A Book Lover's Walk

When we first moved to Paris, my husband worked long hours, and I found myself alone for most of the day in a new city. Though I had visited Paris many times before, I soon learned that there was a colossal difference between visiting as a tourist and living in Paris. So to fill my days and to get to know the city in a non-touristy way, I took to walking daily. Walking down every street or medieval corridor that took my fancy. Walking through both famous and lesser-known Paris jardins. For hours at a time. Walking without using the Maps app on my phone and just allowing myself to be lost. And I soon learned about the concept of a flâneur, a word that doesn’t translate well into English, but means something akin to meander aimlessly through cities, and I secretly began to fancy myself as a flâneuse.

So if you find yourself in Paris and are in the mood to haunt bookshops, a favorite walk of mine will take you to five English-language bookshops.

The walk is 2.5 miles / 4.0 km and takes approximately one hour, though the time doesn’t account for browsing in the bookshops or taking breaks here and there. Allow yourself three or four hours plus a lunch break. Bring a tote bag or two. Or buy them at the bookshops as your Paris souvenirs.

Depending on where you are staying in Paris, you may need to take the metro to the start of the walk, Smith & Son, which is located on the Right Bank.

The nearest metro lines to Smith & Son are lines 1, 8, and 12.

Smith & Son at 248 rue de Rivoli

Smith & Son has been at the same location on 248 rue de Rivoli since 1870, when two British brothers opened a lending library with a tearoom. It’s across the street from the Louvre Museum and Tuileries Garden. In 1903, the shop was sold to the British group W.H. Smith & Son (founded in 1792). This established their first location outside of the UK. However, in 2020, due to the pandemic, WHSmith separated from the Paris shop, and Smith & Son became an independent bookshop once again.

The tearoom from 1870 is still there. It has an excellent selection of books, fiction, and non-fiction. And there is a mini British food market on the ground floor (teas, chocolates, candies, etc). There is also a little museum devoted to the bookshop’s history.

Next, exit the store and take a left to make your way to Galignani, just further down on the same street.

Galignani at 224 rue de Rivoli (closed on Sundays)

Galignani is the oldest English-language bookshop on the continent. It was founded by Giovanni Antonio Galignani in 1801 and is still family-owned. It’s been located at 224 rue de Rivoli since 1856. It has a vast selection of decorative arts books, a huge English-language section (with plenty of titles by the British Library), and a wonderful children’s section. This is one of my favorite English-language bookshops in Paris, though it also has a large selection of French-language fiction and non-fiction titles. The English-language books are located towards the back. And tucked away to the side of the shop near the English books is the charming children’s section.

If you’re not loaded down with too many books by now, you can proceed on to the next stop on the route, which will take you to the Latin Quarter in the Left Bank after you cross through the Tuileries Garden, the old stomping grounds of Catherine de Medici.

The Abbey Bookshop at 29 rue de la Parcheminerie

The Abbey Bookshop is a small bookshop founded by Canadian Brian Spence in 1998. What the bookshop lacks in size, it makes up for in books. The bookshelves are filled to the brim, and there is an entire basement to peruse. But just a fair warning: it’s usually very crowded here because of the tight space. So if you don’t like crowds, you may feel a little claustrophobic. But if tight spaces don’t bother you, this is definitely a fun bookshop. It has a huge selection of new titles, but also lots of used books.

Now would also be a great time to wander over to Notre-Dame Cathedral if you wanted to. You can reserve free, timed tickets via the official website the day before because they don’t accept requests far in advance. Tickets are completely free. So ignore the websites asking you to pay.

From Notre-Dame Cathedral, cross the street and walk through Square René Viviani to visit Shakespeare & Company.

Shakespeare & Company at 37 rue de la Bûcherie

Shakespeare & Company is another storied Paris bookshop. It was founded by American George Whitman in 1951 and named in honor of the original Shakespeare & Company, founded in 1912 by Sylvia Beach (she was the publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysses). George died in 2011 and is buried at Père-Lachaise Cemetery. The bookshop is owned by George’s daughter, Sylvia Whitman (named after Sylvia Beach).

Unfortunately, somehow (was it because of Hollywood?) the shop became overly famous, and now there is always a long, long line outside the door, with a lengthy wait to get in. Management banned photography inside the store (and I don’t blame them for this at all), so you can’t take any pictures once inside. To be honest with you, the long line is a big disappointment for me because most of the people standing in line seem to be there because it’s just an item to check off on their Paris bucket list. And it ruins it for the rest of us bibliophiles. But one way to get around the line is by purchasing a book (or multiple) to pick up at the Click & Collect desk. If you show the security guard at the door the email confirmation, you can skip the line and go straight in to pick up your book and then stay and browse. It’s truly a wonderful bookshop with an amazing collection of everything. But if you don’t want to pre-purchase anything in advance (it may be hard to do with your schedule) and don’t want to wait in line, it’s perfectly fine to go to the next and final bookshop of the walk. As I said, it really does make it harder on us bibliophiles when something becomes very famous.

The Red Wheelbarrow at 11 rue de Médicis

The Red Wheelbarrow1 is the final stop on this walk and is located inside a large one-room shop. It’s a gem of a store, with books piled high on display tables and bursting from the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. It was founded by Penelope Fletcher in 2001. There is also a children’s bookshop, The Red Balloon Bookstore, right next door at 9 rue de Médicis. The best part about this bookshop is that it’s right across the street from Luxembourg Gardens. Perfect spot to read your new books. And there are lots of bistros, cafes, and restaurants nearby too.2

The nearest metro stop is Odeon (lines 4 and 10).

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If it’s not feasible to do this walk in one day, you could break it into two or three days, depending on your trip’s itinerary.

If you travel to Paris, I hope you have a beautiful time. Ernest Hemingway was right when he wrote, “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”

Images © 2026 Books & Victorians