Gay Paris

Any tips on gay shops, restaurants, bars/clubs to visit in the city?

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Go to the Marais , in the 4th arr. It is the %26quot;gay quarter%26quot; of paris...

On the Champs Elysees the club %26quot;Queen%26quot; caters to the gay population. Hard to get in, though. You must have the right look and arrive no earlier than midnight. I went w/ a gay friend of mine who was visiting, and they almost didn%26#39;t let me in because I was a straight female...but finally they did.

Les

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and le petit prince de paris is a restaurant in the 5th....

Les

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The largest gay area is the Marais, but my partner and I have never felt uncomfortable in any part of the city. There are some free publications such as Illico that will tell you what%26#39;s going on where during your stay.

HAPPY HOUR:

L%26#39;Open Café (corner of rue des Archives and rue Ste-Croix de la Bretonnerie)--very popular; ages 18-50; stand-up or sit down; terrific peanuts; outdoor seating

Café Cox (a few doors down rue des Archives from Open Café)--very popular; ages 30-60 (at least many of them look older); a bit of a leather daddy look; beer crowd; sort of cruisy.

MID-EVENING:

Numerous bars all along rue Ste-Croix de la Bretonnerie, rue du Temple, rue de la Verrerie, rue de Roi de Sicile. There are also a few in the Beaubourg/Les Halles area like Banana Cafe and Cafe Beaubourg.

RAINY AFTERNOON:

L%26#39;Amnesia Café (rue Vielle du Temple at corner of rue des Rosiers); very nice environment; good drinks; conversation; also busy later at night.

DANCE CLUBS:

Queen (ave de Champs-Elysées)--entry requirements are that you must be at least one of the following (well-known, well-dressed, well-hung); don%26#39;t go before midnight and do expect a wait at the door; do have a backup plan in case you don%26#39;t get in; having been there (I settled for attribute #2 above) I can say I%26#39;m glad I went, but I wouldn%26#39;t bother to go again

Club Amnésia (Montparnasse area)--I haven%26#39;t been to this mega-club, but it seems popular.

There are also a lot of clubs that are gay on certain nights, certain week-ends, etc. You can find them in one of the free publications available at all the bars.

RESTAURANTS:

Aux Trois Petits Cochons (rue Tiquetonne)

Pigz (rue Marie Stuart)

Au Gay Moulin (rue Ste-Crois de la Bretonnerie)--very popular but I got a most amazingly memorable case of food poisoning there

Le Petit Picard (rue Ste-Croix de la Bretonnerie)

Au Tibourg (rue Bourg de Tibourg)

Les 3 (rue Ste-Croix de la Bretonnerie)

Les Maronniers (rue des Archives)

Le Petit Prince de Paris (rue Lanier)

SHOPPING:

There are numerous small stores of all sorts in the Marais--clothing, home furnishings, books, antiques, personal entertainment toys (how%26#39;s that, O Great TripAdvisor Censors).

If you need additional information, you can email me directly at dcgad@aol.com

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Thanks so much for all the tips!

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For dancing: don%26#39;t go to Le Queen, too far away, tacky, bad music, and only caters to tourists and female hairdressers from Reims who want to see what a %26quot;gay%26quot; place looks like. Plus, it%26#39;s not even gay any more.

As Truffaut says, the best spots to go dancing are one nighters listed in Illico or e-male, the free weeklies that you can pick up at any Marais gay bar or store (Les Mots à la Bouche, the gay bookstore on rue Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie is a good info resource). You can also buy Têtu, the French Advocate (well, not as serious). Current good clubs include Otra Otra, Finally, but word has it that the best clubs are (official, licit and listed in the said publications) after hours, 8AM to noon on Sunday mornings. I even have friends who go to sleep early on Sundays and put the alarm clock on to go there! But most guys will have been up the whole night, largely thanks to a few magic pills...

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Thanks for the great help Truffaut. Any updates lately?

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