Myself and three friends from my uni days, all in our mid 30%26#39;s, are escaping from our husbands, jobs and babies for a weekend in Paris in the middle of this month. We are staying at Hotel du Petit Moulin in le Marais and looking for somewhere chic and stylish to go out for Saturday night. We are probably past standing crammed in the corner of a club unable to carry on a conversation because of the volume of the music; but on the other hand we love a chance to let our hair down and strut our stuff on the dance floor (ideally with a table to return to when we want a drink...or a rest!)
If anyone is familiar with the Supperclub in Amsterdam - where you are expected to dress to impress, the clientele is pretty stylish, and you have a kind of gastro-club experience with great DJs - we loved it there, so somewhere similar would be perfect.
Any suggestions?
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I%26#39;m beginning to get a complex - this is the second time I have posted a question on this forum and I didn%26#39;t get any answers last time either..... Am I asking the wrong questions?
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Micky , don%26#39;t get a complex, I read your post, just haven%26#39;t any answers! LOL
Some of us don%26#39;t do nightclubs, so, we just can%26#39;t help. You are lucky to be able to do such a quick trip( you are close) , lots of posters come thousands of miles to Paris , and plan our days pretty fully, expecting quiet evenings with nice dinners and people watching at cafes.
Perhaps some of the younger Parisians on this board could help, Ralphy would be a good one to ask as I believe she is close to your age!
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Micky, my sister and I went to Le Duplex in the 16th arrondissement, near the Arc de Triomphe. It%26#39;s on Foch street. When you get off the metro, go all the way around to the opposite side of the circle. We went on a Saturday night and it was totally fun! Cover is 20 Euro per person and that includes the first drink. Each drink cost 11 Euro. Even a soda! People there are stylish, but not too dressy. Bon voyage!
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Oh yah, I forgot to mention that it%26#39;s a night club. Two dance floors. The top floor has R%26amp;B and hip hop. Mostly American music, but the best mix ever! The lower floor is techno or house.
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hu micky, i personnaly don%26#39;t like the duplex, because some pb happened there, but you can try, it%26#39;s near the champs-elysees where there are lots of night clubs. my favourite place is the doobies, near rue marbeuf, a little night club, with people dancing on the couch of their table, the waitresses dancing on the bar, nice music, no techno or stuff like that. otherwise near the champs-elysees there are many night clubs, the man ray rue marbeuf is nice, but very big, but stylish people. on mondays, disco inferno at le queen, but it%26#39;s not very stylish, just lots of fun because people dance a lot on disco. another place is la cabaret, it%26#39;s been a long time since i didn%26#39;t go, but it was very fashion, with some celebrities, and some stylish people, it%26#39;s place du palais royal. a place i%26#39;ve never been but heard a lot about is le baron, it was an old hostess club, but now it seems it%26#39;s a very fashion night-club, but not lots of space, i think it can take only like 100 persons.
anyway if you want to have a table you will have to pay a bottle of champagne or vodka for ex, which is around 150 euros, otherwise you cannot have a table in night-clubs in paris.
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Club: Man Ray
This chic rendezvous off the Champs-Elysées is dedicated to Man Ray, the famous photographer and American Dadaist, who usually felt more comfortable roaming Montparnasse than the 8th. Many of Man Ray%26#39;s photos decorate the club. The club is a media favorite, mainly because some of its owners are Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, and John Malkovich. Entry is discreet, through large wrought-iron doors, and there%26#39;s virtually no sign. In the basement is a bustling restaurant presided over by two winged Indonesian goddesses. Main courses begin at 23€ ($26). The bar upstairs is big and bustling. Jazz is presented Monday to Thursday from 7 to 9pm in the bar, and every night after 11pm a DJ provides music. On Fridays the place is transformed into a dance club after 11pm, with an entrance cost of 15€ ($17), including the first drink. Restaurant open Monday through Friday noon to 2:30pm, daily 7:30pm to 12:30am; bar open daily 6pm to 2am.
Address: 34 rue Marbeuf
Location: 8e
Transportation Métro: F. D. Roosevelt
Phone 01-56-88-36-36
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Dance Clubs--These nightspots 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%26#39;s white-hot club -- but, like all things in nature, the new spring up to take the place of the old. Check Time Out: Paris or Pariscope to get a sense of the current trends. Most of these clubs don%26#39;t really get going until well after 10pm.
