Butte-aux-Cailles
- Food
- A crêpe or a glass on the butte
- Sports
- The public pool, then Red Star if you want a club
Crowd level: Easy. Busy only at the obvious hour
Best season May–June and September, on a weeknight. August is quieter than you expect, because Paris leaves.
Butte-aux-Cailles still feels like a village that Paris forgot to flatten. Low houses, a square, a public pool. It is no longer a secret, so go on a weeknight and let the Latin Quarter keep the prix-fixe.
The short version
The name is usually traced to a medieval landowner, Pierre Caille, and to the quail that lived in the vines. The village was absorbed in 1860. An artesian well still feeds the neighborhood, including the pool on Place Paul Verlaine. Bring a suit.
Food nearby
A crêpe or a glass on the butte
Rue de la Butte aux Cailles is the street. Eat simply and early. If every terrace has a laminated cocktail card, walk one block off it. The pool café is not the meal.
A game nearby
The public pool, then Red Star if you want a club
Swimming is the sport on the butte. For a team, Red Star FC at Stade Bauer is the non-PSG answer for this side of Paris.