Moonik, CC BY-SA 3.0
Village d'Auteuil
A former separate village hiding Art Nouveau villas behind gates most visitors miss
Auteuil was its own village until Paris annexed it in 1860, and it still doesn't feel like the rest of the 16th arrondissement. Rue Boileau is the street to walk for the architecture — the Vietnamese and Algerian embassies both occupy striking early-20th-century buildings — and a cluster of gated cul-de-sacs (Villa Montmorency, Villa Dietz-Monnin, Villa Molitor) hide some of the neighborhood's best Art Nouveau houses behind gates most visitors walk straight past. Rue d'Auteuil is the actual high street, with a market running every Wednesday and Saturday morning.
Auteuil sits right against Roland-Garros, not just nearby. Porte d'Auteuil, the Métro Line 10 stop, is the closest station to the stadium — a 2 to 9 minute walk depending on which gate you're heading for — and the village center along Rue d'Auteuil is a further 10-15 minute walk beyond that. It's realistic to combine a morning session at the tournament with an afternoon walking the neighborhood without any real transit time lost.
For a stay inside this character rather than looking at it from outside, two options:
Hôtel Boileau is a modest, family-run three-star a short walk from Exelmans Métro, rated consistently well across platforms (7.6-8.5 on Booking/Trip.com, 4.4/5 on Google from nearly 300 reviews). Small rooms and no elevator are the recurring, honest complaints — the tradeoff for a genuinely local, quiet-street stay. See live rating and reviews on Google Maps
Hotel Auteuil Tour Eiffel, on Rue Félicien David toward the Seine side of the neighborhood, is a four-star with a higher review volume (4.1/5 from 841 reviews) and around 1.8km/1.1mi from the stadium — a step up in comfort and price from Hôtel Boileau, still walkable but better suited to those who'd rather not carry bags up stairs. See live rating and reviews on Google Maps
Why it's special
Most Roland-Garros visitors treat the 16th arrondissement purely as "the area near the stadium" and never register it contains an actual former village with its own architectural identity. That's the gap this entry fills — a genuinely under-visited pocket of Paris that happens to sit close enough to the stadium to combine with a match day rather than requiring a separate trip.
The private villas are the detail that rewards actually walking the streets rather than passing through — Auteuil has three gated pockets of genuine Art Nouveau houses within a few minutes of each other, something most Paris neighborhoods simply don't have.
Insider tips
- 1
The Rue d'Auteuil market runs Wednesday and Saturday mornings only — plan a non-match morning around it if visiting on the right day, since it's a genuine, long-running local market rather than a daily tourist draw.
- 2
The private villas (Villa Montmorency, Villa Dietz-Monnin, Villa Molitor) are residential cul-de-sacs behind gates — walk past respectfully during daytime hours rather than treating them as an open tourist attraction; residents live there year-round.
Practical info
- Hours
- Rue d'Auteuil market: Wednesday and Saturday mornings
- Cost
- Free to walk; Hôtel Boileau typically €90-150/night, Hotel Auteuil Tour Eiffel typically €150-250/night
- Access
- No booking needed to walk the neighborhood. For either hotel, book directly via the hotel's site or standard platforms (Booking.com, Expedia).
- Getting there
- Exelmans (Métro Line 9) and Michel-Ange–Auteuil (Lines 9 and 10) both sit within the neighborhood, a short walk from Rue d'Auteuil and Rue Boileau. Porte d'Auteuil (Line 9) connects directly toward Roland-Garros.
- Address
- Hôtel Boileau, 81 Rue Boileau, 75016 Paris; Hotel Auteuil Tour Eiffel, 8-10 Rue Félicien David, 75016 Paris
What to avoid
Don't book Hôtel Boileau expecting an elevator or spacious rooms — both are recurring, honest complaints across review platforms, and guests with mobility concerns or heavy luggage should factor this in before booking. And don't rush through Auteuil expecting it to look distinctly "village-like" from the main roads alone — the character reveals itself on the side streets and in the private villas, not from Avenue Mozart or the main arterial roads that cut through the district, so a walking route that actually detours onto Rue Boileau and into the villa entrances matters more than a quick drive-through would suggest.
