Bright flat near Bastille for 2p

Neighbourhood

BASTILLE DISTRICT It's easy to treat your taste buds in the Bastille area. Between Faubourg-Saint-Antoine and rue de Charenton, you'll find one of the most typical markets in Paris: marché Beauvau, better known as marché d'Aligre. Both inside and outside the market halls, you'll find a mix of working-class Parisians and fashionable Parisians. On the menu are a host of food shops, including the Langlet-Hardouin cheese factory (offering some 80 varieties of goat's cheese!), the local oils of Sur les quais, the coffee-roasterCafé Aouba (where you can also sit down for an espresso), and even meat without... meat at La Boucherie végétarienne, which makes products from vegetable dough. Other not-to-be-missed addresses include the retro delicatessen À boire et à manger, gluten-free products from Bears & Raccoons and hundreds of beers from Paris Saint Bière... And for a sandwich break, make sure you stop off at CheZ Aline, a micro-restaurant set up in a former horse butcher's shop, where you can enjoy one of the best ham and butter dishes in the capital, either to eat in or to take away! In the mood for culture? The Bastille district is also home to a number of very active galleries, including Arts Factory, Less Is More Projects, and the very international Dorothy's Gallery. Along the Avenue Daumesnil, the Viaduc des Arts houses around fifty studios under its arcades. It's well worth the diversions just to discover all these crafts. For a more cultural shopping experience, head to boulevard Richard-Lenoir every Saturday for the Marché Art et Création Paris-Bastille. Neo-gastronomic cuisine has pride of place in this part of eastern Paris, and several high-profile young chefs have set up their stoves in and around the Bastille district. Among the best addresses, treat yourself to a star-studded interlude at Septime (one star in the Michelin guide), discover the bistro-gastro spirit of Australian James E. Henry at Bones, sample the fusion cuisine of a former Top Chef candidate at Pierre Sang in Oberkampf, savour the inspired neo-classical creations of the Levha sisters at Servan... Turn your back on the hustle and bustle of Paris for a moment, and take a break on the Bassin de l'Arsenal, a stone's throw from Place de la Bastille. This former goods port, which links the Canal Saint-Martin to the Seine, is now dedicated to pleasure boating.