Paris Arrondissements: A Guide to the 20 Districts (What They Are, Where to Go)

In short. Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements numbered in a spiral, starting from the center (1st) and rotating clockwise outward (20th). ZIP codes start with 75 followed by the arrondissement number (75001, 75002...). The most central arrondissements (1st-7th) are the most touristy and expensive. The Marais (3rd-4th) is the chic-bohemian neighborhood with medieval architecture. Saint-Germain (6th) is elegant and literary. Quartier Latin (5th) is student-y. Montmartre (18th) is the former bohemian artists' district. Belleville (20th) and Canal Saint-Martin (10th) are multicultural and cool. For tourists, the best places to sleep are 3rd-4th Marais, 5th Quartier Latin, 6th Saint-Germain, 9th South Pigalle (excellent value). The 18th-19th-20th arrondissements are more popular and authentic, but some areas need attention in the evening.

Big cities are understood in layers, and Paris is no exception. Its geography is a snail shell: twenty districts — the arrondissements — that spiral around the center, each with its own soul, its own scent, its own language, its own rhythms. Understanding the "character" of each neighborhood is the key to knowing where to sleep, where to dine, where to take a stroll in the sun, and where to instead pick up the pace a bit late at night.

How do Paris arrondissements work?

Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements (administrative districts) numbered progressively, starting from the historic center (1st) and rotating clockwise outward to the 20th. Seen from above, the numbering draws a spiral that begins at the Louvre and winds out to the eastern edge of the city.

Each arrondissement has its own ZIP code: they all start with 75 (Paris code) followed by the arrondissement number with a leading zero if needed. 75001 is the first, 75002 the second, 75011 the eleventh, 75020 the twentieth. When you see an address in Paris, the last part of the ZIP tells you immediately where you are: 75002 = second arrondissement = north center; 75017 = seventeenth = west. It's an instant reference for those who know the city.

Arrondissements aren't all the same size. The first ones (1st-4th) are very small, because they cover the dense historic center. The outer ones (15th-20th) are much larger.

A practical rule: the low numbers (1-7) are the touristy historic center (more expensive, more visited); the medium numbers (8-12) are semi-central, with very livable neighborhoods; the high numbers (13-20) are more popular and authentic, some are multicultural, and prices for housing and restaurants drop.

What do Rive Droite and Rive Gauche mean?

Paris is also divided by the Seine into two large halves: the Rive Droite (Right Bank), north of the river, and the Rive Gauche (Left Bank), south. Despite the names, "rive" refers to the bank of the river, not geographic right/left.

Historically the Rive Droite was the Paris of power and commerce: kings, banks, department stores, opera, Louvre. The Rive Gauche was the Paris of intellectuals and universities: the Sorbonne, Saint-Germain of the philosophers, Montparnasse of the artists. Even today this division is perceptible: Rive Droite more "wealthy and busy," Rive Gauche more "relaxed and bohemian." Generalizations, obviously, but with a kernel of truth.

To orient yourself: Louvre, Marais, Champs-Élysées, Bastille, Opera, République, Montmartre are Rive Droite. Eiffel Tower, Saint-Germain, Quartier Latin, Tour Montparnasse are Rive Gauche.

What is there to see in the 1st arrondissement?

The 1st arrondissement is the heart of the historic center, around the Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens. You find the Louvre, the Palais Royal, the Tuileries, the Comédie-Française, the Sainte-Chapelle (at the border with the 4th). It's the most visited neighborhood in Paris, but also where the density of museums and monuments is at its maximum.

Sleeping here is expensive (€550-1,500 a night in luxury hotels). To eat well you have to walk a bit away from the most touristy streets: Rue Saint-Honoré has good bistros away from the tourist areas, Place du Marché Saint-Honoré is lively in the evening. Les Halles, the huge underground shopping center next to Saint-Eustache church, is chaotic and very busy in the evening.

What is the Marais in Paris?

The Marais (3rd and 4th arrondissements) is Paris's "chic-bohemian" neighborhood, with preserved medieval and 18th-century architecture, small museums (Musée Picasso, Musée Carnavalet, Maison de Victor Hugo), design boutiques, art galleries, restaurants to discover. It's also the historic Jewish quarter of Paris (rue des Rosiers with its legendary falafel street food) and the LGBTQ+ neighborhood of the city (Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie area).

