It’s long been the neighborhood people end up in when they want to feel like they’re in the mix—gutted hôtel particuliers, openings run by friends of friends, coffee shops full of people who never really went back to work. But after enough DIMLs and Acne bags, it’s become the default. The first place anyone recommends, whether they know Paris or not.

The Marais spans the 3rd and 4th arrondissements. Most of what’s on our list sits in the 3rd—gallery streets, well-edited vintage, large terraces made for long days that turn into longer nights. The 4th looks like the Paris most people imagine before they actually go.

Still, there are layers that nod to what it once was—falafel lines and kosher delis in the Jewish quarter, gay bars, old bistros with the same regulars since the ’60s, milling around like always.