Cafe de Flore and Les Deux Magots: The Paris Cafes of Writers

Stand at the corner of the Boulevard Saint-Germain and the Rue Saint-Benoît and you can see two of the most famous cafés in the world without turning your head. On one side, the green awning of the Café de Flore. A few steps away, the terrace of Les Deux Magots, facing one of the oldest churches in Paris. For more than a century, these two rooms in Saint-Germain-des-Prés have been where French writers, painters and philosophers drank coffee, argued and worked.

So what made the Cafe de Flore and its neighbor so special? Not the coffee, honestly. It was heat, light, long opening hours and a waiter who let you nurse one cup all afternoon. That simple deal turned two ordinary Paris cafés into the offices of existentialism and the birthplace of two literary prizes that are still awarded today.

Key takeaways

• Les Deux Magots began as a silk and novelty shop in 1812 and became a café in 1884; the Café de Flore opened in the 1880s, with no exact date on record.
• Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir worked in both cafés; the Flore was prized partly because its heating worked when their rooms were cold.
• The Prix des Deux Magots dates from 1933 (first winner: Raymond Queneau); the Prix de Flore was created by Frédéric Beigbeder in 1994.
• Go early in the morning, order simply and treat the higher prices as rent for a seat in literary history.

In this article

1. Two cafés, one corner
2. Les Deux Magots: from silk shop to literary café
3. Café de Flore: the warm room of existentialism
4. Who sat where: the regulars
5. The two literary prizes
6. Visiting tips
7. FAQ

Two cafés, one corner

Saint-Germain-des-Prés takes its name from the abbey church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, whose bell tower still looks over the square. In the late 1800s the neighborhood was full of publishers, bookshops and cheap rooms, which is exactly the mix that fills a café with writers. The two cafés sit so close together that regulars often drifted from one to the other in the same day, and their rivalry has always been friendly theater more than war.

Les Deux Magots: from silk shop to literary café

The name confuses almost every visitor. A magot is a squat figurine from the Far East, and the original business, opened in 1812 at 23 rue de Buci, was a shop selling silk and novelties. It borrowed its name from a popular 19th-century play, Les Deux Magots de la Chine. In 1873 the shop moved to the place Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and in 1884 it became a café and liqueur bar while keeping the old name.

Look up when you sit inside: two carved figures in Chinese dress still sit high on a central pillar. Nobody agrees whether they are mandarins, merchants or alchemists, which suits a café built on conversation.

The Boulay and Mathivat family

In 1914 Auguste Boulay bought the business, then close to bankruptcy, and turned it into a literary café. His descendants still run it. According to the café’s own timeline, the Mathivat family bought the building in 1985, and Catherine Mathivat, the fourth generation, took the helm in 2012. Few famous cafés anywhere can claim the same family behind the counter for more than a century.

The poets came first

The café’s official history lists Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and Stéphane Mallarmé among its early regulars, and Guillaume Apollinaire and his circle after Boulay’s takeover. Later came the Surrealists, then the generation that made Saint-Germain the capital of postwar thought.

Café de Flore: the warm room of existentialism

The Café de Flore appeared during the Third Republic, in the 1880s, and was named after a statue of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, that stood nearby. Its early years had a political edge: the writer Charles Maurras wrote his book Au signe de Flore upstairs, and the Revue d’Action française was founded there in 1899.

The room most visitors picture today, with red moleskin banquettes, mahogany and brass, has barely changed since the 1930s and the Second World War.

Why Sartre and Beauvoir chose it

The romantic version says Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir came for the ideas. The practical version is just as true: during the hard winters of the 1940s they lived in small rooms, and the Flore’s heating always worked. They could sit for hours, write, meet friends and eat. Over time the first floor became something like their office, and the café became a magnet for anyone who wanted to be near the new philosophy everyone was talking about.

That is the real secret of a literary café. It is a public living room: warm, lit, cheap enough for one coffee and tolerant of people who stay too long.

