Le Marais

Le Marais spreads across the 3rd and 4th arrondissements on the Right Bank, between Place de la République, the Bastille and the city hall (Hôtel de Ville).

Rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie and Rue des Archives form the main axes, lined with terrace bars, clubs, boutiques and bookshops that have become institutions. Cobbled lanes, galleries, the falafel shops of Rue des Rosiers and the Place des Vosges define the quarter. Rising rents are displacing some venues, but the Marais remains the centre of queer nightlife.

This historic district of 17th-century aristocratic mansions became the queer quarter of Paris from the early 1980s, as gay traders, activists and artists moved into then-affordable premises. By the early 1990s the Marais was firmly established as the heart of gay Paris.