The Right Bank, or La Rive Droite was historically the wealthier part of the city– a breeding ground for Paris’s legendary palace hotels that cluster around the 1st and 8th arrondissements. Meanwhile, Paris’s jazz age and then its post war era saw the Left Bank, or La Rive Gauche usurped by struggling artists, who brought life and energy to the bistros and café’s dotted throughout Saint-Germain-des-Prés and some even taking permanent residence at the discreetly glamorous L’Hotel– an unsung icon still today. Struggling artists in La Rive Gauche. It’s hard to imagine this fact when looking at the Left Bank today: a bourgeois part of the city where Paris’s top tourist attractions, like The Eiffel Tower, the Luxembourg Gardens, Musée d'Orsay and Rodin frame the upmarket residential neighborhoods, where elegantly manicured streets are lined with high-end galleries and antique shops.
As the Right Bank began to evolve over time, with new, stylish boutique hotels and trendy restaurants inspired by international cuisine opening up weekly in neighborhoods from Pigalle to Bastille, the Left Bank had become somewhat stagnant, losing its former edge that was instead forming north of the Seine– ultimately, remaining firm in its Frenchness.
“Saint-Germain-des-Prés attracts travelers who are looking for exclusive and very Parisian addresses,” explains Jerome Didier, the general manager of the new Villa-des-Prés. “You can find everything that represents Paris: art galleries, fashion boutiques, very famous French and Italian furniture stores and the oldest Parisian department store.” It was necessary that new developments honored that vision and preserved the essence of its rich cultural heritage.
Post-Covid has finally seen quiet development in the Left Bank– revealing changes that are beginning to resemble its past, with new stylish hotels and exclusive restaurants influenced by the magic that neighborhoods like Saint-Germain-Des-Prés once inspired– at last, luring back in the creative class that Parisian restaurateur Olivier Leone describes as being “driven by the nostalgia of the good years.” In addition to its rich cultural history, Paris’s Left Bank has always been the quintessential Paris tourists dream about when they think of the French capital. “People are fed up with the aesthetic of ‘the ugly’”, muses Olivier, alluding to the Right Bank’s more modern aesthetic. “They want to see something beautiful again and what’s more beautiful than the 6th and the 7th in Paris?”
He’s right. The Right Bank today feels like a new city entirely, while the Left Bank has always felt like Paris. If the Left Bank was going to develop, it was important that it maintained its indelible creative spirit, its discretion and exclusivity, its Frenchness. Finally, we’re beginning to see The Left Bank change with these ideas in mind. Perhaps it's still leaning more glamour than grit, but the cool kids are finally rediscovering the appeal of that– so hey, that’s something.
HOTELS
Paris’s iconic palace hotels and string of trendy newcomers have, for a while now, made the Right Bank the more obvious choice for travelers when selecting where to stay in the city- purely due to the abundance of choice. The Left Bank, alternatively, isn’t as partial to big name chain hotels, as it leans more towards charming boutique stays or historic B&B’s that have been around for centuries, designed as launchpads encouraging guests explore the neighborhood as opposed to being destinations in themselves. It wasn’t until after Covid that the Left Bank’s hotel scene began to unfurl around its most historic neighborhoods following the revival of Hotel Lutetia, the Left Bank’s first palace hotel, residing in an historic Art Deco building in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés across from Le Bon Marché, which originally opened as a hotel in 1910. In its heyday, the hotel was a meeting place for artists of the 1920’s, with frequent guests like Picasso and Josephine Baker; it was even where James Joyce was residing when he wrote Ulysses. While Lutetia’s arrival was loud and proud, it’s the smaller and more discreet addresses that represent the Left Bank’s defining quality of tasteful discretion. J.K. Place Paris opened rather quietly after that, popping up in a maison particulier on an elegant shaded street in the Latin Quarter, surrounded by the neighborhood’s illustrious galleries and high-end antique shops. The sybaritic, old money disposition of the left bank is best reflected through places that convey admirable restraint, leaning on the softer, more soulful charms of the Left Bank’s historic neighborhoods.
More recently opening in December 2023, the location in which the new hotel particulier Villa-des-Prés is situated is something of a Saint Germain fairytale. Within stone’s throw, this five-star property sits amongst the neighborhood’s greatest concentration of art galleries, bookshops and historic landmarks, such as the Odeon theatre and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, as well as the area’s most iconic cafe terraces beloved by Sartre and Beauvoir, and before them, by Hemingway, Picasso and Fitzgerald. Designed as an ode to the neighborhood, it comprises 34 rooms and suites and living spaces designed to feel like a private home, with an art collection, curated by local gallerist Amélie du Chalard, where she gave 11 French artists free reign to create an exclusive piece inspired by the energy of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The result is a collection of around 50 abstract paintings strewn across the hotel.
This same artful subtlety appears at Hôtel des Grands Voyageurs, a new lifestyle hotel that opened October 2023 designed by Fabrizio Casiraghi of the beloved Hotel La Ponche in Saint-Tropez, known for his ability to redefine modernity while incorporating historical references with a discrete and intimate ambiance, an approach that made him particularly perfect for this project. For Hôtel des Grands Voyageurs, he wanted to create the idea of an art collector’s private residence reflective of the golden age. This framework is articulated through curated selection of art that pays homage to the antique dealers’ square in Saint Germain, which includes lithographs from Gustav Klimt and Marc Chagall and framed polaroids from Paris-based photographer Olivier Kervern in every room. The hotel’s brasserie, clandestine bar and mid-century style gym all maintain that intimate guesthouse feel that Fabrizio was after, while Hôtel Dame des Arts took a less subtle approach when it opened in February 2023. While designer Raphael Navot’s vision certainly celebrates France’s cultural heart from the days of yore, the social spaces– most notably the hotel’s ground floor restaurant and outdoor courtyard, as well as its rooftop bar have become buzzy meeting places for cool, young locals and visitors alike. In 2025, Paris’s Left Bank will surely see more of this when Experimental Group opens its first hotel, infusing their own signature cool factor to the area.
