Chinatown Paris: Complete Guide to the Asian Quarter in the 13th Arrondissement

In the southeastern corner of Paris, just a short metro ride from Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Latin Quarter, lies one of the most vibrant and authentic urban neighbourhoods in Europe — Chinatown Paris. Centred on the Avenue de Choisy and the Avenue d'Ivry in the 13th arrondissement, this extraordinary Asian quarter is home to over 60,000 people of Asian origin and is widely regarded as the largest and most authentic Chinatown in Europe. Whether you are coming for the extraordinary food, the colourful street life, the fascinating cultural institutions, or simply to experience a completely different side of Paris, Chinatown Paris is one of the most rewarding neighbourhoods in the entire city.

The History of Chinatown Paris

The First Asian Immigrants

The history of Paris's Asian community is longer and more complex than most visitors realise. The first significant wave of Asian immigration to France came during World War I, when the French government recruited over 100,000 workers from Vietnam — then part of French Indochina — and China to work in factories and on the Western Front, replacing French workers who had gone to fight. Many of these workers remained in France after the war, settling in Paris and establishing the first Asian businesses and community organisations.

A second wave of immigration followed World War II, as France's colonial empire in Southeast Asia began to collapse. Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian immigrants arrived in growing numbers throughout the 1950s and 1960s, followed by a major influx of refugees from Southeast Asia in the 1970s — the "boat people" fleeing the Communist regimes that had taken power in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos following the end of the Vietnam War.

The Creation of the 13th Arrondissement Chinatown

The Chinatown of the 13th arrondissement as it exists today was largely created in the 1970s and 1980s. The neighbourhood was transformed during this period by a massive urban renewal project that replaced the old low-rise working-class housing with the tower blocks and elevated platforms of the Olympiades development — and it was into these new buildings that the newly arrived Southeast Asian refugees moved in large numbers.

The combination of affordable housing, an established community infrastructure, and the concentration of Asian businesses drew more and more immigrants to the neighbourhood, creating the critical mass that transformed it into the remarkable urban village it is today. By the 1990s, the 13th arrondissement had become the unquestioned centre of Asian life in Paris — a status it retains to this day.

Chinese New Year in Paris

Each year, usually in late January or early February, Chinatown Paris erupts in celebration for Chinese New Year — the most important festival in the Chinese calendar. The Paris Chinese New Year parade, centred on the Avenue de Choisy and Avenue d'Ivry, is one of the largest and most spectacular outside Asia, with dragon dances, lion dances, firecrackers, traditional music, and elaborate floats drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators from across the Paris region.

The parade typically takes place on the Sunday closest to the Chinese New Year date and lasts for several hours. The atmosphere is extraordinary — the streets are packed, the noise is deafening, and the colour and energy are unlike anything else Paris has to offer. If your visit to Paris coincides with Chinese New Year, attending the parade in the 13th arrondissement is an unmissable experience.

What to See and Do in Chinatown Paris

The Olympiades — The Heart of Chinatown

The most distinctive feature of Chinatown Paris is the Olympiades — a remarkable 1970s urban development consisting of a series of tower blocks built on platforms raised above street level, connected by elevated walkways, pedestrian squares, and staircases. The platforms create a second urban level above the streets below, with shops, restaurants, hairdressers, and community organisations lining the walkways.

The Olympiades takes its name from the individual towers, each named after a city that hosted the Olympic Games — Tokyo, Mexico, Munich, Grenoble, and so on. The development was originally controversial — its brutalist architecture was far removed from the elegant Haussmannian Paris of the city centre — but it has become one of the most genuinely characterful neighbourhoods in Paris, its concrete walkways and tower blocks humanised by the extraordinary energy of the Asian community that has made it its own.

The best way to explore the Olympiades is simply to wander — take the escalators or staircases up from the Avenue d'Ivry or the Rue de Tolbiac and explore the elevated platforms, popping into the shops, snacking at the street food stalls, and absorbing the atmosphere of this unique urban space.

Tang Frères — The Most Famous Asian Supermarket in Paris

No visit to Chinatown Paris is complete without a visit to Tang Frères — the most famous and most visited Asian supermarket in France. Founded in 1976 by the Tang family — Chinese-Cambodian refugees who had fled the Khmer Rouge — Tang Frères has grown from a small grocery shop into a vast emporium covering several thousand square metres, drawing shoppers from across the Île-de-France region every weekend.

