Home Destinations Europe France Paris Sights Palais-Royal

Palais-Royal Review

Read our Paris sights reviews. Or post your own.

Palais-Royal

Address: Pl. du Palais-Royal, Louvre/Tuileries, Paris | Map It

Category: Squares
Location: The Faubourg St-Honoré and Les Halles

Write a review

Fodor's Review:

This most romantic and quiet of Paris gardens, enclosed within the former home of Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), is an ideal spot to while away an afternoon. Do like the locals and cuddle with your sweetheart on a bench under the trees, soak up the sunshine beside the fountain, or browse the 400-year-old arcades, now home to chic boutiques and quirky shops. One of the city's oldest restaurants is here, the haute-cuisine jewel box Le Grand Véfour, where brass plaques recall regulars like Napoléon and Victor Hugo. Built in 1629, the palais became royal when Richelieu bequeathed it to Louis XIII. Other famous residents include Jean Cocteau and Colette, who wrote of her pleasurable "country" view of the province à Paris. Today, the garden often plays host to giant-size temporary art installations sponsored by another tenant, the Ministry of Culture. The courtyard off Place Colette is outfitted with a strange collection of black-and-white columns created in 1986 by the artist Daniel Buren.