The Marais is one of the best places to stay as a tourist: well served by transit (lines 1, 8, 11, RER A), livable area, restaurants everywhere, close to everything. The flip side: it's expensive, especially on the main streets.

What to do in the Marais: stroll in Place des Vosges (the oldest planned square in Paris, splendid), visit the Musée Picasso, eat a falafel at L'As du Fallafel, have an aperitif at one of the thousand bars between rue Vieille-du-Temple and rue de Bretagne, get lost in the side streets among design boutiques.

The Seine islands (Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis) administratively fall under the 1st and 4th: Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle, the Conciergerie on Île de la Cité; restaurants and historic ice cream parlors (Berthillon!) on Île Saint-Louis.

What is the Quartier Latin in Paris?

The Quartier Latin (5th arrondissement) is the university neighborhood of Paris, around the Sorbonne founded in 1257. It's called "Latin" because until the 18th century Latin was spoken here between students and professors.

What you find: the Panthéon (where Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo, Curie, and many others are buried), the Jardin du Luxembourg (one of the most beautiful and "lived-in" parks in Paris), historic bookstores (the legendary Shakespeare and Company across from Notre-Dame), bistros and arthouse cinemas. Atmosphere: student, intellectual, lively in the evening.

For sleeping it's excellent: well served, medium prices, very walkable. For eating, avoid the hyper-touristy streets like rue de la Huchette (where the traditional Greek restaurants at €15 are tourist traps) and look for rue Mouffetard, rue Monge, the streets around the Panthéon.

What is Saint-Germain-des-Prés?

Saint-Germain-des-Prés (in the 6th arrondissement) is the "elegant and literary" neighborhood of the Left Bank. Historically the neighborhood of Sartre, de Beauvoir, Camus, of post-war literary cafés (Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots, Café Procope since 1686). Today it's also a neighborhood of luxury boutiques, art galleries, refined restaurants.

What to do: have a coffee (expensive, €5-7) at Café de Flore or Les Deux Magots with a view of boulevard Saint-Germain, stroll in the Jardin du Luxembourg, shop on rue Mazarine and rue Bonaparte, visit the Musée d'Orsay (at the border with the 7th) or the Musée du Luxembourg.

For sleeping it's excellent but expensive. For eating, the historic brasseries (Lipp, La Closerie des Lilas) are experiences in themselves, but pricey; for something more normal, walk toward the inner 6th and rue de Buci.

What is the 7th arrondissement?

The 7th arrondissement is "the Eiffel Tower neighborhood" and Les Invalides. It's residential, elegant, slightly formal: embassies, ministries, high-end residences. Excellent if you want quiet lodging with a view of the Eiffel Tower, less so if you're looking for nightlife.

What to see: Eiffel Tower (obviously), the Champ-de-Mars (the lawn in front, perfect for sunset picnics), Les Invalides (with Napoleon's tomb), the Musée d'Orsay (at the border with the 6th), the Musée Rodin.

For food there are good restaurants, but the area at the foot of the Eiffel Tower is hyper-touristy: walk ten minutes toward rue Saint-Dominique or rue Cler for much better spots.

What's on the Champs-Élysées?

The Champs-Élysées (8th arrondissement) is Paris's most famous avenue: from the Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde, two kilometers of luxury, international brands, cinemas, outdoor bars. Very touristy atmosphere, high prices, mediocre quality on average at the restaurants. Worth seeing once, especially in the evening with the lights, but don't take it as a reference for food or quality shopping.

The neighborhood is dominated by the geometry of Place de l'Étoile: twelve streets converge into the circle where the Arc de Triomphe stands. Also worth seeing are the Grand Palais and Petit Palais (museums, important temporary exhibitions), and the Madeleine (monumental neoclassical church). Sleeping here is expensive, and in the evening many hotels are full of noisy tourists.

What's in the 9th arrondissement?

The 9th arrondissement is one of the "revelation" neighborhoods of recent years: zone of South Pigalle (SoPi) (respectable part of old Pigalle), lively streets, new-school restaurants (the rue des Martyrs area is one of the best for food), new fashion boutiques, pleasant nightlife.

