Candelaria pours mezcal behind a taqueria in the 3rd. Le Syndicat serves only French spirits in the 10th, Cave De Vie runs a tasting in a Montorgueil cellar, and for a late drink, Stolen Moon keeps a low-lit room off Oberkampf.
The short list
11 places, in the order they appear below.
- 01CandelariaMezcal cocktails3rd arrondissement
- 02Le Mary CelesteOysters and a cocktail at the barHaut Marais
- 03Little Red DoorA menu built around one idea3rd arrondissement
- 04MoonshinerRye whiskey in a speakeasy11th arrondissement
- 05Golden PromiseSingle malt cocktails2nd arrondissement
- 06Stolen Moon Cocktail BarDrinks made to order, lateOberkampf
- 07Bar HemingwayA dry martini inside the RitzPlace Vendôme
- 08Le SyndicatFrench spirits and liqueurs10th arrondissement
- 09Cave De VieA five-course cocktail tastingMontorgueil
- 10NOOSHSmall plates and a late weekendSainte-Marthe
- 11Hôtel ParticulierA quiet date in a garden pavilionMontmartre
Where are the best cocktail bars in the Marais?
In the Marais we go to Candelaria, which has the most serious mezcal and tequila program in Paris. Little Red Door reworks its menu around a new concept every year, and Le Mary Celeste pairs oysters with careful cocktails and an adventurous natural wine list.
You reach Candelaria by walking through the taqueria at the front and pushing the metal door at the back. The bar seats 26 people at most, so there is often a wait. Sit it out. The mezcal cocktails, drawn from a very good list of producers, are worth it.
Candelaria
Hours: Mon–Thu 15:00–02:00 · Fri–Sun 12:00–02:00
Address: 52 Rue de Saintonge, 75003 Paris, Francia
Le Mary Celeste comes from the same team and has held its busy corner for more than a decade. The crowd is young and international, and most of it stands around the central bar. Get a stool at opening time for oysters and a cocktail. People come back for the kimchi burger.
Le Mary Celeste
Hours: Mon–Wed 15:00–01:00 · Thu 15:00–02:00 · Fri–Sat 12:00–02:00 · Sun 12:00–01:00
Address: 1 Rue Commines, 75003 Paris, France
Little Red Door reopened after a renovation, with a new interior. The seasonal menu changes every year, and each one starts from a concrete idea rather than a look.
Little Red Door
Hours: Mon–Sun 17:00–02:00
Address: 60 Rue Charlot, 75003 Paris, Francia
Which Paris speakeasies are worth finding?
The two speakeasies we would send a whisky drinker to are both hidden behind or below another business. Moonshiner sits behind a pizzeria in the 11th and takes American whiskey and bourbon seriously. Golden Promise, on Rue Tiquetonne, makes its cocktails from the single malts stocked at La Maison du Whisky upstairs. Give either menu a little time.
At Moonshiner you walk through the Da Mimmo dining room to a wooden door at the back. Behind it is a complete, convincing period room. Order from the rye whiskey list, which is the most distinctive part of the menu.
Moonshiner
Hours: Mon–Thu 18:00–02:00 · Fri–Sat 18:00–02:30 · Sun 18:00–02:00
Address: 5 Rue Sedaine, 75011 Paris, Francia
The single malt cocktails are the reason to come to Golden Promise. No other bar in Paris has a whisky library to match it, so the drinks need no decoration: the bottles do the work.
Golden Promise
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Thu 18:00–01:00 · Fri–Sat 18:00–02:00 · Sun closed
Address: 11 Rue Tiquetonne, 75002 Paris, Francia
Where do locals drink cocktails in Oberkampf?
Stolen Moon is an intimate, low-lit room on a side street off Oberkampf, run hands on by its American owners.
Stolen Moon makes its syrups and garnishes in house. The list splits between theatrical originals and precise classics, though the owners would rather make something around the spirit and mood you describe than pour from the card. There are no reservations.
Stolen Moon Cocktail Bar
Hours: Mon–Thu 18:00–01:00 · Fri–Sat 18:00–02:00 · Sun closed
Address: 4 Rue Gambey, 75011 Paris, France
Which grand hotel bar in Paris is worth a cocktail?
For a classic hotel bar, we go to Bar Hemingway, a small wood-panelled room deep inside the Ritz on Place Vendôme. It is lined with photographs, books and old typewriters linked to the writer, and hotel guests share the few tables with Parisians marking a special night.
The bartenders mix classic cocktails with great precision, and the dry martini and the Serendipity are the drinks people come for. The room seats very few, so arrive right when it opens. Let the bartender suggest something based on what you usually drink rather than ordering from the menu.
Bar Hemingway
Hours: Mon–Sun 17:00–00:00
Address: 38 Rue Cambon, 75001 Paris, France
Which cocktail bars in Paris focus on French spirits?
Le Syndicat and Cave De Vie both draw their menus from French production. Le Syndicat, on the Faubourg Saint-Denis, uses only French spirits and sets out to revive the country’s liqueurs and eaux-de-vie. Cave De Vie is a limestone cellar under Montorgueil, and nearly everything it pours comes from small French producers.
From the street, Le Syndicat looks like an abandoned shop. That’s deliberate. Inside, order the calvados cocktail or one of the Chartreuse-based drinks; the menu is a good introduction to French spirits most visitors have never tasted.
Le Syndicat
Hours: Mon–Sun 18:30–02:00
Address: 51 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, 75010 Paris, Francia
At Cave De Vie, Alex Francis and Barney O’Kane keep the list rotating. Plates come down from the kitchen upstairs: fermented mushroom chips, or chicken liver parfait with a strawberry scone. The room is small, so you end up talking to the bartender. The tasting has an alcohol-free version made with the same care, and if you liked a bottle, the shelves by the door double as a shop.
Cave De Vie
Hours: Mon 17:00–01:00 · Tue–Wed closed · Thu–Sun 17:00–01:00
Address: 22 Rue Saint-Sauveur, 75002 Paris, France
Where to go for cocktails near the canal and in Montmartre?
NOOSH, near the canal in Sainte-Marthe, has a short cocktail list shaped by its founder’s Iranian roots. Up in Montmartre, Le Très Particulier is the bar of Hôtel Particulier: a glass pavilion behind wrought iron gates, away from the tourist streets of the hill, where drinks are mixed with herbs from the garden.
Mana Saghafi named NOOSH after the Farsi word for cheers. There are a handful of signature cocktails and two mocktails, with small plates made on site. Share the thousand layer potatoes. On weekends the relaxed, queer friendly crowd settles in late.
NOOSH
Hours: Mon closed · Tue 18:00–23:00 · Wed–Thu 18:00–00:00 · Fri–Sat 18:00–02:00 · Sun closed
Address: 40 Rue Jacques Louvel-Tessier, 75010 Paris, France
The pavilion at Hôtel Particulier is all red velvet and tropical plants. Cocktails use house syrups, herbs from the wild garden and honey from the owner’s hives, and each one is named after a film or a book. Go at dusk.
Hôtel Particulier
Hours: Mon–Fri 12:00–02:00 · Sat–Sun 12:00–00:00
Address: 23 Av. Junot, 75018 Paris, France
Plan your evenings by area: Moonshiner and Stolen Moon are both in the 11th. Several of these bars close early in the week, so check each card for opening days before you set out.
