work out very expensive.
To hire a Velib, you need a chip-and-pin credit card. On hire, you will be charged a 150 € deposit, which may well not be recredited to your card for another two weeks. A day's use of the system costs just 1 €, which includes as many half-hour hire periods as you want, during the day. These first half hour periods are always free, and you can have as many free "first" half hours as you want in a single day. After that, rates rise steeply to reach 4 € per extra half hour. So while you could use a Velib for all your needs for just a single Euro per day, you could find yourself billed over 80 €, which is far more than a hire car!
If this is not clear, read the two examples opposite. | Examples:
John and Mary both hire Velib bikes at 8.30 a.m from near their hotel, and set off independently for a day's visiting Paris.
John does not find out how the system works, so takes his bike and spends the whole day cycling round the city. Each time he stops, he locks the bike, but never returns it to a Velib rack, not even when he goes for lunch in a restaurant. He brings the bike back to where he first hired it at 9.30 p.m. He has thus had a single hire of 13 hours Cost, a whopping 96 Euros !! (Some might call this a scam!).
Mary, on the other hand, uses the system as it is designed to be used; for short trips only. She picks up her Velib bike at 8.30, rides to the Eiffel Tower (20 mins) and immediately returns the bike to a Velib rack by the tower. At 11.05 she takes another bike, crosses the Seine to the Arc de Triomphe, and returns the bike to another rack at 11.31, after 26 minutes. During the day, she takes a bike seven times, but always returns it in less than 30 minutes to a different rack. She never keeps a bike when not on the saddle. She returns to the hotel at 9.30 p.m. Total day's hire: 7 hires of less than 30 minutes each: Cost, just 1 €uro. Excellent value for money! |
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