The Best Bars for New Year's Eve in Paris

The best wine bar in Saint-Germain runs a New Year's Eve programme that makes every other option in the neighbourhood look under-prepared. The team at CVS selects a champagne and wine pairing menu for the evening — typically eight pours across three hours from 10pm — that focuses on grower champagnes rather than the obvious grandes marques. The room seats forty at most, which means booking opens in October and closes in November. This is not an exaggeration. Book the moment bookings open.

Order: Egly-Ouriet Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs — one of the finest grower champagnes in production

The neighbourhood institution that becomes genuinely excellent on New Year's Eve rather than simply surviving the occasion. Bar du Marché has been operating on the Rue de Buci since the 1980s and has developed a New Year's Eve tradition of its own — a fixed-price champagne package that includes a table and four glasses of good Blanc de Blancs from 10pm until midnight, after which the bar operates normally until 3am. The terrace heaters go on regardless of weather. Walk-ins are possible but inadvisable.

Order: The house champagne package — good quality and fairly priced for the occasion

The most extravagant option on this list and the one that is unambiguously worth the price on New Year's Eve. The bar at the Plaza Athénée runs a New Year's Eve cocktail programme created annually by their head bartender — typically eight cocktails that tell a thematic story across the evening. The room is one of the most beautiful in Paris at any time of year and at midnight it becomes something else entirely. The dress code is smart; the clientele is sophisticated. Book in October.

Order: Whatever the NYE cocktail programme's midnight drink is — they save the best for midnight

The Marais cocktail bar that manages the New Year's Eve crowd better than any of its neighbours. Mary Celeste runs a ticket-entry system on 31 December — you book a time slot online from mid-November — which means no queue, no chaos, and a room that maintains its quality throughout the night. The cocktail programme is always excellent; the NYE edition introduces five drinks that did not make the regular menu but are worth the one-night-only appearance. The crowd is mixed, enthusiastic, and well-dressed without being formal.

Order: The NYE special Daiquiri — they make a champagne variation that only exists on 31 December

A natural wine bar in the Marais that treats New Year's Eve as an opportunity to open the serious bottles rather than an excuse to close early and avoid the chaos. Bisou runs a fixed champagne-plus-wine tasting from 9pm on 31 December, featuring producers who do not usually appear on their regular list — the kind of bottles the owner holds back for occasions worth the opening. The room is small, the crowd is serious about wine, and midnight here tends to feel more considered than celebratory.

Order: Whatever Blanc de Blancs from the Côte des Blancs they are pouring at midnight

The Pigalle tiki bar runs one of the most original New Year's Eve events in the city — a tropical NYE concept that commits completely to the contradiction of celebrating New Year in a tiki bar in January Paris. The NYE punch bowl serves twelve and can be pre-ordered. The playlist runs from Polynesian exotica through to something considerably more contemporary as midnight approaches. The cover charge of 25 euros includes a champagne cocktail at midnight. One of our editors has been twice and intends to return.

Order: The NYE Zombie for the table — their most complex rum preparation, only available on 31 December

Glass runs until 6am on New Year's Eve and has built a reputation as the place Pigalle's bar community ends up when their own shifts finish at midnight. The cocktail list is reliable throughout the night — unlike some bars that quietly degrade their programme when the kitchen closes — and the room maintains its character even when it is full. The cover charge on 31 December is €20 before midnight and free after. Our recommendation: arrive at 1am when the crowd has turned over and the room feels like the city's own party.

Order: The Negroni — they make it well and it is the correct drink for 2am on 1 January

The all-French spirits bar runs a New Year's Eve programme that focuses entirely on what French distillation produces at its best — Armagnac from 1975, Calvados from the Pays d'Auge, aged cognac from single estates. The NYE menu is designed around the concept of a celebratory spirit tour of France, with twelve options across four categories. They run until 4am on 31 December and accept walk-ins after midnight when the reservation slots have ended. Worth the journey from any other neighbourhood.

Order: The Armagnac cocktail from the NYE menu — always their most ambitious preparation of the year

The Candelaria backroom operates under extended hours on New Year's Eve, staying open until 5am and running a mezcal-focused NYE programme that begins at midnight when the front taqueria closes. The bar team introduces three mezcals that do not appear on the regular menu — typically a pechuga, a tobalá, and something produced in limited quantities for the occasion — alongside a short cocktail list designed around them. The capacity is forty and it fills quickly after midnight. Get there before 1am.

Order: The pechuga mezcal neat — they save the annual allocation for New Year's Eve