The Best Clubs in Paris for House Music Lovers
You’re only young and in Paris once. And also, if you’re spending your evenings at Duplex, Rue Princess and Pachamama it’s time to grow out of the tourist circuit. The city is more than just TikTok playlists and recycled pop remixes on rinse. For AUP students in need of energy, rhythms and anything genuine, Paris’s house music scene has all that and more: an array of dubplates, light shows and late-night wizardry that goes far beyond your “For You Page.”
GATE (2 PLACE DE LA PORTE MAILLOT, 75017)
Gate is located just outside the city center, and that perhaps explains why so many people pass by it, but anyone who visits surely regrets it. The space has the feel of a cathedral of sound, with neon strobes slicing through darkness and heavy bass pounding walls. From the VIP mezzanine, you can see the crowd below ripple like one heartbeat. House nights in here usually deliver international DJs, and the crowd is happily mixed with locals, expats and seasoned regulars who actually know the records. It's quite far according to many but if you take the line 1, then in about 15-20 mintues you will be there and oh so worth it! If you really wanna feel the music and have fun this is definitely the place for it.
SILENCIO (142 RUE MONTMARTRE, 75002)
Out on the street, all you will notice is a very long line of people and an unobtrusive golden door. You step inside, and into a labyrinth — five floors down below the streets of Paris, where the velvet walls and dusky amber light of the place consume all sound of the city. The air is champagne and sandalwood, [...] “I’ve been lost in Silencio more times than I’d like to admit,” said AUP student Fiona Langan. “It’s easy to get lost in the music when you are that deep underground. Designed by David Lynch, Silencio is cinematic, each room a new scene, a different beat pulling you down into the dream.
TABOO (42 RUE DU COLISÉE, 75008)
Taboo is intimacy’s definition of luxury. Nestled one street off the Champ-Elysees, it’s small enough to feel exclusive, but loud enough to rattle the block. Look out for fashion week regulars, students in head-to-toe black and DJs playing deep house sets that blend into the small hours. Look your best—it's a no-sneakers evening.
MIRAGE (65 RUE PIERRE CHARRON, 75008)
Mirage is smorgasbord of awesome, in a good way. Picture lasers cutting through smoke, visuals reflected across mirrored walls and bass that you could feel going through your body. However it’s kind of a place where the sense of time disappears, the LED lights flash like a heartbeat and you feel like everything is floating between beats. Mirage draws a slightly older, slightly more polished demographic, but its a retreat of choice for serious house heads who came to hear music, not take selfies.
YOYO (13 AVENUE DU PRÉSIDENT WILSON, 75016
“It’s difficult to not feel like you’ve stepped into a museum or warehouse,” quips AUP senior Aya Kabbani. “But then when the music comes on, you lose yourself. YoYo is located below ground in the Palais de Tokyo, an art museum by day, rave cave by night. The cavernous concrete space, strobes and limited visuals lend it an industrial aesthetic and the DJs range from house through tech-house to electro. Some nights are wall-to-wall chaos; others, you’ll have room enough to dance until dawn beneath swooping light beams.
PHANTOM (8 BOULEVARD DE BERCY, 75012)
Phantom plays a shade on the darker, tribal side of house. The setting is raw, black walls, strobe flashing and crushing sets that grow until it's control chaos. There is one bar (bring cash) and a bathroom that’s practically performance art in its own right, with neon mirrors and Châtelet Metro-style tiles. Hardcore here doesn’t mean unsafe, it means immersive, unflinching and all about the music.
REX CLUB (5 BOULEVARD POISSONNIÈRE, 75002)
THE VARIETY of electronic dance music featured at the REX CLUB reflects its diverse history and range of international D.J.s performing there. Rex Club One of the oldest and most established electronic music venues in Europe, Rex Club has been at the epicenter of Paris’s house culture since 1988. Think sticky floors, no frills decoration, and world-class DJs going well after sunrise. On house night the energy is second to none, you get people lost in the rhythm they do not have time for their phones. If you’re new to house, this is a place to start: It’s all about the music here.
RASPOUTINE (58 RUE DE BASSANO, 75008)
Formerly a Russian cabaret in the 1960s, Raspoutine still has its red velvet curtains, chandeliers and music loud enough to ensure you’ll talk closely into one another’s ears. The club’s house set make the space feel somewhere between fever dream and cathedral. Chic: The crowd is a blend of artists, models and those who appreciate a good groove dressed in couture. The vibe? Decadent, trance-y and totally worth not heading home until dawn.
CARMEN (34 RUE DUPERRÉ, 75009)
Housed in a Haussmenn mansion from the 1870s, Carmen’s ornate ceilings, marble between the columns and dripping chandeliers will make you feel like you’ve stepped into another century. With inspiration from Georges Bizet’s Carmen, the decor is deliberately theatrical as homage to excess and emotion. Don’t be fooled by the luxury: When that beat drops, the entire building shakes. It’s all disorder in a paper of class, and it’s glorious.
T7 (1 PLACE DE LA PORTE DE VERSAILLES, 75015)
Nights at T7 during summer under the stars are more memorable. The club’s open-air terrace overlooks the Seine, city lights twinkling behind the DJ booth. You can watch the sun rise over the skyline, while the crowd dances all night. The vibe is casual bliss (a bit of a festival, a bit of a daydream), and so is the sound (all house music).
For AUP students, Paris nightlife can be intimidating, a whirl of tourist clubs, jacked-up prices and top-40 hits. But the house music scene is about something else: community, rhythms, and spaces that feel both local and boundless. Whether you’re an experienced raver or just dabbler, these clubs can serve as a reminder that in Paris the night doesn’t stop, it morphs.
