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Paris Bars & Cocktail LoungesLets face it, when it comes to style, cuisine and drink the French do pretty well. Paris is a great place to do some sampling, especially with so much else going on. Most people want to stay in the Latin Quarter but you'll be able to find curios and decent bars and eateries practically anywhere - even near the Gare Du Nord. Then, of course, there's the culture. Besides the glorious depth of world music talent, you can't go to Paris and not take in the Louvre, the Pompidou, the Musee D'Orsay, the Opera, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower… it goes on! For bars and restaurants it's always worth poking around the smaller streets for culinary gems – just what you need after a morning's bargain hunting in the markets. |
Chez Georges11 rue des Canettes, 75006, Paris
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Hotel Costes
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Buddha Bar
Hmm… no prizes for guessing what dominates the floor space inside this ultra-cool Parisian imbibery. You might think it’s the Buddha that attracts the oh-so-trendy set here, as it’s always flattering to stand next to someone more rotund, but there’s more to it than that. A popular haunt with drinkers and diners alike, it’s easy to while away the hours here over cocktails or with a dish from their well-balanced menu. |
Cabaret Club
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Hotel Raphael Bar
First impressions suggest this bar has been uprooted from some gentlemen’s club in London and put here. In fact the hushed conversations in this music free oasis only add to it. Expect cocktails to match the clientele – highly refined, and once you have one (a drink that is) just stretch back in one of the ruby red sofas, let the spirits sink in and see how long it takes before you can get up again. |
China Club
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Bamboo Bar
Inspirational cocktail venue, part of the just-opened Hotel Bel Ami in the chic shopping and cafe district of Saint Germain des Pres. The small service bar is made of copper glass-mosaic tiles while the walls of the seating area are framed with green, growing bamboo shoots. Seat yourself at a table carved from bleached ash and soak up the cocktail hour with your belle ami. |
KITTY O'SHEA'S PUB AND RESTAURANT
Apart from Kitty O'Shea's standing in the Parisian Community, it has become legendary across Europe as a sporting pub, and is particularly renowned for rugby. Each year as the 6 nations tournaments commence, Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh, French and Italian rugby fans descend on it in search of ambiance and chat that is only found in the best loved of all bars. |
A
dingy, smoky cellar bar. Walking into Chez Georges is like finding yourself
on the set of a Truffaut film. It’s full of effortlessly cool people who
don’t seem to be up themselves, which of course makes them seem even cooler.
Early evening everyone is huddled round tiny tables drinking red wine out of
glass tumblers or squeezed on to sofas. Come closing time the floor is a
mass of flailing limbs and nodding heads.
If
your current beau blanches at the bill in Hotel Costes, they're not worthy.
Jacques Garcia's imagination ran riot when he was commissioned to create
Paris' most talked about hotel and his originality is evident in both the
bar and courtyard cafe. His maxim was all things in excess and we
whole-heartedly agree. A den of opulence, dedicated to detail, intimacy and
the expectations of the frighteningly wealthy. Classic design reinvented at
the hands of a genius and a Lounge Lizard's Mecca. 
8
Rue Boissy d' Anglais M. Concorde 
Another
Parisian hot spot, drawing in hordes of beautiful people to its classy,
stylish dining and dance interior, reminiscent of cabaret-era Paris. The
restaurant is open for lunch and dinner but operates on a strict
reservations-only policy, while the tough doormen for the club later on
should get security contracts in Iraq. We would forgo the food and get here
for the dancing, cool lounge music spun by name DJs to suit the moneyed, big
name revelers - among them the likes of Kevin Spacey, Naomi Campbell and
dozens of other actors and models. 
17
Avenue Kléber 75116 
Hotel
Bel Ami 7 Rue Saint Benoit, Saint Germain des Pres Paris
Kitty
O'Shea's Paris is now one of Paris', if not France's, oldest and best loved
Irish bar. A fact due to its central location at 10 rue des Capucines in the
second Arrondissement, in the very heart of Paris. Its success has been due
to its authentic Irish décor and friendly Irish bar staff.