This is Paris's coolest flea market – here's why it's a must-visit
As you'd expect, Paris is full of flea markets, and it can be tricky to decipher which are the biggest, best and when they're all trading – that's why we've just updated our brilliant roundup.
So, what's our favourite flea market in Paris? It's Marché aux Puces de St-Ouen! But calling it just a market wouldn't really be fair. As our Time Out Paris writer Alix Leridon puts it, 'Marché aux puces de Saint-Ouennot … is like a whole other world.'
This place is pretty huge – and famous, too (it features in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris). Marché aux Puces de St-Ouen actually comprises twelve covered markets and five different shopping streets, spread over no less than seven hectares.
Dauphine Market is the biggest of the bunch, and is also arguably the prettiest and most eclectic (so head here if you're browsing and not after anything specific). It's nestled under the glass roof of the main hall, and to find it look out for Futuro House (the massive, orange saucer-shaped spaceship thing).
This place has been open since 1991, and today is home to around 150 different sellers. You'll find seventeenth and eighteenth-century antiques alongside stalls selling vinyls, prints and clothes.
If you're book-shopping, head to the Passage – that's the place to be for rare editions and retro copies of classic works and lovely art books, as well as enough postcards to fulfill your wildest collector dreams.
But there's plenty more than that to explore at this super-flea. Have a read about it in more detail on our page here.
Check out our roundup of the best flea markets in Paris.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Argus
an hour ago
- South Wales Argus
Fragments survive of ocean liner 'Doric' which met its end in Newport
And that reminded us of this story we ran back in 2015 about the pub's interesting interior... She was a ship built to cross the high seas in style. Owned by White Star Line, of Titanic fame, the Doric sailed between Liverpool to Montreal carrying passengers in luxurious comfort. But 80 years after she met her end in a Newport breakers yard, parts of this ship from a bygone age still grace parts of the city. The smoking room in the liner Mauretania. Many of the rooms in the Doric would have been fitted out in similar style The Doric belongs to an age before the Atlantic could be crossed in hours. In the 1920s when she was built it would take at least a week. To persuade the passenger to part with their money, shipping lines had to make their liners as comfortable as possible. Their boast always had to be that their ships were the most well-appointed, in which the luxury of the surroundings would make even the roughest crossing a pleasure. As an architect who designed the interiors of great cruise ships of the time said, "we must make people forget they are at sea." The Doric was no different. The smoking room in the Doric, from the illustrated plans owned by ex-Cashmore's worker Tony Whitcombe Built in Belfast by Harland and Wolff in 1922, she could carry 2,300 passengers and depending on the price of their ticket in either luxury or comfort. A crew of 350 attended to their needs on the journey. While not a giant like her larger sisters, such as the Titanic, the twin-funnelled Doric shared her stately lines and wore the same colour scheme as the tragic liner. Her interior was every bit as swish as her stablemates. Dining rooms were clad in oak and mahogany, marble was used extensively. Mirrors were delicately engraved. Even ashtrays were silver-plated or made of brass and embossed delicately with the White Star flag emblem. The ship's maiden voyage on June 8, 1923, was from Liverpool to Montreal in Canada. She would sail the 2,385 miles in just under seven days at a steady 15 knots on this route she plied until 1932. From 1933 the Doric began a more leisurely career and was used for only cruising, based at Liverpool, she was one of ten White Star liners transferred to the newly-merged company Cunard White-Star. Her voyaging was to come to a premature end in September 1935 when she collided with the French ship Formigny off Cape Finisterre. Her passengers were rescued and emergency repairs at Vigo in northern Spain were made, but on her return to the UK she was declared "a constructive total loss" or as cars might be called today, "a write-off". It is then, as her fate had been decided, that Newport entered the scene. Cashmore's was a Newport firm whose name would have been known throughout the world as the place where ships came to die. A steel panel is hoisted from the Doric as she is broken up at Cashmore's Despite the thousands of hours of toil by riveters in fixing great sheets of steel together and carpenters fashioning stylish fittings - a ship's life would end by a cutting torch at a place like this. Newport was a natural place for a ship-breaker. Local historian, Jim Dyer says that the Usk, with its high tidal reach, meant the largest of ships could be sailed upstream. The yard's appetite was prodigious. Mr Dyer said: "They scrapped more than 1,000 ships, of all sizes, famous warships, ocean-going liners, paddle steamers, tugs and coasters were pulled apart the metal and accessories all sold and recycled." Sat on the banks of the River Usk between