Rue Cler

Good is a relative term.

It's pretty far away from everything except Musée Rodin and Les Invalides.

It's basically flat ground, so good for people with mobility issues.

There are some tourist-y cafes, one little supermarket, a couple of fruit / vegetable stands that put stuff out on the sidewalk then cover it up and go to lunch.

There's a butcher with expensive rotisserie chickens and other expensive meats.

There's a very rude Italian boutique that's not worth your time.

Amarino ice cream, three chocolate shops, two cheese shops and a couple of bakeries.

The Eiffel Tower isn't too far away, though.

Otherwise, you'll have to take the Metro, bus, or walk for hours to see what you came to Paris for.

My favorite street in Paris because this is where I stayed the first time I was in Paris. I've been back several times and it seems like home to me, I find it is just as close to everything as anywhere else because of the metro system. I love Paris, will be there in 3 weeks, guess what, I'm staying near Rue Cler!

I agree with chexbres, it's not where I would stay. It's too far from most of the sites. Stay in the 4th, 5th, or 6th as near to the river as you can.

If you want to stay in a place where you can bump into Americans all around you then rue Cler is spot on! Actually they should probably rename the street rue Rick Steves.

Ditto to the above: it's not convenient to a lot of what visitors come to Paris to see so I'd choose a more central location.

After all no French actually live there do they? it's all American's.

Oh wait, that's the street Emmanual Macron lived on....

(for those of you wondering he's the President of the country now... probably did move off the street)

It's a nice street and the myth that only Americans are on it is laughable. I can't imagine the butcher and vegetable markets stay in business just off of tourism!

If you like it stay there, if you don't you don't have to. I rarely do, but I normally at least visit

That said, I also don't stay "close to the river" as I find that being in that area makes me feel like I am surrounded only by tourists.(Yes, the latin quarter seems to me to have more tourists than Rue Cler , but YMMV) Personally I have stayed in the 14th for years and love it there.

We once spent 5 days there in the execrable Grand Hotel Leveque. I am sure this miserable badly run dump has improved since then or it wouldn't still be in business. I have never understood its popularity. It is not very central and so far away from most of the sites one comes to visit in Paris; it is an ordinary and not particularly good market street. It is a sort of boring part of town. The one plus was that while eating the baguette chunks literally dumped on our table without so much as a napkin under the food at breakfast, we were able to enjoy lovely strawberries and other fruit from a greengrocer on the street; I just went out and bought some cheese and fruit to augment the baguette.

It's a nice street and the myth that only Americans are on it is
laughable. I can't imagine the butcher and vegetable markets stay in
business just off of tourism!

Word! There are no less than four chain grocery stores in the neighborhood. The tourist trade isn't keeping them in business.
It's a great area walkable to some top sites like the Eiffel Tower, Military Museum, Napolean's Tomb, and the Rodin Museum.
I especially like is it's proximity to the ET. It allows me walk over to the Wall of Peace monument every evening and enjoy the light show before heading to the hotel for the night.

My expectations for Rue Cler were set too high - I was expecting magic (like the Cinque Terre) but to me it didn't seem all that special - although perfectly nice. A few years later (2015), we stayed at the Le Citizen in the 10th Arr and loved the hotel and the area. To each his own, I guess.

http://lecitizenhotel.com/

We like Rue Cler. Have stayed there three times now, and although on our upcoming trip we are moving to an apartment in the 1st, we enjoyed walking in the neighborhood/to the tower, the Hotel Relais Bosquet, a convenient Metro station, Les Terrasses was fine for a meal. If we went to Paris for 3 or 4 nights we would stay at the Relais Bosquet again, but for a week we like an apartment.

I've stayed on Rue Cler only once. If you want to be surrounded by Americans, then that's the place to go. I don't want to sit in a restaurant and have a loud American talking to me from another table...yes, it happened...when I'm in Paris! We last stayed slightly out of the fray with a 5 minute walk to Etoile, to live in a bit of a more normal French neighborhood. Hotel des Deux Avenues. That being said, if it is one's first trip to Paris, especially if its a first solo trip, Rue Cler might be comforting. Although, it is a bit of a hassle to get to from the airport. Our later choice was close to an airport bus stop at the Arc de Triomphe.

PS: Not having stayed there recently, I looked up the hotel. It has a 3.3 of 5 rating. When I choose, I don't go below 4 of 5. It is on a real market street so can be kind of messy when the market is closed down, but we found it charming. That being said, again, I wouldn't choose this hotel due to the rating now as a first timer, but I'd definitely choose the area.

Count us among those who like the Rue Cler also. In all the years I've been going to Paris and the times I did stay on the street, I never once felt like I was "surrounded by Americans" but rather I enjoyed all the little shops, attending mass at the church at the end of the street, buying picnic supplies from the market vendors I got to know, seeing the moms (nannies?) dropping off or collecting their kids from the school on the street. I also thought the location was rather convenient with options for metro lines, buses and lots of lovely walking opportunities. I think it's wonderful there isn't just one location in this beautiful city that has to please all of us.

