Best Cocktail Bars in Paris

The bar that invented the Paris martini ritual. Head barman Colin Field has presided over this small, book-lined room since 1994, and the white-glove service has never faltered. Order the Clean Dirty Martini and understand why this place has never needed to be fashionable. Classic

A perennial entry in the World's 50 Best Bars list. The full Little Red Door profile covers the conceptual approach in depth — the programme is built around a new theme each year, and the result is always one of the most intellectually ambitious menus in Europe. Conceptual

The bar that started Paris's cocktail revolution in 2007. Still operating from the original Rue Saint-Sauveur address, still producing drinks that reward the attention you give them. A benchmark for any serious cocktail city. Historic

A strict rule: French spirits only. The bar's founders believe France has the world's most interesting indigenous spirit tradition and they spend every menu proving it. Armagnac, Calvados, Chartreuse, and dozens of regional liqueurs form the backbone of a menu that is always surprising. French spirits

Through the back of a taqueria on the Rue de Saintonge is one of Paris's most copied bar concepts. The mezcal and tequila programme is the best in the city, and the back bar seats only 20 people, which keeps the atmosphere genuinely intimate. Mezcal

A 1920s American speakeasy, accessed through the cold-storage room of a pizza restaurant on the Rue Sedaine. The cocktail team changes the menu seasonally and takes the prohibition aesthetic seriously without becoming a theme park. Speakeasy

A compact bar hidden in the Passage des Panoramas that serves Italian-inspired cocktails with genuine care. The Negroni variations alone are worth the trip. Sixteen seats and a no-standing policy that keeps the atmosphere exactly right. Italian

A New Orleans-inspired bar in the SoPi neighbourhood, with absinthe, craft spirits, and a jazz programme on Friday and Saturday evenings. The name is a reference to the celebrated Storyville brothel madam. The cocktails are serious. New Orleans

A neighbourhood cocktail bar in the 10th that manages to be both technically accomplished and genuinely relaxed. The bar team trained at some of Paris's best addresses before opening here, and the seasonal menu reflects it. Neighbourhood

One of Paris's most technically focused cocktail programmes, with a preference for fermented and clarified spirits. Not for the casual drinker, but for anyone who wants to understand what contemporary cocktail craft actually means. Technical

The hotel bar inside one of Paris's landmark palace hotels, designed by Philippe Starck and unchanged since its reopening in 2007. The cocktail list is classical and the bar programme is managed with the same precision as the three-Michelin-starred restaurant next door. Palace hotel

A speakeasy bar beneath the celebrated Beef Club restaurant, accessible only to those who know the entrance. The bourbon selection is the best in Paris, the cocktails lean American, and the atmosphere is entirely unlike anything above ground. Speakeasy

A Moroccan-inspired lounge bar in the Marais run by the team behind Restaurant 404. The cocktails use North African ingredients, the music is Maghrebi-inflected, and the decor borrows from Casablanca's 1950s commercial art tradition. Moroccan

The bar that anchors the South Pigalle cocktail scene. Low ceilings, excellent sound, a menu that changes every three months, and a crowd of Parisian bartenders who come on their nights off. The highest possible endorsement. SoPi anchor

An Oberkampf cocktail and vinyl bar with 12-euro drinks and a World's 50 Best Discovery listing. Listening bar

A Marais cocktail pub ranked number 20 at the World's 50 Best Bars 2025. Pub

CopperBay works a nautical room at 5 rue Bouchardon in the 10th, ten years into a tightly written cocktail list. The World’s 50 Best Discovery guide keeps it on the Paris map.

Le Rosebud has worked the Montparnasse night since 1962, a jazz-lit room on rue Delambre. A collective of seven film and music names took it over in 2025 to keep it open.