Editorial
Paris hidden gem bars cluster in the Marais and the 10th arrondissement. The 10 below show why Paris's speakeasy scene is one of Europe's deepest.
Little Red Door in the Marais has made the World's 50 Best nine times, which for a small room behind a crimson door is no small thing. The menu builds drinks around locally sourced French produce, and the brick-and-candle back room is where you want to sit. Open from 6pm, until 3am at weekends.
Le Syndicat on rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis hides behind a poster-covered front that looks shut, then opens into a gilded, semi-industrial bar pouring only French spirits. Order the No.10 with Armagnac and banana. It is a 50 Best fixture and runs late, so it suits a second or third stop.
Andy Wahloo on rue des Gravilliers is the Marais bar built from Moroccan road signs and old oil cans, named with a wink at Warhol. There is a terrace and garden out back, which matters on a warm Paris night. Open Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm, closed the start of the week.
Sherry Butt sits on a quiet street at the bottom of the Marais, a retro-chic room with 56 spirits, 11 house cocktails and around 90 whiskies. Weekends bring DJs and the Marais in-crowd until 2am. Open Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm. Good for drinking widely without a hotel-bar bill.
Candelaria on rue de Saintonge is the gold standard for Paris speakeasies: a five-seat taqueria up front, a hidden cocktail bar through a plain door at the back. The tacos are real and the bar holds a World's 50 Best Discovery spot. Squeeze in early, before the queue forms down the street.
Divine tucks into the 10th arrondissement, an art-deco cocktail bar where each drink lands in its own period glass, right down to the ice. Names run from Bananarama to the Divine Highball, and small plates keep you there. Less secret than billed, but a smart, low-key night out away from the tourist trail.
The Blind Pig on rue du Faubourg Poissonnière, the old La Grille, hides an American cocktail bar behind stained glass in the 10th. Leather sofas at the back give it a proper pub feel, and the kitchen runs burgers and small plates. Open midday to midnight, later at weekends. Handy near Poissonnière metro.
Bar Hemingway at the Ritz on Place Vendôme is the famous one, all 25 seats of it, with Colin Field's legend behind the counter. There is no booking and the queue starts by half past five, so turn up early. Expensive, yes, but the martinis and the room earn it once. Open daily from 5pm.
The Experimental Cocktail Club has hidden behind a discreet Sentier door since 2007, the bar that helped start the modern Paris cocktail scene. Reinvented classics and house creations fill the list, and the crowd packs in late. Worth a stop to see where the city's speakeasy boom actually began.
Prescription Cocktail Club on rue Mazarine, run by the Experimental group, has had a theatrical refit with draped fabric and upholstered walls. The Left Bank crowd treats it as a reliable late one, open to 4am at weekends. Drinks are sound rather than showy. A safe bet when Saint-Germain runs dry.
Little Red Door is the global headline and Le Syndicat the French-spirits-only outlier. Most of these rooms peak between 11 PM and 1 AM.
Tom Callahan covers pubs and bars across the UK, Ireland and beyond. Twenty years of last orders, a fair pour and a clear view of the match.