La Closerie des Lilas: Hemingway's cafe in Montparnasse

At the end of Boulevard du Montparnasse, where the 6th arrondissement opens up towards Montparnasse , lies La Closerie des Lilas – a café that is also a restaurant, brasserie and piano bar. Compared to the exotic tree and the chic, the Closerie offers a more spacious feel: a boulevard, trees, green balconies, and a short distance from the bohemian world that shaped early 20th-century Paris.

This article is part of a series we dedicated to the historic cafes of Paris , and focuses on the Closerie: what its history is, what it looks like today, and what you should know before you arrive.

Name and address

La Closerie des Lilas is located at the end of Boulevard du Montparnasse, near the Luxembourg Gardens and the intersection where the 6th arrondissement begins to open up into Montparnasse . Unlike the cafes of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which sit in the heart of a dense area of ​​shops, galleries and ancient churches, here the feeling is more spacious: a boulevard, trees, traffic, a green facade, and only a short distance from the bohemian world that shaped early 20th-century Paris.

The name – ‘The Lilac Plot’ or ‘The Lilac Complex’ – gives the place a soft identity of urban nature. The green-covered facade is not just a decorative detail; it is part of the character: a Parisian institution that does not rely only on a sidewalk, a window and a table, but also on a sense of semi-concealment: as if the guest enters a green corner within the city, but without really leaving it.

history

La Closerie des Lilas has its roots in 19th-century Montparnasse, when the area began to attract artists, poets, students and brilliant fringe figures. By the end of the 19th century, La Closerie des Lilas was already associated with the names of writers and painters. In the 20th century, the place took on a more distinct status: no longer a pretty café on a grand boulevard, but a central station in the memory of Montparnasse.

Character and atmosphere

La Closerie des Lilas is not built on the same urban drama of the cafes adjacent to the Place Saint-Germain. Its charm comes from another direction: a combination of a dark bar, a fancy restaurant, a traditional brasserie and a green terrace that seems almost detached from the busy sidewalk. The main feeling is of elegance with a bohemian memory: not cold or aristocratic, but one that knows how to accommodate piano, alcohol, late conversations, falling in love, and real life that grew to become literature.

Famous personalities

La Closerie des Lilas is particularly associated with Ernest Hemingway, but before and after him, poets, painters, writers and intellectuals who moved between France, America and the rest of Europe passed through it. Among the figures associated with it are Paul Verlaine, Emile Zola, Charles Baudelaire, Guillaume Apollinaire, André Breton, Louis Aragon, Pablo Picasso and André Gide.

Books, memoirs and stories

The most prominent literary reference is in Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises, in which he created the image of a wounded, wandering, and restless generation after World War I. La Closerie des Lilas appears there as part of the characters' Parisian geography – not as a monument, but as a natural point on a route of drinking, conversation, and nocturnal movement.

The cafe today

Today, La Closerie des Lilas operates as a broader establishment than a regular café: it has a restaurant, a brasserie, and a bar. The restaurant is open from 12:00 to 14:30 and 19:00 to 23:30; the brasserie is open throughout the day, from 12:00 to 00:30; and the bar, with a piano for diners, is open from eleven in the morning to after one in the night. The brasserie is suitable for those who want an accessible experience, while the restaurant offers a more elegant setting, and the bar is associated with piano and cocktails.

How to get there?

The most convenient station is Vavin on line 4, from which you can reach it with a short walk along Boulevard du Montparnasse. Another option is Port-Royal on RER B, suitable for those coming from the Luxembourg Gardens area or the Latin Quarter. From the Luxembourg Gardens, the walk is short and pleasant, so it is recommended to combine the visit with a route that includes the Garden Boulevard, Boulevard Notre-Dame-des-Champs, and a descent to Montparnasse. Those who continue afterwards to La Rotonde or Le Select can build an entire route around the cafes of Montparnasse.

What to order?

Those who come for the history rather than a full meal can opt for a drink at Bar Hemingway or a coffee at the Brasserie. For a more serious meal, the formal menu includes dishes such as 'Hemingway'-style fillet of beef with fries, sole meunier, seafood, foie gras, beef tartare, and classic desserts such as crepe Suzette, profiteroles, opera and Paris-Brest.

The choice depends on the purpose of the visit: for literary significance – a bar and a drink; for a traditional Parisian meal – the brasserie; and for a festive evening – the restaurant. In any case, it is better to experience La Closerie des Lilas not as a photo stop, but as a chapter in the spirit map of Montparnasse: green on the outside, tight on the inside, and behind it layers of poetry, alcohol, exile, art and a Paris that loved to turn life into a legend.

Questions and Answers about La Closerie des Lilas

La Closerie des Lilas completes the journey through the mythical cafés of Paris – from the enlightened swallows of Saint-Germain to the bohemian and exiled spirit of Montparnasse. For all the additional addresses and the full list of the march, you can return to the main article on the historic cafés of Paris.