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Literary Latin Quarter

5.01 review5th Arrondissement

  • 2h 30m
  • Free cancellation up to 24h before
  • 2 languages
  • Instant confirmation

Highlights

This tour is an immersion in the literary and philosophical past of Paris’s celebrated Latin Quarter as well as the history of the neighbourhood that goes back to Gallo-Roman times. Your guide will be a local expert—a graduate of The Sorbonne in philosophy who also lives in the neighbourhood. In the space of a short time, key periods from the 2000-year history of the Latin Quarter come alive. It all starts with a lively exchange over coffee: you will meet with your guide at a charming café on an Ancient Roman road just steps away from where René Descartes would live on his stays in Paris. After a short introduction and some time to get to know one another, guests set out to explore the hill that includes the Panthéon, The Sorbonne and the childhood haunts of Jean-Paul Sartre, the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and more. Prepare to be completely immersed in the history of Paris!

Inclusions

What's included

  • Coffee and/or Tea

Itinerary

  1. Our visit will start along the Rue Mouffetard, where Hemingway's A Moveable Feast opens. We'll make our way to the Pantheon and the steps where Owen Wilson is whisked away into the past in A Midnight in Paris. Also the apartment where Sartre lived as a child, The Sorbonne, the location of the original Shakespeare & Co and Saint-Germain-des-Près...

    30 min

  2. We will see the Panthéon from the outside as we pass across the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève. Originally designed as the Church of Saint Genevieve, it became almost immediately a burial site for notable French citizens.

    Passes by

  3. As a graduate of The Sorbonne, your guide knows the institution well and you will learn about the history of foundation of the University of Paris in the course of this tour.

    Passes by

  4. We finish our tour at the onetime Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Once an important place of learning and centre of religious and civic life for the neighbourhood, you will also see the second of Jean-Paul Sartre's homes in Paris. His first will appear earlier in the tour.

    10 min

  5. Around the Church of St Etienne, we have a number of sites that we will see. If the church is open, we may be able to go in, but this is not guaranteed.

    10 min

  6. Near Odéon, we will pass by the original Shakespeare and Company, the onetime home of Thomas Paine, one of the first cafés of Paris...

    15 min

Cancellation

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.

Reviews

5.0

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Ratings come from 1 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

Meeting point
We will meet at the café "La Contrescarpe"—located directly on Place de la Contrescarpe—where we will enjoy a coffee before setting out on our walking tour.
Pickup
Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
Ticket type
Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Operated by
Vendôme Circle
  • Service animals allowed
  • Public transportation options are available nearby
  • Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness

How it compares in Paris

  • Its from-price is 46% below the median of the 4664 experiences we list in Paris.
  • Its length is typical for the group.
  • By number of reviews it ranks 2763 of 4664.
  • The operator lists free cancellation on it.

About Paris

Paris pairs grand boulevards and riverside monuments with café terraces, art collections of global stature and neighbourhoods that feel like villages.

The Seine runs through the heart of the city, past the Île de la Cité with Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle, the long façade of the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay in its former railway station. Downriver, the Eiffel Tower rises over the Champ de Mars, and the Arc de Triomphe crowns the Champs-Élysées.

Top-ranked sights in Paris: Louvre Museum, Eiffel Tower, 4th Arrondissement.

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