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 -- The nightspots below 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 like 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.
