☰Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Saint-Germain trades on its postwar literary mythology — Sartre and de Beauvoir at Café de Flore, Hemingway at Les Deux Magots — and the cafés are still there, though these days the clientele is mostly tourists paying eight euros for an espresso. That said, the neighbourhood remains genuinely one of the most pleasant parts of Paris for walking. The streets between Boulevard Saint-Germain and the Seine are dense with small galleries, antique dealers, and bookshops. The church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest in Paris, anchors the main crossroads. South toward Saint-Sulpice, the mood shifts to upscale fashion boutiques and the magnificent Église Saint-Sulpice with its Delacroix murals. For food, skip the boulevard terraces and explore the side streets around Rue de Buci and the covered Marché Saint-Germain.