Paris - cool places to go

In the area where these two streets meet there’s a huge number of bars: it is the new fashionable district for young people in Paris.

Amongst the various places, we can suggest the almost legendary Les Couleurs bar (117, rue St. Maur, XI arr. - Nearest Underground station(s): S. Maur), which beside serving drinks, organizes small concerts of ethnic music, with a penchant for musicians of the Balkan area.

This area is much quieter than the noisy Saint Maur - Oberkampf – Ménilmontant district, an the canal which crosses it gives it a peculiar quiet atmosphere; there are a lot of bars, ideal for your alcohol binges. Some of them are the Atmosphère (49, rue Lucien Sempaix), Chez Prune (36, rue Beaurepaire) and the Opus Café (167, quai de Valmy), the latter of which organizes concerts as well, and in those cases there might be a ticket at the entrance.

All of them are in the X arr. And are reachable from the Nearest Underground station(s): stations of Gare de l’Est or République.

It is one of the coolest district of the city, in a radical-chic style. Along the main streets you can find several food shops selling France’s best (from wines to "tartes") and several nice bars, such as the Sancerre (which also serves complete meals, and can be found at 35, rue des Abbesses). Heading uphill towards Montmartre, in rue Ravignan you can find Chez Camille (a quiet place in the afternoons, and a very loud one in the evening, Sunday and Monday excluded...) and a little further Le Relais de la Butte, which has a great terrasse.

Not far from the Abbesses square, towards Boulevard de Clichy, you can find at list two trendy bars, which are a great option to spend the evening: La Fourmi (for techno music lovers, in 74, rue des Martyrs), and Le chat noir, which owes its name to the legendary cabaret club which was in its basement – it organizes hoodoo music concerts (whatever that is) in the weekends, and can be found at 68, bd de Clichy.

Along the canal in front of the new (and gigantic) Bibliothèque Nationale de France (11, quai Mauriac - XI - M. Quai de la Gare e Bibliothèque F. Mitterand) you can find several "péniches", big boats converted into night clubs:

Le Batofar:

This venue is a big red boat, and organizes concerts and Dj sets, mostly of electronica and experimental music, techno and house music. It has a restaurant, two different bars at the ends of the boat and organizes theme weeks, video evenings and famous chill out parties, once every two Sundays. It is widely considered one of the best techno clubs in Paris.

La Guinguette Pirate

This boat has a more varied music program, mostly centered on rock and ethnic music; you can see its program on line at the Guinguette Pirate site.

The district around the Bastille square and along rue de la Roquette and rue de Lappe (Xi arr., nearest Underground station(s): Bastille), is where you can find a huge choice of bars, restaurants and clubs, with the widest array of styles, from S&M to Texan to Texan S&M, but most of them are born only for tourists, with all of the disadvantages this implies: higher prices, phony atmospheres, excessive advertisement, etc.

In the area there are still a few student bars and clubs, in some lesser known streets, often mixed with trendier and more tourist-oriented venues. A good example of the different concepts people can have of what is cool and what isn’t is rue Duval, where Le Wax, a trendy 70’s style club stands almost door to door with a bar full of statues of the Virgin Mary and assorted saints (beware: it’s not a Catholic bar, quite the opposite... Try and go to the bathroom and you’ll see for yourself).