Must-see nightlife in Provence

  • Waaw

    Marseille

    Marseille’s creative chameleon and the heart of the cours Julien scene, Waaw ('What an Amazing World') has everything you could possibly want for a night…

  • La Caravelle

    Marseille

    On the 1st floor of Hôtel Bellevue, this lovely little bar is styled with rich wood and leather, with a zinc bar and yellowing murals that hint of its…

  • Clos Sainte Magdeleine

    Cassis

    Close to central Cassis, with a regularly open cellar door and a viticultural pedigree stretching back to the 1800s, this seaward-facing winery is a good…

  • La Dame du Mont

    Marseille

    Regular DJs bring reggae, soul, funk, rock and much else besides to this friendly, bustling hang-out on place Notre Dame du Mont. Craft beers, cocktails…

  • U.percut exterior

    U.percut

    Marseille

    Happy to host anything that will get feet shuffling, U.percut puts on killer jazz bands, crooning soul stars, hip hop maestros and late-night breakbeat…

  • Baby Club exterior

    Baby Club

    Marseille

    Located in the bohemian neighborhood of La Plaine, Baby Club offers the perfect atmosphere for an abandoned after-hours party. Look for its garish zebra…

  • Le Refectoire dining room

    R2

    Marseille

    Together, Le Rooftop – a spectacular open-air cocktail bar with rotating DJs playing house, electro, disco and rock – and Reverso – the restaurant space…

  • Les Deux Garçons

    Aix-en-Provence

    Cézanne and Zola once lingered in this classic brasserie-cafe, named for the eponymous two waiters who bought it from their former employer in 1880, and…

  • Bistrot L’Horloge

    Marseille

    A local favourite with parasol-shaded table and chairs at the lion-statue end of cours Honoré d’Estienne d’Orves, this bistrot-bar rocks. In summer live…

  • Le Chai Cassidain

    Cassis

    This cosy cave à vin (wine cellar) offers a long wooden bar, red leather armchairs, vintage posters on the walls and a knowledgeable and affable owner –…

  • La Part des Anges

    Marseille

    This fabulously convivial wine bar is named after the alcohol that evaporates through a barrel during wine or whisky fermentation: the 'angels’ share'…

  • Milk Shop

    Avignon

    Keen to mingle with Avignon students? Make a beeline for this salon au lait ('milk bar') where super-thick ice-cream shakes (€4.50) are slurped through…

  • Le Montmartre

    Marseille

    Le Montmartre is beautifully situated on a charming, small square with glimpses of the Vieux Port. Among several cafes here, this one perhaps best…

  • Le Café Van Gogh

    Arles

    Immortalised in Van Gogh's 1888 Terrasse du Café le Soir, this cafe trades on its plum spot on the place du Forum and its association with the adopted…

  • L'Explo

    Avignon

    It's a sunny evening and your inner beer nerd is in the market for a dry rye, hoppy IPA or boozy Belgian wheat beer. Well you're in luck: this groovy…

  • Balthazar

    Avignon

    This relaxed spot makes a great place for an early-evening aperitif, rolling into a no-fuss dinner of steak, tapas, salads and the like. The booth seats…

  • Polikarpov

    Marseille

    Scarcely shut, this al fresco bar with buzzing pavement terrace just a couple of blocks from the Vieux Port markets itself as ‘Massilia vodkabar’. From…

  • Le Trash

    Marseille

    Southwest of the cours Julien nightlife area, Le Trash bills itself as Marseille’s cruising bar, for good reason. There's a cover charge on special nights…

  • Le Brigand

    Aix-en-Provence

    A diet of house, techno and electro is varied by theme nights (Halloween) and DJs playing more exotic styles.

  • Bar de la Marine

    Marseille

    Though it is often erroneously thought that Marcel Pagnol set the card-party scenes in Marius at this Marseille institution, it did actually figure in the…

  • La Mado

    Aix-en-Provence

    This smart cafe, with steel-grey parasols and box-hedged terrace on a busy square, is unbeatable for coffee and fashionable-people watching. Its European…

  • Caffè Noir

    Marseille

    Caffè Noir, with its severe charcoal façade and black pavement terrace staggering down the street in three steps, more than lives up to its name. Inside…

  • Au Son des Guitares

    Marseille

    Popular with Corsican locals, this small club next to the opera was once a favourite of Spanish refugees in Franco's era. It has limited dancing, lots of …

  • Trolleybus

    Marseille

    Shake it to techno, funk and indie in between games of pétanque at this mythical Marseillais club with four salles (rooms) beneath 17th-century stone…

  • L’Esclave

    Avignon

    Avignon’s inner-city gay bar rocks well into the wee hours, pulling a clientele that is not always that quiet, based on dozens of neighbour-considerate …

  • Au Petit Nice

    Marseille

    This popular pub has loads of beers on tap and a pleasant courtyard to chill in (note that this is not the hotel/restaurant of the same name).

  • L’Endroit

    Marseille

    Dive through the tiny door to discover the Vieux Port’s only gay bar. Theme nights include karaoke.