Amnesia Café 42 rue Vieille-du-Temple, 4e tel 01.42.72.16.94. Fashionably dressed young things pack into this classic, relaxed gay bar, with its sofas and basement club. M° St-Paul. Daily 11am–2am.Banana Café 13 rue de la Ferronnerie, 1er tel 01.42.33.35.31. Seriously hedonistic club-bar, packing in the punters with up-tempo clubby tunes. M° Châtelet. Daily 6pm–5am. Le Central 33 rue Vieille-du-Temple, 4e tel 01.48.87.99.33. The oldest gay local in the Marais. Small, friendly and always crowded with tourists and locals. M° Hôtel-de-Ville. Mon–Thurs 4pm–2am, Fri–Sun 2pm–2am. Café Cox 15 rue des Archives, 3e tel 01.42.72.08.00. Muscly, body-beautiful clientele up for a seriously good time. A good pre-club place, with DJs on weekend nights. M° Hôtel-de-Ville. Daily noon–2am. Le Duplex 25 rue Michel-le-Comte, 3e tel 01.42.72.80.86. Popular with trendily intellectual media types for its relatively sophisticated atmosphere, but still relaxed and friendly. M° Rambuteau. Sun–Thurs 8pm–2am, Fri & Sat 8pm–4am. Folies Pigalle 11 pl Pigalle, 9e tel 01.48.78.25.26. M° Pigalle. Le Mixer 23 rue Ste-Croix de la Bretonnerie, 4e tel 01.42.78.26.20. Another popular and crowded Marais bar, raising the pulse of gay and straight pre-clubbers with its pounding techno and house soundtrack. M° Hôtel-de-Ville. Daily 5pm–2am. Open Café 17 rue des Archives, 4e tel 01.48.87.80.25. The first gay bar/café to have tables out on the pavement. Hugely popular as a "look-at-me" pre-club venue, but more relaxed during the day. M° Hôtel-de-Ville. Daily 11am–2am. La Petite Vertu 15 rue des Vertus, 3e tel 01.48.04.77.09. Welcoming, inventive Marais address pulling in gay, lesbian and straight punters alike. Debates every other Wednesday on changing themes. M° Arts-et Métiers. Tues–Sun 5pm–2am. Le Piano Zinc 49 rue des Blancs-Manteaux, 4e tel 01.40.27.97.42. On Thurs, Fri and Sat, when the piano-playing starts at around 10pm, this bar becomes a happy riot of chanson music, music-hall acts and dance. M° Rambuteau/Hôtel-de-Ville. Daily 5pm–2am, Fri & Sat till dawn. Le Queen 102 Champs-Élysées, 8e tel 01.53.89.08.89. M° George-V. Le Tango 13 rue au-Maire, 3e tel 01.42.72.17.78. Gay and lesbian dancehall with a traditional bal until midnight, then house and mainstream dance later on. Tea dances Sun 6–11pm. M° Arts-et-Métiers. Fri, Sat & public hols 10.30pm–dawn.
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