In the heart of the Pigalle sex district, just down the street from the storied Moulin Rouge, La Cigale is one of my favorite places to see live music in Paris.

Photo: Andreas Praefcke

Founded in 1887 and protected as a historical monument, it began life as a cabaret featuring stars like Maurice Chevalier. Later on, in the years followoing the first world war, La Cigale on 120 Boulevard de Rochechouart played host to vaudeville theater and futuristic parties by Jean Cocteau. From the 1940s on, it fell into a bit of disrepair, becoming a cinema that specialized in Kung Fu and later X-rated films.

The venue got a new lease on life in 1987 when it was taken over and redecorated by rising designer Philippe Starck. La Cigale returned to its roots and once again started pulling in the best singer/songwriters of the day. The plush red seating and curvaceous balconies provide a lovely setting for quiet shows. I saw Vincent Delerm here and loved curling up in my velvet chair while trying to translate his lyrics.

Photo: Mu Foo

Those same chairs are cast aside when the big bands come to town. La Cigale has a loud side, too, and books (along with la Maroquinerie) the best indie pop and rock shows in Paris. The main floor bounces like a trampoline during rowdy shows. As you can see from this video I made at last night's Vampire Weekend concert, you can't help but jump along. 

 
After the Show
When I want a post-concert bottle or a bite, I head west half a block to La Fourmi. This cavernous bar, which has a fabulous wine bottle chandelier, is inexpensive good fun. They serve basic sandwiches and pasta until around 11pm.

Cul de Poule                                                                                                           Photo: Mu Foo

Another alternative is to head south down the rue des Martyrs to Cul de Poule. This funky new hot spot serves great wine and simple food using top-shelf ingredients. Their kitchen stays open until 11pm, but they serve stellar charcuterie and cheese upon request until 1am. Play it safe and call ahead at +33 (0)1 53 16 13 07.

Advance Warning - If you're planning to be in Paris, you may want to reserve in advance for the following concerts at La Cigale:

November 13 - Franz Ferdinand 
November 16 - Hot Chip
November 26 - Stereolab
April 08 - Kim Wilde
April 09 - Sébastien Schuller

Insider Tip - when shows are sold out there's almost always somebody standing outside selling extra tickets at face value. Just show up and keep your ears open - you can usually score a ticket. Increase your chances by carrying a sign that reads cherche billet.

Go further: Read here at which music venues in Stockholm Francis goes dancing and screaming and here to find out where in Prague Jason goes for inexpensive beer and Czech art-rock.    

We thought it was a purely English phenomenon. However, Bed & Breakfast has become at huge hit in France, yes even in Paris, where Parisians hire out rooms and serve homemade jam for breakfast. Vi took the grand tour and found both luxury, four-poster beds and funny people.

At home with Jean-Luc

Behind a small carved oak door in rue Charlot, in a 17th century town house right at the centre of Le Marais. You ring the door bell at Marchand, and when you’ve scaled the curved staircase it feels like you are visiting a boarding house for artists in provincial France.

Here are large windows overlooking the street and detached beams. Luscious parquet flooring, a wonderful old fireplace, a painting of an ancestor and green leather furniture of the worn out kind filled with colorful pillows. Plus, obviously, a bulky library, a gold mirror and a piano.

This is where Jean-Luc and Denise Marchand live with their three grown-up children. Until recently Jean-Luc was a businessman in the financial sector. Educated at New York University’s Stern School of Business and with a global career in the large consultant firms. But suddenly he felt fed up with plane trips and the train ride to the City in London, and at the age of  50 he quit his job and opened a Bed & Breakfast at his home address. He never regretted the decision.

The three rooms are almost always booked and Jean-Luc clearly thrives in the role as host. He likes to get up early to buy croissants for the guests and his plentiful breakfast has already been mentioned in The Sunday Times. Jean-Luc produces the honey himself at his country house in Perigord and the jam is homemade by Mrs. Denise. She is a psychotherapist and owns a practice in town.

The three rooms are located on the first floor and have a private entrance, private bathroom and lots of fine details. Like a sink, carved in dark grey granite and placed on top of a big heavy oak log.

The most beautiful room is the Enclos des Templiers - named after the fortress built by the Templars in the Marais in the thirteenth century. In this room there are terracotta floors, detached beams and a view of the small inner courtyard typical of Paris’ closely built historical center.

Rates for a room: 125 € a night for two people.

