Unusual Nights in Paris

Mike Gerrard of The Travel Pages reviews an excellent and very unusual Paris guidebook, Unusual Nights in Paris, from French publisher Jonglez.

Sometimes we hear people say, ‘Who needs another guide to Paris?’ Well, if you look at the bookshelves full of Paris guidebooks, or do a search on Amazon, you know what they mean. But there’s always room for a guide which shows the city in a different light, and that’s definitely the case with Unusual Nights in Paris.

Unusual Nights in Paris is published by Jonglez, and we’re big fans of their series of ‘Secret’ guides. On a recent visit to Amsterdam we made good use of Secret Amsterdam, and we’ve also given an enthusiastic review to their Secret Dublin, Secret Rome, Soul of Lisbon, and other guidebooks. As the company is based just outside Paris, in Versailles, you would expect their Paris guides to be something special – and they are, beginning here with Unusual Nights in Paris.

Unusual Nights in Paris

Very often when we go away, we spend the days sightseeing, and the evening having a good meal. Maybe we pop into a bar or a cafe for an aperitif or a nightcap. Real night owls will of course have sussed out the nightclub scene and know where they can dance and drink till dawn. But there are so many other interesting and fun things going on in the evenings in a city like Paris that it would be a shame not to make the most of them.

150 Nightspots

The book promises ‘150 Nightspots off the Beaten Track’, though don’t be misled into thinking this is all about bars and nightclubs. It’s a very broad collection of unusual ways to spend an evening in the city of light… after dark. It even includes such places as the National Assembly, the Musée d’Orsay and other museums that are open in the evenings, so it isn’t just a bible for clubbers.

Naked Nights in Paris

There are plenty of less conventional suggestions, though. Do you want to go swimming in the nude? If so, turn to page 72 to find out which swimming pool has nights for nude swimmers, and also which gay bar in the Marais has naked nights and jockstrap parties.

Stars and Bars

You may prefer to keep your clothes on if you go to the Ice Bar at the Kube Hôtel (http://www.kubehotel-paris.com/en/), or go star-gazing at the Observatoire de la Société Astronomique de France (http://lastronomie.com/). You can take a spooky night-time tour of the Catacombs, or by contrast even play golf at night in the streets of Paris.

Unusual Hotel Nights in Paris

As well as unusual ways of passing the night the guide has also come up with some unusual ways of spending the night, other than in a conventional hotel room. You can take a room at the Shakespeare and Co bookshop, for example, or have a room on a river barge, or – something I’d no idea you could do – you can book a room in the Hôtel Dieu hospital next to Nôtre Dame on the Île de la Cité. It’s the oldest city hospital, originally founded in 651 on the same site, though the present buildings date from 1877.

The book’s author, Jean-Laurent Cassely, really has to be commended for coming up with so many imaginative and original ideas for unusual ways of spending the night in Paris.

Nights of the Week

A very useful feature at the back of the book is a summary of what nights out are available on which nights of the week. So if you’re in Paris on a Friday and Saturday nights, say, you don’t have to read the entire book only to find that the thing you really want to do only happens on a Tuesday.

On the other hand, if you’re planning a visit to Paris and are flexible about days, you should read the book in full. You might want to plan your timing around some of these unusual nights.

Excellent Index

In addition to the list of what’s happening on which nights of the week there’s also a conventional alphabetical index, from ‘Altiz, the tarot messenger’ through to ‘Zodiac rides on the Seine’ via more conventional activities like visiting the National Assembly or the Louvre.