Neighbourhood Watch: The First Arrondissement

For the uninitiated, Paris’s system of twenty neighbourhoods, or arrondissements, can seem completely and utterly random. But actually, there is a system there, and one that’s followed the expansion of the city centre since the late 1700s, when the original twelve were formed. Basically, that system spirals out clockwise from the centre, which is the first arrondissement, until it reaches the 20^th on the eastern perimeter.

Each arrondissement has its own distinctive vibe, and there really is a neighbourhood for every taste, whether you’re looking to book a place to stay throughout the Olympics or just want to make the best of a free afternoon in Paris. And one that no visitor to the city is likely to want to miss out on? The first, also styled as the 1eme, the Ier, la premiere, or the Louvre neighbourhood.

That latter clue might have tipped you off: this, the oldest neighbourhood in Paris and the royal heart of the city, is also tourist central, with the Louvre Museum and the Tuileries Gardens at its core.

Note: many Paris museums and attractions will require pre-booking during the Games. Make sure to check their websites to ensure you’re aware of any restrictions to access and to ensure you can visit on your intended date.

Main attractions of the 1^st arrondissement:

• The Louvre
• Jardin des Tuileries
• The Musée de l’Orangerie
• Musée des Arts Décoratifs
• 59 Rivoli
• Conciergerie
• Sainte-Chapelle

You’ll find it:

Right in the middle, baby. La premiere is located on Paris’s Right Bank, which is the north side of the Seine, and also includes the western tip of the Ile de la Cité, one of two small islands in the river.

Olympic sports held here:

None – though the nearby 8^th has an abundance, and the diminutive 1^st is well-served by the Metro, so travelling to venues is straightforward.

Olympic fanzones in the neighbourhood:

Fanzones are a great way for ticket holders and non-ticket-holders alike to enjoy the extraordinary buzz of Paris 2024 – for free. You can find lots more information on them here, and in la premiere, you can enjoy a well-located one within a youth centre in a striking historical building just behind the Louvre.

• Quartier Jeunes (Metro: Louvre-Rivoli, line 1)

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So what’s the vibe, anyway?

The 1^st arrondissement is tick-box Paris – it’s full of a lot of things you’ll have been told you absolutely must see while you’re in the city, but it’s not necessarily going to give you a sense of the city as a real-life, living and breathing place where people actually reside. It’s largely made up of museums, shops, souvenir stands, and wildly overpriced hotels, so you won’t run out of ways to amuse yourself in your free time, but you also might find yourself getting disillusioned pretty sharpish by the time the eighth person on the Rue de Rivoli tries to get you to buy a €19 music box that plays La Valse d’Amélie forlornly on a loop.

Can you make this your base for the Olympic Games? Sure, absolutely, if you have a healthy budget to splash out on a high-end hotel, which will allow you to channel the luxury and royalty that this part of the city is steeped in (just don’t think too long and hard about how the French monarchy ended…). It’s also not a bad place to stay – though, perhaps, not the most imaginative – if you want to shop, and shop hard, because there’s no shortage of luxury boutiques dotted around the place. Start at the Rue Saint Honoré, which is full of all the standard heavy-hitters such as Hermès and Louboutin, and then wander over to Rue Cambon to explore the original Chanel boutique. You can give the Rue de Rivoli a miss – while its colonnades and half-covered arcades look so emblematic of this part of central Paris, you’re not going to find much more within them than those souvenir shops, an outpost of Marks & Spencer, and a WH Smith that’s only really ever been useful to us when we needed to source copies of Horse & Hound while living in the city.

Instead, for the real deal where historical arcades are concerned, head to the Galerie Véro-Dodat, which is just a six-minute walk from the Louvre but tends to be slightly less crammed with selfie-stick-toting tourist types than Rivoli. Its boutiques cover an expansive range of offerings, from the Louboutin workshop to art galleries to homewares to an atelier that sells and services rare lap steel guitars. Plus, even if you’re just window-shopping, its gorgeous neoclassic architecture is straight out of the Belle Epoque.

It would be remiss of us to talk about la premiere without mentioning the embarrassment of riches where art history is concerned. Of course, the most-visited of these is the Louvre, which is actually the world’s most frequented art gallery. Of this, all we can say is that you’ll have a much better time exploring the museum’s array of treasures other than the Mona Lisa, which will look like a postage stamp and be blocked by even more selfie-sticks. This sort of is the selfie-stick neighbourhood of Paris, after all. There’s no shortage of gems for horse-lovers to find here – our favourite is Arab Horses Fighting in a Stable, painted by Eugène Delacroix, whose much more famous revolutionary masterpiece, Liberty Leading the People, can also be found in level one of the Denon Wing.

There’s art to be found off the beaten track, too. Head to 59 Rivoli, a former artists’ commune and squat that’s now the permanent house of 15 studios, as well as 15 residency spaces. It’s packed full of contemporary art from across the genres and also hosts concerts and workshops.

Firmly back in the mainstream, the Museé de l’Orangerie is also a big-ticket museum for art-lovers. Its collection of impressionist and post-impressionist masterpieces is often overshadowed by its piece de resistance, a huge, gleamingly white, circular room showcasing Monet’s colossal waterlilies. The effect is masterful, and incredibly soothing, but for… the selfie sticks. Get in there early to enjoy the sights without having your view blocked by a pouting influencer, and then take your time moseying through the rest of the permanent collection, which includes some excellent Cezannes and Modiglianis, and a collection of completely charming Utrillos that’ll put you wholly in the mood for Paris.

