As one of the largest and most beloved (or most overrated, depending on whom you ask) cities in the world, there are already more than enough Paris travel guides on the Internet from people much more familiar with the city than I, so you won’t find much Paris content on Tristao Travels. However, as somewhat of a bookstore addict, I couldn’t resist sharing a list of some of the best English-language bookshops to visit in Paris, especially for first-time tourists to the City of Light!
You’ll notice that despite the urge to name this post the “8 Best Paris Bookstores,” I had to change it to “8 of the Best” because there’s no way this list even scratches the surface. One of the very best things about visiting Paris, in my humble opinion, is the likelihood of stumbling across a wonderful bookshop on nearly every stroll through the city. They’re everywhere! With that being said, the bookstores on this list aren’t going to be “hidden gems.” Rather, they are all bookstores that:
1. Are fairly easy to visit (i.e. close to major tourist areas and attractions—I even provide ideas of convenient things to do on your first visit to Paris near each bookshop!), and
2. Cater to English-speaking (or English-reading) customers. Usually this means the store focuses on selling English-language books, but you’ll see there are other reasons as well.
Despite being directly on the beaten path, so to say, these eight Paris bookstores are charming and worth a visit! Keep reading to see why Paris is for (book) lovers.
The Abbey Bookshop
This was my favorite English-language bookstore to explore on my most recent visit to Paris. When I arrived at The Abbey Bookshop, the owner (a Canadian) was sitting outside enjoying a cup of tea with two women, so I was already charmed by the community feel of the store. Inside is a narrow maze of haphazardly stacked books and a basement level filled to the brim with interesting titles. There’s also a section by the front door of “Paris Fiction and Memoirs,” and you know the local interest books are always my favorite to peruse while traveling!
Fun bookish fact: According to the website, “The shop sits on rue de la Parcheminerie, originally named rue des Escrivains for the scribes and scriveners who were the heart of the Parisian book trade until parchment makers replaced them in the late Middle Ages. On July 1, 1989, the Abbey Bookshop brought the book trade back to this historic street.”
Location: 29 Rue de la Parcheminerie (5th arrondissement)
Nearby attractions for your Paris itinerary: Located in the Latin Quarter, there are plenty of tourist attractions and great cafes within walking distance of The Abbey Bookshop. One of the closest things to do is peek inside the Church of Saint-Séverin, a gorgeous church on the neighboring block. Unlike some of the better-known beautiful churches in Paris, including the nearby Sainte-Chapelle, this one is free to enter!
San Francisco Book Company
San Francisco Book Company (or San Francisco Books Co., according to their physical storefront) is another warren-like used bookstore for English-language titles in the Latin Quarter. There were even stacks of books on the ground where the shelves were literally overflowing. You can see more photos of this cozy Paris bookshop on my Instagram page. San Francisco Books Company offers a wide selection of cheap used paperbacks if you’re looking for a book to easily throw into your bag to enjoy on your next train ride.
Location: 17 Rue Monsieur le Prince (6th arrondissement)
Nearby attractions for your Paris itinerary: The San Francisco Book Company is only a 10-minute walk from two of the most well-known literary cafes in Paris (where writers and intellectuals flocked to gather and work beginning around World War II): Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots. Expect a wait due to their notoriety, but fortunately these cafes are right across the street from one another so you have options!
The Red Wheelbarrow
The Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore is a modern English-language bookstore located directly across from the Luxembourg Gardens. Unlike the first two Paris bookshops on this list, The Red Wheelbarrow sells new titles in English. As a tourist from the United States, I had so much fun perusing the U.K. covers of so many of my favorite books (and titles on my ever-growing TBR). You also might be able to purchase new English-language books that aren’t published in the U.S. yet!
Location: 9 Rue de Médicis (6th arrondissement)
Nearby attractions for your Paris itinerary: Have a picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens, of course! Also consider lunch at La Closerie des Lilas, another well-known literary cafe located at the south end of the park with a lovely outdoor dining space.
The Red Balloon Bookstore
The Red Balloon Bookstore is a bilingual (English and French) bookstore offering titles for children and young adults. It also offers fun youth programs and a book subscription for kids! Its storefront is located next to The Red Wheelbarrow, which expanded to the youth space in 2021. The two stores do have different hours (The Red Balloon opened about two hours after The Red Wheelbarrow when I visited, which sadly meant I didn’t go inside), so be sure to check their current hours before you visit.
Location: 11 Rue de Médicis (6th arrondissement)
Nearby attractions for your Paris itinerary: On my stroll around the Luxembourg Gardens to find coffee (actually around the border of the park, I mean), I saw many bookstores along this street that may catch your eye after visiting The Red Balloon, such as the rare bookshop Bonnefoi Livres Anciens just a few storefronts down. I highly recommend wandering in this area and seeing where you end up!
Self-Guided Paris Bookstore Walking Tour
Five of these bookstores are located in the Latin Quarter, and you can easily visit all five in a single outing for a very bookish stroll! Start with Shakespeare and Company (expect crowds, even if you are there before opening), then meander to The Abbey Bookshop followed by San Francisco Book Company. End your excursion with The Red Wheelbarrow and The Red Balloon, then treat yourself to a relaxing picnic in the Jardin du Luxembourg right next door. All this is only about 30 minutes of walking total!
