< PARIS : DEFINED > berges de seine - the waterfront < neighborhoods : EDIT >
Paris divides at the Seine, but unites on its banks — where rosé flows, rollerblades flash, and riverside rituals reign.
Berges de Seine — the Waterfront
The Berges de Seine [the Banks of the River Seine] describes the area striping the river Seine, which bisects the city into the Right Bank and Left Bank. As such, the parts worth visiting span several different neighborhoods and arrondissements. Let’s break it down in a way that makes it easy to pick and choose without wandering. [Although Paris is THE city for the wanderer...]
note: We would have loved to send you to our shiny new website [ remember those? ] but our webguy up and quit after spending a few months doing...we’re not sure what. So we will debut all of that in the fall, it seems. But our latest/greatest edits are always here nonetheless. [We remain faithful <3 if not monogamous.] In the meantime, enjoy Art Director / Beloved Tour Guidess Hannah Granberry’s newest collage above.
xoxo
kw
The Waterfront is a State of Mind.
You know how it is, the weather is just right...when you want to be near the water, you want to be near the water.
It’s a human impulse dating back to single-celled organisms struggling forth from the muck in search of a good French guinguette [open air resto-bar] and a chilly chablis in July.
Let’s do this — starting from the east [younger , cooler, et voilà...cheaper] and moving west [more posh, more historic, waaay more touristy as you are now near the monuments like the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, more touristy and vastly more pricey to go out].
Yet the waterfront is the great unifier — where all walks of Parisian life stake a spot for a picnic or kick off their shoes and take in the sun.
When the weather is nice, the Berges de Seine are simply the place to be. (Or even when it’s not so nice...). To be free of cars and just watching Paris throw its green and its gold against the water and the water respond to Paris with glitter and light...When I catch those moments — that’s when I feel like the luckiest girl alive.
These are fundamental human urges: to picnic, to bike, to have dinner on a péniche — a boat moored to the dock. Or to rollerblade, a thing that’s bringing even more 90s back to Paris than all the mom jeans ever could (I just busted out my actual 1980s rainbow roller skates so watch out for me, I might mow you down...)
Bonjour, East Side.
The East waterfront, from around the Hôtel de Ville to Gare d’Austerlitz and Bibliothèque Mitterand, are where you’ll find the péniche scene in full force (well, unless you venture to the hidden — to outsiders — nooks and crannies of Paris, like the Canal de l’Ourcq scene).
A péniche is a long, sturdy, river boat made for narrow French waterways that, in Paris, is often permanently retired from freight hauling, and has been moored to a neighborhood with a robust nightlife. In true Parisian style, many have been turned into places to eat and drink, or to dance and take in art and cinema. (As we mostly inhabit micro-apartments like Hong Kongaise or New Yorkers, we are mostly found out of our homes to scratch the social itch.)
The East side of the Berges de Seine has more contemporary architecture and bars catering to students, like the Crous péniche and guinguette, where the vibe is more of the youthful ruckus that comes with cheap drinks and everyone gunning to get laid instead of getting Michelin stars...
Hello, Westside.
Can you see the Eiffel Tower? Oui? Now it’s time to get picky, as many of the places you see will be targeted at tourists. Only the Eiffel Tower itself gets a pass for this, and obviously you need to go there, right? But who wants to spend 10€ on a cup of tea?
If you would like to have lunch, dinner, or drinks in view of the Eiffel Tower or another Paris icon, this requires some planning. Luckily, you have our tireless curation on which to lean...
The Breakdown.
Most of the restaurants near the Hôtel de Ville (4th arrondissement) side of the Berges are overpriced and mediocre but great for a drink when the sun is setting — you’ll feel like the luckiest human alive when the summer sun sets in an orange sherbet Paris sky (at least I do.) But again, wine is a factor, so who is to judge what kind of episode this is. A glass of rosé in hand and a spot on the water...what more could you ask for?
As I mentioned, for better dining options, venture up (or down, as it were) and away from the waterfront as it’s not known for the best food. And why waste even one meal in Paris where you just have to know where to look to find memorable meals at every price point. (No joke...)
