When I travel, one of my favorite things to do is find all of the bookish places in the new city I am visiting. One of the best cities to explore is Paris, France. This city does not only have amazing history, museums, and historical monuments to go to, but it also has amazing bookish places. Today, I am going to be sharing some of those places with you! All photos were taken from my Instagram @athousandbookstoread!
1. Shakespeare and Company Bookstore
I feel like this is sort of obvious, not only because it is the most famous bookstore in all of Paris, but also because it is usually on everyone’s bucket lists of things to do when they visit Paris. However, I couldn’t NOT include it in my list. This store is just as magical as everyone says it is. I remember the first time I went to Paris, and I was so nervous that the places I had heard about were not going to live up to my expectations. This was a place that went beyond my dreams and really shocked me. I recently took a friend to this bookstore for the first time, and when I took her upstairs to the places where you can sit and read and watch the bookstore cat sleep—she cried. It was a beautiful moment. This bookstore is honestly a beautiful place with tons of history weaved into its being.
2. Marché Couvert des Batignolles
This is one of my FAVORITE bookish places in all of Paris. This street has some of the most incredible street art for book lovers! There are four walls outside of a small local library that have been painted to look like bookshelves and piles of books. They also have little character drawings that relate to famous books such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It is a truly magical spot, especially for all of the Bookstagrammers in the world!
3. BNF Richelieu
This building is one of the most gorgeous public libraries I have ever had the chance to see. I found out about this library from researching libraries to visit in the city one day when I was bored, and its beauty took my breath away. Unfortunately, if you are only there to take photos, you can’t walk all the way into the building, but it is still worth standing at the entrance to get a glimpse of the gorgeous space.
4. Librairie Galignani
Funny story: I happened to stumble upon this bookstore one day when I was trying to find another bookstore. There are two different bookstores on this one stretch of street, WHSmith (which is a great bookstore to go to as well) and this beautiful store, Librairie Galignani. This store is considered to be one of the first, if not the first english language bookstores established on the continent. Which is super cool, right? But I also love this store because of its pure beauty on the inside. It has amazing space, lighting, and an INCREDIBLE selection of English and french books. It is definitely a place to put on your list if you are visiting Paris!
5. The Pantheon
And last, but definitely not least, is The Pantheon. This building is a historical monument in Paris but also houses some very famous, and very cool tombs and memorials. One of the people buried here is the famous author, Victor Hugo, as well as French author Émile Zola. It is a super cool place, full of lots of history and beautiful paintings and statues. I really recommend taking the time to go inside and also walking around the area as well because it is a beautiful neighborhood.
