The Enfants Rouges Covered Market, Paris’s oldest food market.

Hidden on the rue de Bretagne, in the 3e arrondissement, the marché des Enfants Rouges is one of those places you think you know, but it always surprises you as soon as you pass beneath its discreet entrance. Founded in 1615, this covered market in the Haut-Maraisis regarded as the oldest covered market in Paris still in operation.

Listed as a historic monument in 1982, it still carries the vibe of a neighborhood market hall, where people come as much to shop as to settle in for a fragrant dish. It’s no accident that it has ranked among markets recognized worldwide and, as a result, is especially popular with passing tourists!

The Marché des Enfants Rouges owes its name to the former Hospice des Enfants-Rouges, once located on rue des Archives, where the orphans wore red outfits. Four centuries later, it has become the gastronomic hotspot of the Haut-Marais, with its narrow lanes, cramped terraces, overflowing counters, and mingling scents.

We move from stall to stall as if wandering down a narrow inner street: here fresh produce, there flowers, a bit further a caterer, a counter serving Moroccan cuisine, Italian, Japanese, Lebanese or Creole depending on which places are open. The spot has become a popular stop for lunch in the Marais, with this half-market, half-cosmopolitan canteen vibe that quickly makes you forget the street’s bustle.

So people come here to fill their basket with good things, from cheese, to fresh fish, to meat, fruits and vegetables or even caterer-made dishes, but above all to choose a great table, torn between a couscous, a bento, a Mediterranean plate or a generously stacked sandwich.

For practical purposes, the Enfants Rouges Covered Market sits at 39 Rue de Bretagne. Closed on Mondays, it opens to food lovers on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., on Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and on Sundays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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This oldest market in Paris, touristy yet never fully losing its neighborhood-market soul, is a great starting point for a stroll through the Marais, between the Rue de Bretagne, the Carreau du Temple, the local galleries and the lanes around the Archives!

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