Paris France Tourism: The Club & Music Scene

Home > Travel Guides > Europe > France > Paris > Nightlife > The Club & Music Scene

The Club & Music Scene

hide display ads

Paris Travel & Vacation Deals

Sponsored Links

Cheap Day Tours Paris

London to Paris by Eurostar Paris travel card, Seine cruise
www.england-london-tours.co.uk/

Paris Tours

120+ tours. Seine Cruises, Moulin Rouge, Eiffel Tower, Louvre & more.
www.Isango.com/Paris-Tours

Hôtels Central Paris

Few Selected Packages 399 €/w Our Expert organizes your stay
www.MyGenieInParis.com

Paris is still a late-night mecca, and both the quantity and the variety of nightlife exceed that of other cities. Nowhere else will you find such a huge, mixed array of nightclubs, bars, dance clubs, cabarets, jazz dives, music halls, and honky-tonks.

Chansonniers--Chansonniers (literally, songwriters) provide a bombastic musical satire of the day's events. This combination of parody and burlesque is a time-honored Gallic amusement and a Parisian institution. Songs are often created on the spot, inspired by the "disaster of the day."

Nightclubs & Cabarets--Decidedly expensive, these places give you your money's worth by providing lavishly spectacular floor shows. They generally attract an older crowd. They are definitely not youth oriented.

Dance Clubs--The nightspots listed are among hundreds of places where people in their 20s or early 30s go to dance -- distinct from others where the main attraction is the music. The area around the church of St-Germain-des-Prés is full of dance clubs, but they come and go so quickly, you could arrive to find a hardware store in the place of last year's white-hot club -- but like all things in nature, the new spring up to replace the old. Check Time Out: Paris or Pariscope to get a sense of current trends. Most of these clubs don't really get going until well after 10pm.

Wine Bars--Many Parisians now prefer wine bars to traditional cafes or bistros. The food is often better, and the ambience, more inviting.

Bars, Pubs & Clubs--These "imported" places trying to imitate American cocktail bars or British pubs mostly strike an alien chord. But that doesn't prevent fashionable Parisians from barhopping (not to be confused with cafe-sitting). Many bars in Paris are youth oriented. But if you're an older traveler who prefers to take your expensive drink in one of the grand-luxe bars of the world, Paris has those as well. The bars at the Plaza Athénée, Crillon, and Ritz, for example, are among the grandest in the world and provide a uniquely Parisian experience to those who want to don their finest apparel and take along a gold-plated credit card. In general, bars and pubs are open daily from 11am to 1:30am.

Jazz, Salsa, Rock & More--The great jazz revival that long ago swept America is still going strong here, with Dixieland, Chicago, bop, and free-jazz rhythms being pounded out in dozens of jazz cellars, mostly called caveaux. Most clubs are between rue Bonaparte and rue St-Jacques on the Left Bank. The crowds attending clubs to hear rock, salsa, and the like are definitely young, often in their late teens, 20s, or early 30s. The exception to that is in the clubs offering jazz nights -- lovers of jazz span all ages.

Gay & Lesbian Bars--Gay life is centered around Les Halles and Le Marais, with the greatest concentration of gay and lesbian clubs, restaurants, bars, and shops between the Hôtel de Ville and Rambuteau Métro stops. Gay dance clubs come and go so fast that even the magazines devoted to them, like Illico -- distributed free in the gay bars and bookstores -- have a hard time keeping up. For lesbians, there is Lesbian Magazine. Also look for Gai Pied's Guide Gai and Pariscope's regularly featured English-language section, "A Week of Gay Outings." Also important for both men and women is Têtu Magazine, sold at most newsstands.

For more on Paris's gay and lesbian scene, try Frommer's Gay & Lesbian Europe.

Café Cox, 15 rue des Archives, 4e (tel. 01-42-72-08-00), gets so busy in the early evening that the crowd stands on the sidewalk. This is where you'll find the most mixed gay crowd in Paris -- from hunky American tourists to sexy Parisian men. A hot new place in Les Halles is Le Tropic Café, 66 rue des Lombards, 1er. (tel. 01-40-13-92-62; Métro: Châtelet-Les Halles), where the trendy, good-looking crowd parties until dawn. A restaurant with a bar popular with women is Okawa, 40 rue Vieille-du-Temple, 4e (tel. 01-48-04-30-69; Métro: Hôtel de Ville), where trendy lesbians (and some gay men) enjoy happy hour. Les Scandaleuses, 6 rue des Ecouffes, 3e (tel. 01-48-87-39-26; Métro: St-Paul), is a bar for gay women where an unattached female can usually find a drinking buddy to tell her troubles to.

