Nikki

One night you might want to go to the Caveau des Oubliettes in the Latin Quarter. This is a bar with live jazz in the basement every night, and a real guillotine upstairs. Many young people, but some older also.

Down the street from that bar, there is Caveau de la Huchette, with swing dancing for all ages.

Much more informal than the "scene" bars. In these places, jeans are fine.

kristind05

thank you thank you thank you!

MaddieAstrid

I was in Paris with a girlfriend this weekend and I thought I’d share my nightlife experience.

Friday night – stopped by Le Paris Paris around midnight, there was a guest list at the door, but one apparently need not be on it, even one 10 years older than everyone else in the club. Too young (early twenties) and grungy/punk for me, although drinks were reasonable and lots of people were on the dance floor even at this early hour. Next stop was Neo, we are nearly the first people there, but by 2AM this place is wild. Lots of beautiful people with beautiful shoes (I have a bit of a footwear fetish). We order a bottle of Laurent Perrier Rosé and then another, the bill ends up being 600€ for the two bottles of champagne which retail for about $60 each. Milly (my friend) and I institute new Paris rule: In nightclubs, champagne by the glass only and no tab. I have ordered many a bottle of champagne in nightclubs in Paris, but perhaps have never seen the bill until now. Yikes!

Saturday, we have 11PM dinner reservations at the Buddha Bar. We get there around 11:30PM and still must wait about 20 minutes for a table. We order (and receive) a bottle of champagne right away (a better bottle at half of Friday’s price) but end up waiting another 20 minutes to order food. I assumed that something called the Buddha Bar would have a numerous vegetarian options, however, I am not correct and end up ordering the red curry vegetables as a meal to which the waiter responds knowingly in English, “You are a vegetarian,” but offers no other suggestions. The food is fine, but I am not there for the food. By the end of our meal, people of all ages and styles (everything from sloppy jeans to couture) are dancing on the tables, singing along to the music and having a wild time. I loved the atmosphere, but it didn’t seem particularly fashionable to me (lots of birthday parties) --- just my perception. Also, one bottle of Moet, a few bottles of water and two entrees with no appetizer or dessert totaled up to about $250…I would have ordered dessert, but the waiter disappeared for about an hour and we had other things on our agenda.

Next stop is L’Etoile. We get there a little after 2AM, and there is a very long line out front. We are two women alone and we are wearing fabulous shoes, so the “doorwitch” pulls us out of line and in we go. Designer shoes or not, I have never had trouble with the door here EXCEPT when I have been with men. Men (in my experience) are more likely to be asked to buy a bottle of champagne or liquor for a table (200€ +) as a condition for entry when they are with women, and men alone and/or with other men, well, guess who was waiting in that long line??!!! (Additionally, we probably look like the kind of ladies who might unwittingly order two bottles of outrageously priced champagne, no?). It was a 20€ cover but you get one free drink (value: 20&euro The place is packed inside, great music, everyone is dancing, talking, drinking...teenagers to people over 40 wearing everything from jeans (not sloppy!) to suits to dresses. You get an insane view of the Arc de Triomphe from inside the club, the
the bartenders are awesome (friendly) and quick to relieve you of your cash. The one downside is that if you don’t have a table and do not wish to chat up anyone with a table, there is NOWHERE to sit which when you are wearing 4-inch heels can prompt one to end a night a bit early. I don’t know what time we left L’Etoile, but we didn’t get back to the hotel until after 4AM, didn’t make any stops in between, and the club was still completely packed when we left.

Sunday night, we find Paris about as exciting as DC. The concierge gives us some ideas, but basically, we will need to tone it down. We decide to go to Le Refuge des Fondues which was recommended on this post….and it is everything we anticipated. We get there around 10PM without reservations. There are two long tables seating maybe 12 people each…and there are two open places at the end of one of them for Milly and me. Everyone in the restaurant is yelling and singing (soccer tunes mostly), the waiters are energetic and slightly insulting in a fun and good spirited way. The diners were all mid-twenties to early thirties and very casually dressed. We are served a drink, a massive pot of fondue and wine from a baby bottle…the total for both of us was 32 Euro and we barely made a dent in the fondue. We ask around about where one goes out on Sunday night, and the lack of enthusiastic responses lands us at the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz. In my (very humble) opinion, this is the place to begin an evening not end one, but is a great place to go if you like meeting people and talking to strangers for purposes other than to get them in the sack (small and quiet). A very interesting gentleman seated next to me actually brought his prostitute to the bar. I also talked (in a very ugly combination of French & German) to a Thai businessman living in Zurich and was offered a ride home on someone’s jet (too bad my mother convinced me not to take rides from strangers!). I never once felt like anyone was trying to pick me up, and at 31, I may have been the youngest person there (finally!)

Hope this isn’t too long.

bettyo70

Maddie: I LOVED reading your Paris nightlife post...wish there were more here on fodors.com!

Yes, we too were aimlessly wandering the streets on a Sunday night in Paris, wondering where to go and "boogie." (Paris is no NYC nor Berlin, for that matter.) A couple of people referred us to rue Oberkampf in the 11th arr. However, that area was even pretty dead on a Sunday. The major clubs were closed that night.

I have heard pretty good things about Rex Club (though not sure on a Sunday night) and Pulp in the 1st arr. on a Thursday night is suppose to be fun. Also I heard the 10th arr. is a great area now. Keep us posted with any of your new trips and discoveries. Au revoir!