Latin Quarter

The quarter takes its name from the language: until the Revolution, teaching and daily argument at the university here were conducted in Latin, and the district around the Sorbonne, founded in the thirteenth century, has been a student area for around eight hundred years. Its street plan is medieval and largely survived Haussmann, with narrow lanes running down toward the Seine. Shakespeare and Company, the English bookshop, faces Notre-Dame across the river; rue Mouffetard runs a market street down a hill; and the barricades of May 1968 went up on these streets, an episode still visible in how the quarter thinks of itself.

What you actually see

• The Sorbonne - the university buildings at the quarter's centre.
• Shakespeare and Company - the English bookshop facing Notre-Dame.
• Rue Mouffetard - a market street running downhill through the 5th.
• The medieval lanes - narrow streets left untouched by Haussmann.

When to go

Year-round; term time gives the quarter its character, and August empties it of students. Evenings are liveliest. Rue Mouffetard's market runs mornings except Monday.

Honest expectations

The streets nearest Saint-Michel are dominated by tourist restaurants of poor quality with aggressive touts. Shakespeare and Company queues down the street. Rents have pushed much of the student life outward.

Nearby

The Pantheon lies south; Notre-Dame is across the river.