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Bars, Pubs %26amp; Clubs
Wine Bars--Many Parisians now prefer wine bars to traditional cafes or bistros. The food is often better and the ambience more inviting.
Bars %26amp; Pubs--These %26quot;imported%26quot; places trying to imitate American cocktail bars or British pubs mostly strike an alien chord. But that doesn%26#39;t prevent fashionable Parisians from barhopping (not to be confused with cafe-sitting). Many bars in Paris are youth-oriented. But if you%26#39;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.
Gay %26amp; Lesbian Bars %26amp; Clubs
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%26#39;s Guide Gai and Pariscope%26#39;s regularly featured English-language section, %26quot;A Week of Gay Outings.%26quot; Also important for both men and women is Têtu Magazine, sold at most newsstands.
For more on Paris%26#39;s gay and lesbian scene, try Frommer%26#39;s Gay %26amp; 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%26#39;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, 56 rue des Lombards, 1e (tel. 01-40-13-92-62; Métro: Châtelet-Les Halles), where the trendy, good-looking crowd parties until dawn. Le Gibus, 18 rue du Faubourg du Temple, 11e (tel. 01-47-00-78-88; Métro: République), opens every night as a late-night dance club, entertaining diverse collections of counterculture Parisians. But Friday and Saturday nights are deliberately and exclusively gay, attracting some of the most drop-dead gorgeous men in the city. Drag shows, at least on weekends, form part of the entertainment. It%26#39;s open nightly from midnight to 6am. Weeknight entrance costs from 5€ to 20€ ($5.75-$23), depending on the venue, but on gay nights the charge is 18€ ($21), including the first drink.
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%26#39;re young, is %26quot;the show%26quot; 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 une bière à emporter, a 3€ ($3.45) beer to go in a cup and take it with you on a stroll around the island. The cafe is open daily until 2am.
If you%26#39;re caught waiting for the Métro to start running again at 5am, try the Sous-Bock Tavern, 49 rue St-Honoré, 1e (tel. 01-40-26-46-61; Métro: Les Halles), open daily from 11am to 5am. Young drinkers gather here to sample 400 varieties of beer. If you want a shot of whiskey, there%26#39;s 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%26#39;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; Métro: Abbesses or Pigalle). It%26#39;s the longest-running show in town, attracting both straights and gays. The creative force behind the affair is Mme Arthur, who%26#39;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 prix fixe 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 held Friday and Saturday at 7pm, with dinner beginning at 6pm. After the last show, around 12:30am, the place becomes a disco. Cover (including the first drink) is 26€ ($30); dinner and the show is 47€ ($54) Sunday through Thursday; and 63€ ($72) Friday and Saturday.
If drag shows aren%26#39;t your cup of tea, how about Last Tango in Paris? At Le Tango, 13 rue au Maire, 3e (tel. 01-42-72-17-78; Métro: Arts et Métiers), memories of Evita and Argentina live on. This dive with a bordello decor features zouk music from the French Caribbean and Africa, as well as house, garage, and virtually every form of high-energy music known. Most patrons are gay and lesbian and in their 20s and 30s. The cover is 8€ ($9.20). It%26#39;s open Friday and Saturday from midnight to 5am.
If you%26#39;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 ledrue Rollin). It%26#39;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%26#39;s no cover.
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The hottest area for bars that I%26#39;ve been hearing about lately is the Oberkampf area, west of the Marais. Apparently it is the centre of all cool nightlife in Paris now, for the locals (as opposed to all the touristy dance places in more touristy areas). The bars are all in chicly dilapidated old industrial buildings, and its supposed to be super cool. I haven%26#39;t been yet, but I%26#39;ll be in Paris in a few days, and I%26#39;m definitely going to check it out. I%26#39;ve heard Cafe Charbet is the one that started it all over there. Also, the Bastille area still has tons of mainstream bars and clubs, but there is a lot of velvet-rope policy happening there.
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Willie3....!!!!!
Like......WOW!!! What a complete and comprehensive listing! It should be it%26#39;s owm forum posting, dude!
It was so complete (long!) and so fabulous, I could not even read it all, because I am so tired I must now CRASH! But, really, very impressive, and I wanted to tell you I thought so!!
lasscass
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