Manet, Zola and the Artists' Village: A Batignolles Walking Tour
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About the Tour
About the Tour
Batignolles can feel like a village within Paris, with its residential streets, café terraces, market and parks. That sense of a neighbourhood with a life of its own has deep roots. On this walking tour, you’ll discover how a village outside Paris became an artistic meeting place, a working district and the Batignolles of today.
Starting on Avenue de Clichy, you’ll discover two vanished landmarks: Père Lathuille, immortalised by Manet, and Café Guerbois, where painters and writers gathered to debate modern art. You’ll then find the former homes and studios of the artists through the quieter streets of the old neighbourhood. On Rue La Condamine, Bazille and Renoir’s studio stood almost opposite Zola’s home, revealing just how close this artistic community really was.
Beyond the artists, you’ll discover a neighbourhood shaped by railway workers, political movements and families building new lives in Paris. Two parks created more than a century apart reveal how the Batignolles was transformed, from a picturesque nineteenth-century garden to a new district built on railway land. The walk ends at Cité des Fleurs, a quiet residential lane holding stories of painting, cinema and the French Resistance.
On this 75-minute tour, you’ll have a chance to:
- Discover how one restaurant address connects the defence of Paris in 1814 with a groundbreaking Manet painting
- Find traces of Paul Verlaine, Langston Hughes, Jacques Brel and Barbara
- Encounter the Panther of Batignolles, an anarchist group
- See the railway tracks that inspired contrasting visions of modern life in Monet’s paintings and Zola’s writing
- Compare Square des Batignolles with Parc Martin Luther King, and discover how Paris’s unsuccessful 2012 Olympic bid helped shape the new neighbourhood
- Uncover stories of Simon Hantaï, Catherine Deneuve and a clandestine Resistance workshop at Cité des Fleurs
- See Alfred Sisley’s 1869 view of Montmartre and glimpse the landscape before Paris grew around it
By the end, these quiet streets will reveal the different worlds that grew here, and how a former village found its place within Paris.
Tour Producer
Tour Producer
Pierre Lempereur
I’m Pierre, a Paris-born city lover with a background in hospitality and a passion for the stories hidden behind familiar streets.
Having travelled widely across Europe and lived in New York and San Diego, I know the difference between simply visiting a city and truly connecting with it.
I create walks for curious travellers who want to understand a place, not just see it. I’m drawn to local history, neighbourhood life, overlooked details and the people who have shaped the city over time.
My mission is simple: to help you slow down, look closer and experience the city as something alive, personal and memorable.
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Preview Location
Preview Location
Location 19
A Studio, a Novelist and a New Kind of City
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Take a look at the information panel here, where you can see The Studio. You can also open the painting in the app for a closer look. Bazille stands with his palette, although Mane...
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Major Landmarks
Major Landmarks
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Place de Clichy
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Batignolles
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boulevard des Batignolles
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Mairie du 17ᵉ arrondissement de Paris
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Rue Legendre
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Église Sainte-Marie des Batignolles
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place du Docteur-Félix-Lobligeois
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Square des Batignolles
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Marché Couvert Batignolles
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Parc Martin Luther King
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Épinettes
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Cité des Fleurs
Getting There
Getting There
Route Overview
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Start location7 Avenue de Clichy, 75017 Paris
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Total distance4km
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Final locationCité des Fleurs, 75017 Paris
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Distance back to start location1km
Directions to Starting Point
The tour starts beside the historical information panels at 7 and 9 Avenue de Clichy, just off Place de Clichy. The nearest metro station is Place de Clichy, served by lines 2 and 13.
From the square, head along Avenue de Clichy on the left-hand pavement and look for the Cinéma des Cinéastes.
Facing the cinema, you’ll find the first panel just to its right, outside number 7. The second is a few steps further to the right, outside number 9.
Show Directions
Tips
Tips
Places to stop along the way
There are plenty of places to pause and enjoy neighbourhood life along the way:
• On Rue des Dames, Les Caves Populaires at number 22 is a relaxed neighbourhood bar for wine, beer, and cheese or charcuterie boards.
• On Rue Legendre, stop at Scoop Me a Cookie at number 72 for something sweet to enjoy during the walk.
• Just before entering Square des Batignolles, take a moment to enjoy the terraces on Place Félix Lobligeois. Le Tout Petit at number 73 is a cosy option for French bistro cooking.
• For brunch, you have several options along the route. Dose at 82 Place Félix Lobligeois serves speciality coffee and brunch every day. L’Endroit at number 67 offers a brasserie brunch on weekends and public holidays. After the square, Caducée at 19 Rue Brochant serves Sunday brunch in a former pharmacy, with homemade pastries and seasonal dishes.
• Inside Square des Batignolles, a bench by the pond makes a lovely spot to sit and enjoy a snack picked up along the way.
• After the square, Rue Brochant has more places to linger. Gaston at number 11 serves classic French dishes, while Formaticus at number 16 pairs cheese boards and cheese-based dishes with wine.
• The covered Marché des Batignolles, at 96 bis Rue Lemercier, is worth a stop to browse the food stalls or pick up something to eat. It closes on Mondays and between 2pm and 4pm from Tuesday to Friday.
• In Parc Martin Luther King, HOBA’s downstairs café and bar offers a terrace facing the ponds, ideal for a drink before continuing. Opening days vary with the season, so check its website before planning a stop.
• After the tour, Chez Lucette at 43 Rue de la Jonquière is an old-fashioned neighbourhood restaurant serving traditional French home cooking, a short walk from the far end of Cité des Fleurs.
Pause the tour whenever you like, and allow extra time for any stops before the parks and Cité des Fleurs close.
Best time of day
Enjoy this walk during daylight, ideally Monday to Saturday. You can also take the complete tour on Sundays and French public holidays, though Cité des Fleurs closes at 1pm on those days. The final track begins outside its entrance and plays whether the gates are open or closed.
Suggested latest starting times:
By 4:30pm from 25 October to the end of February.
By 5:30pm from 1 March to 24 October.
Start earlier if you’d like to stop for coffee or lunch. Cité des Fleurs normally closes at 7pm Monday to Saturday; on Sundays and public holidays, choose a morning start if you’d like to walk through it.
French public holidays: (1 January, Easter Monday, 1 May, 8 May, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, 14 July, 15 August, 1 November, 11 November and 25 December).
Precautions
Wear comfortable shoes, bring water and keep your headphone volume low enough to hear traffic at crossings.
If you don’t want to miss a stroll through Cité des Fleurs, arrive before 1pm on Sundays and French public holidays (listed under Best time). Check the notices at the gates, and respect residents’ privacy and the quiet atmosphere of this private lane.
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