In a city saturated with tourists, it's all too easy to forget that there's more to Parisian nightlife than glitzy clubs and overpriced brasseries milking some obscure connection to Hemingway for all its worth. The premium on space in the city has pushed the alternative scene far away, whether to the whispered-of warehouse raves out in the sticks or to the literally underground parties in the catacombs. While you try in vain to get yourself invited to either, we've compiled a list of our six favourite inner-city venues that, despite their popularity with locals and long-time residents, tend to get overlooked by the mainstream crowd. Come here to eat, drink, dance, rap, be rapped at, unwind to smooth jazz, then start all over again come the early hours.
Got a favourite secret bar you want to share? Let us know in the comments box below.
To discover more offbeat gems, including restaurants, galleries and parks, visit our Secret Paris page.
This bar is tucked away on the top floor of what looks like a relatively lifeless apartment block on Rue Boulanger, near République. But this is all part of the game for Le Lavomatic’s owners, who have also snapped up the ground floor and are opening a fully functioning launderette here in September 2015. Because of all this, and because you can only reach the bar by climbing up a dainty spiral staircase, the whole place has the air of an illicit speakeasy joint...
This sumptuous Art Deco bar, specialising in absinthe-laced cocktails, takes its name from the New Orleans brothel madam and procuress Lulu White. Nestled on Rue Frochot with a discreet windowless façade, Lulu White’s only marker is a small brass engraving of its namesake, taken from a 1920s mug shot. Caught between two very different worlds (the sex shops of the Boulevard de Clichy and South Pigalle’s cluster of gourmet grocers and restaurants), Lulu White belongs to neither...
Tucked away behind the Montmartre hill, with rooms priced at €400 a night, the luxurious Particulier Montmartre hotel bar is a favourite with in-the-know Parisians. Visitors have to jump through quite a few hoops just for a drink at the bar, proceeding down a private-access street and through a series of intercoms and buzzers before finally reaching the hotel garden. Designed by Louis Benech (who also renovated the Tuileries), this lush enclave feels more like a forest thicket than a garden, with its towering trees, wild ferns and patches of creeping ivy...
Behind a non-descript door on rue Saint-Sauveur in near Etienne-Marcel, Experimental Cocktail Club will escape you if you don't know where to find it. Paris has been slow to host the type of venues that are so fashionable in New York – ‘mixology’ bars that re-invent cocktails with strange spirits, fresh fruit juices and subtle spices – but now we have, for example, the Tommy’s Margarita Especial, an insane 100% agave tequila Arette mix with lime juice and organic agave honey, infused with Bourbon vanilla and cloves....
A slice of Anglo-American literary culture in the heart of Parmentier, Au Chat Noir (not to be confused with the Montmartre cabaret of almost the same name) is known by all the budding poets of the area, but few outsiders. The reason: its thriving, if ill-publicised, spoken-word nights. Head into the basement on a Monday evening (from 8.30pm) and you’ll find an eclectic bunch of beatniks, actors and would-be rappers taking it in turns to perform some kind of spoken text to the audience – and never for over five minutes at a time. If most participants speak in English, then this only reflects the relative popularity of this kind of event in the UK and US...
Nestling atop the Belleville butte on the charming Place Henri Krasucki, Les Cascades merits that most overused of guidebook terms: ‘hidden gem’. It’s very much a community café – not only in its clientele of locals, but also in the range of sociable events that it hosts (citizens’ debates, film screenings, writing workshops). Gigs and exhibitions, often representing local artists, are also on the programme. You won’t have to break the bank to participate: food and drink are on the cheap side, with delicious salads for €6-8 and sandwiches for half that. One of the most laid-back and outright enjoyable eateries we’ve visited in a while.
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