Covered passages: Palais-Royal to the Grands Boulevards: a walk in Paris

A chain of 19th-century glass-roofed shopping arcades from the Louvre side to the Grands Boulevards. It starts in Véro-Dodat, crosses the Palais-Royal garden, then takes in the rotundas of Colbert and Vivienne, the long Choiseul, and the Panoramas-Jouffroy-Verdeau run, the longest covered walk in Paris.

Best time: A weekday or Saturday in daytime, when the shops are open; the passages are private and close at night

The route, stop by stop

1
Galerie Véro-Dodat
From 19 rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau to 2 rue du Bouloi. Built in 1826 by a pork butcher, Benoît Véro, and a financier, Dodat. Listed monument since 1965. 10 min.
An 80-metre passage of 1826 with a diagonal black-and-white floor that fakes depth, a low ceiling painted with landscapes and matching wooden shopfronts. Wikipedia calls it…
2
Palais-Royal Garden
A 20,850 m2 garden laid out in 1633 for Cardinal Richelieu, framed by four arcaded galleries (Montpensier, Beaujolais, Valois, Jardin). Daniel Buren's striped columns (Les Deux Plateaux) stand in the front courtyard. 20 min.
A national estate facing the Louvre: a symmetrical 17th-century garden enclosed by the palace, with the contemporary sculptures of Daniel Buren and Pol Bury at the entrance. The…
3
Galerie Colbert
6 rue des Petits-Champs / 2 rue Vivienne. 83 m long, with a glass-domed rotunda over a statue, Eurydice mourante by Nanteuil. Giuseppe Mengoni drew on it for Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Today it holds art-history research and teaching institutions. 10 min.
4
Galerie Vivienne
176 m long and 3 m wide. Opened as galerie Marchoux and renamed Vivienne in 1825. Pompeian-style decor by François-Jacques Delannoy and mosaic floors signed by Facchina and Mazzioli. Private property, open to walkers in the daytime. Listed 1974. 15 min.
The grandest of the covered arcades, built in the 1820s, with a mosaic floor, arcades and a glass roof; office workers from the Bourse cut through it at lunch. Most visitors stop…
5
Passage Choiseul
Built 1825-1827 between rue des Petits-Champs and rue Saint-Augustin. Its north entrance is the porch of the old Hôtel de Gesvres. The writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline lived here as a child (1899-1907), above his mother's shop at no. 67 and then no. 64. 10 min.
6
Passage des Panoramas
Opened in 1799-1800, one of the oldest covered passages in Paris, between rue Saint-Marc and boulevard Montmartre. It is named after two painted panorama rotundas, 17 m across, that stood at the entrance. The Stern engraver's shop front survives here, and side galleries lead to the stage door of the Théâtre des Variétés. 15 min.
Built in 1799, one of the oldest covered passages, named after two painted panorama rotundas that stood at the entrance. Stamp, coin and old-postcard dealers still trade here…
7
Passage Jouffroy
Across boulevard Montmartre, built in 1845 to catch the Panoramas crowds. Halfway along it turns and goes down a few steps. The exit of the Musée Grévin waxworks (opened 10 January 1882) opens onto it. 15 min.
Opened in the 1840s as the first Paris passage built entirely of iron and glass, and the first with underfloor heating under its black-and-white tiles. Old bookshops, toy shops…
8
Passage Verdeau
Opened in 1846 as the continuation of Jouffroy, between rue de la Grange-Batelière and rue du Faubourg-Montmartre. It has a high herringbone glass roof. The Hôtel Drouot auction house nearby drew antique dealers, old-book sellers and postcard collectors. 10 min.
The quiet end of the Panoramas-Jouffroy-Verdeau run, opened in the 1840s under a high, bright glass roof. The Drouot auction house nearby drew antique dealers here, and…

Walking directions

Covered passages: Palais-Royal to the Grands Boulevards

The route, stop by stop

More walks in Paris