For more and better dining, if you are near the Hôtel de Ville (which is not a hotel at all but our City Hall, where Anne Hidalgo, our first-ever female mayor, rules with an iron fist. She’s responsible for damn-near turning Paris into Amsterdam — for bike lanes...not drugs. Sorry to get you excited, we got Les Hugs but not Les Drugs. Still a bit conservative here in that regard...), walk northwards to the 2nd or 3rd arrondissements.
Above the Berges de Seine in the center of the city, the splendor of two of Paris’ best neighborhoods for food awaits you: Châtelet/Les Halles (the ancient “belly” of Paris) and Le Marais, the historic/gay/Jewish/fashion district (talk about intersectionality).
If you are closer to the Eiffel Tower, venture towards the little “food-truck »-style restaurant shacks just east of the Pont Alexandre III bridge (Brittany crêpes and Jampi ice cream are our #1 choice at Food Breizh). Skip the Alexandre III restaurant, they changed owners during the recent world ~excitement~, and now it’s not as good as it was. (It’s Paris, don’t sacrifice even one lunch to mediocrity...)
If you are near Alexandre III bridge, lunch at the Petit Palais is an unfussy, place-your-order-at-the-counter-affair, but in the garden of a museum-palace, so, yeah, it’s plastic-tray but Paris-style (lunch only and ~yay~ the museum is *free*).
For a more classic, sit-down experience, venture southwards and inland towards the Fontaine de Mars on Rue St. Dominique — that’s where the locals are hiding from the tourists! Especially at Les Cocottes or Cave Vino Sapiens. I personally love sitting at one of the spots around the fountain for a glass of wine. There are little pockets for the locals, even near the world’s most famous monument. Act like you belong...
Let’s get into the EDIT »
« bars + clubs »
rosa bonheur sur seine // port des invalides, quai d'orsay (7th arr. west side) // 7th arrondissement
concorde atlantique // port de solferino, quai anatole france niveau 23 // 7th arrondissement
wanderlust // 32 quai d'austerlitz // 13th arrondissement
le flow // 4 port des invalides // 7th arrondissement
la javelle guinguette // 5 boulevard poniatowski // 12th arrondissemnt
faust // rive gauche, pont alexandre III // 7th arrondissement
petit bain // 7 port de la guerre // 13th arrondissement
« resto - bars »
bateau el alamein // 8 port de la gare // 13th arrondissement
le bateau phare // 3 port de la gare // 13th arrondissement
café oz rooftop // cité de la mode et du design, 34 quai d'austerlitz // 13th arrondissement
la nouvelle seine // port de montebello // 5th arrondissement
SENA // 7 voie georges pompidou // 5th arrondissement
food breizh // 31 quai anatole // 7th arrondissement
mozza & co. // 12 port de solférino // 7th arrondissement
« lunch + dinner cruises »
ducasse sur seine // 19 port debilly // 16th arrondissement
le capitaine fracasse // l'ile aux cygnes, escale, pont de bir-hakeim // 15th arrondissement
bateaux parisiens // port de la bourdonnais // 7th arrondissement
bateaux-mouches // pont de l'alma, port de la conférence // 8th arrondissement
« sightseeing cruises »
vedettes du pont neuf // 1 square du vert galant // 1st arrondissement
paris water way // 14 quai françois mitterand // 1st arrondissement
batobus ( hop on + off ) // port de la bourdonnais // 7th arrondissement
bateaux-mouches // pont de l'alma, port de la conférence // 8th arrondissement
VIP paris yacht hotel // port de la rapée // 12th arrondissement
« museums + culture »
fluctuart // 2 port du cros caillou // 7th arrondissement
« hotels »
OFF paris seine // 86 quai d'austerlitz // 13th arrondissement
VIP paris yacht hotel // port de la rapée // 12th arrondissement
We’ll see you see you on the water <3, we’ll be the ones on bikes [comme tourjours, oui].
Merci for reading PARIS » D E F I N E D MAGAZINE on substack
À bientôt from P A R I S ,
Kat Walker, Editor-in-Mischief
Hannah Granberry, Art Director
and the team: Aly + Lily
PARIS > D E F I N E D MAGAZINE [the website is currently undergoing a the equivalent of a deep-plane facelift, we’ll see you there in the fall after the bandages come off]
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ça déchire !!!