RESTAURANTS
With the exception of a few enduring Paris bistros, the Left Bank has never quite eclipsed the diverse dining scene that has tended to evolve more freely on the Right Bank, though a promising crop of new openings is signaling a reawakening of the Left Bank, becoming again a port of call for the stylish creative class. Despite being located only a few streets back from the bustling Boulevard Saint-Germain on Rue Gozlin, there’s nothing so much as a sign with a snake illuminated by a neon red light to indicate Sugaar’s entrance– and this was intentional, co-owner Alex Poivre explains. “We don’t mention the name of the restaurant on our façade as we wanted to operate on a word of mouth basis.” Friends and friends of friends was the idea: “If you end up having dinner in our restaurant, it’s because somebody told you about it–you didn’t just stumble on it on the street.” This sense of anonymity extends to the interiors: passing by a few stylish patrons on their cigarette breaks, you make your way through the front doors concealed by black curtains, stepping into a sexy dining room that continues upstairs with tables elegantly dressed with white tablecloths under dim lighting that’s reliant almost exclusively on the tables' candlelight. Opened in late 2022 by two friends who grew up in the neighborhood, Alex, a former art dealer, and long-time friend and photographer Joachim Rappaport, the idea behind Sugaar was to create a space inspired by the history of the neighborhood, where attractive crowds and creative groups of friends could come together in an intimate space and enjoy elevated food in a sexy atmosphere. The Spanish basque-inspired menu features ingredients cooked exclusively over charcoal– a menu that Alexis sums up in just four words: “Simple, minimal, fire and salt.” Chef’s kiss.
Olivier Leone had the same idea when he opened Japanese hotspot Ojii a few months later on the border of the sixth and seventh arrondissements. “The Left bank was cast aside for a decade,” he tells me, admitting that he felt an energy coming back and he wanted to be a pioneer in that. “Like Sugaar, we try to provide good food while still being glamorous and central,” he explains, adding that in terms of Japanese food in the Left Bank, Ojii completes the golden triangle, which includes Bar de Prés and Yen. “Mostly, I wanted to create a space where I could spend my evenings and nights with people I admire; a place for my friends to go and hangout, eat well and be free,” he says. “Something hidden.” Here, a black facade with gold signage intimates an exclusive club, where through the window a room of intimate booths is illuminated by red lacquered walls nodding to the 1970’s, while the rosewood furniture and tables set with chinoiserie give the space a sumptuous and baroque feel. Since its inauguration into the Left Bank scene during fashion week of March 2023, Ojii has hosted an endless rotation of exclusive parties and intimate events every fashion month, where stylish crowds indulge in the menu’s refined Japanese fare in a transportive atmosphere inspired by the glamour, artists and creativity of 1970’s Saint Germain.
Located just down the street from Odéon Theatre, Localino’s draw is more effortless; the name means “small restaurant” in Italian, so that alone may temper your expectations– which will instantly be exceeded after taking your first bite of their vitello tonnato or ravioli with ricotta, spinach butter and sage sauce– paired with whatever bottle of wine Italian owner Michele Andreoli recommends. Localino is open for lunch and dinner and embodies a light, airy space reflective of the simple Italian fare that’s served here. It’s chic, but warm and unfussy; comfortable but high quality– it’s the kind of new agey but reliable neighborhood spot Saint Germain has been missing, articulated through its elegant marble island bar, mid-century crushed velvet booths and Ron Galella’s nostalgic photos adorning the walls.
Nostalgia and modernism also come together with winning chemistry at Cravan, the new cocktail bar situated on Boulevard Saint-Germain on the same block as the golden triangle of the neighborhood’s historic mainstays Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots and Brasserie Lipp. As the Parisian neighborhood was once a thriving center for bookshops, publishers, intellectuals, poets and writers, designer Ramy Fischler wanted the interiors of the five-story bar to reflect the historical essence of a writer’s salon with each floor telling a different story. Herringbone wooden flooring, cozy fireplaces, and sofas nestled in alcoves give the space a cozy feel and the second-floor bookstore allows guests to browse the collection with a cocktail in hand.
— SECRET ART & CULTURE SPACES ON THE LEFT BANK
Serge Gainsbourg House & Museum - Serge Gainsbourg’s home which was kept intact by his daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg and a museum across the street composed of a permanent collection and bar.
Librairie 7L A bookshop and publishing house established by Karl Lagerfeld in 1999, and acquired by Chanel in 2021.
Eugène Delacroix Museum The home-studio and garden of French Painter Eugène Delacroix, now a museum housing the artist’s collection of works.
Zadkine Museum Near the Luxembourg Gardens, the Zadkine Museum is Russian sculptor Ossip Zadkine’s former home and workshop, featuring a beautiful sculpture garden as well as a small, curated permanent exhibition of his work.
Bourdelle Museum The permanent collection of French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle situated in the artist’s former studio. Giacometti Institute An intimate museum within a private mansion designed by decorator Paul Follot in 1914 dedicated to Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti’s work.
