What is cool! Everyone’s cool is different from everyone else’s — so when I say this is the list of the coolest places to go in Paris, I definitively mean that it is my list. Ergo: more bookstores than restaurants, more shops than bars. Your list will be different from mine, but I stand by all these picks.
Le Pavillon des Canaux: the sunniest, basin-side café/live music venue in the city. 39 quai de la Loire, 75019
La Recyclerie: Basically the same thing (a combo art space/café/brunch experience), but in the 18th, just below the flea markets at Saint Ouen. 83 bd Ornano, 75018
La Bellevilloise: Maybe one more? A live music/art space with more of a nightclub vibe than the two spots immediately above. 19-21 rue Boyer, 75020
Le Perchoir: This brand has four super-style-y cafés/bars — I love the rooftop one in Menilmontant, but I’m very interested in seeing the new one in the 15th at Porte de Versailles (pictured above), not far from the new Mama Shelter hotel, Mama West. Menilmontant: 14 rue Crespin du Gast, 75011. Porte de Versailles: 2 av. de la Porte de la Plaine
Jacques’ cocktail bar at the Hoxton (very close to the Sézane on rue Saint-Fiacre!). 30-32 rue du Sentier
Yvon Lambert: Artists’ books, art books, magazines, a gallery space, and more — maybe my favorite bookstore in Paris? 14 rue des Filles du Calvaire
0fr: My other favorite bookstore in Paris? More books about art and design, fewer artists’ books. 20 rue Dupetit-Thouars, 75003
Empreintes: Like if all the most beautiful ceramics makers in the world banded together and built their own four-story shop. 5 rue de Picardie, 75003
Café Saint-Regis: I wrote a huge portion of my book here, driving $8 Diet Cokes. 6 rue Jean du Bellay, 75004
Galignani: A half-English, half-French bookstore that has a beautiful gallery of books organized by the author’s country of origin in the back. 224 rue de Rivoli, 75001
Hemingway Bar at the Ritz: Wildly overpriced but still worth it?? 15 pl. Vendôme, 75001
Mmmozza: There are no better sandwiches in Paris (except for those formerly made by the guy with a sandwich shop in the lobby of my old apartment building, who chucked it and went back to Italy. But these are beyond great, too.) 57 rue de Bretagne, 75003
Bouillon Pigalle: A modern take on the traditional cantine, I’m obsessed — the food is both delicious and cheap, by Paris standards. 22 bd de Clichy, 75018
Le Bon Marché: My favorite department store in Paris, and often the site of large installations by leading artists. Equally good for the food hall across the street, La Grande Épicerie. 24 rue de Sèvres, 75007
Merci: Like Empreintes, but with clothing and design objects and super good, location-specific collections. 111 bd Beaumarchais, 75003
Peniche: It’s a boat! It’s a bookstore! It’s a boat! It’s a bookstore! Somehow it also serves brunch! 9 quai de l’Oise, 75019
Palais de Tokyo: I feel like this is definitively the coolest major art space in Paris, though obviously the experience there depends on the quality of whatever exhibition they are presenting. 13 av. du Président Wilson, 75116
Breizh: My go-to for fancy, not-inexpensive crêpes. Several locations