Street art, city views, coffee and markets: exploring Belleville, Paris’ hip new neighbourhood

Once a patchwork of farms and windmills, Edith Piaf’s old stomping ground and a staunchly working-class quartier (neighbourhood), brilliantly multicultural Belleville is now home to neobistros, coffee roasters and burgeoning art projects. And with some of the city's best street art, panoramic views and a rising food scene, this is clearly a slice of northeastern Paris worth checking out.

Street art

Belleville’s rue Dénoyez sports Paris’ most dazzling street art. Everything on the short street, from rubbish bins and flowerpots to lamp posts and window shutters, is covered from head to toe in colourful art. Artist workshops line the street where local kids kick footballs around and street art ‘happenings’ break out on sultry summer nights. At the end of the street, break for an organic jasmine ice tea, homemade lemonade or glass of warm vanilla milk at Le Barbouquin, a mellow literary cafe with secondhand books, vintage armchairs and cultural events such as violin-accompanied poetry readings on weekends.

Meet local artists

From blvd de Belleville walk east along rue des Couronnes until you reach rue de la Mare, a plain unassuming street brightened with the odd splash of street art and hidden artist studios and workshops. Seek out ceramists, potters and highly creative milliners such as Estelle Ramousse  at No 64, known for her theatrical made-to-measure hats. On nearby rue Envierges haute-couture fashion designer Stéphanie Coudert  tailor-makes unique pieces in her hip studio with striking, raw-wood façade.

The best time to encounter local artists at work is during Belleville’s annual Portes Ouvertes (‘Open House’) in May when over 150 artists open their studio doors to visitors for four days. Some of their work is displayed year-round in the gallery of Les Ateliers d’Artistes de Belleville .

Parc de Belleville

Below the panoramic terrace on rue Piat the green lawns, fountains and trimmed hedgerows of Parc de Belleville tumble down the hillside. Amid the 4.5 hectares of urban greenery is a gargantuan slide, toboggan ride and climbing frame for kids. Right under your feet, beneath the panoramic terrace (actually a rooftop), is the Maison de l’Air – inside is a green exhibition on air quality in Paris.

City views

Wander along rue des Envierges, past old-fashioned bistro Le Vieux Belleville where you can hear accordion music and chansons (songs) still being performed of an evening. At the end of street the stunning city panorama sweeps across the horizon from the terrace on rue Piat. An orientation table, designed in colour ceramic mosaics by local artists, maps out the Eiffel Tower and other key monuments on the skyline.

Take a break and tuck into a baguette sandwich filled with Morbier cheese, walnuts and honey from gourmet bakery Le Panorama Gourmand and flop on the rather funky chaise lounge – built from recycled wooden pallets – on the square here. Or stop in at L'O'Paris , a modern cafe with sky blue façade, bright pink interior and live jazz at weekends.

Creative coffee

Belleville was put on the hipster map by Belleville Brûlerie, a ground-breaking roastery that brought good coffee to Paris. Belleville beans go into espressos and cappuccinos served at some of the city’s coolest barista-run cafes (such as Fondation Café, Holybelly and Lockwood). And if in you’re in Belleville on a Saturday you can taste, buy and drink coffee in situ at the roastery – ‘cupping’ sessions on Saturday mornings are a highlight.

Food scene

For an authentic taste of Asian in Belleville head to Tai Yen (rue de Belleville) for Chinese and Don Huong (rue Louis Bonnet) for Vietnamese – both offer outstanding value. The neighbourhood’s crop of hip neobistros includes Felicity Lemon, which sells itself as the cantine de quartier (neighbourhood canteen; the place where everyone goes), and rising star Chatomat. Natural wines accompany homemade bistro platters at stylish wine cellar Chapeau Melon, while an unpretentious favourite is Mon Oncle Le Vigneron – Pascal and Chika have cooked and entertained guests around shared table (by reservation only) at this upmarket grocery store and kitchen for the last 19 years. For Sunday brunch there is one address: beneath a 100-year olive tree at buzzing arts centre Le Bellevilloise.

To market

Stall holders shout out loud to flog their wares in a din of different languages at raucous open-air food market, Marché de Belleville. Its stalls have filled busy thoroughfare blvd de Belleville since 1860 and shopping here for fruit, vegetables and other fresh produce is a fantastic entry into the large, vibrant community here, home to artists, students and immigrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. End your foodie shop with a more sedate shopping experience at Fromagerie Beaufils, a family-run fromagerie and affineur (ripener) rated as one of the best cheese shops in Paris. Crunchy baguettes and other wood-oven-baked bread from Belleville’s prize-winning boulangerie (bakery) Au 140 make the perfect picnic partner.

Trace the steps of Edith Piaf

Belleville was the old haunt of iconic cabaret singer Edith Piaf (1915-63). From Belleville metro station, walk east uphill along rue de Belleville and look for the red neon lights of Aux Folies , the cabaret bar where a young Piaf sung. Today it’s a busy neighbourhood cafe. Continue uphill to 72 rue de Belleville where a wall plaque says that Piaf was born on the house steps here (yet she was actually born in the hospital in Belleville). To discover the real story, visit the two-room Musée Edith Piaf in neighbouring Ménilmontant. End your Piaf pilgrimage with a visit to the unexpectedly sombre tomb the singer shares with her father as well as her second husband in Cimetière du Père Lachaise on Belleville’s southern fringe.

Where to stay

Generator Hostel  has just opened Europe’s largest hostel in an old office block on the northern fringe of Belleville. With en suite doubles, street art decor (don’t miss the cow, repainted each month by a different artist), metro-style ceramic tiling and fresh white linen, it is the finest place around to stay. There’s also snails on the menu in its stylish barista-run Café Fabien, macaron cocktails in the basement bar and a nightclub styled like the Paris metro.

Getting there

Belleville, predominantly in the 20e arrondissement, is roughly wedged between Parc des Buttes-Chaumont (north) in the 19e, and Cimetière du Père Lachaise and Ménilmontant (south) in the 11th arrondissement. Belleville is the main metro station (line 11).