Latin Quarter map: boundaries, metro stations and distances

What the Latin Quarter covers

The Latin Quarter is not an administrative division. It spreads over the left bank, in the 5th arrondissement and the north and east of the 6th, with the Sorbonne and the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève at its heart. The 5th itself has four administrative quarters — Saint-Victor, Jardin-des-Plantes, Val-de-Grâce and Sorbonne — and the place de la Contrescarpe, which we describe on its own page, is where they meet.

Photo: Rutger van der Maar, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Its limits depend on the map. Wikipedia includes the fringe of the 6th around Odéon, Saint-André-des-Arts and the Luxembourg; other maps stop at the 5th. We follow Wikipedia, and say so.

The grid under the streets

The main axes still follow the Roman plan. Rue Saint-Jacques and boulevard Saint-Michel run along the north–south road of Lutetia, the cardo; boulevard Saint-Germain and rue des Écoles follow the east–west one, the decumanus. The Arènes de Lutèce are the amphitheatre of the same city.

Metro and RER stations

Seven metro stations serve the core, and the RER B and C stop at Saint-Michel: Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame (line 4, RER B and C), Cluny – La Sorbonne (line 10), Maubert – Mutualité (line 10), Cardinal Lemoine (line 10), Jussieu (lines 7 and 10), Place Monge (line 7) and Censier – Daubenton (line 7). On the edge are Odéon (lines 4 and 10), Cité (line 4), Gare d’Austerlitz (lines 5 and 10, RER C), and the RER B stops Luxembourg and Port-Royal.

Direct links from the district: line 4 or RER B from Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame to Gare du Nord; line 7 from Place Monge, Jussieu or Censier – Daubenton to Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre; RER C from Saint-Michel – Notre-Dame to Versailles Château Rive Gauche; RER B to Charles-de-Gaulle airport, or to Antony and then Orlyval for Orly.

Photo: Celette, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

One change affects the map this autumn: Saint-Michel station on line 4 is closed until 19 December 2026.

Distances between landmarks

These are straight-line distances between points in OpenStreetMap, measured on 4 October 2026. On foot, expect 20 to 40 per cent more.

• Parvis of Notre-Dame to the Panthéon: 800 m. Place Saint-Michel to the Panthéon: 810 m.
• Musée de Cluny to the Panthéon: 530 m.
• Panthéon to the place de la Contrescarpe: 320 m. Contrescarpe to the Arènes de Lutèce: 260 m. Contrescarpe to Saint-Médard, at the foot of rue Mouffetard: 500 m.
• Parvis of Notre-Dame to Shakespeare and Company: 120 m.
• Panthéon to the centre of the Luxembourg garden: 710 m; to the centre of the Jardin des Plantes: 1,030 m. These two are measured to the middle of the gardens, not to a gate.
• Place Saint-Michel to the place de la Contrescarpe: 1,080 m.

Photo: Guilhem Vellut, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

How we split the district for hotels

For our hotel pages we cut the district into six parts. Saint-Michel lies west of rue Saint-Jacques and the Petit-Pont, north of boulevard Saint-Germain: La Huchette, La Harpe, Saint-Séverin. Maubert – Notre-Dame runs east of rue Saint-Jacques as far as rue des Écoles. Sorbonne – Panthéon takes in the Sorbonne, rue Cujas, rue Soufflot and the Panthéon. Mouffetard covers the Contrescarpe, rue Mouffetard, rue Monge and the arena. Jardin des Plantes includes the garden, Austerlitz and the Gobelins side of the 5th. Odéon – Luxembourg is the fringe of the 6th. This is our own working division, not an official one.

Eight hotel pages cover these six parts: Saint-Michel, Notre-Dame, the Sorbonne and the Panthéon, rue Mouffetard, the Jardin des Plantes, Odéon and the Luxembourg gardens.

Landmark guides

On the map, the main guides are the rue de la Huchette and Saint-Séverin near the river, the Sorbonne and Saint-Étienne-du-Mont around the Panthéon, the place de la Contrescarpe and the Arènes de Lutèce on the Mouffetard side, and the Natural History Museum and the Ménagerie at the Jardin des Plantes. The overview is in our Latin Quarter guide.