Located halfway up the sloping Rue de Belleville, Le Genre Urbain is more than just a bookshop - it's a cultural hub, championing a thoughtful, sustainable approach to city living. Inside you'll find a huge range of books and graphic novels, mostly in French, but still enjoyable to browse. It's the kind of place where you could spend hours shuffling around the aisles and nobody would mind at all.

Named after Cairo ("Caire" in French), this Egyptian-run spice shop has just about every Middle Eastern condiment and spice a person could need, plus goods like leather slippers and savon noir natural black soap. The densely packed bazaar is run by a local couple and the prices are super-reasonable. Bestsellers inside include the hibiscus tea, cardamom-infused coffee and pre-made falafel mix.

Natural wine lovers, step this way. Also on the sloping Rue de Belleville, La Cave de Belleville is one of the city's best-loved wine stockists. With its thoughtful selection of bins from small producers in France and beyond, the Cave is a sign of the changing times and, to some degree, the hipsterisation of this formerly very-working-class area, for better or for worse. In the evening, guests can enjoy a glass with nibbles, and the owners also host regular tastings and wine events.