Paris Arrondissements
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There are 20 Paris arrondissements, or districts, all within the Periphenque, the road that forms a ring circling the city. Arrondissements are the main indicators of a location in Paris and are an essential part of an address in Paris. In the French equivalent of a 5-digit zip code, Paris is designated by 75 as the first two digits and the arrondissement is designated by the last two digits. For example, 75017 means the 17th arrondissement in Paris. Map and Descriptions of Paris Arrondissements
For a map of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, click on Arrondissements Map. For descriptions of each of the 20 arrondissements, click on Descriptions of Arrondissements. Click on any arrondissement listed at the latter website to read a description of it. Note that this website has two main pages, and the first page includes a listing of the first 19 arrondissements. To read about the 20th arrondissement, go the bottom of the page and at the right of the “Guidelines 1 to 20” bar, click on the right arrow (>) to go to page 2.
For valuable information, scroll down any arrondissement page and under Local Amenities you may click on links for museums, art galleries, religious sites, shopping, hotels and restaurants. In the 9th arrondissement, for example, there are 10 art galleries, 75 shopping places, 66 hotels and 41 restaurants. All 41 restaurants are briefly described and have their physical and website addresses listed. If you are doing the research at this website, you may get the restaurants' telephone numbers from their websites.
An Essential Reference for Paris Arrondissements
One essential reference for your time in Paris is a little book, Plan de Paris par Arrondissement. You should run to the nearest book store to buy it as soon as possible after your arrival in Paris. Or better still, to save time, buy a copy before leaving home. If your local book store does not have it, you can order it from amazon.com for $29.95.
Plan de Paris par Arrondissement is considered indispensable by many users. The essential parts of the book include (1) a listing of all the streets (rues) of Paris with five columns of information for each street and (2) a built-in two-page map of each arrondissement.
The five columns of information for each street are defined below:
1. Arrondissement number
2. Plan letter and number denoting the grid location of the street on the built-in two-page map.
3. The beginning cross street (Commencant)
4. The ending cross street (Finissant)
5. The nearest Metro station
Using Plan de Paris par Arrondissement
Let’s say you have the address of a charming little café where you want to have lunch. You could ask a concierge or someone else for directions, but it is satisfying and sometimes essential to have your own independent source of information.1. In the list of the streets of Paris (Nomenclature des rues de Paris) use the tabs with letters to find the street (rue) name and note the arrondissement number in the first column.
2. Use the numbered tabs to go to the two-page map for the arrondissement number.
3. Use the plan letter and number in the third column which defines the applicable grid location on the map, and then find the street you want on the map. This is where the small magnifying glass recommended on the Paris Travel Checklist page will come in handy.
4. If the street you want is long, it would be helpful to call the café for the nearest cross streets to enable you to pinpoint where you need to go on the street of the cafe. You may also want to ask for the walking time from the metro station to the café. If it is too long, you may want to take a taxi from the Metro station to the café or consider another place to eat.
5. If you are traveling by Metro, get the name of the nearest Metrostation for the street you want from the 6th column of the list of the streets of Paris (Nomenclature des rues de Paris).
6. To travel to your charming café, go to the Metro station nearest your current location and navigate to the nearest Metro for the street you want. If necessary, in Plan de Paris again use the two-page map for the applicable arrondissement number to find the street you want.
With these simple steps you are all set to go to your charming cafe. Bon appetit!
The photo of the map of Paris' 20 arrondissements is licensed from Mark Jaroski.
