26 editor picks across France.
26 speakeasies worth the night across France, editor-ranked. All France guides.
Carry Nation in Marseille's 6e Castellane is the city's first speakeasy, opened 2011 behind the storefront of a souvenir shop, with a 40-seat Prohibition-era.
TipBook on the website to receive the address and door code by email; cocktails €13-16. Capacity is 40 so weekend slots go a fortnight ahead.
Cravan Saint-Germain in Paris's 6e is the Franck Audoux five-floor cocktail house in a 17th-century townhouse on Boulevard Saint-Germain, with a rooftop.
TipBook the rooftop kiosk for two hours; main bar walk-ins go to the salon on the second floor. Cocktails €18-22.
Symbiose Speakeasy in Bordeaux's Chartrons is the hidden cocktail bar behind the bookshelf at Symbiose, with homemade syrups, forgotten ingredients.
TipNo reservations on the speakeasy side; arrive 19:00 to claim a stool or stay through dinner for a guaranteed seat.
L'Antiquaire in Lyon's 1er Presquile is the Marc Bonneton cocktail bar on Rue Hippolyte Flandrin, with Chesterfield booths, vintage fans and dim Charleston-era lighting that helped seed the city's craft-cocktail scene.
TipQuietest 18:00-20:00, jammed after 22:00 Thu-Sat; cocktails around €10 including the house Bacardi Fizz with chartreuse and cream.
Aperture hides behind a plain Ecusson door on Rue des Trésoriers de la Bourse, a twenty-seat bar run by world cocktail champion Julien Escot.
TipThere are barely twenty seats, so arrive before 20:00 at weekends or expect to stand.
CopperBay in Marseille's 6e Notre-Dame du Mont is the marine-themed cocktail bar on Boulevard Notre Dame, a Paris-Marseille two-city project with blue-tiled.
TipCocktails €11-14, wines from €7 by the glass; tapas €5-9 to share. Closed Sunday-Monday, busiest Friday after 21:00.
Le Lavomatique on Rue du Pont Vieux in Vieux Nice is the Loubert brothers' late natural wine bar, a quiet speakeasy-style alternative to the loud Cours Saleya rooms with growers' Champagne and snacks.
TipThe natural list rotates every week; the speakeasy mood holds quietly until last orders.
Cave de la Tour on Rue de la Tour runs the Gazan family wine bar in Vieux Nice since 1947, a quieter speakeasy-style late afternoon and evening room with the granite counter and Bellet pours.
TipThe granite counter is the bar; the back room is quieter still for a Bellet white as the city closes.
Moonshiner in Paris's 11e Bastille is the Art Deco speakeasy hidden behind the cold-room door of the Da Vito pizzeria on Rue Sedaine, with 83 whiskies.
TipAsk staff at Da Vito for the bar; cocktails €13-16. Quietest before 21:00, jammed after 23:00 Thu-Sat.
L'Agence on Rue du Languedoc is the canonical Toulouse speakeasy, hidden behind a real-estate-agency storefront and a sliding library, with a tight cocktail list.
TipDoor bookings online via the bar's site; arrive on time, the room fills fast on Friday and Saturday.
ApOthEk in Bordeaux's Saint-Pierre is the dim-lit cocktail bar on Rue du Cancera with a menu of refined creations, a strict no-Mojito posture.
TipStrong dress code; book a back-room table for the quietest setting.
Shelby Secret Bar on Rue Sainte-Anne in Lille is entered through a vintage telephone, a prohibition-styled room of built signature cocktails.
TipThe signature cocktails, Le Finn and Le Lizzy among them, run at 14 euros and change with the seasons.
Le Florian in Lyon's 5e Vieux Lyon is the Prohibition-styled cocktail bar tucked inside a 15th-century building on Place de la Baleine, with a Venetian Renaissance room and a linden-shaded terrace since 2012.
TipSeasonal cocktail menu around 11-€14; the terrace by the linden tree is the calmer pick, the basement room livelier on weekends.
Soda Bar in Lyon's 1er Presquile is the 2006 cocktail institution on Rue de la Martiniere, taken over by Maxime Chabert in August 2024 with a 1970s recording-studio fit-out, JBL speakers and a soul, funk and vinyl-led playlist.
TipOpen until 04:00 every night except Monday; cocktails 11-€14, the back banquette is the quieter table after midnight.
Le Mary Celeste in Paris's 3e Marais is the corner cocktail and oyster bar opened 2012 by the Experimental Cocktail Club team, with a long zinc counter.
TipOysters Tue-Sat from €3 each; the early evening at 18:00 is when the high-tops free up.
Lone Palm in Paris's 11e Bastille is the Ben Benayoun tiki-tinged Californian cocktail bar on Rue Keller, with a 1950s palm-and-rattan room and house frozen.
TipFrozen daiquiris are the order; arrive before 21:00 for a banquette or after 00:30 for the late lull.
Le Quatrième Tiers works a deep spirits list from a quiet Rue Roucher room, closer to a tasting bar than a cocktail lounge and seated throughout.
TipAsk the bar to build around a spirit you like rather than ordering from the printed list.
Medusa on rue Bon Secours is a cocktail bar dressed like a 1930s club, with about ten original seasonal cocktails that change twice a year, a taste guide to choose by flavour, and a crocodile named Odile hanging from the ceiling.
TipUse the taste guide on the menu to pick by flavour, or ask the bartender for a custom drink; the menu turns over in spring and autumn.
Andy Wahloo in Paris's 3e Marais is the Mourad Mazouz cocktail lounge stacked with Moroccan tea-canister stools and a North African disco soundtrack.
TipSunday-Monday closed; Friday-Saturday DJ nights book up fast. Smaller back room is the quieter table.
Le Comptoir de la Bourse in Lyon's 2e Presquile is the long-running cocktail and tapas bar on Rue de la Bourse, with daytime coffee service shifting to a craft cocktail and small-plates programme after dark.
TipHappy hour Mon-Fri 17:00-20:00 with cocktails from €7; the back tables are quieter than the front counter after 22:00.
Polikarpov on Cours Honoré d'Estienne d'Orves in Marseille's 1er is the city's smallest vodka bar, named after the Russian fighter plane, with a 25-vodka.
TipVodka shots €5, cocktails €9-12; the south-facing pedestrian terrace is the spot from 18:00. Cards accepted.
Aedaen Place on Rue des Aveugles is a tucked-back art space and cocktail bar pouring inventive drinks, a quieter hideaway off the busy rue des Soeurs.
La Planque hides down a staircase off Rue des Trois Mollettes in Lille, a vintage cellar where cocktails and half-litre beers both cost 5 euros.
TipThere is no sign worth looking for. Find the staircase, then keep going down.
L'Unic Bar on Cours Jean Ballard in Marseille's 1er is the eclectic-decor cocktail counter just off the Vieux Port, with a long pavement terrace.
TipCocktails €9-12; the back room with the antique-shop fittings is the calmer corner once the terrace fills.
Prohibition hides a New York bootleg-era cellar under the Bouffay streets of Nantes, cocktails and beer with DJ sets running through until 03:30.
TipDoors are late even by Nantes standards, 22:00 midweek and 21:00 at the weekend, and the music starts at 23:00.
L'Univers keeps a speakeasy-styled room off Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Nantes, food and concerts early then drinking through to 04:00 at weekends.
TipIt runs two hours later than most Graslin bars on Friday and Saturday, which makes it a useful second stop.
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