Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.

Best Parisian Baguettes

by Neil Woodburn (RSS feed) on Nov 21st 2006 at 2:24PM

One of the more amusing sights of Paris is the numerous locals making their way through the city with a baguette sticking out of their bags. I'm not sure why I always found this funny, perhaps because that long loaf of bread always seemed so out of place amongst the fashionable Parisians.

The baguette is literally an accessory in Paris; one hardly leaves the house without one. Unlike the latest pairs of shoes or stylish hat, however, the fashionable baguette is eventually intended to be consumed--and the sooner this happens, the better.

When a tourist takes a bite of a baguette for the first time, he quickly understands why this simple loaf of bread has such a magical appeal.

Finding the perfect, flaky masterpiece amongst the hundreds of boulangeries which populate the streets of Paris, however, is a truly Herculean task. Thankfully, the fine folks at Budget Travel have done the homework for us and have come up with a list of the city's five best boulangeries in which to find the perfect baguette. Make sure to visit at least one on your next trip, pick up a golden loaf, and then parade it about for a few hours like the locals do before devouring it with a bit of cheese and wine.

Filed under: Food and Drink, France

Search Travel Deals

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lori Nov 21st 2006 4:45PM

It's actually not hard at all to find the best bakeries in Paris. I lived there for 8 years and will share a secret. In the morning hours, simply walk a few blocks in any direction and you'll see that one bakery in every neighborhood always has a loooooooong line (often wrapping around corners and down stairways on a Sunday morning), while the mediocre bakeries have far shorter lines. Another trick: Study the bottom of the baguette--where the loaf would touch the pan. If you see small imprinted dots or a tiny gridlike pattern, go somewhere else. That pattern means that the loaf was brought into the shop frozen and only baked on-site (quelle horreur!!), instead of being prepared from scratch inhouse. My Parisian friends taught me that!