where the SDR and George Street bridges are today, the yard saw the end of liners like the fantastically-named Reina del Pacifico, the Empress of France and great battleships like HMS Collingwood and, of course, the Doric. Another chronicler of Newport's past was Jan Preece and he remembered how these leviathans would come up the river on their final journey: "When I lived on Raglan Street in Pill, you could see the great majestic shapes looming over the streets. You took it for granted, but at the same time it was so impressive." Cashmore's made its fortune from the scrap metal gleaned from these great ships; their fixings and fittings were small beer. The proceeds of the sale of furniture were often donated to local causes. The Doric's oak-panelling and engraved mirrors would go to keep the Royal Gwent in those pre-NHS days. Steve Williams landlord of the St Julians Inn in front of fittings from the liner "Doric" that was scrapped at Cashmore's in Newport Many houses in Pill would give a home to a sideboard, a lamp or a door salvaged from a ship broken up at Cashmore's, the Doric included. By 1937 more than 280 ships had been broken up but many more would lie alongside the river bank on the Usk mud and be slowly dismembered. It seems appropriate that further up the river the remains of one of Cashmore's most famous projects, the Doric, should be found. Steve Williams is landlord of the St Julians Inn and is one of Newport's longest-serving landlords. But some of the fittings in his pub overlooking Caerleon stretch back much longer than that. The walls of the lounge in the pub are clad with oak panelling saved from the Doric. 'The lounge was built on to the original part of the pub between the wars,' landlord Steve Williams says 'and they clad it with wood taken from the wardroom on the liner'. 'Some of the bell pushes used to summon a steward are still there,' he adds. He says it is a 'special feeling' that this part of the great ship remains. 'You can't preserve something as big as a liner, but it's good that pieces of it have been kept and are still used here. 'I have seen a picture of the original wardroom on the Doric where the panelling came from, and it's laid out exactly like the lounge here. It has the same cosy feel.' It should come as no surprise it looks so at home in a pub. When the architects were designing these palaces of the sea, they wanted to re-create the intimate feeling of a club or restaurant. 'Not many people are alive who would have seen the ship when it came into Newport,' Steve adds, 'so it's great that people can come and see a part of it here.' Overlooking the Usk as it bends round towards Caerleon, The St Julians Inn is named after the patron saint of boatmen who was renowned also for the help he gave to travellers. It's also fitting, then, that fragments of the Doric survive here where that great liner travelled her last.
South Wales Guardian
10 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
William and Kate to join King and Queen for Macron's Windsor carriage ride
Kate, who has opened up about her 'rollercoaster' cancer recovery, its life-changing impact and putting on a 'brave face', will carry out royal duties as part of the French leader's state visit on Tuesday. Kensington Palace has yet to confirm whether or not the princess will attend the banquet in Windsor Castle's St George's Hall in the evening. The princess, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2024 and confirmed she was free from the disease at the start of this year, last made an appearance at a grand royal dinner 20 months ago in November 2023 in honour of the South Korean president. Mr Macron's state visit to the UK, from July 8-10, is the first to be hosted at Windsor Castle, rather than Buckingham Palace, in a more than a decade since that of the Irish president Michael D Higgins in 2014. In a personal touch, the King and Queen will, on Wednesday, take the Macrons to see Fabuleu de Maucour, a 10-year-old grey gelding which Mr Macron gifted to known horse-lover the late Queen Elizabeth II in 2022 in celebration of her Platinum Jubilee. Fabuleu de Maucour belonged to the largely ceremonial French Republican Guard and was trained to carry the standard-bearer. Fabuleu de Maucour, the horse gifted by @EmmanuelMacron to HM The Queen in 2022 for her Platinum Jubilee, was today present at the Brigade Major's Review. Riding Fabuleu was Master of the Horse, Lord De Mauley. Watch this space to see them on 17 June for Trooping the Colour!🐴 — French Embassy UK🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@FranceintheUK) June 1, 2023 They will also view an elegant Charabanc carriage from the Royal Mews, which was a present to Queen Victoria from King Louis-Philippe of France in 1844. And the Macrons will privately pay their respects at the late Queen's tomb in St George's Chapel by laying flowers in tribute. Charles, Ranger of Windsor Great Park, will also invite the president to tour the Windsor Castle Gardens, including areas of nature restoration and biodiversity and the wider Great Park. State visits, which capitalise on the royals' soft power to strengthen diplomatic ties overseas, have moved from Buckingham Palace to Windsor for the next few years while reservicing work continues at the London royal residence and starts to affect