Hate is a strong word. But I agree that Rue Cler is perfect for people who are afraid of "a foreign country, where no one speaks English." (That fear is no longer correct in Paris, nor are some French as unwelcoming as 25 years ago.) If you hope to develop a love for Paris, be just a little more adventurous. One good way is to stay at an old-style hotel (somewhere else) OTHER than the Leveque, and have snacks standing up at the bar down the street. There are so many online reviews today, that is a doable task.

I also despise the Leveque.

We stayed near Rue Cler at Relais Bosquet in 2000 and enjoyed it at the time - it gave us the Paris experience we wanted (at the time). The prior posters are correct that it is pretty far from most of the sights in Central Paris. In my 3 visits since (and upcoming trip) I have stayed either in the Latin Quarter or Marais. If being near a market street is the Paris experience you are looking for, there are others that would probably give you a better one, as well as being more central. Rue Montorgueil in the 2nd and Rue Mouffetard in the 5th, for example.

Rue Cler is just a regular market street of which there are many in Paris but the difference is that for some reason Rue Cler attracted Rick Steve's attention and so the attention of many who read his guidebooks. Is it worth going out of the way to see it? No. Is it an okay place to stay? Of course it is. It is in a great area of Paris and Paris is not that big so even though it is not super central, it is not going to take you ages to get to anywhere else in Paris. As to hearing English all around you and having a lot of tourists around, really the only areas that I have been to Paris where that is not the case have been parts of the 12th through 20th arrondissements. For example, I just had coffee at Ten Belles in the 10th arrondissement a few weeks ago (right near Le Citizen and the Canal Saint Martin) and not only were all the workers native English speakers but so were most of the customers. I feel like it's a kind of virtue signaling to be anti-Rue Cler these days.

I like rue Cler as the Eiffel Tower is my favourite spot. I like to stay in the 15th closer to the Motte Piquet metro which is a good connection to a few lines. The Grenelle market twice a week is super and caters to locals too. My favourite Cafe is near rue Cler La Terrase. Food all day long so if I need an off hours meal I can get it there. People watching is great here, locals and tourists. Locals stop there after work. It is a on a large 5 point corner/circle by the Ecole Militaire metro stop. Many busses pass here too.

May I offer my favourite Eiffel Tower watching spot is across the river at the Trocadero. Many people gather there to wait for the first twinkling of Tower lights on the hour at sunset.

I have two Doctor's offices which are near rue Cler. When I have appointments, I make an excuse to visit the cheese shop on the little side street next door to the ice cream place.

I lived for 6 months one block from rue Cler in 2008. It has certainly changed - and used to be a more "authentic market street" - but there are many other - and better - open air markets which are well worth your time.

Everyone speaks English in Paris, even when you don't want them to.

"Everyone speaks English in Paris, even when you don't want them to."
I don't know about everyone but I do have to agree that I get less chance to practice my French in Paris than anywhere else in France. As soon as I speak, the listener realizes that I am not a native French speaker and breaks into English even when they placate me by saying that I have "good French." If it is not a busy/rush situation, I will ask them to let me speak in French so I can work on it. The other day at a coffee shop in the 5th arrondissement, I thought for a happy second that a French person thought that I was a native speaker when he did not respond in English to my order but it turns out that the barista is an American living in Paris.

There are nicer places in Paris to spend your time and not be surrounded by tourists toting RS books. Nobody said the rue Cler is totally American - however it is heavily fortified with them!

I enjoyed staying at the Hotel Relais Bosquet and being in the Rue Cler neighborhood. The Eiffel Tower was high on my list and we were able to walk to all of our key sites.

I wouldn't let the "haters" keep you from visiting it or staying near there if you would like. There is a strong American tourist presence there, but really, that is true of most of Central Paris a great deal of the time...... I suggest you go check it out and see if you like it for yourself. It is clear people really like it or dislike it and you need to find out which you are.

It's a strange place for someone like RS to favor as it is known to be a residential area for very old, traditional, staid, conservative, monied French families. Forty years ago I had a couple of students in the area from that background. But if it makes RS feel good, so be it, but these are not the types you typically see him hanging with. I hadn't been there for decades so we strolled over a couple years ago and saw nothing exceptional. And yes, I've been to Paris or lived there for the last forty years.

I only went out of my way once to visit Rue Cler.. about 5 years ago with my hubby.
Unfortunately it was a sunday.. so I all saw was a very boring street.. I think the cheese shop was open.. but there didnt seem to be any of those "quaint" market stalls that seem to be the big draw of this street to tourists. Without them ,, it seemed a very quiet boring area.. and my hubby ,who had never read RS books etc.. thought I was crazy to make us detour to find this ordinary looking street.

I realized ( after the fact unfortunately ) that sunday was not the day to visit the street.. but I have never made an effort to find it again, I simply see no reason, I don't find the area convenient to much ,, and there are thousands of attractive areas in Paris to explore instead.

