Cafeography
Paris · Place d'Italie & Butte-aux-Cailles (13e)

Cafés in Place d'Italie & Butte-aux-Cailles (13e)

Bubble tea on Avenue de Choisy, murals along Boulevard Vincent Auriol and late counters on Place d’Italie and the Butte-aux-Cailles.

Photo: Gu Bra, Pexels License

The 13e, a former working-class district on the Left Bank, had 181,271 residents in 2023 on 7.15 km².1 It holds three quite different neighborhoods: the village-like Butte-aux-Cailles, the Asian quarter in the south, and the Paris Rive Gauche redevelopment along the Seine, where the Bibliothèque nationale went up in the 1990s.1

Avenue de Choisy has more cafés than any other street in the 13e, ahead of Rue de Tolbiac and Boulevard Vincent Auriol. Bubble tea shapes the mix: only the 1er has more bubble-tea counters than this arrondissement. Plain coffee comes mainly from brasseries around Place d’Italie, and they keep the longest hours.

Local tip: Ride line 6 between Chevaleret and Place d’Italie for the view of the murals, then get off at Place d’Italie, where P’tit coco serves from 06:30 until 02:00.6

At a glance

104Cafés listed
43With opening hours
00:00Earliest opening
03:55Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Bubble Bae, from 00:00 (Mon–Thu 00:00–01:30, 14:00–00:00 · Fri 16:00–00:00 · Sat–Sun 00:00–01:30, 14:00–00:00).
  • Closes latest: Le Sud Food, until 03:55 (Daily 11:00–03:55).
  • Most listed streets: Avenue de Choisy (7), Boulevard Vincent Auriol (4), Rue de Tolbiac (4).
  • Most common features: outdoor seating (53%), indoor seating (38%), toilets (18%).

Café Bakery Naili

  • 121 Rue du Château des Rentiers
  • Mon–Sat 07:00–18:00
  • Takeaway
  • Vegetarian options
  • Bakery café
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Coffee chains in Place d'Italie & Butte-aux-Cailles (13e)

Getting around the 13e

Place d’Italie is the hub, on lines 5, 6 and 7, with Corvisart on line 6 the closest stop for the Butte-aux-Cailles.2 Line 14 stops at Olympiades for the Asian quarter, and a tramway runs along Boulevard Masséna on the southern edge.14 On the square, P’tit coco at No. 12 opens 06:30–02:00 every day, Bomby’s Cafe at No. 9 serves until 23:00, and Jules at 2 Rue Bobillot runs 07:00–02:00.

The Butte-aux-Cailles

The hill rises about 28 m above the Bièvre, a river covered in stages between 1828 and 1910, and it takes its name from Pierre Caille, who acquired it in 1543.2 Drillers reached water at 582 m in 1903 after decades of stop-start work; it came up at 28 °C and later fed the Butte-aux-Cailles swimming pool, built in 1924.2 You can still see the fountain on Place Paul-Verlaine.2

On Rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles, cafe fusion is at No. 12 and Le Diamant at No. 23. Down on Boulevard Auguste Blanqui, Le Chat-Rivari Café at No. 40 is a vegan café whose resident cats are up for adoption, open Wednesday to Sunday, 12:00–19:00.7 GuTea, in the Glacière district, serves bubble tea alongside a workshop for painting figurines.7

Avenue de Choisy and the Olympiades

Southeast Asian refugees began arriving in the mid-1970s, fleeing the wars in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, and many moved into towers that had failed to attract Parisian professionals.3 The quarter centers on the triangle of Avenue de Choisy, Avenue d’Ivry and Boulevard Masséna, and a large parade with lion and dragon dances marks Lunar New Year.3

The Olympiades towers went up between 1969 and 1977 on the Gobelins freight yard, reaching 100 m. The gallery roofs look like pagodas, but the architect said he meant them to recall market tents.4 Fu Pâtisserie, at 101 Avenue de Choisy, works with matcha, sesame, pandan and durian, and opens at 08:30 from Tuesday to Friday.7 La Place, at No. 194, opens 06:30–02:00 from Monday to Saturday.

Murals on Boulevard Vincent Auriol and Station F

Line 6 runs above Boulevard Vincent Auriol, and walking or riding from Chevaleret to Place d’Italie passes large murals, many of them organized through Galerie Itinerrance.6 Shepard Fairey’s Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité is at No. 141, D*Face’s 25 m Turncoat at No. 155, and Cryptik’s calligraphy on the Librairie Nicole Maruani at No. 171.6 Là-haut is at No. 69, and Central Cos, a coffee shop with a cosplay workshop, at No. 120.7

Station F opened on 29 June 2017 in the 1927 Halle Freyssinet, with about 34,000 m² for startups at 5 Parvis Alan Turing.5 Its Caffetteria, part of Big Mamma’s La Felicità, stays open until 01:00.7 Near the river, Kasa coffee on Quai d’Austerlitz opens daily at 06:30, and Le Quai at 192 Avenue de France at 07:00 on weekdays. Two 13e bars averaged €1.90 for a café in November 2026, against €2.32 across Paris.8

Sources

  1. 13e arrondissement de Paris, Wikipédia, accessed November 2026
  2. Butte-aux-Cailles, Wikipédia, accessed November 2026
  3. Quartier asiatique de Paris, Wikipédia, accessed November 2026
  4. Les Olympiades, Wikipédia, accessed November 2026
  5. Station F, Wikipédia, accessed November 2026
  6. Balade street art dans le 13ème : les fresques du boulevard Vincent Auriol, Paris ZigZag, accessed November 2026
  7. Sweet spots in Paris’s 13th arrondissement, Sortiraparis, accessed November 2026
  8. Prix du café à Paris, MisterGoodBeer (data as of November 2, 2026), accessed November 2026
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FAQ

Place d'Italie & Butte-aux-Cailles (13e) cafés: questions

Where is the Asian quarter around Place d’Italie in Paris?

South of Place d’Italie in the 13e, in the triangle of Avenue de Choisy, Avenue d’Ivry and Boulevard Masséna, including the Olympiades towers. Line 14 stops at Olympiades. Refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia began arriving in the mid-1970s, and a Lunar New Year parade with lion and dragon dances now runs through the streets.

Which métro station is closest to the Butte-aux-Cailles in Paris?

Corvisart on line 6 is the closest stop, and Place d’Italie, on lines 5, 6 and 7, is also within walking distance. The hill rises about 28 m above the covered Bièvre river. Le Chat-Rivari Café, on Boulevard Auguste Blanqui, opens Wednesday to Sunday.

How much does a coffee cost near Place d’Italie in Paris?

Two bars in the 13e averaged €1.90 for a café in November 2026, below the Paris average of €2.32. That is the price of a plain espresso at the counter of an ordinary bar. It is a small sample, so expect some variation between brasseries on the square and the side streets.

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