The store on rue Royale dates back to 1862, when founder Louis-Ernest Ladurée opened a bakery, which, following a fire in 1871, he transformed into a pastry shop.

Louis-Ernest’s wife, Jeanne Souchard, hit upon the idea of combining a café with the pastry shop, and one of Paris’s first tearooms was born.

The company’s most notable invention is the double-sided macaron, i.e. two macaron biscuits stuck together using a smooth ganache filling.

These delicate treats, light and crispy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside, were actually invented in 1930 by Pierre Desfontaines, a member of the founder’s family who ran the company at the time.

That same year, the tea room on rue Royale was expanded and to this day remains one of the most elegant tea rooms in the city.

Ladurée’s famous macarons come in an amazing array of flavors, including bitter chocolate, orange blossom, coffee, rose, caramel with salted butter, blackcurrant violet, lemon cedrat, praline and more.

While brightly colored macarons are Ladurée’s most famous item, the company makes chocolates, pastries and other baked goods, which it sells at its three locations in Paris.

The location on rue Bonaparte features a beautiful wood-panelled chocolate shop, just next door to the pâtisserie.

Ladurée
16, rue Royale, 75008 Paris
Tel. +33 (0)1 42 60 21 79
Métro: Madeleine or Concorde
Hours: Mon. to Sat. 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sun. 10a.m. to 7 p.m.

Other locations:
21, rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris
Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 07 64 87
Fax: +33 (0)1 44 07 64 93
Métro: Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Hours: Mon. to Fri. 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Sat. 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.;
Sun. 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

75, avenue des Champs Elysées, 75008 Paris
Tel.: +33 (0)1 40 75 08 75
Fax: +33 (0)1 40 75 06 75
Métro: Georges V
Hours: Mon. to Fri. 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sat. 7:30 a.m. to midnight;
Sun. 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Printemps Haussmann
62, boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris
Tel. +33 (0)1 42 82 40 10
Fax +33 (0)1 42 82 62 00
Métro: Havre-Caumartin
Hours: Mon. to Sat. 9:35 a.m. to 7 p.m.; open late on Thurs. until 10 p.m.;
closed on Sunday.