If you are planning a trip to Paris and want to take a deep dive into a local neighborhood far from the tourist crowds, consider the tony 17th arrondissement, in the northwest part of the city.
The 17th starts at the base of the Arc de Triomphe and extends into a gentrifying area filled with young families and working couples, reminiscent of Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, and Park Slope. Only in Paris, that means charming outdoor markets and lively restaurants that let you truly experience living life like a local.
To start, stop by Avenue Mac-Mahon for Instagram-ready pictures of the Arc de Triomphe perfectly framed in all its glory, right by the Hotel Splendid Etoile (currently closed) at 1 Avenue Carnot.
Then visit La Fondation, a relatively new five star luxury hotel at 40 Rue Legendre, about a mile and a half from the Arc de Triomphe.
Tucked away in a residential neighborhood, the hotel wows with quiet luxury as soon as you walk in — from its art to the industrial chic, semi-retro, modernist design by New York’s favorite Roman and Williams architecture and design studio. Hotel guests include well-heeled European weekend visitors and New York fashionistas.
Paris-based architecture firm PCA-STREAM radically transformed an unusual complex – an elevated car park and a 1960s building to create an enviable new structure anchored by the 58-room hotel.
The design-forward, wood-clad rooms come with floor-to-ceiling windows and everything you need – plus an outstanding gym, which offers local memberships and classes including yoga, Pilates and kickboxing.
The hotel also includes a half-size Olympic subterranean pool, around 82 feet long, along with a spa, sauna, hammam, and even a rock climbing wall, as well as office spaces with an auditorium and a suspended garden.
All of these offerings, with rooms starting at just $386 a night, propel La Fondation to be one – if not the – best luxury hotel deals in Paris.
The location is also prime for exploring the city. Situated between Parc Monceau – one of the city’s most beautiful parks, which dates to the 17th century and is captured in some of Monet’s paintings – and the Place de Clichy, where the 8th, 9th, 17th and 18th arrondissements all meet.
A visit to the Louvre, for example, is just a 12 minute car ride away.
Start your day with breakfast at La Fondation’s rooftop bar for perfect croissants, smoked salmon, café crème, green juices and more – there are vegetarian and gluten free offerings as well – as you peer out at the stunning views of Paris laid out before you. That means mansard roofs, green parks, the Sacré-Coeur basilica and the Eiffel Tower. End your evenings at this dynamic rooftop bar as well.
La Fondation also boasts a lively street-level bistro, Brasserie La Base, and an eighth-floor fine dining restaurant, Les Ailes, both from chef Thomas Rossi.
Diagonal from the hotel is a tiny grocery stocked with French basics.
There’s also Chez Tartar, a Parisian bistro at 31 rue Legendre that is popular with locals; offerings include a classic tartare de boeuf, as well as a ‘la cob d’hiver‘ salad.
From there, wander the shops and the nearby Rue de Lévis bustling street market.
Yann Couvreur Legendre, from the renowned pastry chef, at 25 Rue Legendre, is a go-to for signature mille-feuille, while an outpost of The French Bastards at Place Saint-Ferdinand is parfait for pastries, salads and sandwiches.
There’s also Marché Poncelet, one of the best, most authentic open air markets in Paris, for fresh produce, cheese and flowers, near Place des Ternes and the Ternes metro.
Pro-tip: check out a museum and artist that you have most likely never heard of, Musée National Jean-Jacques Henner, which features the work of the 19th century Symbolist artist in a stately private mansion.
Next up: don’t miss out on exploring the neighboring 18th arrondissement of Montmartre, the setting for the 2001 cult hit, “Amélie,” the French film starring Audrey Tautou, and the real restaurant where her character worked in the film: Café des Deux Moulins at 15 rue Lepic.
Climb the stairs, walk the avenues, and stay at the charming 106-room, eight-story Hotel Rochechouart Orso, with its Art Deco facade that dates to 1929, at 55 Boulevard Marguerite de Rochechouart. (Rooms start at around $200 a night.)
The hotel, at the foot of the Butte, features Maggie, a delightful brasserie – helmed by Chef Ylliam Mhoma – popular with locals and tourists alike; a rooftop garden with panoramic views of Paris, including the white domed Sacré-Coeur Basilica and the Eiffel Tower; Citrons et Huitres, a seafood wine bar; and Mikado Dancing, an underground speakeasy-style nightclub.
Explore the meandering flea markets filled with vintage designer finds and antiques.
Then visit Musée de Montmartre, which is inside one of the oldest homes on the Butte, where Renoir and others, like Raoul Dufy and Suzanne Valadon, the first woman painter admitted to the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1894, once worked. The museum’s Renoir Gardens overlook the Clos Montmartre Vineyard.
Raise a glass to the last working urban vineyard in Paris, and toast the great artists who still haunt these historic cobblestoned street, from Picasso and Modigliani to Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec.
Even in Paris, sometimes taking the road (or neighborhood) less traveled makes all the difference.
