Rungis International Market

Rungis is the wholesale food market that feeds metropolitan Paris and ranks as the largest fresh-produce market in the world. It sits about 13 kilometres south of the city, next to Orly airport, on a 234-hectare site split between the communes of Rungis and Chevilly-Larue. The market opened in 1969 to replace Les Halles, the central Paris hall that Zola famously called the belly of Paris. Each night thousands of traders, chefs and logistics workers move fish, meat, cheese, fruit and flowers through specialised pavilions. Guided pre-dawn tours let visitors walk the fish hall, watch the cheese auctions and finish with a croissant in one of the on-site brasseries that serve breakfast to people who have already done a full day of work.