Montparnasse
For many Parisians, the Montparnasse district is above all a transit area, where travellers with their suitcases rush off to Brittany or Normandy.
With its numerous train lines and 4 metro lines, the Montparnasse station is indeed a gateway to the suburbs, the West of France but also the whole of Paris.
But this district is not only a place of passage. Embodied by its 210-metre-high tower, which is due for a facelift by 2024 thanks to the Nouvelle AOM architectural group, it is also a business district where many companies have set up shop.
The heart of artistic and intellectual life during the Roaring Twenties, frequented by Erik Satie, Henri Matisse, Amadeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau, among others, the district now attracts working people who appreciate the beautiful Haussmann buildings and the lively atmosphere. Between the big cinemas of the boulevard du Montparnasse, the theatres Gaîté-Montparnasse, Bobino, Edgar, and Rive Gauche, the brasseries, cafés or crêperies, the places to have fun are numerous.
Montparnasse also hides some pretty gems. To name a few: the magnificent and secret rue des Thermopyles, the charming alley lined with artists’ studios at 21 avenue du Maine, the Atlantic green lung garden on the roof of the station or the white ceramic building designed by the architect Henri Sauvage at 26 rue Vavin.
