OT Paris markets?

[cherrymarzipan]

DD2 now lives and works near Paris and would like to visit some antique/flea markets in Paris but does not know where to start looking. Any suggestions please for the most interesting and affordable markets to visit and how to find out the days they are on? DD has Mondays and Tuesdays off so w/e only markets are not really an option for her.

 

[chmurf]

One of the best well known flea-markets are "les puces de saint-ouen" it's also said to be the largest flea market in the world
This market is held on Saturdays, sundays and Mondays

Directions : Metro line 4, Porte de Clignancourt

http://www.st-ouen-tourisme.com/mobile/en/decouvertes/c/304-les-marches.html

and here's a link to Paris' markets (french only) : http://marches.equipements.paris.fr/

 

[Carrie_Cat]

DD2 now lives and works near Paris and would like to visit some antique/flea markets in Paris but does not know where to start looking. Any suggestions please for the most interesting and affordable markets to visit and how to find out the days they are on? DD has Mondays and Tuesdays off so w/e only markets are not really an option for her.

You have 3 major (antique)flea markets near Paris (as they are all on the periph) and as luck would have it 2 of them are open Monday as well as Sat/Sun

The biggest, oldest and most varied in terms of objects and prices is St Ouen

http://www.parispuces.com/en/historique/Default.htm

http://www.st-ouen-tourisme.com/en/decouvertes/fiche/304-les-marches-aux-puces.html

Then you have one at Porte de Montreuil which is more flea market than antique

And the one that is sadly only open on a weekend is Porte de Vannes and it's a shame as it's better than Montreuil in terms of goods and better priced with less professional dealers than St Ouen

I don't know which dept she is living in but in most towns when the weather gets better she will start seeing signs for Vide grenier ou Brocante, which is where people sell all sorts of things and you can find some good stuff among the rubbish - far superieur to carboot sales I find

 

[Carrie_Cat]

One of the best well known flea-markets are "les puces de saint-ouen" it's also said to be the largest flea market in the world
This market is held on Saturdays, sundays and Mondays

Directions : Metro line 4, Porte de Clignancourt

http://www.st-ouen-tourisme.com/mobile/en/decouvertes/c/304-les-marches.html

and here's a link to Paris' markets (french only) : http://marches.equipements.paris.fr/

Hello, Seeing as you are a local to Lille, are you in Lille itself or suburbs ? maybe you could tell me in the Braderie de Lille is worth doing at least once or not really ?

 

[chmurf]

Braderie de Lille is definitely one of the most interesting of its kind. And it's not because I'm a local Actually people do come from all over France (all the way from Marseille for some) and from Europe too.
It's definitely worth it if the weather is good.

There are several areas. One is between "champ de mars" and the Deule (river). The people there will usually sell used items and what you'd find in garage sales.
Along the boulevards you will find a mix of professional sellers, antique resellers and a fairly large number of people who usually tour the marketplaces.
In the center of Lille, Grand Place and the Opera all the way down to the train station, you'll mainly find food and entertainement.
Side streets will also be filled with people trying to make extra money selling their old stuff.

Don't forget to try some "moules frites" (mussels and french fries) This is the local specialty. I don't know if they will still be allowed to do that this year but it is customary to build up large mounds made of mussels shells outside of restaurants, some being over 7 feet tall.

To give you an idea of size, there are roughly 10.000 vendors, occupying something like 100 kilometers of sidewalks. That's how huge it is.

in 2011 the Braderie had to be cut short due to catastrophic thunder storms

Here's how crowded it gets (this pic is taken on an evacuation route, so no vendors here, only thru traffic ... gives you the idea. Building at the back is Lille Flandres train station

 

[Carrie_Cat]

I've been a couple times but years and years ago and never with OH so we said this year as we won't be on holidays we'll give it go...fingers crossed that the weather is good.

Thanks for the info

 

[cherrymarzipan]

And thank you, chmurf and Carrie_Cat for all the information which I have passed on to DD.