More After-Dark Diversions

On a Paris night, the cheapest entertainment, especially if you're young, is "the show" staged at the southeastern tip of Ile de la Cité, behind Notre-Dame. A sort of Gallic version of the Sundowner Festival in Key West, it attracts just about everyone who ever wanted to try his or her hand at performance art. The entertainment is spontaneous and usually includes magicians, fire-eaters, jugglers, mimes, and music makers from all over, performing against the backdrop of the illuminated cathedral. This is one of the greatest places in Paris to meet other young people in a sometimes moderately euphoric setting.

Also popular is a stroll along the Seine after 10pm. Take a graveled pathway down to the river from the Left Bank side of pont de Sully, close to the Institut du Monde Arabe, and walk to the right, away from Notre-Dame. This walk, which ends near place Valhubert, is the best place to see spontaneous Paris in action at night. Joggers and saxophone players come here, and many Parisians show up to take part in impromptu dance parties.

To quench your thirst, wander onto Ile St-Louis and head for the Café-Brasserie St-Regis, 6 rue Jean-du-Bellay, 4e, across from pont St-Louis (tel. 01-43-54-59-41; Métro: Pont Marie). If you want to linger, you can order a plat du jour or a coffee at the bar. But try doing as the Parisians do: Get a 3€ ($3.90) beer to go (une bière à emporter) in a cup, and take it with you on a stroll around the island. The cafe is open daily until 2am.

If you're caught waiting for the Métro to start running again at 5am, try the Sous-Bock Tavern, 49 rue St-Honoré, 1er (tel. 01-40-26-46-61; Métro: Les Halles or Louvres-Rivoli), open daily from 11am to 5am. Young drinkers gather here to sample 400 varieties of beer. If you want a shot of whiskey, you have a choice of 60 varieties. The dish to order is a platter of mussels -- curried, with white wine, or with cream sauce; they go well with the brasserie-style fries.

If you're looking for the most flamboyant drag in Paris, head to Madame Arthur, 75 bis rue des Martyrs, 18e (tel. 01-42-54-40-21 or 01-42-64-48-27; Métro: Abbesses or Pigalle). It's the longest-running show in town, attracting both straights and gays. The creative force behind the affair is Mme Arthur, who's no lady and whose stage name during her shticks as emcee is Chantaline. The performances include 9 to 11 artists with names like Vungala, Lady Lune, and Miss Badabou. You can visit just to drink or dine from a fixed-price menu (reservations required). The club is open daily from 8:30 to 10:30pm for dinner, with the show beginning at 10:30pm. Additional shows, according to demand, are Friday and Saturday at 7pm, with dinner beginning at 6pm. After the last show, around 12:30am, the place becomes a disco. Cover (including one drink) is 26€ ($34); dinner and the show is 47€ ($61) Sunday to Thursday, 63€ ($82) Friday and Saturday.

If drag shows aren't your cup of tea, how about Last Tango in Paris? At Le Tango, 11 rue au Maire, 3e (tel. 01-42-72-17-78; Métro: Arts et Métiers), memories of Evita and Argentina live on. This dive with bordello decor features zouk music from the French Caribbean and Africa, as well as house, garage, and virtually every form of high-energy music. Most patrons are gay and lesbian and in their 20s and 30s. The cover is 8€ ($9.20). It's open Friday and Saturday from midnight to 5am.

If you're looking for a sophisticated, laid-back venue, consider the Sanz-Sans, 49 rue du Faubourg St-Antoine, 4e (tel. 01-44-75-78-78; Métro: Bastille or Ledru Rollin). It's a multiethnic playground where the children of prominent Parisians mingle, testifying to the unifying power of jazz. In this red-velvet duplex, the most important conversations seem to occur over margaritas on the stairway or the back-room couches. The later it gets, the sexier the scene becomes. There's no cover.

City Guide

Paris France Tourism: The Club & Music Scene

The Club & Music Scene

Paris Travel & Vacation Deals

Paris Travel Deals