The Bastille district has calmed considerably since its infamous prison was destroyed by revolutionaries in 1789. It has a lively, if somewhat outmoded, nightlife scene centered around the rue de la Roquette and the Faubourg St-Antoine, and excellent-value open-air markets at place d'Aligre and boulevard Richard-Lenoir. There are few quality hotels or posh boutiques, but the Opéra Bastille offers cultural stimulation, and the Père-Lachaise Cemetery to the east features the elaborately decorated graves of luminaries from Chopin and Jim Morrison to Molière and Colette. Souvenir shops are rare here, but artisans display their wares under the brick arches of the Viaduc des Arts, and the recently revived Bercy district farther south includes a pleasant pedestrian shopping village, peaceful park, and the newly opened Cinémathèque Français museum of cinematic history. In short, it's more typically Parisian middle class than touristy, with down-to-earth prices and a laid-back atmosphere.

North of the Bastille, traditionally working-class areas are starting to show the effects of inevitable gentrification. Artists, young professionals, and other bourgeois bohemians have snatched up loft spaces, and the alternative nightlife scene around Oberkampf has spread to Belleville and Menilmontant. Although there are few hotels (except toward République), sure bets for sightseeing include the bucolic Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, the locks, bridges, and waterside cafés of the Canal St-Martin, and the contemporary museums, playgrounds, and entertainment venues of the Parc de la Villette.