Food and drink / Paris secrets

How to find ten more VERY hidden bars in Paris

Oliver Gee1 Comment on How to find ten more VERY hidden bars in Paris

Way back in 2018, cocktail queen Forest Collins from 52 Martinis revealed the ten best speakeasy bars in Paris.

Since then, the secrets spread. Those places became old news. You guys found them all, and so did the rest of Paris. Some of those speakeasies even closed down during the turbulent years that have passed.

But like phoenixes rising from the ashes, new hidden bars have been cropping up around Paris. Sometimes in the most unlikely places, like behind a secret door in a barbershop or a hotel.

And today on the podcast, Forest shares the lowdown on ten of these excellent bars, for your ears only.

Listen to her explaining them all in the embedded podcast episode below. It’s a fun-filled conversation, with laughs guaranteed. Scroll down for the addresses, websites, and short explanations about the bars.

The Earful Tower podcast episode

The ten most hidden speakeasies

Here’s the list in bullet form. Happy bar-hopping!

1. Rehab in Hotel Normandy

Address: 254 rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris

This is one of the city’s truly hidden bars that requires hotel staff to guide you through ongoing construction work to an unmarked door. Take the slim spiral staircase down to a dreamy underground den of CBD cocktails that transport you to another time and place. (Non-CBD cocktails available too!)

2. Yago

Address: 25 Rue Victor Massé, 75009 Paris

While not officially a speakeasy, the entrance to this very new and sexy little boudoir style SoPi cocktail bar is discrete enough and its online presence minimal enough that it’s a very confidential address to have in your back pocket – especially for a romantic date night.

3. Gentlemen 1919

Address: 11 Rue Jean Mermoz, 75008 Paris

Need a shave and a haircut and a dry martini? This ‘gentlemen’s club’ (that happily welcomes ladies, too) is hidden behind a hip little barber shop. Soak in the retro vibe while sinking into the comfy chesterfield sofas. Cigar smokers will appreciate the fumoir area.

4. Castor Club

Address: 14 Rue Hautefeuille, 75006 Paris

Though it’s been around for many years now, this is still a hush hush address with an unmarked door.  No pretension, just know which door to open and enter into a bar with a vibe of “colonial hunting lodge meets English gentlemen’s club,” as I descried it for one publication. 

Since then, I’ve seen it referred to as a lodge in Iceland, a Norwegian village tavern, something from Twin Peaks, and a Siberian chalet. And somehow all of these are appropriate. Plus the cocktails are topnotch. 

5. 1905

Address: 25 Rue Beautreillis, 75004 Paris

Hidden above the busy bistro Aux Vins des Pyrénées is the belle epoque inspired bar, 1905. With a sweet little terrace  and comfy corners it’s a perfect way to finish the night after dinner downstairs. 

This place also has an interesting history, with this space being known as a spot where Jim Morrison did his wine shopping for the day.

6. Le Secret 8 Buddha Bar

Address: 8-12 Rue Boissy d’Anglas, 75008 Paris

It may have been years since you went to the Buddha Bar, but there’s a secret door now hidden within its walls that make it well worth a revisit. If you know the password and can find the door you enter into a cabinet of curiosities and a truly secret bar within a bar. Discover the password by solving the riddle of the week posted on their Instagram page.

7. Serpent a plume 

Address: 24 Place des Vosges, 75004 Paris

Jewel tones and kitschy Wes Anderson vibes are a good way to describe this cool bar hidden within a Paris concept shop. It’s a beautiful-person kind of spot with stylish people who come to buy the hip PJs in the store and then listen to cool DJs in the bar.

8. L’Épicier

Address: 24 Rue Notre Dame de Nazareth, 75003 Paris

Like its sister bar, Lavomatic, the entrance to this bar is completely hidden within a different facade. Here, rather than a laundromat, you step into a minuscule shop and check the shelves stocked with boxes of couscous, harissa and various other sundries until you pull just the right box off the shelf to open the secret door to this Moroccan flavoured speakeasy.

9. Mobster Bar

Address: 8 Rue de Crussol, 75011 Paris

New York bar PDT was one of the OG of the Speakeasy bars with its entry hidden with a phone booth in a hotdog shop. Paris now has their own version, and it’s all 20s feeling with old phonographics, art deco lamp shades and its own phone booth entrance. 

10. Spootnik

Address: 57 Rue des Gravilliers, 75003 Paris

Hidden with the Datsha restaurant, downstairs is a new Russian cosmic themed bar called Spootnik. 

That’s it for Forest’s list! Note: In the podcast episode, I referred to another bar hidden at the Derriere restaurant which you can find here.

If you enjoyed these tips, find Forest Collins on 52 Martinis and check out her tips for more speakeasy bars in Paris here.

For more tips in Paris beyond the cocktails, be sure to check out The Earful Tower’s Guide to Paris.

And Support The Earful Tower on Patreon here. You’ll get the guide mentioned above for free.

One thought on “How to find ten more VERY hidden bars in Paris”

  1. Great episode! I went to the Paris Buddha Bar years ago and loved it! I also found one in Budapest and enjoyed the Thai food. I’m looking forward to checking out these secret places when I eventually make it back to Paris. Jenny Martin

    Reply

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