Café de la Paix Paris History: The Opera’s Famous Café Since 1862

Step out of the Opéra metro station in Paris, look up at the gilded Palais Garnier, and then turn your head to the corner on your left. That terrace with its green-and-gold awning has been pouring coffee since 1862. Café de la Paix Paris history starts before the opera house even existed. It is one of the city’s great 19th-century cafés: older than the opera house it faces, listed as a historic monument, and woven into the stories of composers, novelists, film crews and even a Disney cartoon.

Here is its history in a clear timeline, the famous names linked to it, what to look for inside, and how to enjoy the visit like a regular rather than a rushed tourist.

Key takeaways

• The Café de la Paix opened on 30 June 1862 to serve the new Grand-Hôtel, now the InterContinental Paris Le Grand.
• Architect Alfred Armand designed both hotel and café in the Napoleon III style, as part of Haussmann’s rebuilding of Paris.
• Its interior and parts of the hotel were declared a monument historique on 22 August 1975.
• Regulars and visitors included Zola, Maupassant, Tchaikovsky, Massenet and Oscar Wilde; it also appears in Disney’s The Aristocats.

In this article

1. Café de la Paix Paris history: a timeline
2. Famous patrons and cultural cameos
3. What to look for inside
4. Visiting tips
5. FAQ

Café de la Paix Paris history: a timeline

The café was born from one of the biggest urban makeovers in history. Under Napoleon III, Baron Haussmann cut wide new boulevards through central Paris, and financiers rushed to build grand hotels, shops and cafés along them. The Pereire brothers financed a huge new hotel on the Boulevard des Capucines, and the café was part of the package.

A detail many visitors miss: the café is older than the opera house. When it opened, the Palais Garnier was still a construction site. The café did not grow up around the opera; the opera arrived and made the café famous.

Famous patrons and cultural cameos

The opera crowd

Being directly across from the Palais Garnier made the café a natural stop for the music world. Composers Jules Massenet and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky are both listed among its regulars or visitors.

Writers

Émile Zola and Guy de Maupassant were regulars, and Oscar Wilde visited during the Belle Époque. The café is the setting of Robert Service’s poem “The Absinthe Drinkers” and appears in Ernest Hemingway’s short story “My Old Man.” If you are following Hemingway around the city, our guide to Hemingway’s Paris cafés continues the trail.

Royals, stars and painters

The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, and ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev were among Belle Époque visitors. In the 20th century came film stars such as Marlene Dietrich and Yves Montand, and the terrace was painted by artists including Konstantin Korovin, Antoine Blanchard and Édouard Cortès.

The Aristocats connection

The café appears in Disney’s 1970 animated film The Aristocats. According to its history, Walt Disney had visited it while serving as a Red Cross ambulance driver in France at the end of the First World War, and slipped it into the film as a personal nod.

What to look for inside

• The Napoleon III decor: gilded moldings, painted ceilings, mirrors and heavy chandeliers in the rich Second Empire style that the 1975 listing protects.
• The terrace view: from the outdoor tables you look straight across the Place de l’Opéra at the Palais Garnier, one of the classic views of Paris.
• The corner location: the café sits on the corner of the Boulevard des Capucines and the Place de l’Opéra, in the 9th arrondissement, so it doubles as a people-watching post on one of the city’s busiest crossroads.

Visiting tips: how to enjoy it like a regular

1. Go early or mid-afternoon. Mornings and the quiet hours between lunch and dinner are the calmest times on the terrace.
2. Order a simple café drink. A café in Paris means a small black espresso; un crème is a coffee with steamed milk. Our guide to café au lait explains the milky options.
3. Expect landmark prices. You are paying for history and the view. Check the menu before you sit down.
4. Stay a while. Paris cafés traditionally let you linger over one cup. Nobody expects you to rush.
5. Pair it with a café crawl. Combine it with the Left Bank classics in our Paris café guide.

Bring the Paris café mood home

The classic Parisian café cup is a short, dark espresso. To recreate it, try our French Roast, a bold, smoky-sweet dark roast with low acidity, or Italian Roast, our darkest Arabica and Robusta blend with a thick crema. Choose the Espresso grind for an espresso machine or moka pot, or browse our blends.

Café de la Paix FAQ

When did Café de la Paix open?

On 30 June 1862, as the café of the new Grand-Hôtel on the Boulevard des Capucines.

Is Café de la Paix older than the Opéra Garnier?

Yes. The café opened in 1862; the opera house opened across the square in 1875.

Is Café de la Paix a historic monument?

Yes. Its interior and parts of the hotel were declared a monument historique on 22 August 1975.

Which hotel is Café de la Paix part of?

The former Grand-Hôtel, today the InterContinental Paris Le Grand.

Is Café de la Paix in The Aristocats?

Yes, it is depicted in the 1970 Disney film, reportedly as a nod to Walt Disney’s own visit during his time in France.

Sources

1. Café de la Paix, Wikipedia (accessed 2026).
2. A short history of Paris’s great restaurants: Le Café de la Paix, Sortiraparis.

Facts checked in October 2026.

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