the state rooms. The arrangements are likely to form the template for US president Donald Trump's high-profile state visit in September, but much will depend on security considerations for the US leader, who survived an assassination attempt last year. William and Kate will meet Mr and Mrs Macron at RAF Northolt on Tuesday morning on behalf of the King and travel with them to Windsor. Charles and Camilla will formerly greet their guests on a Royal Dais constructed on Datchet Road in Windsor town centre, with the castle in the backdrop as gun salutes sound in nearby Home Park. The King, the Queen, the Waleses and Mr and Mrs Macron will then take a carriage procession through the Berkshire town and along part of the Long Walk which leads to the castle, just like President Sarkozy did. A ceremonial welcome will be staged in the castle's quadrangle with Camilla, William, Kate and Mrs Macron watching as the King and Mr Macron inspect the Guard of Honour. Lunch will be hosted in the State Dining Room, after which the president and his wife, the King and Queen and members of the royal family will view a special exhibition of items relating to France from the Royal Collection in the Green Drawing Room. Mr and Mrs Macron will also travel to London on Tuesday afternoon to see the Grave of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey, visit the Palace of Westminster where the French leader will address parliamentarians in the Royal Gallery, and meet opposition leaders at Lancaster House. The King and president will both deliver speeches at the banquet on Tuesday evening. Wednesday will see the president and Mrs Macron join Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Lady Starmer for lunch at Downing Street, ahead of a UK-France summit at Number 10 on Thursday. The King and Queen paid a state visit to France in September 2023 and enjoy a warm rapport with Mr and Mrs Macron, who will stay in the castle during their trip. The last state visit to the UK from France was in March 2008 when the now-disgraced president Nicolas Sarkozy, since convicted of corruption and influence peddling, and his wife Carla Bruni, were the guests of Elizabeth II at Windsor. The King, who is still being treated for cancer, has had a busy recent run of engagements, carrying out a host of visits in Scotland for Royal Week. Kate, who spoke about the challenges of her recovery during a visit to the RHS's Wellbeing Garden at Colchester Hospital on Wednesday, took part in the Qatari state visit last December, accompanying the Emir to Horse Guards Parade with William, attending the ceremonial welcome, the lunch and the Picture Gallery exhibition.
ITV News
12 hours ago
- ITV News
Football fans 'bitterly disappointed' to miss Wales' historic moment as Switzerland flight cancelled
Fans heading to Switzerland to cheer on Wales were left bitterly disappointed when their flight was cancelled moments before take-off. Jack Cresci is missing the historic chance to see Wales in Euro 2025 due to the travel disruption and has hit out after being 'completely abandoned' by British Airways. He and his friends instead faced a 'bleak and disappointing' walk through Cardiff at 4am after the 270-round trip to and from Heathrow Airport. He told ITV Wales: 'Unfortunately our flight got cancelled on the tarmac at Heathrow due to a technical issue with the plane. 'We were told initially they had to wait for a headset to be on board which took about half an hour and then after that we were told there was a technical issue - which even when the engineers got on board, they were unfortunately not able to fix - so we weren't able to fly that night.' The Wales fans were told there would be a British Airways team waiting for them to chat through alternative options to travel to Switzerland but they say no-one could be seen. 'We were pretty much completely abandoned,' Jack said. 'Every time we checked the website, there was just absolutely nothing on Switzerland. 'So unfortunately, we've missed a historic moment really for Welsh football and seeing us play at the Euros, which is just really, really, disappointing.' British Airways offered Jack a hotel to stay overnight but he says the only options presented were 2-3 hours away from the airport, calling it 'just ridiculous'. 'It hit home at that point, we were going to be missing everything. By the time we got back to Cardiff, it was 4am. We had to walk home then through the dark streets of Cardiff - it was just quite bleak and disappointing, to be honest.' Jack is hoping for a refund from British Airways but hasn't heard back, he says. 'It was really, really frustrating especially because we're now missing such a historic moment because of it.' British Airways have been approached for a response. It isn't the only airline leaving passengers grounded as both Ryanair and easyJet cancelled hundreds of flights due to French air traffic control strikes. Thousands had their travel plans disrupted as Ryanair said it was forced to make 170 cancellations on Thursday and Friday. Strike action affected flights to and from France – and also flights over the country to destinations such as the UK, Greece, Spain and Ireland – impacting more than 30,000 passengers. EasyJet said it had cancelled 124 flights today and was scrapping 150 tomorrow due to the industrial action.