You find here: the Opéra Garnier (Paris's historic opera house, magnificent even just from outside), the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps (the most important department stores, with Lafayette's stunning glass dome), rue Cadet, rue des Martyrs.

For sleeping it has excellent value for money: well served by metro and RER, close to the center, prices more reasonable than the 1st-4th.

What are Pigalle and Montmartre?

Pigalle (part of the 9th and 18th) is the old red-light district of Paris, today largely gentrified: bars, clubs, nightspots coexist with new-school restaurants and normal residents. The Moulin Rouge is here (touristy to the bone, but iconic).

Montmartre (18th arrondissement) is the hill of the Sacré-Cœur, the former bohemian neighborhood of Picasso, Modigliani, Toulouse-Lautrec, Dalí. Today it's ultra-touristy on the main streets (Place du Tertre with painters doing portraits, rue Norvins with relentless pedestrian flow), but if you walk ten minutes off the beaten path — toward rue Lepic, rue des Abbesses, the little streets behind the hill — you find a magical atmosphere, especially at sunset.

What to see: Sacré-Cœur (white basilica on top, breathtaking view of Paris), Place du Tertre (the painters, watch your wallet), Moulin de la Galette (historic mill immortalized by Renoir), the Cimetière de Montmartre, the Musée de Montmartre.

Sleeping here is romantic but logistically complicated: the hill is steep (if you have heavy luggage, you suffer), the metro is less dense. Near the funicular (line 2 - Anvers, or line 12 - Abbesses) life is easier.

What are Canal Saint-Martin and Belleville?

Canal Saint-Martin (10th arrondissement) is one of Paris's "coolest" neighborhoods: along the eponymous canal, modern-bohemian atmosphere, bars and restaurants full of young Parisians on Sunday afternoons. It's the neighborhood of the film "Amélie" (some scenes were here), of new-school bistros, of creativity. Sleeping here gives you an atmosphere less "monument," more "real life."

Belleville (on the border between 19th, 20th, and 11th) is Paris's quintessential multicultural neighborhood: large Asian, Jewish, North African, Vietnamese communities. Authentic international cuisine at honest prices, markets full of life, atmosphere completely different from the touristy center. Not to be confused with the Belleville hill, a panoramic park in the 19th with one of the most beautiful (and least touristy) views of Paris.

For curious tourists with a bit of experience, sleeping at Canal Saint-Martin or in Belleville is an authentic experience.

Which are the most expensive Paris neighborhoods?

The most expensive are 6th-7th-8th-16th for housing (€8,000-15,000/m² for purchase, €35-50/m² monthly for rentals). For tourist hotels, 4th-6th-7th are the most expensive among the central "good" ones; the 8th for luxury (Champs-Élysées, Place Vendôme).

The most affordable and still livable for tourists are 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th (Bercy), 14th. The 18th (South Pigalle) has good value. The 17th is semi-central luxury but with quieter zones and prices less crazy than the 16th.

Which Paris neighborhoods to avoid at night?

Paris isn't a dangerous city, but some areas require more attention late at night. Stalingrad-Jaurès (10th-19th), La Chapelle (10th), Barbès-Rochechouart (18th) are areas that function normally by day but in the evening are better crossed by metro (especially lines 2 and 4, Barbès and Stalingrad stations). Les Halles (1st) is always lively but full of pickpockets and sometimes chaotic. Pigalle (9th-18th) is manageable but touristy-chaotic.

The neighborhoods that stay quiet and pleasant even late are the Marais (3rd-4th), Saint-Germain (6th), Quartier Latin (5th), Saint-Michel-Île-Saint-Louis, Champs-Élysées (though expensive and touristy). Keep an eye on the RER B (line going to Charles de Gaulle airport): always frequented by pickpockets, especially in hours with many tourists.

How to choose the right Paris neighborhood to stay in

The choice of neighborhood depends a lot on your travel style. If it's your first time in Paris and you want to be central: 4th (Marais), 5th (Quartier Latin), 6th (Saint-Germain). All close, all memorable, all expensive.

If you want value for money + authentic life: 9th (South Pigalle, excellent base), 11th (Bastille-Oberkampf, young nightlife), 10th (Canal Saint-Martin, bohemian-cool).

If you want family + tranquility: 7th (residential Eiffel Tower area), 16th (chic residential), inner 17th.

