I've been taking an immersion class in Montpellier and am heading up to Paris in a couple of days for several days of enjoyment before going back home to the US. I am interested in finding out which famous café in Paris people have a preference for: Café de Flore or Les Deux Magots? Or possibly neither; are they both too touristy and overpriced.

We had lunch at Cafe de Flore and found it charmless, and overpriced...but maybe that was the jetlag. I think there are better cafes in Paris these days...

I am in the "neither" camp. I

I would say "neither" also, unless you can get a table outside and people watch. But you can do that and in a location a lot more fun for a lot less.

I like Cafe de Flore just because the people watching is better IMHO. However, there is another cafe on the same little square that I go to. (Better prices LOL!)

Is it obvious CarolA? What is the name?

Maybe just do coffee or a drink at Cafe Deux Magots so that you can have a "Hemingway" experience. Something to tell your friends at home.

someone posted this on another forum.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/200...es-bars-france

I had lunch a few weeks ago at Cafe de Flore. Everyone was very nice, and I really enjoyed it. Later we stopped for more wine at deux Magots

Both are very touristy and certainly not for food. Some like to go anyway. Whatever feels good to you..do it.

I have just come from "Hemingways".

Joan

I'm not a big fan of either. If I want to do the "literary Paris" thing, I go to Les Editeurs.

lol..that was our last stop that day. The apartment we rented was around the corner.

I am not a fan of either, they are too expensive, too touristy and snooty at the same time, too crowded, etc. Besides, I don't really hang out in the area they are located.

But they are just cafes and right near each other, just go to whichever one looks good to you, you don't have to decided ahead of time.

Cafe de Flore is on Blvd St Germain and so feels a little more cramped to me. Sitting outside you are sitting on or very close to the sidewalk and early in the evening it can be noisy.

Les Deux Magots on on the corner of the Blvd and the rue Bonaparte and much of it is set back from the sidewalk, so sitting outside there is much nicer. Plus you have the church right across the street. And it is a great place to sit and people watch. If you notice, later in the evvening, after 11:00 or so, there is a completely different clientel.

I prefer Les Deux Magots, late at night, for a pastis.

Pjk

Peter, it was my first time at both and I was pleasantly surprised how there was no "attitude."

I was alone in Paris this summer, stayed around the corner from both, at night - set at C de F and watched people.
It is hugely overpriced, there were some tourists there, but
I was surprised at the number of elegant French ( Parisians?)
as well.

IMHO six of one and half a dozen of the other. Stop for a drink for 30 minutes for the experience - then move on.

I like to sit outside at Deux Maggots at the last table next to Louis Vuitton. Great for people watching. Just have a coffee or a glass of wine.

Balenciaga

I vote for Deux Magots as Thin(Cries) recommended. I had a wonderful conversation with the toilette attendent there on our last trip viewing many photos of her cat. I still have the Deux coffee mug I bought there.

pam. we had a conversation with our waiter. I think it's snobby to put down these places when they have never been snotty to us. Some may stop for the history, I stopped because my friend lives and lunches there.

Go to either or both, just to say you were there. They are but shadows of their pasts.