The Club & Music Scene

Paris is still a late-night mecca, and both the quantity and variety of nightlife exceed that of other cities. Nowhere else will you find such a huge, mixed array of nightclubs, bars, dance clubs, cabarets, jazz dives, music halls, and honky-tonks.

Chansonniers -- Chansonniers (literally, songwriters) provide a bombastic musical satire of the day's events. This combination of parody and burlesque is a time-honored Gallic amusement and a Parisian institution. Songs are often created on the spot, inspired by the "disaster of the day."

Nightclubs & Cabarets -- Decidedly expensive, these places give you your money's worth by providing lavishly spectacular floor shows. They generally attract an older crowd and are definitely not youth-oriented.

Jazz, Salsa, Rock & More -- The great jazz revival that long ago swept America is still going strong here, with Dixieland, Chicago, bop, and free-jazz rhythms being pounded out in dozens of jazz cellars, mostly called caveaux. Most clubs are between rue Bonaparte and rue St-Jacques on the Left Bank. The crowds that attend clubs to hear rock, salsa, and the like are definitely young, often in their late teens, 20s, or early 30s. The exception to that is in the clubs offering jazz nights, where jazz-lovers span all ages.

Dance Clubs -- There are among hundreds of places where people in their 20s or early 30s go to dance -- distinct from others where the main attraction is the music. The area around the church of St-Germain-des-Prés is full of dance clubs, but they come and go so quickly that you could arrive to find a hardware store in the place of last year's white-hot club -- but as with all things in nature, the new springs up to replace the old. Check Time Out: Paris or Pariscope to get a sense of current trends. Most of these clubs don't really get going until well after 10pm.

After-Dark Diversions: Dives, Drag & More

On a Paris night, the cheapest entertainment, especially if you're young, is "the show" at the tip of Ile de la Cité, behind Notre-Dame. A sort of Gallic version of the Sundowner Festival in Key West, Florida, it attracts just about everyone who ever wanted to try his or her hand at performance. The spontaneous entertainment usually includes magicians, fire-eaters, jugglers, mimes, and music makers from all over, performing against the backdrop of the illuminated cathedral. This is one of the greatest places in Paris to meet young people in a sometimes-euphoric setting.

Also popular is a stroll along the Seine after 10pm. Take a graveled pathway down to the river from the Left Bank side of pont de Sully, close to the Institut du Monde Arabe, and walk to the right, away from Notre-Dame. This walk, which ends near place Valhubert, is the best place to see spontaneous Paris in action at night. Joggers and saxophone players come here, and many Parisians arrive for impromptu dance parties.

To quench your thirst, wander onto Ile St-Louis and head for the Café-Brasserie St-Regis, 6 rue Jean-du-Bellay, 4e, across from pont St-Louis (tel. 01-43-54-59-41; Métro: Pont Marie). If you want to linger, you can order a plat du jour or a coffee at the bar. But try doing as the Parisians do: Get a 3€ ($4.35) beer to go (une bière à emporter) in a cup and take it with you on a stroll around the island. The cafe is open daily until midnight.

If you're caught waiting for the Métro to start running again at 5am, try the Sous-Bock Tavern, 49 rue St-Honoré, 1er (tel. 01-40-26-46-61; Métro: Les Halles or Louvre-Rivoli), open Monday to Saturday from 11am to 5am, Sunday 5pm to 5am. Young drinkers gather here to sample from 250 varieties of beer or 20 varieties of whisky. The dish to order is a platter of mussels -- curried, with white wine, or with cream sauce; they go well with the brasserie-style fries.

If drag shows aren't your cup of tea, how about Last Tango in Paris? At Le Tango, 11 rue au Maire, 3e (tel. 01-42-72-17-78; Métro: Arts et Métiers), memories of Evita and Argentina live on. On-site is a ballroom called La Boîte à Frissons. The evening starts at 10:30pm, with couples dancing until 12:30am, featuring the waltz, the tango, pasadoble, the polka, rock 'n' roll, and cha cha. After that, the dance floor turns into a disco. The cover is 7€ ($10). It's open Friday and Saturday from midnight to 5am.

If you're looking for a sophisticated, laid-back venue, consider the Sanz-Sans, 49 rue du Faubourg St-Antoine, 4e (tel. 01-44-75-78-78; www.sanzsans.com; Métro: Bastille or Ledru Rollin), a multi-ethnic playground where the children of prominent Parisians mingle, testifying to the unifying power of jazz. In this red-velvet duplex, the most important conversations seem to occur over margaritas on the stairway or the backroom couches. The later it gets, the sexier the scene becomes. No cover is charged.