Denise & Jean-Luc Marchand, 63, rue Charlot, 75003 Paris.
www.bonne-nuit-paris.com

In the pink house at Montparnasse

Marie-Martine is a former travel journalist and Michel is a painter. The couple inhabits the two top floors of a pink brick building close to Montparnasse and here – in the Maison Hippolyte – they hire out one of their rooms: 30 square meters with a private entrance and bathroom, equipped with a French iron bed, a paint-stripped country style cupboard and the light streaming in from the big windows.

The couple has traveled extensively and they have stayed at tons of Bed & Breakfasts. Perhaps as a result of this, they have been able to create exactly the home-like, cozy nerve, which is the whole point of private accommodation. The breakfast alone is worth the stay. Freshly baked baguette, homemade cakes, Marie-Martine’s home made jam, juice, yoghurt, apple compote and steaming hot tea from the Palais des Thés.

The room offers a fine view of the street life and in the evening of the Eiffel Tower, which sparkles with 20,000 light bulbs every whole hour.

The price is almost touching: 85 € a night for two – including the brilliant breakfast. But make reservations well in advance, because Marie-Martine and Michel have already been mentioned in both French and foreign medias, so their one room is in demand.

La Maison Hippolyte, 27, rue Hippolyte-Maindron, 75014 Paris.

High standards in the biscuit factory

It was an old dream that last year inspired Marie Funke and her husband to buy the manager’s residence close connected to an old biscuit factory in the 13th arrondissement.

Marie Funke, who had worked in the hotel business for 20 years, wanted to create an exclusive Bed & Breakfast where she could spoil her guests while having more time to spend with her children. She succeeded.

La Villa Paris is high class through and through. Four spacious rooms with trendy English wallpaper, flat screen TVs and designer lamps that light up when you turn the base.

At Marie Funke’s, the breakfast is served in the salon. All the guests sit together around the big table and in no time the conversation ripples across the table while Mrs Funke discretely tiptoes around with extra raisin buns for all.

She has named her four rooms Opera, Concorde, Bastille and Champs-Elysées. They’re all comfortable, but if you are on a honeymoon then go for the Champs-Elysées, which has a huge marble bathroom with a jacuzzi.

The one thing you could possibly wish was different is the location, because Paris’ 13th arrondissement is normally not known for its charm. However, Marie’s Chambre d’Hotes is actually rather nicely located by a small square and taking the high standard of the rooms into account, the price is very reasonable: 135 to 160 € a night for at double room.

La Villa Paris, 33, rue de la Fontaine à Mulard, 75013 Paris. 

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When I walk through the door at Goumanyat et son Royaume, I'm greeted by a cascade of bells and then the trickle of an indoor waterfall. It's a brief moment of calm before the sensory overload begins. I'm in the best spice shop in Paris, and my eyes and nose are going to be working overtime.

All photos: Mu Foo 

I begin to scan the shelves and am soon approached by a friendly, soft-spoken man. This is Jean Marie Thiercelin, sixth generation owner, whose family has been trading in since 1809. He gives me a lengthy lesson about the history of saffron, complete with old photos of his grandparents, and then offers to take me to the bar. "Le Sniff Bar," that is.

Le Sniff Bar consists of more than twenty glass containers. Their contents range from the highest quality clove and star anise – two ingredients for which the shop is known – to specialties that Jean Marie creates himself. A blend like poivre de dames – a mix of pepper and Iranian rose petals – might be crafted especially for a local chef. Top restaurants across the city source their spices from la Maison Thiercelin, and Jean Marie counts chefs like Pierre Gagnaire among his clients and friends. He lifts the lid on jar after jar, and I'm intoxicated from the heady mix of stories and smells.

Jean Marie then invites me to explore the Chinese apothecary chests that house hundreds of powder-filled drawers. "The chests make sense," he explains. “Spice merchants were the original druggists.” He then excuses himself to greet some other clients in perfect English. There is plenty to keep me occupied, and I begin to fill a basket with delicacies. Low prices make it easy to experiment (saffron vinegar, smoked salt…) without breaking the bank.

Beyond spices, Goumanyat also sells books, high-quality knives, and cookware like Le Creuset. Not exactly easy to carry home in a suitcase, but nonetheless fun to drool over.

Down in the basement there's a carefully-stocked wine cellar and a demonstration kitchen. Cooking classes are taught here on Saturday afternoons. They cost 89€ for a three-hour session, and the theme changes every month. Sign up in November, for example, and you'll learn how to put on a twelve-course holiday meal. December on the other hand, is for serious foie gras gluttons. The fun part about these classes, explains Jean Marie, is that you can just run upstairs to the shop if you need a pinch of oregano.

