Nature/Leisurely walks : +++ Culture : ++ Shopping : ++

If there is a picturesque neighbourhood in Paris, then it's the 2nd arrondissement. This neighbourhood is authentic from the Place de l'Opéra to the Sentier. Its lively little roads are scattered with old boutiques and small workshops: it's the place to find bargains and old-style shops. It's also the red light district, which has always been present in the Rue St Denis. You will be seduced by this neighbourhood, where a perfume of the past floats in the maze of small roads and numerous narrow passageways.

Routes for everyone :

for lovers of leisurely walks :

You can spend hours in the maze of passages which can found between Montmartre metro station and the Rue St Denis. As their name indicates, they are passageways between two roads, through buildings. From the narrowest and darkest to the widest and liveliest, they all have their charm and their character. You can find shelter in these passageways, as most are covered (Passage Choiseul, des Panoramas,…), some even having become real galleries. This is the case of the Galerie Vivienne, Rue des Petits Champs, which will dazzle you with its mosaic frescoes, its rotundas and its wrought iron which make it a very calm, very pleasant passageway.

for lovers of culture :

The 2nd district will overjoy cinema lovers. The Boulevard des Capucines is a great collection of cinemas, without forgetting one of the most renowned of France, the Rex, famous for its star-studded vault (a listed building) located at number 1, Boulevard Poissonnière.

But the 2nd district also conceals other treasures: the Bibliothèque Nationale, a real mine of information, the fountain of Square Louvois which represents four of the five French rivers (the Seine, the Loire, the Garonne and the Saône ) and the Opéra which will no doubt charm you.