Would you like to discover a cosmopolitan Paris, between bucolic gentleness and boundless energy? We'd love to hear from you!
(Spoiler alert: at the end of the article we'll give you our addresses 😉)
Belleville nestles between parks and canals.
How about spending a day here, starting at the Canal Saint-Martin and working your way up to the Parc de Belleville lookout, the Parc des Buttes Chaumont or the lesser-known Butte Bergeyre? Explore the streets and history of this district, where mazes of tiny alleyways, courtyard workshops and industrial structures from the 1950s still coexist with imposing, straightforward buildings.
A little history: Belleville was attached to Paris in 1860 and became a stronghold of insurrection 10 years later at the time of the Paris Commune. Its link with history also has a lot to do with the working-class population and immigration that began in the inter-war years - Armenians, Greeks and Polish Jews came to help develop the leather crafts already present. It continued after the war - with Sephardic Jews, from Algeria and Tunisia - and continued in the 60's until the 80's with a last wave of immigration, first from China, then from South-East Asia.
Belleville hill was also one of the city's largest rainwater reservoirs, due to its high altitude for the town (108m, 130m for the Butte Montmartre in comparison). The water was then distributed by aqueducts, remnants of which can still be seen today, such as the Saint-Martin manhole and a few evocative names, such as rue des cascades, des rigoles etc.
If the skies are clear and temperatures are mild, it's THE time to plan your Belleville stroll.
Conveniently, it's direct with line 9, which leaves just a few hundred meters from the hotel's Trocadéro station! Head for Mairie de Montreuil and exit at Place de la République.
You have two options:
- Make a loop through the lively neighboring Oberkampf district, where, at the crossroads of Oberkampf and Saint-Maur, you'll find the M.U.R. created 15 years ago by two Street-Art pioneers, Jean Faucher and Thomas Schmitt, aka Thom-Thom.
Every month for the past 15 years, an association has invited two artists to produce a 15-day ephemeral work of art. Not bad, eh?
Stencils, mosaics, collage - the techniques and forms of street art are varied. If you're in Paris on a Saturday at the beginning or middle of the month, it's a great experience to take in before strolling through this neighborhood, which is bursting with energy, food shops and old industrial buildings.
We recommend a visit to Atelier des lumières and lunch at Amatxi!
- Stroll straight along the Canal Saint-Martin for a coffee at Chez Prune (opened in the year of the 98 World Cup!) for example, have lunch in the dreamlike world of Comptoir Général or grab a bite to eat at Gros Bao if you get a sudden craving for Asian flavors... and that would be just the thing!
Continue up rue du Faubourg du Temple to Boulevard de la Villette, before taking rue de Belleville (where a funicular tramway ran from 1891 to 1924) to Parc de Belleville and its 108m-high lookout on the right, or to Parc des Buttes Chaumont on the left.
🔭 The Belvédère de Belleville is one of the widest panoramas in Paris, so it's well worth the detour! Between Jussieu and the Eiffel Tower, you can see the glass roof of the Grand Palais, the Invalides dome, the Pompidou center, the Saint-Jacques and Montparnasse towers and, finally, Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral.
Along the railings that take you to the top, artists from all walks of life have made their mark, and it's possible to see some of them in action.
And don't forget to visit the park's vineyards, another reminder of the hill's winegrowing past!
🪻Le Parc des Buttes-Chaumont was commissioned by Napoleon III in 1860. The lake and landscaping, inspired by mountainous terrain, were artificially created by engineer Adolphe Alphand and inaugurated in 1867 for the Paris Universal Exhibition (the Eiffel Tower didn't yet exist!). Take the suspended footbridge, a masterpiece by Gustave Eiffel, to climb to the top of Belvedere Island, 30 metres above lake level, where you'll find the Temple de la Sybille, a copy of the Temple Vesta in Tivoli, Italy.
🏡Exit the park at number 17 rue Manin and take the stairs up to the Butte Bergeyre, which we think is one of the most picturesque spots in Paris.
One of the Buttes-Chaumont, it was once home to several mills, an amusement park, a restaurant, an open-air cinema, tennis courts and even a stadium, the Stade Bergeyre, named in honor of Robert Bergeyre, a rugby union player who died at the age of 20 during the First World War.
Today, all that is gone, giving way to a quiet neighborhood and green space that's a pleasure to stroll through, all the way to a breathtaking view of the Sacré Coeur. Only 1,200 people live here, and who knows, you might even bump into Jean-Paul Goude, Clovis Cornillac or the fictional character Vernon Subutex, who takes up residence on the hill in Virginie Despantes' novel...
All we have to do now is wish you a pleasant stroll and, as promised, leave you with our local addresses!
🥢Asian flavors
- Big Bao
- Lao Siam (Laotian cuisine)
- Ravioli Nord-Est
- Double Dragon
🍽️Bistrot and bistronomy
- The Caravan
- Amatxi
- Le Servan
🍕Pizza
- Tripletta
🍸Bar and cocktail bar
- Kissproof
- Le Rosa Bonheur
- La Sardine
- BBP Canal Paris