When I finally leave Goumanyat, I'm shocked to discover that the afternoon is nearly over. The cure for my sensory overload is waiting across the street at Café Crème, where locals are gathering for the apéro. I sit among them and am joined by a friend for a pre-dinner drink. Sipping glasses of pastis, we turn the pages of Saffron: the Gold of Cuisine, Jean Marie’s book, and begin to dream about what we can cook.

GOUMANYAT ET SON ROYAUME, 3 rue Charles-François Dupuis, 75003.

CAFÉ CRÈME; 4 rue Dupetit-Thouars, 75003.

An out-of-the-way corner of the 20th arrondissement has recently become the center of hipster Paris. It all started with La Fleche d'Or - a locally-treasured concert hall that teeters above abandoned tracks. Formerly a train station, this cavernous space on 102 bis rue Bagnolet has for years been drawing crowds with it's free nightly shows. That's right, free concerts - with two to three bands playing every night, often followed by a DJ. The talent ranges from local and "interesting" to internationally-known and brilliant. Up-and-coming artists often play their first Paris gig here before returning to bigger shows at la Maroquinerie and other venues.

Photo: la Flèche d'Or

The spacious outdoor terrasse provides a place to talk with friends without having to shout. In the summer, people often spend more time here than inside watching the bands. If you didn't have time to eat beforehand, an adjoining restaurant puts out decent (not great) food. Drink prices are high here - a small beer will run you €6, and a watery cocktail is €8. But considering the free entry, it's still a relatively cheap night out. 

Photo: la Flèche d'Or

I've seen countless good shows here (and quite a few bad ones, too), but my favorite took place last summer when Zach Condon (of the band Beirut) came to play with his idols, the Macedonian marching band Kocani Orkestar. The video below gives an idea of the kind of joy that can erupt in this place.

Mama Shelter 

Photo: Francis Amiand

Open only a few months now, Mama Shelter is already a hotspot thanks to interior design by Philippe Starck, a funky bar and restaurant, and prices lower than you'd ever expect to find in Paris. Rooms start at just €79 (gasp!), and feature amenities like iMacs and Star Wars-themed bedside lamps.

 
Photo: Francis Amiand

In addition to its geek-chic clientele, Mama Shelter is also trying to seduce music fans. Understanding the allure of the neighboring rock club, the hotel has worked out a deal to let their guests jump to the front of the line at the Flèche d'Or. And because the queue can sometimes snake around the block, that little perk is nothing to sneeze at.

 
Photo: Mu Foo 

For music-loving travelers on a budget, Mama Shelter and La Flèche d'Or are an unbeatable combination. The hotel is one of the cheapest (and coolest) in the city, and you can't beat the price of admission at the club. Although it may be far from the center, there's plenty to love about about this quarter. Père Lachaise cemetary is around the corner, and the sweet quarter of Saint Blaise with its winding cobblestone streets is just a short wander away.

MAMA SHELTER; 109 rue Bagnolet, 75020.

Go further: Find out where in Prague Jason goes when he in mood for Czech art-rock and ZZ Top covers here and were in Stockholm Francis goes crazy at concerts with Swedish pop sensation Robyn here.

Brazilian Favela Chic is one of the funniest dancing spots in Paris right now and especially nice if you’ve started with a dinner in the restaurant and felt the spontaneous atmosphere grow.

At 10 pm the place is packed. You are benched by long tables, thrown in amidst a bunch of happy people. The last time we were there, we had an Arabian film maker and his date, a German-Bolivian girl, next to us on one side, and on our other side sat an archetypical Parisian girl and a handsome black guy wearing Armani and flip flops.

Photo by Alexdecarvalho

It’s extremely hip, but very bohemian and refreshingly uncomplicated. The interior is retro, almost old school: Orange and polka dotted wallpaper, a large open kitchen with a Virgin Mary figurine by the stove and a dancing corner painted grass-green, where people have to make room between the DJ’s table and a white leather couch from the 80s.

The music is cheerful and with a distinct inspiration from black music: soul, funk and jazz. After the last service close to midnight, it seems people just can’t sit still anymore and in a somewhat improvised manner, the thirtysomethings, the student, a couple of famous actors and a few foreigners start mixing on the dance floor.

If you are dining there, try the Feijoada, a Brazilian stew with black beans, smoked pork and bayberry that has simmered a whole day and is served with rice, kale and manioc.

Favela Chic, 18, rue de Faubourg-du-Temple, 11. arr. Metro: République

By Louise Sandager, extract from the travel guide PARIS mon amour!, published by Gyldendal.