Best After Work Bars in Paris

The bar that defines after-work Paris. A terrace on the Canal Saint-Martin that fills from 5pm regardless of the weather, with a crowd of designers, journalists, and teachers who have been drinking here for twenty years. Simple wine, good attitude, the canal at your feet. Nothing here needs to be better. Wine

The Marais institution that attracts everyone from fashion week editors to local plumbers. The terrace is uncomfortable, the wine is cheap, and nobody cares. It is the kind of bar that New York or London would try to replicate and always fail. Arrive by 6pm for a spot. Wine

A wine bar behind the Pantheon that feels like it exists outside of time. The natural wine list is genuinely good, the charcuterie is excellent, and the crowd is made up entirely of professors and writers who seem to live here. Our recommended Tuesday evening pick. Wine

A historic wine bar on the Rue des Saints-Pères serving Beaujolais by the glass and tartines on hand-painted bistro tables. The painted ceiling, dating from the 1950s, is one of the most beautiful in any Paris bar. Gets busy from 6:30pm. Wine

A wine bar near the Marché d'Aligre that has been filling its own bottles from barrels in the back since the 1980s. Sunday mornings are legendary, but Thursday and Friday evenings fill up with locals who bring their own glasses. Oysters from the stand outside. Wine

An after-work favourite in the 11th that started as a canteen and evolved into one of the neighbourhood's best evening bars. The cocktails are better than you expect, and the space has kept the original school chairs from its canteen days. Cocktails

Two rooms full of colonial furniture, hanging lamps, and a crowd that mixes Bastille office workers with regulars who look like they have not moved since 1995. One of the most genuinely unpretentious bars in Paris. Order a demi and a croque. Casual

A basement bar in the Marais with a young, sociable crowd and cocktail pitchers that make economic sense for groups. The happy hour runs until 8pm, which is late enough to call it civilised. Cocktails

A tiny wine bar on the slopes of Montmartre where the owner personally selects every bottle and usually opens something interesting on a Wednesday. Twelve seats, excellent natural wine, and the kind of relaxed conversation that only happens when a bar is this small. Wine

A cafe-bar on the Rue de Seine that has served painters and writers since 1902. The terrace fills with gallery staff from 5:30pm and the house Beaujolais is better than it has any right to be. An institution. Historic

The wine bar sibling of the celebrated Septime restaurant, focused entirely on natural wines and small producers. No cocktails, no beer. Just excellent bottles opened at the bar and the most interesting conversation in the 11th. Wine

An early evening start at the South Pigalle cocktail bar that later becomes a serious late-night destination. The cocktail list has earned its reputation and the neighbourhood around it has become Paris's most compelling new drinking district. Cocktails