Librairie Galignani
According to a plaque by its front door, the Librairie Galignani is “the first English bookshop established on the continent.” This store came highly recommended by my friend Kaleigh, who lived in Paris for a month and frequented this shop often. Galignani offers a fantastic selection of English-language books for all ages (fiction and nonfiction), the interior space is large with plenty of room to browse comfortably, and despite its historic claim to fame, it’s definitely not as crowded as other well-known Paris bookstores.
Location: 224 Rue de Rivoli (1st arrondissement)
Nearby attractions for your Paris itinerary: Librairie Galignani is located right outside Jardin des Tuileries, and for us it was the perfect stop after spending a morning admiring Monet at the Musée de l’Orangerie. It’s also only a 10-minute walk from the Louvre, and if you want a fantastic free view of Paris (with the Eiffel Tower in the skyline), head to the roof of Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, a large shopping mall located about 20 minutes away on foot.
Artazart
This one is not an English-language bookshop, but I still think it is a great Paris bookstore for English-speaking tourists because it is fantastic for souvenirs and gifts! Artazart is a bookstore and art gallery located along the Canal Saint-Martin, and this is another spot for which I have to thank Kaleigh. (It’s also perhaps the closest to a “hidden gem” bookstore on this list.) The interior is lovely with crisp white walls and hanging plants, and all the oversized art books add beautiful pops of color throughout. In addition to books, Artazart sells a wide variety of framed prints (as shown above), colorful maps, beautiful stationery and more.
Location: 83 Quai de Valmy (10th arrondissement)
Nearby attractions for your Paris itinerary: Wander the Canal Saint-Martin, which offers a relatively peaceful stroll through its bordering gardens and tree-lined paths. There are also plenty of attractive cafes along the canal to pop into along your stroll. If you enjoy visiting markets when you travel, the covered market Marché Saint-Quentin is less than a 15-minute walk from Artazart. And if you’re traveling to or from Paris by train, Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est are both nearby.
Halle Saint-Pierre
For another artsy bookstore in Paris, check out the bookshop inside the Halle Saint-Pierre, a museum and gallery in Montmartre. Specializing in art books and books on Parisian culture and history, the store also has a decent children’s book collection and offers good choices for souvenirs, including cards and tote bags. Located in a former covered market, the building itself is pretty neat, and art-lovers have the added benefit of being able to explore the exhibits on the second floor above the bookshop (admission fee required for the museum and gallery). There’s also an in-house cafe to quench your thirst and/or treat yourself to a French pastry after conquering the hills of Montmartre.
Location: 2 Rue Ronsard (18th arrondissement)
Nearby attractions for your Paris itinerary: This bookshop is in one of the most popular tourist areas of Paris, the “artsy district” of Montmartre, which means there is plenty to explore nearby. Halle Saint-Pierre is located conveniently in the gardens at the base of Sacré-Coeur, a famous hilltop basilica with beautiful views of Paris. First-time visitors to Paris may be interested in having their portrait painted (or just to watch the artists at work) at the bustling Place du Tertre behind the church. If the Place du Tertre is too crowded for you (honestly, I felt a little overwhelmed!), Montmartre is full of picturesque cobblestone streets to wander with no shortage of quaint cafes. You can also stop by the “Wall of Love” for a photo op while in the area.
Helpful Paris Travel Tip:
While searching the addresses of these bookstores to see which arrondissement (district) each is located in, I learned that each zip code in Paris starts with "75" and ends with the arrondissement number. For example, the 1st arrondissement has a postal code of "75001" and the 10th arrondissement has a postal code of "75010." A helpful tidbit for planning your Paris trip!
Shakespeare and Company
Perhaps the most famous bookstore in Paris, Shakespeare and Company is an English-language bookshop founded in 1951. One of the coolest things about Shakespeare and Company, in my humble opinion, is that throughout its history it has invited artists and writers (known as “Tumbleweeds“) to sleep on benches in the store as long as they satisfied three requirements: “Read a book a day, help at the shop for a few hours a day, and produce a one-page autobiography.”
Admittedly, this is the one bookshop on this list I have not personally visited, but I don’t think it can be omitted from any Paris bookstore guide. I planned to visit during my most recent trip to Paris, and I arrived on a weekday before opening. It was spring and fairly rainy, so I thought I might get lucky, but there was already quite a crowd outside waiting to enter. Given my very underwhelming experience at the last globally famous bookstore I visited, I opted to admire the outside and then keep on trucking to some lesser-visited spots. That being said, if I were to pass by again and see it’s not uncomfortably crowded, I would love to check it out someday!
Location: 37 rue de la Bûcherie (5th arrondissement)
Nearby attractions for your Paris itinerary: Shakespeare and Company is located on the Left Bank directly across the Seine from the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Even if the cathedral is still closed for reconstruction during your visit, there is a wonderful exhibit outside detailing the history of Notre-Dame that is worth exploring. Don’t forget to peek at the Bouquinistes (Paris’ famous secondhand book stalls, pictured at the top of this post) along the river on your walk from one spot to the next.
Do you have any favorites that I missed? Let me know so I can add them to my map of bookstores to visit for my next trip to Paris!
Featured image: The Bouquinistes of Paris along the banks of the Seine (April 2023)
Above image: Megan perusing the shelves at Librairie Galignani (April 2023)
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