Flower Market on Ile de la Cite

Located in Place Louis Lépine between the walls of the Tribunal de commerce and the Hôpital de l'Hotel-Dieu. It is open from Monday through Saturday from 8am to 7pm. It dates from 1808 and in 2014 had the name of the English Queen Elizabeth II appended to the formal title in her honor to remember her fondness for the market, she visited it on her Honeymoon! 

Marché aux Fleurs - Reine Elizabeth II de l'île de la Cité - reach it via la Cite metro, which comes out actually within the flower market, to view the wide range of things on offer.

Small green metal stalls and mini-shops, all painted green, form an environment like a greenhouse pavilion with some stalls open to the air and others fully enclosed into miniature shops.  Visit early but not too early as they are are open only around 8am, and the early hours are busy with deliveries of more flowers, potted plants and shrubs.  They fill the square and spill out onto the Quai de la Corse along the Seine.

The majority of the small stalls sell literally flowers and potted plants, but there are also seeds, pots, tools and accessories for your garden or your potted plants.  Bird houses are common due to the connection with the Sunday Bird Market or Marché aux oiseaux.

While cut flowers and potted plants are not a practical souvenir for the visitor, the market itself is a wonderful green space and an attraction to be seen by any interested in horticulture.  Near Christmas time the market is well decorated for the season with seasonal plants and Christmas lights making it a great place to visit at dusk.

Between the rows of stalls the arcades are roofed over with glass so this is a great place to go even in poor weather. While on the outside of the market open areas receiving rain, and in the winter, snow making it a true winter wonderland.

A few small souvenir stands sell small items more suitable for your luggage and mantelpiece when you return from your holiday.

Carvings of pets and wild animals vie with silk flowers, models of Paris landmarks, the Eifel Tower is never far away, dried flowers and arrangements for your living room.

Delicate lamps, designed for the garden but perhaps just as well used for interior decoration can also be seen.

While mostly a destination for the residents of surrounding districts of Paris the visitors are welcome as well.

Sunday Bird Market - Marché aux Oiseaux

On Sundays the flower stalls are mostly closed but instead the streets are busy with the mobile sellers of small caged birds.  As well as the song birds themselves there are of course cages, bird foods and all the paraphernalia of bird keeping.

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