Tang Frères stocks an extraordinary range of Asian ingredients, fresh produce, frozen foods, sauces, spices, noodles, rice, and specialty products from across China, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. The fresh produce section alone is remarkable — exotic fruits and vegetables that are impossible to find elsewhere in Paris, displayed in colourful abundance. The fish counter offers live seafood and species rarely seen in French fishmongers.

Even if you are not planning to cook, a visit to Tang Frères is a cultural experience in itself — a window into the culinary traditions of an entire continent, housed in the heart of Paris.

Address: 168 Avenue de Choisy, 75013 Paris

Metro: Line 7 — Tolbiac station

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 9:00 AM to 7:30 PM

Paris Store — The Second Great Asian Supermarket

Just around the corner from Tang Frères, Paris Store is another legendary Asian supermarket that completes the essential Chinatown shopping experience. Similar in scale and variety to Tang Frères, Paris Store is particularly well regarded for its Japanese products, Korean ingredients, and selection of Asian cooking equipment — woks, bamboo steamers, rice cookers, and clay pots.

Address: 44 Avenue d'Ivry, 75013 Paris

Metro: Line 7 — Tolbiac station

The Avenue de Choisy — Restaurant Row

The Avenue de Choisy is the main restaurant street of Chinatown Paris — a long boulevard lined on both sides with restaurants representing virtually every Asian culinary tradition. Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, Laotian, Taiwanese, Malaysian — the variety is extraordinary, and the quality is consistently high.

Some highlights on the Avenue de Choisy:

Pho 14 — one of the most celebrated Vietnamese pho noodle restaurants in Paris, famous for its rich, fragrant beef broth

Tricotin — a legendary Cantonese restaurant serving excellent dim sum on weekend mornings

Lao Lane Xang — one of the finest Laotian restaurants in Europe

Aux Délices de Mandarin — excellent Sichuan cuisine with authentic spicing

Rue Baudricourt — The New Food Street

In recent years, the Rue Baudricourt has emerged as the most fashionable food street in Chinatown Paris — a narrow street packed with bubble tea shops, Taiwanese snack bars, Korean fried chicken restaurants, and Japanese ramen shops that draws young Parisians from across the city.

The street has been transformed by the global popularity of bubble tea — the Taiwanese tea drinks with chewy tapioca pearls that have become one of the most popular food trends of the past decade. Several of the best bubble tea shops in Paris are clustered on the Rue Baudricourt, and on weekend afternoons the queue outside the most popular ones can stretch around the block.

The Temple of the Association of Chinese in France

Hidden on the Rue de la Vague in the heart of the 13th arrondissement, the Temple of the Association of Chinese in France is one of the most beautiful and least visited religious buildings in Paris. A traditional Chinese Buddhist temple with a carved wooden facade, golden Buddha statues, incense burners, and a peaceful inner courtyard, it offers a remarkable moment of spiritual calm in the midst of the bustling neighbourhood.

The temple is open to all respectful visitors and offers a fascinating glimpse into the religious life of the Chinese community in Paris. Shoes must be removed before entering the main prayer hall.

Address: Rue de la Vague, 75013 Paris

Metro: Line 7 — Tolbiac station

Entry: Free

The Palais de la Porte Dorée

On the eastern edge of Chinatown, just a short walk from the Bois de Vincennes, stands one of the most spectacular Art Deco buildings in Paris — the Palais de la Porte Dorée, built for the 1931 International Colonial Exhibition. Today it houses two remarkable attractions:

The National Museum of Immigration History — a permanent exhibition tracing the history of immigration to France from the 18th century to the present day, with particular attention to the waves of Asian immigration that created Chinatown Paris.

The Tropical Aquarium — in the basement of the Palais, the extraordinary Tropical Aquarium contains one of the finest collections of tropical freshwater fish in Europe, housed in a series of spectacular tanks in an Art Deco setting of extraordinary beauty. This is one of Paris's best-kept secrets — world-class and almost always uncrowded.

