Paris Walks - Tastes of the Rue Mouffetard

Rue Mouffetard is located in the 5th or cinquième arrondissement of Paris. It’s one of Paris's oldest and liveliest neighborhoods and seems to be found mostly by other traveler’s recommendations. We found it that way and designed our walking tour with that in mind. We started in the Luxembourg gardens, a delightful open space with pockets of forested areas, a beekeeping sanctuary, agricultural test gardens and petanque courts (a lawn bowling game similar to bocci). The Rue Mouffetard follows the small hill called mont Sainte-Geneviève hill. It’s a street filled with visual taste sensations, including many restaurants, shops, and cafés, and an ongoing open food market. Since it’s predominantly a pedestrian walkway, it’s easy to browse and people watch. Centered on the Place de la Contrescarpe, the rue Mouffetard also links to the rue de Lacepede and the Square Saint-Médard where there is a permanent open-air market. To the north, it becomes the rue Descartes where it crosses the rue Thouin