A small hill in the otherwise tower-heavy 13th arrondissement, the Butte-aux-Cailles escaped Baron Haussmann's nineteenth-century demolitions and the high-rise development that swallowed the rest of the district. The result is a pocket of old Paris that feels nothing like its surroundings: cobbled lanes, low houses with gardens, a couple of garden-village courtyards built for workers a century ago, and walls covered in some of the city's liveliest street art.
The neighbourhood has long had a rebellious streak — it was one of the first strongholds of the 1871 Paris Commune — and today its main street, the Rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles, is a relaxed strip of bars, bistros, and cafés that fills with a young crowd at night. The handsome art-deco public swimming pool, fed by an artesian well, is a local institution.