Paris · 5th arrondissement · Bookstore
Shakespeare and Company: Inside Paris's Famous Bookstore
The most famous English-language bookstore in the world — free to enter, facing Notre-Dame, and still a living home for readers and writers.
By the AllTrips Editorial Team ·
Shakespeare and Company at a glance
Area: 5th arrondissement, Left Bank of the Seine opposite Notre-Dame. Allow: 30–60 minutes, longer if you browse the upstairs library or stop at the café. Entry: free — it is a working bookstore, not a ticketed attraction. Nearby: Notre-Dame, the Latin Quarter, the Panthéon, the Musée de Cluny.
Shakespeare and Company is a bookstore — but it may be the most storied one on earth. Yellow lettering on a green-and-gold façade, book carts on the cobbled street outside, a piano upstairs and cats among the shelves: it looks the way book lovers have always imagined Paris.
What is there to see?
The main bookshop occupies a 16th-century house on rue de la Bûcherie. Ground-floor rooms are stacked floor to ceiling with English-language titles — fiction, poetry, Paris and philosophy — plus the shop's own stamps, tote bags and merchandise. In the courtyard out back sits the Antiquarian bookshop, devoted to rare and second-hand editions, and across the street the café serves coffee and simple food under the same green-and-gold awning.
Upstairs is the shop's soul: a small reading library with a piano, beds for travelling writers and walls papered with notes from a century of visitors. It is usually open to browse quietly when the shop is calm — this is also where visiting writers sleep as "Tumbleweeds", the shop's long tradition of trading a night's bed for a few hours of work around the store.
A short history
The name belongs to two shops. The original Shakespeare and Company was opened by American Sylvia Beach in 1919 on rue Dupuytren and later rue de l'Odéon: a lending library and publisher that printed James Joyce's Ulysses in 1922 and became the living room of the Lost Generation — Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein. It closed during the German occupation and never reopened.
In 1951, George Whitman opened "Le Mistral" at 37 rue de la Bûcherie with the same spirit — part bookshop, part refuge for writers. Beach gave him her blessing before she died, and in 1964 he renamed his shop Shakespeare and Company. Whitman lived above the shop until his death in 2011 at 98; today his daughter Sylvia Whitman runs it, and the tradition of Tumbleweeds, readings and literary events continues.
Planning your visit
The shop is open Monday to Wednesday from 10:00 to 20:00, Thursday to Saturday from 10:00 to 21:00, and Sunday from 12:00 to 19:00; the café opens from 9:00. There is no ticket and nothing to book — but the famous façade draws a queue at busy times, and the narrow door means you may wait a few minutes to squeeze in.
Two practical rules from the shop itself: large bags and luggage over roughly 40 cm are not admitted inside, and photography inside is politely declined so readers can browse in peace — take your photos of the façade and carts outside. The closest métro stops are Saint-Michel (line 4, RER B and C) and Maubert-Mutualité (line 10); the walk along the river from Saint-Michel crosses directly in front of Notre-Dame.
Shakespeare and Company in photos
What is nearby?
You are in the middle of the Left Bank: Notre-Dame and the Île de la Cité are just across the Pont au Double, the Panthéon and the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter are a short walk away, and the Musée de Cluny sits a few streets south. See how it all fits together on our Paris attractions map.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shakespeare and Company a bookstore?
Yes — it is an independent bookstore selling new, second-hand and antiquarian English-language books, not a museum or monument. The ground floor and the famous reading library upstairs are open to anyone who wants to browse or buy.
Is Shakespeare and Company free to visit?
Yes. Entry is completely free and there is no ticket, timed slot or queue to pay for — you simply walk in when the shop is open and browse. You only pay for any books, merchandise or café purchases you choose to make.
What are Shakespeare and Company's opening hours?
The main bookshop is open Monday to Wednesday from 10:00 to 20:00, Thursday to Saturday from 10:00 to 21:00 and Sunday from 12:00 to 19:00. The Antiquarian bookshop next door keeps shorter hours, and the café opens from 9:00. Hours can change, so check the official website before you go.
Why is Shakespeare and Company famous?
The shop is the spiritual successor of Sylvia Beach's original Shakespeare and Company, where Hemingway, Joyce and the Lost Generation read and borrowed books in the 1920s. George Whitman reopened the name in 1951 and made the shop a living literary institution: aspiring writers still sleep among the shelves as 'Tumbleweeds' in exchange for helping out.
Where exactly is Shakespeare and Company?
At 37 rue de la Bûcherie in the 5th arrondissement, on the Left Bank of the Seine directly facing Notre-Dame cathedral. The closest métro stations are Saint-Michel (line 4, RER B and C) and Maubert-Mutualité (line 10).
Can I take photos inside Shakespeare and Company?
The shop asks visitors not to take photographs inside, to keep the atmosphere pleasant for readers and browsers. The famous green façade and the book carts outside are the classic photo spot.
Official sources
Reviewed September 2026. Opening hours of the bookshop and café can change; check the official website before travel.