If you want adventure + international food: 19th-20th (Belleville, Asian and North African cuisine), inner 18th (real Montmartre).

And remember: transit times in Paris are short thanks to the dense metro network. Even from "distant" neighborhoods like the 19th or 20th, in 15-25 minutes you reach the historic center.

How to orient yourself between neighborhoods during a visit

When your itinerary crosses multiple neighborhoods in one day — typical of a Paris trip — knowing which metro stops correspond to which arrondissement helps you understand where you are in real time, and not end up off route. Zeppelin Map (the iOS transit navigation app for Paris, developed by Anaximae SASU) always shows the neighborhood and arrondissement of your current position, and when you plan multiple stops the proprietary Bibomap™ algorithm optimizes the geographic order so you don't bounce back and forth between opposite arrondissements — a common mistake when you don't have a feel for Paris geography.

When you set all the stops of the day, Zeppelin Map shows you on the map how the itinerary touches the different arrondissements, and suggests where to insert coffee breaks, lunch, and dinner in the neighborhoods you cross. If your midday stop falls in the 4th (Marais), the app proactively suggests a café or a bistro in the Marais. If instead you're at 7 PM in the 6th, it proposes Saint-Germain.

Something you only understand by living there

Every Paris arrondissement has its precise personality, and after a few days you catch it. The Marais has a different rhythm from Saint-Germain. The 9th is a completely different spirit from the 16th. Belleville is another city compared to the 7th. One of Paris's beauties is exactly this: you change neighborhood and you change atmosphere, the language in the restaurants, the pace of the stroll, the type of people on the street.

The final advice is to dedicate at least half a day to a "non-touristy" neighborhood of your stay. The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower are great, but a morning at Canal Saint-Martin watching Parisians do yoga along the canal, or an afternoon at the Belleville market, gives you back a much more alive and real city than a thousand selfies in front of a monument.

FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions about Paris neighborhoods

How many arrondissements are there in Paris?

Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements numbered 1 to 20. The numbering follows a spiral from the center outward (1st at the Louvre, 20th in the eastern periphery). ZIP codes start with 75 followed by the number (75001-75020).

What's the best neighborhood to stay in Paris?

The best for the first time in Paris are the 4th (Marais) for medieval atmosphere and shopping, the 5th (Quartier Latin) for student life and medium prices, the 6th (Saint-Germain) for literary elegance. For value, excellent are the 9th (South Pigalle), the 11th (Bastille), and the 10th (Canal Saint-Martin).

What is the Marais in Paris?

The Marais is a central Paris neighborhood (3rd and 4th arrondissements) with preserved medieval architecture, small museums (Picasso, Carnavalet, Victor Hugo), design boutiques, pleasant nightlife. It's also the historic Jewish and LGBTQ+ quarter of the city. The Place des Vosges is one of the most beautiful squares in Paris.

What do Rive Droite and Rive Gauche mean?

Rive Droite (Right Bank) is the part of Paris north of the Seine: Louvre, Marais, Champs-Élysées, Bastille, Opera, Montmartre. Rive Gauche (Left Bank) is to the south: Eiffel Tower, Saint-Germain, Quartier Latin, Montparnasse. Historically Rive Droite was of power and commerce, Rive Gauche of intellectuals.

Which Paris neighborhoods to avoid at night?

Neighborhoods requiring more attention late at night are Stalingrad-Jaurès, La Chapelle, Barbès-Rochechouart, parts of Les Halles, some areas of Pigalle. The RER B is frequented by pickpockets. Quiet late-night neighborhoods are Marais, Saint-Germain, Quartier Latin, and Île Saint-Louis.

What is Belleville in Paris?

Belleville is a multicultural neighborhood on the border between the 19th, 20th, and 11th arrondissements: Asian, Jewish, North African, and Vietnamese communities. Authentic international cuisine at honest prices, very lively markets, atmosphere completely different from the touristy center. The Belleville hill offers one of the less touristy views of Paris.

What's the difference between Pigalle and Montmartre?

Pigalle (9th and part of the 18th) is the old red-light district now gentrified, with bars, clubs, and new-school restaurants. Montmartre (18th) is the hill of the Sacré-Cœur, former bohemian neighborhood of Picasso and Modigliani, today ultra-touristy on the main streets but magical in the side alleys.