Everyone says Paris is the most beautiful city in the world. It sounds like a cliché, but when you first arrive and walk around, you realize it’s actually true.
However, living here as a student is different from just visiting. Traditional Parisian cafés aren’t always laptop-friendly, and finding a good place to study or just relax can be tricky. You need to find the right balance between working hard and taking breaks.
After eight months of exploring the city and trying out different spots, I’ve put together a list of my absolute favourites. Whether you need to focus on a big project or just want to clear your mind with a good coffee, these are the best places in Paris to make the most of your student life.
The Best Spots for Studying and Staying Productive
Le Pavillon des Canaux
39 Quai de la Loire, 75019 Paris
Open in Maps
Imagine studying in a bathtub. I mean that literally! Le Pavillon des Canaux is a former house on the banks of the Canal de l’Ourcq that has been transformed into a café, each room decorated and furnished just as a home would be. You can settle in at the kitchen table, curl up on a sofa in the living room, or, yes, open your laptop while sitting in a clawfoot bathtub with a cushion and a café allongé. It sounds gimmicky; it absolutely works.
The Wi-Fi is reliable, the atmosphere is warm without being loud, and the canal view from the terrace on a sunny afternoon is genuinely one of the best things about student life in Paris. It draws a crowd of exactly the people you want around you: students, freelancers, people who take their work seriously but also know when to close the screen and stare at the water for a while. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel productive just by walking in.
Top tip: it gets busy by mid-morning on weekends. Arrive before 11am if you want the bathtub.
The Anticafé
10 Rue de Richelieu 75001 Paris
Open in Maps
The Anticafé model is brilliantly student-friendly: instead of paying per drink, you pay €5 per hour for the first hour and everything else is included. Unlimited coffee, tea, hot chocolate, snacks, cookies. Fast Wi-Fi. Power sockets at every seat. No-one is hovering over you to order something else: you are genuinely encouraged to stay.
There are several locations across Paris, but the Beaubourg branch is a local favourite. The space feels open and energising, it’s close to the city centre, and the crowd is a wonderful mix of students, remote workers, and visiting academics who all seem to share the unspoken agreement that focus is the vibe here.
For full-day revision sessions or group project work, this is our number one recommendation. You come in, you pay your flat rate, you don’t look at the clock. The added plus? It was founded by Leonid Goncharov, an ESCP alumnus!
The BNF Richelieu
5 Rue Vivienne 75002 Paris
Open in Maps
For those moments when you need to summon every ounce of concentration: exam week, a dissertation chapter, a case competition deadline; the Bibliothèque Nationale de France’s Richelieu site is where you go. It is extraordinary. An oval reading room with high arched ceilings, walls lined floor-to-ceiling with bookshelves, and those beautiful old green-shaded desk lamps that make you feel like a 19th-century scholar.
This is not a place for casual café laptop sessions. There is no food, no background music, no noise at all. It is a place where the architecture itself commands focus. You sit down, you open your notes, and two hours pass without noticing.
Access is free for researchers and students with valid ID. It’s a slice of old Paris that still functions exactly as intended; and that alone makes it worth the visit.
Matamata Coffee
58 Rue d’Argout 75002 Paris
Open in Maps
For those who take their coffee seriously and after a semester at ESCP, you will learn that Matamata is essential to your life in Paris. Tucked into the vibrant Rue Montorgueil market street, it is one of the most genuinely great specialty coffee spots in Paris. The menu is inspired by Australian coffee culture: exceptional flat whites, strong cold brew, and a rotating selection of single-origin beans.
The space is small and modern, with table seating indoors and a full lower level with more room to spread out. Power outlets at the counter. The crowd is local: actual Parisian professionals and students, not tourists, which gives it that authenticity that’s easy to chase but hard to find.
It will become your default Tuesday morning spot: one hour before a 9 am class, laptop open, flat white in hand. Small rituals matter when you’re building a life in a new city.
The Best Spots to Wander, Relax, and Decompress
The Canal Saint-Martin neighbourhood
Quai de Jemmapes 75010 Paris
Open in Maps
If the Luxembourg Gardens are Paris being grand, the Canal Saint-Martin is Paris being itself. This neighbourhood in the 10th arrondissement with its iron footbridges, tree-lined towpath, and clusters of independent boutiques, record shops, and wine bars, is where young Parisians actually spend their weekends.
Walk the canal on a Sunday morning before the city wakes up. Grab a pastry from Du Pain et des Idées, one of the best bakeries in the city, just around the corner on Rue Yves Toudic. Then settle into any of the small café terraces that face the water with a book or just the Sunday papers.
As a student new to Paris, this neighbourhood will teach you more about how the city actually lives than any guidebook could. The ESCP campus is a place to learn business. The Canal Saint-Martin is a place to get to know Paris.
Jardin du Luxembourg
Rue de Medicis 75006 Paris
Open in Maps
Not every spot on this list is about being productive. The Luxembourg Gardens are about something just as important: remembering why you chose to study in Paris.
Grab one of the famous green metal chairs that you can move anywhere you like, preferably to the somehow deeply satisfying position of around the central fountain, and breathe. Bring a printed reading if you want, or just sit with your thoughts between lectures. The garden is popular with students from Sciences Po, the Sorbonne, and every Grande Ecole nearby, so you are in very good company. On warm afternoons, the whole garden fills with students dragging their green chairs into little clusters. There is no better antidote to a tough week.
In spring and early autumn, this is the single best place in the city for a long lunch break. Grab a crêpe from one of the stands near the gates, sit by the fountain, and let Paris do what it does.
Place des Vosges
Place des Vosges 75004 Paris
Open in Maps
Tucked away in the heart of the Marais, this symmetrical square bordered by stunning red-brick pavilions and stone arcades is a local student paradise. Unlike many traditional Parisian parks with strict “keep off the grass” rules, the central lawns here are wide open to the public. On any mild afternoon, it is the ultimate spot to lay out a jacket, listen to classical musicians playing under the arches, and share a casual picnic with classmates after a long lecture. The atmosphere manages to feel both incredibly historic and effortlessly laid-back.
Moving to Paris for university is an amazing but busy experience, filled with classes, group projects, and exams. The secret to enjoying it is finding your own favorite spots around the city to either get work done or completely disconnect. Whether you prefer the quiet focus of the BNF Richelieu, the cozy vibe of Le Pavillon des Canaux, or a sunny afternoon on the grass at Place des Vosges, Paris has a perfect spot for every mood. Make sure to visit these places, build your own routines, and don’t forget to take a break from your screen to enjoy the city.
About the Author
Timéo Tramoy is a Master in Management candidate at Excelia Business School, currently working as a marketing apprentice at ESCP Business School. He holds a University Diploma in Technology (DUT) in Business and Administrative Management (GEA). Driven by a desire to combine academic knowledge with hands-on experience, he joined ESCP’s marketing team while completing his master’s degree.