Other names at the Flore

Over the decades the Flore drew Georges Bataille, Robert Desnos, Raymond Queneau, Pablo Picasso, Emil Cioran and Eugène Ionesco, among many others. Zhou Enlai, later premier of China, was a regular during his student years in France in the 1920s. The American novelist James Baldwin wrote much of Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) at its tables.

Who sat where: the regulars

Famous patrons are the most exaggerated part of any café story, so here is what the sources actually support. Treat longer lists you find online with caution: many names are repeated from guide to guide without evidence.

You will also read that Apollinaire coined the word “surrealism” on the Flore’s terrace. Some histories repeat it, but the word first appears in his own writing in 1917, so treat the terrace scene as a good story rather than a documented event.

The two literary prizes

Prix des Deux Magots (1933)

The Prix des Deux Magots was created in 1933, and its first winner was Raymond Queneau for Le Chiendent. It has been awarded every year since at the café, and the 2025 edition was the 92nd.

Prix de Flore (1994)

The Prix de Flore is younger and cheekier. The writer Frédéric Beigbeder launched it in 1994 to reward promising young authors writing in French. A jury of journalists picks the winner each November. The first laureate was Vincent Ravalec for Cantique de la racaille. Alongside a cash prize, the winner gets a glass of Pouilly-Fumé, a white wine from the Loire, at the Flore every day for a year, served in a glass engraved with their name.

Visiting tips

• Go early. Mornings are calmer, the light on the church is beautiful and you can actually find a terrace seat.
• Expect café prices plus history. You are paying for the address and the seat. One coffee and an hour of people-watching is the classic move.
• Order like a local. Un café is an espresso. Un crème is espresso with steamed milk. Un allongé is espresso lengthened with hot water.
• Go upstairs at the Flore. The first floor is quieter and is where the writers worked.
• Look at the details. Find the two figures at Les Deux Magots and the Art Deco fittings at the Flore.
• Walk the neighborhood. The church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the bookshops and the side streets toward the Seine are part of the experience.
• Bring a notebook. The cafés have always tolerated slow customers who write.

Bring a Saint-Germain morning home

A Paris café breakfast is simple: a strong coffee, a croissant and time. At home, our French Roast gives you that dark, bold, bittersweet-chocolate cup with low acidity, perfect as a short espresso or a café crème. If you prefer something gentler for slow mornings with a book, Breakfast Blend is a smooth, nutty medium roast. Both are roasted 1–5 days before delivery, so your “café” at home starts fresh.

Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots FAQ

Which is older, Café de Flore or Les Deux Magots?

Les Deux Magots has the older roots, as a shop founded in 1812, and became a café in 1884. The Café de Flore opened in the 1880s, but its exact opening date is not documented, so the two are close in age as cafés.

Did Sartre and Beauvoir go to Café de Flore or Les Deux Magots?

Both. They spent long working days at the Flore, partly because it was heated, and Les Deux Magots also counts them among its regulars, especially in the 1950s.

Did Hemingway go to Les Deux Magots?

Yes, Les Deux Magots lists Ernest Hemingway among its patrons. Many other Paris cafés claim him too, so be cautious with specific anecdotes.

Why is it called Les Deux Magots?

The name comes from a silk and novelty shop that took it from the play Les Deux Magots de la Chine. A magot is a squat figurine, and two of them still decorate the café.

Are the literary prizes still awarded?

Yes. The Prix des Deux Magots has been awarded every year since 1933, and the Prix de Flore every November since 1994.

Sources

1. Les Deux Magots, “Key dates”, lesdeuxmagots.fr, accessed 2026. Link
2. Les Deux Magots, “The 92nd Prix des Deux Magots”, 2025. Link
3. Wikipedia, “Les Deux Magots”, accessed 2026. Link
4. Wikipedia, “Café de Flore”, accessed 2026. Link
5. Wikipedia, “Prix de Flore”, accessed 2026. Link
6. History Hit, “Café de Flore: History and Facts”. Link
7. Francophiles Anonymes, “Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir: a trip to Paris in the footsteps of two philosophers”. Link

Facts checked in October 2026.

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