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Paris Cafe Review: Cafe Beaubourg (4th Arrond.)

// August 23rd, 2009 // Cafes

For those of you who don’t me, a couple of years ago I learned about a previously undiscovered passion of mine: reading at cafes. Upon moving to Paris and starting this blog, I knew that I would spend a lot of time visiting cafes around the city and, of course, sharing my reviews with all of you. Today I visited Cafe Beaubourg in the 4th Arrondissement.

Located at 43 rue Saint-Merri (careful, there’s a identically named cafe a couple blocks away on St. Martin), Cafe Beaugourg looks onto a square right off of the Pompidou Centre. I had previously seen reviews talking about the performers in the square, so I was hoping to get a show while I read my most recent book, Is Paris Burning? by  Larry Collins. I was in luck. Today, a group of four dancers spent the afternoon performing a dance routine consisting of Conga, breakdancing, hip-hop, and more. I shot a video of them in action which you can view here.

First impression: Great location. As I mentioned, this cafe sits on a nice open courtyard and chairs are set up so you can easily drink your coffee and watch the people and entertainment at the same time. There’s no question, a cup of coffee is not cheap here (5.00 € for a Cafe Creme ), so if you’re looking for a great deal, look elsewhere. But the setting makes it worth grabbing a drink here at least once, though you wouldn’t want it to make it your regular cafe.

The coffee was tasty, so no complaints there. The service was pretty standard, but I certainly liked the fact that I spent a couple of hours here and didn’t once get the impression that I was being rushed to leave. To sum it up, Cafe Beaubourg is a great place to people watch, catch some cool street artists in action and spend a leisurely hour or two reading your book, undisturbed.

Day & Time of Visit: Sunday @ 2:00PM

Want to see photos from my visit?: Cafe Review Photos

Want to see a video of the performers near the cafe?:  Street Performers at Cafe Beaubourg

Want to see this location on a map? Map of My Visits