Ok, so let’s face it, you are not traveling to Paris just to go to a bar. And if you are – there are some more obvious options (Bar Hemingway at the Ritz, for one, is a bucket list experience for many and I recommend that experience as well, 30 euro cocktails and all).
But if you are traveling to discover, which I feel most people these days are, there is something just right about Hotel Particulier being the place you always needed to discover. For starters, even the cab drivers may get a little lost – for it is not on a street, but in a garden, behind big, important looking walls. Walls mean that you have to ring a doorbell. (I can sense you rolling your eyes here a little) I get it! Ringing a doorbell, typically is a sign that the people making you ring the doorbell are also going to make you do some other annoying things in order to enter (ie: pay cover charges, say “secret” passwords, wear a certain kind of outfit etc…) but this is not the case here. Someone will come, open the door and then you’re in. Then you walk a little and go behind a mansion, that is in fact the Hotel Particuliere. And then a few steps over, which seem to be taking you in the wrong direction or a dead end… you’re there.
And once you are there, it is something you sort of have to experience vs read about. The best comparison I could come up with is that “there” is like you walked into a Wes Anderson movie, if it was creative directed by David Lynch: low burgundy banquettes, black and white checkered floors, plenty of luscious greenery, a European girl who should be a high fashion model DJing French pop, good corners to hide in, flattering lightning, excellent service, just enough sexiness and humor and mischief in the air that feels very French, and bathrooms which you have to check out.
The final result: well, it is transportive. Yes, you are in Paris, on top of a hill, and yes, it is very easy to have a great night almost anywhere in that city, but something about this place feels like you are nowhere, but in your own movie. And you deserve to be in a movie.
The Bar at Hotel Particulier, Pavillon D, 23 Avenue Junot, 75018 Paris, France (All images – via hotel website)
More Bars Worth Traveling To:
- Alfredo’s Cantina – Monterey, California
- Container Bar – Austin, Texas
- Bellwoods Brewery – Toronto, Canada
- The Neighber’s – Omaha, Nebraska
- Maps – Portland, Maine
- Melvyn’s Restaurant & Lounge – Palm Springs, California
- Dino’s – Nashville, Tennessee
- Mikkeller & Friends – ReykjavÃk, Iceland
- Nice Guys Pizza and Beer – Cape Coral, Florida
- Zeitgest – San Francisco, California
- The Sitting Room at Delahunt – Dublin, Ireland
- Tlachiquero – Mexico City, Mexico
- The Country Club – New Orleans, Louisiana