And with that mood in situ and looking to be indulged, it’s time to do the very best thing you can possibly do in the first: go for a meandering walk. It’s easiest to start in the Jardin des Tuileries, Catherine de Medici’s 16^th-century formal gardens. They’re free to visit (another thing we can thank the French Revolution for), and both the Musee de l’Orangeries and Jeu de Paume (an exceptional photography museum, which is unfortunately closed throughout the Games) are situated within them.

Also situated within them during the Paris Olympics? The Olympic flame in its cauldron, which will be in residence from July 26 to August 11. Make sure to pay it a visit – there’ll be raised walkways around it to guarantee a good view, even on busy days and with accessibility considerations firmly in mind – before heading out on your wanders. Tuileries has plenty of seats around the fountains, open-air cafes, tree-lined avenues, and beautiful little nooks and crannies, so it’s best to start walking without much of a plan in mind.

Head west through the gardens back towards the Louvre, and then nip out to the riverside to walk along the Seine enjoying views of the Haussman architecture and the Left Bank. You’ll get there soon enough to explore, but don’t cross over too early – instead, wait for the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris, which is watched over by an equestrian statue of King Henry IV.

Once you cross its first half, you’ll find yourself on the sweet Ile de la Cité, quite possibly the earliest settlement in Paris. Its main attraction, Notre Dame, is on the 4^th arrondissement end of the Ile, but the 1^st boasts Sainte-Chapelle, one of the world’s most beautiful churches with stained glass so extraordinary that stepping inside is like falling into a kaleidoscope. This UNESCO World Heritage site was consecrated in 1248 and while the €19 ticket price for adults (EU residents under 26, and everyone under 18 get in free, as with most Paris museums) might seem steep, it helps to contribute to the costs of maintaining this piece of living history. From there, head to the Conciergerie, a medieval palace-cum-courthouse that's the site of Marie Antoinette's beheading. Cheery stuff!

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Where to stay:

• Look, we never said this would be a cheap neighbourhood to stay in. But there are some very fun options if you’ve got the budget to spare. Hôtel Crayon Rouge is tucked in by the Palais Royal and the Galerie Véro Dodat, but rather than leaning into the old-world Paris luxury thing, they’ve gone for a fun, quirky, incredibly colourful vibe for their rooms. The hotel is owned by an artist, who curates each room’s style using upmarket antiques and fleamarket finds, and the overall effect is a little bit Austin Powers (but make it fashion). Prices start at £334 per night for a two-person double room during the Olympics.
• The Hotel Louvre Montana on Rue Saint Roch is more understated in its décor, and its Conde Nast feel is also reflected in its prices – a double room for two during the Olympics currently starts at £485 per night. But many of those rooms feature sweet little Parisian balconies with fantastic views of the city, and they’ll collect you from the airport too, which they bloody well should at this price.
• Hôtel du Lion d’Or Louvre doesn’t have an enormous amount of curb appeal, but the rooms are smart, clean, and served by a charismatic communal breakfast area. More importantly, though, you’ll find yourself just 200m from Tuileries, though you’ll be paying at least £225 per night during the Games for the privilege of it.

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Where to eat:

Finding good food and drinks in this tourist hub can be hard, because so many places are considered guide-book must-dos, and as such, they can get away with hiking their prices and cutting corners on actual quality. Will it be fun to drink at the Hemingway Bar in the Ritz, just to say you’ve done it? Maybe, if you like to be surrounded by pictures of Papa while you try to relax, and if you’re into paying €30 for a cocktail.

Instead, consider…

• Hôtel Costes, which is definitely not at all cheap either as a hotel or a bar, but it’s another spot where the likes of Hemingway and Fitzgerald liked to drink, and instead of plastering its walls with pictures of them, it’s just continued to offer up what brought them there in the first place: sexy, dimly-lit vibes and really, really good drinks. You’ll probably spot Catherine Deneuve there.
• Le Soufflé, on Rue du Mont Thabor, which does exactly what it says on the tin: it’s the go-to spot for both sweet and savoury soufflés, and it’s reliable at turning around what can be a notoriously unreliable dish.
• Les Nemours, on the Place Colette, is a great lunch spot but also the perfect place to stop for a coffee à la terrasse. The Place Colette provides brilliant people-watching from the colonnades.
• Tasting menus are a great way to sample an expanse of modern French cooking, and Verjus on the Rue de Richelieu is one of the best at a reasonable enough price point. At just under €100 per person, it’s still a treat meal, but not a treat meal that’ll leave you panhandling. Like all good modern Paris cuisine, it’s actually a melting pot of multicultural flavours and inspirations.
• Head back to the Place Dauphine and live your best Carrie-and-the-Russian life by eating al fresco under the chestnut trees at Restaurant Paul. They serve up traditional French fare that isn’t changing the world, but it’s hearty and reliable. You can still order their Resistance rations dessert – an oven-roasted apple with chestnut crème. Get the duck confit for your main, and pick a table in the square that’ll allow you a view of the boules games that’ll be getting underway.