A 3-Day Left Bank Itinerary

The Left Bank of the Seine has always been the thinking side of Paris: the university since the Middle Ages, the publishers and cafés of Saint-Germain, the studios of Montparnasse where the art of the twentieth century was invented. It is also the side where you can spend three full days without crossing a bridge, and this route does exactly that, one district a day.

Day 1 is Saint-Germain-des-Prés: the oldest church in Paris, the literary cafés, Delacroix's last studio on a tiny square and the Luxembourg Gardens. Day 2 is the Latin Quarter: the Roman arena of Lutetia, the Sorbonne, the Panthéon and the market street of the rue Mouffetard. Day 3 is Montparnasse: six million Parisians in the Catacombs, the cemetery of Sartre and Beckett, a sculptor's house and studio, the view from the only skyscraper in the center and dinner at La Coupole.

The arrival day is for a café terrace and an early night; the three days begin the next morning. The Catacombs and the Musée Bourdelle close on Mondays and the Musée Delacroix on Tuesdays, so keep Day 1 off a Tuesday and Day 3 off a Monday.

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This route at a glance

Tickets to book before you fly

Three tickets; the churches, gardens, cemetery and Musée Bourdelle are free. Prices start at the figures shown, per person.

Arrival evening: a terrace in Saint-Germain

Walk to the boulevard Saint-Germain and take a table on a café terrace facing the street. This is where Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir wrote, where Hemingway and Fitzgerald drank and where Parisians still sit for hours with a single glass. Order a "kir" and watch.

After dinner, walk down the rue Bonaparte to the river and along the quai Malaquais to the Pont des Arts, with the Institut de France lit behind you.

• Café terraces in Saint-Germain stay busy until late on weekdays.
• A kir is white wine with blackcurrant liqueur, the classic Paris aperitif.
• Day 1 starts at 9:30; Saint-Germain wakes up late.

Day 1: Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Delacroix and the Luxembourg

Start at the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest in Paris, whose Romanesque tower dates from around the year 1000 and whose painted nave was restored to its nineteenth-century colors. Opposite are Les Deux Magots and the Café de Flore, the two literary cafés of the district; coffee at one of them is part of the visit.

Walk round the corner to the Place de Furstenberg, the smallest and prettiest square on the Left Bank, with a single lamp and four paulownia trees. In its corner, the Musée Delacroix occupies the apartment and studio where Eugène Delacroix spent his last years, during the time he painted the murals of Saint-Sulpice; the garden studio is one of the most peaceful places in Paris. It closes on Tuesdays.

In the afternoon, walk to Saint-Sulpice to see those murals, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, in the first chapel on the right, then on past the Théâtre de l'Odéon to the Luxembourg Gardens. Take two green chairs by the Medici Fountain or the Grand Bassin and stay until the park guards whistle at closing time.

Stops in order

1. 9:30 · Saint-Germain-des-Prés: the oldest church in Paris, free
   3 Place Saint-Germain des Prés, 75006, Paris
2. 10:15 · Café de Flore: coffee on the terrace
   Rue Saint-Benoît, 75006, Paris
3. 11:00 · Place de Furstenberg: the smallest square on the Left Bank
   Place de Furstenberg, 75006, Paris
4. 11:15 · Musée Eugène-Delacroix: the painter's apartment and studio, closed Tuesdays
   6 Rue de Furstenberg, 75006, Paris
5. 14:00 · Saint-Sulpice: Delacroix's murals, free
   2 Rue Palatine, 75006, Paris
6. 15:00 · Théâtre de l'Odéon: the theater and its arcades
   Place de l'Odéon, 75006, Paris
7. 15:30 · Luxembourg Gardens: gardens until closing
   Place Edmond Rostand, 75006, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Stay for the closing whistle in the Luxembourg

At closing time, park guards walk the paths blowing whistles and the gates close one by one. It is a Paris ritual, and the half-hour before it, in the low light, is the best of the day in the garden.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The churches and the Delacroix museum are indoors; swap the gardens for the bookshops of the rue de l'Odéon.

Day 2: The Latin Quarter: Roman arena, Sorbonne, Panthéon and Mouffetard

The Latin Quarter takes its name from the language of the medieval university, and its streets follow a Roman plan. Start at the Arènes de Lutèce, the arena of Roman Paris, hidden behind the buildings of the rue Monge and rediscovered in the nineteenth century; today local children play football where gladiators fought. It is free and open all day.

Walk to the Sorbonne, founded in 1257 and still the heart of the university, and along the rue Saint-Jacques, the old road to Rome and Santiago. Have lunch in one of the cheap student restaurants of the area, then visit the Panthéon, the temple to the great men and women of France, where Foucault proved the rotation of the earth with his pendulum under the dome.

Spend the late afternoon on the rue Mouffetard, one of the oldest streets in Paris, which runs downhill from the Place de la Contrescarpe with its café terraces to a market of fromageries, bakers and fishmongers at the bottom. Hemingway lived around the corner in the 1920s and wrote about the street in A Moveable Feast.

