Café de Flore, ParisCafé de Flore
- Best time
- A weekday morning, before the tourist hours
- Getting there
- On the corner of Boulevard Saint-Germain and Rue Saint-Benoît; Saint-Germain-des-Prés metro
Why it’s in the log
Café de Flore opened on the corner of Boulevard Saint-Germain and Rue Saint-Benoît in the 1880s — nobody knows the exact date — and took its name from a sculpture of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, across the street. Huysmans and Remy de Gourmont were among its first known regulars; later came Georges Bataille, Robert Desnos, Raymond Queneau and Picasso.
Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir are the couple most associated with it, and the subject of the 2006 film Les Amants du Flore. The square named after them, Place Jean-Paul-Sartre-et-Simone-de-Beauvoir, is nearby in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
It is now firmly on the visitors' route and prices accordingly. It still has its Parisian regulars too; go early on a weekday to see that version.
Also logged in Paris
All of Paris →
Le Dôme Café
Paris, FranceAn 1898 Montparnasse seafood brasserie Anthony Bourdain called second only to the Eiffel Tower as a Paris must-visit.
Le Pavillon de la Reine
Paris, FranceA 17th-century hôtel particulier tucked off Place des Vosges, built as the queen's own garden pavilion.