Address: 293 Avenue Daumesnil, 75012 Paris

Metro: Line 8 — Porte Dorée station

Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM, Saturday and Sunday 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM

Tickets: €9 adults, free under 26

The Best Food in Chinatown Paris

Dim Sum — The Sunday Ritual

Sunday morning dim sum is one of the great rituals of Chinatown Paris — and one of the most enjoyable culinary experiences the city has to offer. Several restaurants in the 13th arrondissement serve traditional Cantonese dim sum — small portions of dumplings, steamed buns, rice noodle rolls, and other delicacies — from carts pushed between the tables by servers.

The best dim sum restaurants in Chinatown Paris include:

Tricotin — the most famous dim sum destination in the neighbourhood

Le Bonheur de Chine — excellent quality and generous portions

New Délices de Chine — popular with local families on Sunday mornings

Arrive early — by 11:00 AM the best restaurants are already full, and the most popular dishes sell out quickly.

Pho — Vietnamese Noodle Soup

Pho — the Vietnamese beef noodle soup that has become one of the most popular dishes in the world — is at its finest in the 13th arrondissement, where several restaurants have been perfecting their recipes for decades. The broth — made from beef bones simmered for hours with star anise, cinnamon, ginger, and other spices — should be crystal clear, deeply fragrant, and intensely flavoured.

Pho 14 on the Avenue de Choisy is the most celebrated pho destination in Paris, but the neighbourhood is full of excellent alternatives at every price point.

Banh Mi — The Vietnamese Baguette

The banh mi is one of the most delicious legacies of French colonialism in Vietnam — a Vietnamese baguette filled with pâté, cold cuts, pickled vegetables, fresh herbs, and chilli sauce. In Chinatown Paris, banh mi sandwiches are sold from small shops and market stalls at prices that seem impossibly low for Paris — typically €3-5 for a generously filled sandwich.

Bubble Tea

The bubble tea craze that has swept the world in the past decade is particularly well represented in Chinatown Paris. The Rue Baudricourt is the epicentre, with several shops offering dozens of varieties of bubble tea — fruit teas, milk teas, taro lattes, and matcha drinks, all available with the characteristic chewy tapioca pearls.

Practical Information: Visiting Chinatown Paris

How to Get There

Metro: Line 7 — Tolbiac or Olympiades stations (heart of Chinatown)

Metro: Line 7 — Porte d'Ivry station (southern entrance)

Tram: Line T3a — Stade Charléty or Tolbiac stations

Bus: Lines 27, 47, 57, 62, 83

Best Times to Visit

Weekend mornings — the neighbourhood is at its most lively, with the markets and dim sum restaurants in full swing

Chinese New Year (late January/early February) — the most spectacular time to visit, with the famous parade on Avenue de Choisy

Any time for food — the restaurants are excellent every day of the week

Tips for Visiting Chinatown Paris

Go hungry — the food in Chinatown Paris is exceptional and very affordable by Parisian standards

Visit Tang Frères even if you are not cooking — the experience of browsing this extraordinary supermarket is a highlight in itself

Explore the Olympiades on foot — take the escalators up and wander the elevated walkways for the most authentic experience

Visit on a Sunday morning for dim sum — it is one of the great food experiences Paris has to offer

Attend Chinese New Year if possible — the parade is one of the most spectacular free events in Paris

Frequently Asked Questions about Chinatown Paris

Where is Chinatown in Paris?

Chinatown Paris is located in the 13th arrondissement, centred on the Avenue de Choisy and Avenue d'Ivry. The nearest metro stations are Tolbiac and Olympiades on Line 7.

Is Chinatown Paris worth visiting?

Absolutely — Chinatown Paris is one of the most authentic and vibrant neighbourhoods in the city, offering exceptional food, fascinating cultural institutions, and a completely different atmosphere to the tourist-heavy areas of central Paris.

What is the best restaurant in Chinatown Paris?

For pho, Pho 14 on the Avenue de Choisy is the most celebrated. For dim sum, Tricotin is the neighbourhood favourite. For banh mi, any of the small sandwich shops on the Avenue de Choisy offer excellent value.

When is Chinese New Year in Paris?

Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year, usually between late January and mid-February. The parade in Chinatown Paris typically takes place on the Sunday closest to the Chinese New Year date.

Is Chinatown Paris safe?

Yes — Chinatown Paris is a safe, family-friendly neighbourhood. Like all urban areas, normal common sense precautions apply, but the neighbourhood has no particular safety concerns.