Stops in order

1. 9:30 · Arènes de Lutèce: the Roman arena, free
   49 Rue Monge, 75005, Paris
2. 11:00 · Sorbonne: the old university
   75005, Paris
3. 12:30 · Latin Quarter: student restaurants
   Rue de la Huchette, 75005, Paris
4. 14:30 · Panthéon: crypt and pendulum
   Place du Panthéon, 75005, Paris
5. 16:30 · Rue Mouffetard: market street and the Contrescarpe
   Rue Mouffetard, 75005, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Sit on the arena steps with a sandwich

The Arènes de Lutèce are almost empty on weekday mornings. A bakery breakfast on the stone tiers, with the old stage in front of you, is the most unusual picnic in Paris.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The Panthéon is indoors and the rue Mouffetard has covered shopfronts; swap the arena for the Musée de Cluny nearby.

Day 3: Montparnasse: the Catacombs, a cemetery, a sculptor and La Coupole

Begin underground in the Catacombs at Denfert-Rochereau: 131 steps down into the old quarries, a kilometer and a half of tunnels lined with the bones of the city's old cemeteries, and 112 steps back up to a street in another part of the district. The visit takes about an hour, and the audio guide is included.

Walk to the Montparnasse cemetery, the resting place of the Left Bank's writers and artists: Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir share a grave near the entrance, and Samuel Beckett, Baudelaire, Serge Gainsbourg and Man Ray are all here. Nearby, the Musée Bourdelle, free, keeps the house, garden and studios of the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, a pupil of Rodin, much as he left them.

At sunset, ride to the 56th floor of the Montparnasse Tower and climb to the roof for the view of the Eiffel Tower lighting up. End the trip at La Coupole on the boulevard du Montparnasse, the Art Deco brasserie of the 1920s whose pillars were painted by the artists who ate there; order the seafood and the lamb curry, which has been on the menu since it opened.

Stops in order

1. 9:45 · Catacombs of Paris: about an hour underground, closed Mondays
   1 Avenue du Colonel Henri Rol Tanguy, 75014, Paris
2. 12:00 · Montparnasse Cemetery: Sartre, Beckett, Gainsbourg, free
   3 Boulevard Edgar Quinet, 75014, Paris
3. 14:30 · Musée Bourdelle: house, garden and studios, free, closed Mondays
   18 Rue Antoine Bourdelle, 75015, Paris
4. 18:00 · Montparnasse Tower: 56th floor and the roof at sunset
   Rue du Départ, 75015, Paris
5. 20:00 · La Coupole: dinner at the Art Deco brasserie
   102 Boulevard du Montparnasse, 75014, Paris

The numbers for this day

💡 Pro Tip

Bring a sweater to the Catacombs

It is 14 °C underground all year. In summer, the change from a hot street is a shock after a few minutes; a light layer in your bag solves it.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

If it rains: The Catacombs, the museum and the tower are indoors; skip the cemetery in heavy rain.

Departure morning: books and a last coffee

Buy a book to take home at one of the Left Bank's bookshops: Shakespeare and Company by the river for English titles, or the small independent shops of the rue de l'Odéon and the rue Saint-Sulpice. Then a last coffee at the counter of a Saint-Germain café.

The RER B from Saint-Michel or Luxembourg runs straight to Charles de Gaulle and Orly, which makes the Left Bank one of the easiest places to leave from.

• The RER B stops at Luxembourg, Port-Royal, Denfert-Rochereau and Saint-Michel.
• Most bookshops open at 10:00.
• Leave plenty of time for an international flight.

Which day goes where

The three days can run in any order. Use this table to keep every sight off its closing day.

The three Left Bank districts on this route

Each day of the route covers one district, and each has its own character. The table helps you choose where to stay and which day to keep if you only have two.

💡 Pro Tip

Stay near the Luxembourg Gardens

A hotel between the Luxembourg Gardens and the boulevard Saint-Germain puts all three days of this route within walking distance, and the RER B to the airports is at the garden gate.

Pro tip by: Alesia Vakula

Travel expert and itinerary planning specialist

Left Bank cafés with a history

• Les Deux Magots and the Café de Flore, Saint-Germain: Sartre, Beauvoir, Picasso and Camus.
• La Closerie des Lilas, Montparnasse: Hemingway wrote at the bar.
• La Coupole, Le Dôme and La Rotonde, Montparnasse: the painters of the 1920s.
• Le Procope, rue de l'Ancienne-Comédie: the oldest café in Paris, frequented by Voltaire and the revolutionaries.

Prices on the most famous terraces are high; you are paying for the seat and the history as much as for the coffee, and that is the point. For the same atmosphere at half the price, walk one street back from the boulevard: the rue de Buci and the rue de Seine have terraces just as old, full of locals rather than visitors, and the waiters are in less of a hurry to turn the table.

More 3-day routes

• Paris for art lovers: the Orsay and the Rodin museum on the Left Bank.
• Medieval and Gothic Paris: Cluny, Saint-Séverin and the islands.
• Paris solo: the Left Bank on foot, alone.
• The Marais and east Paris: the other side of the river.
• Where to stay in Paris with kids: the Left Bank for families.
• 2 days in Paris: a short Left Bank weekend.
• All the 3-day routes, by theme