Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [234]
RAIDD BAR Map Club
01 42 77 05 13; www.raiddbar.com; 23 rue du Temple, 4e; 5.30pm-5am; Hôtel de Ville
This is a club-bar that takes its cue from Splash in New York, with showering go-go boys behind glass and a terrace on which to cool off. It’s a pretty attitude-y place and the drinks aren’t cheap, but that’s New York for you. Happy hour daily 5pm to 10pm.
TANGO Map Club
01 42 72 17 78; www.boite-a-frissons.fr; 13 rue au Maire, 3e; admission €7; 10.30pm-5am Fri & Sat, 6pm-midnight; Arts et Métiers
Billing itself as a boîte à frissons (quivering club), Au Tango brings in a mixed and cosmopolitan gay and lesbian crowd. Housed in a historic 1930s dancehall, its atmosphere and style is retro and festive. Dancing gets going when it opens at 10.30pm with waltzing, salsa and tango. From about 12.30am onwards DJs play. Sunday’s gay tea dance is legendary.
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SLEEPING
HÔTEL CENTRAL MARAIS Map Hotel
01 48 87 56 08; www.hotelcentralmarais.com; 2 rue Ste-Croix de la Bretonnerie, 4e; s & d from €89, tr €109; Hôtel de Ville;
This small hotel in the centre of gay Paris caters essentially for gay men, though lesbians are also welcome. It’s in a lovely 17th-century building and its seven rooms are spread over several floors; there is no lift. Also, there is only one bathroom for every two rooms, though the room on the 5th floor has an en suite bathroom and toilet. Reception, which is on the 1st floor, is open from 8am to 5pm; after that check in around the corner at Le Central Bar (Map; 01 48 87 99 33; 33 rue Vieille du Temple, 4e; 4pm-2am Mon-Fri, 2pm-2am Sat & Sun; Hôtel de Ville), which is the oldest (in every sense) gay bar still open in Paris.
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FURTHER RESOURCES
Most of France’s major gay organisations are based in Paris. If you require a more complete list than we are able to provide here, pick up a copy of Genres, an almost-annual listing of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual organisations, at the Centre Gai et Lesbien de Paris Île de France (below) or consult Le Petit Futé Paris Gay et Lesbien guide (opposite).
Act Up Paris ( 01 48 06 13 89; www.actupparis.org, in French) Meetings open to the public are held every Tuesday at 7.30pm at the École des Beaux-Arts (Map; Amphithéâtre des Loges, 14 rue Bonaparte, 6e; St-Germain des Prés).
Association des Médecins Gais (AMG; 01 48 05 81 71; www.medecins-gays.org, in French) The Association of Gay Doctors deals with gay-related health issues. Telephone advice on physical-health issues is available from 6pm to 8pm on Wednesday and 2pm to 4pm on Saturday. For counselling, call between 8.30pm and 10.30pm Thursday.
Centre Gai et Lesbien de Paris Île de France (CGL; Map; 01 43 57 21 47; www.cglparis.org, in French; 63 rue Beaubourg, 3e; 6-8pm Mon, 3-8pm Tue & Thu, 12.30-8pm Wed, Fri & Sat, 4-8pm Sun; Rambuteau or Arts et Métiers) The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Centre, now in spanking-new premises just north of the Centre Pompidou, is your single best source of information in Paris. The large library of gay books and periodicals is open from 3pm to 8pm on Wednesday and 3pm to 6pm on Friday.
Écoute Gaie ( 0 810 811 057; www.france.qrd.org/assocs/ecoute-gaie, in French; 6-10pm Mon-Fri) Established in 1982, this is the oldest hotline for gays and lesbians in Paris.
SOS Homophobie ( 0 810 108 135, 01 48 06 42 41; www.sos-homophobie.org; 6-10pm Mon, Fri & Sun, 8-10pm Tue-Thu, 2-4pm Sat) This hotline takes anonymous calls concerning discriminatory acts against gays and lesbians.
Of gay and lesbian publications, Têtu (www.tetu.com, in French; €5) is a popular and widely circulating glossy monthly available at newsstands everywhere. Be on the lookout for bimonthly freebies like 2X (www.2xparis.fr) and Mâles-a-Bars (www.males-a-bars.com, in French), which have interviews and articles (in French) and listings of gay clubs, bars, associations and personal classifieds. You’ll find them stacked up at most gay venues. The monthly magazine Lesbia (€4.10), established almost 20 years ago, looks at lesbian