One time my friend and I spent the day just wandering the Marais and looking for those memorial plaques that are on the buildings walls ( they are often heartbreaking memorials to jewish people taken away or killed during the war , resistance workers.. one was a mother and her sons.. the mother was beaten to give up her sons , who were in the resistance, she did not of course ,but they were all killed anyways ) .. and we also spent hours taking photos of unique doors and door knockers. .

My point is there are so many wonderful areas.. dont limit yourself to Rue Cler because of RS.. I have taken on RS tour years ago.. and guess what , our Paris hotel was in the 14th.. no where near Rue Cler.. and it was a great area too.

This thread has me cracking up.

"Don't stay on the Rue Cler because you will be surrounded by American tourists"

"Stay in the Marais and Latin Quarter" - Wait! You mean there are no American tourists there? For those of you who have not been to Paris trust me these areas are just as overrun (if not more so) by American tourists.

If you don't want to be around a lot of tourists you are going to have to get farther out than the advice on here is providing. So if your goal is to stay in a area where there are not more tourists than locals I would recommend looking at locations NOT located next to a major tourist sight/district. (Try double digit arrondissements )

"No American tourists" is an absolute. There's probably no arrondissement in Paris with "no American tourists". It may be a question of a percentage along the 0-100% scale.

It's all about the cooties. Standard American tourists you encounter outside Rue Cler just have regular cooties, but the American blue-book tourists inside RC have mega-cooties, and we all know you don't want to catch that! Not sure what to do about this blue-bookers using Kindles. One has no way of knowing what type of cooties they are infected with. You could be standing right next to them at the Louvre and you would never know! Is there some sort of spray one can use in the morning???

We have often stayed very near or at Place de la Nation. We seemed always to be the only .English speaking tourists in the area, though once in a restaurant we did hear American (or Canadian?) voices at another table and were quite surprised.

I am more likely to meet up with my gay American friends staying in the Marais than I am in my metropolitan area. We may not be tourists clutching guidebooks but we do often speak the dreaded English!

I think RS picked Rue Cler because Americans seem to think staying near the Eiffel Tower is a good idea and he wanted to encourage market shopping and such. Rue Cler is not a street market, but a market street, so it is open every day except Monday. It is not an especially wonderful part of Paris but it is fine if you don't mind the location and it makes sense in a guidebook to focus on one area like this when you are trying to help create an experience of being French. The Marais and Latin Quarter are also very touristy but much better located for a typical tourist who would like to walk to most of the key sights; they are also featured in most guidebooks. We stay in outer arrondissements since we have visited so often and the 18th is crawling with American tourists. When we stay deep in the 17th, 13th, 14th, 20th we are often in bakeries and shops with only locals and vendors who speak no English, but most of the central districts are used to English speakers and are prepared to deal with tourists.

The single - digit arrondissements are not immune to Anglophones.
You're just fooling yourself if you think you can escape them and "live like locals".
They are simply everywhere - but aside from being too loud and taking up the whole sidewalk by walking 4 abreast - they are just curiosity items, and easily tolerated.

@ Michael Schneider. You win for the best post on this thread. LOL.

I have stayed in several areas of Paris over many years, including Rue Cler a couple of times, and have never been put off by
the number of Americans in them. I go to Paris to enjoy myself and appreciate my surroundings. Unless they are particularly obnoxious, I don't worry about other people. Other Americans I have encountered at restaurants have been friendly and welcome.
As for Rue Cler, to me it's OK, perhaps not worth being a destination site, but it's a fine area to stay in. The #69 bus running along rue Sainte-Dominique will easily get you to and from the center of town, as will the nearby metro.

I have a few comments to add.....

I like the Rue Cler area and quite enjoy staying there. It's close to some of the main sights, has good transportation links to get anywhere in Paris and has some nice hotels, restaurants and even a couple of laundromats. I really don't care if there are other tourists there, as I'm also a tourist and they're just doing the same thing I am. I'm typically out touring most of the day, so don't spend a lot of time in the area, but do enjoy the time I spend there.

In defense of the Grand Hotel Leveque, I've stayed there a number of times and no complaints so far. The rooms are a bit "basic" but are quite comfortable. I've stayed at equally "basic" hotels in other countries, so Leveque is certainly not the only one with facilities like that. I'm only in the hotel for sleeping and showering so don't need to pay for posh accommodations. The staff at Leveque have always been very helpful.

So which market streets are good to visit?

Thanks

All of them.

You're welcome.

I like rue Mouffetard and have stayed near there twice and thoroughly enjoyed it. Once I stayed on rue Claude Bernard very near rue Mouffetard on a main bus route; that was enjoyable. We ate breakfast or coffee a few times right on rue Claude Bernard very near the apartment where we were definitely the only tourists. The cafe was near a college of some type; there were young people and many older couples meeting for coffee as we ate breakfast or just had coffee. That was very cool.

I have not been to rue Montorgeuil lately but will be sure to visit this fall.

I love the markets that occur usually twice a week at specific locations. My favourites are Marche Grenelle, near the Eiffel Tower, President Wilson, near the Alma metro and walking distance to the Eiffel Tower and Marche Monge, right be the Monge metro stop.

Google "marchés volants" or "open air food markets in paris".