Culture and cafés: Parisian museums with the most beautiful terraces
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In Paris, some museums have understood this: nothing better than a terrace and a steaming cup to accompany an exhibition. Discover our top 4 best museums with a terrace in Paris.
On the program?
- The Augustine café-restaurant at the Rodin Museum
- The Café 1902 at the Petit Palais
- The Rose Bakery café at the Musée de la Vie Romantique
- The pluto restaurant-café in Lafayette Anticipations
#1. Rodin Museum: between two sculptures, a pastry shop
Born in Paris in 1840, Auguste Rodin is one of the most important sculptors of his generation.
Known for his hard and prolific work, he is the author of sensual, realistic and emotional sculptures exhibited at the Musée Rodin in Paris (7th arrondissement).
The garden, its sculptures and its café
Around the museum building (a former private mansion, the Hôtel Biron) is a flowery and very well maintained garden, inhabited by the statues of the master sculptor.
The Gates of Hell, the Monument to the Bourgeois of Calais or The Thinker : you can observe them while enjoying a tea and a pastry from the Maison Lenôtre under the parasols of the café-restaurant L'Augustine (accessible with a ticket for the museum).
How to get to the Rodin Museum by public transport?
77 rue de Varenne, 75007, Paris
- Metro 13 : Varenne station + 2 min walk
- Metros 13 or 8 : Invalides station + 10 min walk
#2. A hidden terrace in the heart of the Petit Palais
The Petit Palais, the Museum of Fine Arts of the City of Paris, is small only in name. In the centre of the majestic building, whose permanent collection is free of charge, is a garden with trees in a circular courtyard.
Gigantic stone columns support a frescoed ceiling, which protects walkers on the terrace of the opulent Café 1902, for a gourmet break or a drink with a view of the garden!
How to get to the Petit Palais by public transport?
Av. Winston Churchill, 75008, Paris
- Metros 1 and 13 : Champs-Élysées Clemenceau station + 2 min walk
- RER C : Invalides station + 10 min walk
#3. A café under a glass roof in the confidential garden of the Musée de la Vie Romantique
In the rue Chaptal, in the heart of a cobbled cul-de-sac that seems to resist time, is the Musée de la Vie Romantique (whose entrance is free for the permanent collections).
On the program? A dive into the romanticism of the nineteenth century, between paintings by the great masters, poetry, literature and period furniture.
The museum is surrounded by a garden and a rose garden in which you can find a tea room, the Rose Bakery, where you can enjoy a pastry on a chair in the garden or under the delicate glass roof.
How to get to the Museum of Romantic Life?
16 rue Chaptal, 75009, Paris
- Metro 12 and 2 : Pigalle station + 6 min walk
- Metro 12 : Saint-Georges station + 7 min walk
#4. A sophisticated restaurant-café in the setting of the Lafayette Anticipations Foundation
In the Marais district (Paris 4th), the Lafayette Anticipations Foundation has established itself as one of the liveliest places for contemporary creation in Paris.
Housed in a former industrial building that has been rehabilitated, it hosts (free!) exhibitions, concerts, performances and installations by contemporary artists.
On the ground floor, a restaurant-café has been set up.
At pluto, where chef Thomas Coupeau works in the kitchen: you can sit on the yellow chairs on the terrace for a coffee or inside for sophisticated dishes that extend the contemporary atmosphere of the place.
How to get there?
9 rue du Plâtre, 75004, Paris
- Metro 1 or 11 : Hôtel de Ville station + 5 min walk
- Metro 11 : Rambuteau station + 4 min walk
- Châtelet - Les Halles station : metros 4, 7, 11 and 14 and RER A, B and D + 15 min walk