Le Marais Walking Tour

Middle Ages

Civil Middle Ages remains are pretty rare in Paris. Some of the most impressive ones are in the Marais.

The biggest remaining portion of the Paris city wall of the 1200s is in the Marais. The Wall was commissioned by the King of France, Philipe Augustus, before leaving for the third crusade to protect Paris from any attack of the English of Richard Lionheart.

The Hôtel de Sensthat was built in flamboyant gothic at the end of the 15th century.

Some of the very few remaining Paris timber houses (15th century).

Le Marais is nothing less and nothing more than the Parisian district of the Renaissance (16th C.) and the French “Grand Siècle” (17th C.). A lot of prestigious hôtels particuliers (private mansions) of the era can still be seen:

• Hôtel d’Aumont
• Hôtel de Beauvais
• Hôtel Hénault de Cantobre
• Hôtel de Chalon Luxembourg
• Hôtel de Sully, etc.

Built in 1706, the Hôtel Hénault de Cantobre is now a European center for contemporary photographic art. It houses an exhibition center, an extensive library, and other facilities.

It is a reference for the private mansions architectural design “entre cour et Jardin” (between courtyard and garden) that appeared in Paris in the 16th century.

Nowadays, the hôtel serves as a passage from rue Saint-Antoine (courtyard side) and place des Vosges (garden side); it is also the headquarters of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (French, ‘National monuments centre’).

The Place des Vosges is with Place Dauphine, Place de la Concorde, Place des Victoires et Place Vendôme, one of the five royal squares of Paris. Initially called Place Royale, it was renamed Place des Vosges in 1792 during the French Revolution.

This is one of the nicest places in Paris and also with île Saint-Louis, one of the most expensive in terms of real estate price.

Here is the museum Maison Victor Hugo as the famous French novelist lived there from October 1832 to July 1848.

There is a long list of famous ones who lived in Place des Vosges; among them
at number 11, from 1639 to 1648, Marion de L’Orme, well known for having been the Mistress of the Duc of Buckingham and also of the Cardinal de Richelieu. Place des Vosges is a time machine that brings you back directly to the time of D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers!

A reference in Paris’s history from the Middle Ages to WWII.

In front of the hôtel de Ville is the place de l’hôtel de Ville. Before 1802 and from the early Middle Ages, it was called the Place de Grève (The French word grève refers to the shores or banks of a body of water). There in the Middle Ages was the Port of Paris; it was also the place of most public executions with the gallows and the pillory.

The Place de Grève saw the first use of the guillotine.

In the Middle Ages the “city hall” was called the “maison aux piliers” (“House of Pillars”). In 1533 King Francis I ordered the construction of a new Modern Renaissance city hall. Heavily damaged during the “Commune de Paris” (1871), it was rebuilt from 1873 to 1892.

Saint-Paul Saint-Louis church (17th century). Built for the Jesuit architect Étienne Martellange, it was the first church in Paris to break away entirely from the Gothic style and use the Jesuits’ new Baroque style. It is obviously a typical counter-reformation church with interior decoration directly inspired by the Church of the Gesù in Rome. The first mass was said by Cardinal de Richelieu, First Minister of State of King Louis the XIII, on Mai 9th, 1641, 1.5 years before his death.

A living district

Rue des Francs Bourgeois and its famous independent boutiques, fancy & trendy shops and concept stores.

Rue Saint-Antoine, the former main entrance of Paris.

The spice of the Pletz (Jewish district).

The stunning Village Saint-Paul with its antique dealers and vintage shops

Photo: Village Saint-Paul is a fantastic village-like quiet place in the earth of Paris. Crédit photo: Broaden-Horizons.

The Marais extended propose one extra hour walk. This extra hour is normally dedicated to discovered northern parts of the Marais where stands a lot of prestigious 16th to 18th Centuries mansions,

• Hôtel Carnavalet
• Hôtel de Soubise
• Hôtel d’Albret
• Hôtel de Châtillon
• Hôtel Aubert de Fontenay (hôtel Salé) – musée Picasso
• Hôtel de Marle – Institut Tessin, also known as the Centre culturel suédois

We don’t enter the mansions (hôtel particular); nevertheless, when possible, we walk a little in their yards or gardens.

The extra time of the Marais extended tour can also be dedicated to going deeper into some themes or places of the tour or to discovering some hidden gems of the Marais , suchas, for example, the gardens of the hôtel de Soubise or some of the amazing boutiques of the Marais as the Méert one, a maison famous for its waffles since 1677.

The garden of the hôtel de Soubise. Crédit Photo Broaden-Horizons.

Notre-Dame to Le Marais Walking Tour (2-hour)

The tour includes exterior comments of Notre Dame, and then we cross the bridge from île de la Cité to Iles Saint-Louis and then to the right bank of the Seine. Saint-Louis. It’s one of the nicest strolls in Paris, if not the nicest . Then we walk to Place des Vosges, passing beside some of the most important monuments of the Marais (Hôtel de Sens, City Wall of Philippe Augustus, etc.).

Even if île Saint Louis is considered an extension of the Marais (this is historically the case), this tour only gives a first approach to the Marais.

Nevertheless, it is probably one of the best tours for a first-timer in Paris.

See / book our Notre-Dame to Le Marais Tour

Notre-Dame to Le Marais Extended Tour (3-hour)

The 3-hour version of the Marais Walking Tour brings an extra hour, which gives a lot of flexibility to the tour. The tour can be oriented in three different ways in function of the customer’s desires, his previous knowledge of Paris, etc.

1. Dedicate the extra hour to globally take more time to do the all tour.

2. Dedicate the extra hour to the Marais (right bank) to include a real Marais tour (See Marais 2-hour tour description)

3. Dedicate the extra hour to focus more on île Saint-Louis.

See / book our Notre-Dame to Le Marais Tour