Right Bank or Left Bank? This age-old rivalry gets Parisians fired up and has tourists wondering. Why the difference? Which one is better than the other? We’ll decode this “squabble”, that always mobilizes Paris, for you.
Right Bank of Paris, the Fun Side
The Right Bank is located north of the Seine, and includes 14 of Paris’ arrondissements. The history of the Right Bank dates back to the Middle Ages. It was the first of two banks to develop, particularly through trade. That’s why it has retained, to this day, its commercial side particularly with the Halles district and its business side with the district around the Opera house. Until the French Revolution, it was called “Outre-(other side of the) Grand-Pont” in keeping with the “Grand-Pont“, (today’s Pont Notre-Dame) which , for many years, was the only way to get from the Ile de la Cité (very popular with tourists) to the Right Bank.