September 2, 2024, 3:45 pm | Read time: 5 minutes
Bohemian Paris still exists: in the north-east of the city, the former working-class district of Belleville is rapidly maturing into the most popular trendy district in the French capital. We take you on a tour.
The smog has plunged the Eiffel Tower into a gray haze. Even if you stand on the nearby Place de la Concorde, you can barely make out half of the Parisian landmark. But far away from the city’s tourist magnets, past the Champs-Élysées boulevard, the Latin Quarter and the bustling Marais, further and further to the northeast, the cloudy veil of fine dust clears. There is a hill there from which you can still catch a glimpse of the blue sky.
The neighborhood there is called Belleville. In English: the beautiful city. Whether it really is that beautiful is a matter of perspective. Many tourists who are content with the spruced-up postcard Paris would certainly shake their heads in the negative. But if you want to see the lively Paris of the students, this is the place for you.
Students, artists and families from all over the world live close together in cosmopolitan Belleville. Street art, pubs, and galleries dominate the cityscape here, with little in the way of high-end boutiques, overpriced restaurants, and the dust of the more upmarket districts of Paris. Affordable rents, a safe distance from the tourist crowds, and the alternative nightlife make the district so popular.
Street art en masse in Belleville
On Rue Denoyez, you can see what you often look for in vain in the French capital. Street art en masse covers the walls and courtyards. If you stroll through this street, we recommend an espresso in the dreamy reading café “Le Barbouquin”. Here, you can start the day between colorful stacks of books and cozy upholstered furniture.
Graffiti can also be found everywhere else on the facades of Belleville. One wall is adorned with a famous mural by Swiss street artist Benjamin Vautier. It reads in French on a blackboard written in exemplary scrollwork: “Il faut se méfier des mots“, “Beware of words”. What is meant, of course, is: Beware of the system! The blackboard is held by two puppets.
The best way to escape the system is to avoid the chic crowd. You can eat out very cheaply in Belleville, which is home to one of the city’s largest Chinatowns. You can find good, varied, and cheap cuisine in the countless Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants. As well as at the weekly market on Boulevard de Belleville.
Like an island in the middle of the rougher streets is Ménilmontant, an incorporated village with beautiful houses where you can stroll through sweet gourmet stores, cozy cafés, and boulangeries. The classic Parisian bistros, with their neon signs and 1960s furniture, can also be found here.
Art, museums, and a grande dame
For all its casual roughness, Belleville also has the French charm and picturesque beauty that make the rest of the city so appealing. Plus, a great Parisian Bohemian legend as a patron saint: the great chanson singer Édith Piaf was born here. It is said that she was born on the steps of the staircase at number 72 on Rue de Belleville, a street that winds its way through the entire district.
Today, there is a small museum dedicated to the life of the artist. However, the most interesting art showroom in Belleville is the “Les ateliers d’artistes de Belleville” in Rue Picabia, where over 300 artists have come together to create modern art that even the average wage earner can afford. In May, you have the opportunity to visit the artists in their workshops and even in their private homes during the “Portes ouvertes”.
A night in Belleville
At night in Belleville, people go to the “Café Cherie” or the “Aux Folies” to drink wine and beer together as an apéritif before going out to party. Don’t be too late, as the students fight for places in the reasonably priced bars. When it’s time to party, the best place to go is La Bellevillouise. During the day, this trendy location is an alternative café; at night, it is a bar and club in one. From breakdance battles to cumbia, funk, and electro parties, you can dance to anything non-mainstream here. The same also applies here: it gets crowded! You should therefore arrive earlier to dance than you would in Berlin or New York, for example.
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You can also relax there
If you want to recover from a long night out in Belleville, the district also offers peace and relaxation: The Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, which was built on the steep ruins of a quarry and is one of the most beautiful gardens in the city, is famous for its beauty.
However, from the stone terraces of the Parc de Belleville, where Parisians grow fruit and vegetables and magnificent cultivated flowers bloom, you have a far more beautiful view over Paris. An amphitheater and street art pavilion host art events, soccer tournaments, and concerts all year round, while the Eiffel Tower stands at the very eastern end of the horizon. It is, after all, uniquely beautiful, even a Belleville Bohemian has to admit that.