Underground & cool · Historic dance hall · €€ · 11e · Oberkampf & Bastille
Le Balajo
A 1936 musette hall on the old accordion street, the Balajo keeps its mirrored Deco room and still opens it on Monday afternoons for a thé dansant before the week tips into salsa classes and clubbing to dawn.
Come Monday 2–7pm for the old-school tea dance; weekend club nights start at 11pm.
Getting there
- Bastille158260 m · 5 min walk
- Bréguet-Sabin5280 m · 5 min walk
- Ledru Rollin8350 m · 7 min walk
Walks that pass nearby
- Bouillons & Brasseriesstop 4 of 6 · 190 m
Brasserie Bofinger
5-7 Rue de la Bastille, opened 1864 — claims to be the oldest brasserie in Paris. The first Parisian establishment to serve draught beer. The stained-glass dome is 1919 and original; ask for a table directly under it.
When booking, ask for "sous la coupole" — under the dome — that's the room you came for. The choucroute is the menu staple; the seafood plateau is also excellent and fairly priced compared to Le Dôme.
- Marais & Bastillestop 3 of 6 · 240 m
Place de la Bastille
The fortress was demolished in 1789; the marks on the pavement around the Colonne de Juillet trace where its walls stood. The column itself commemorates the 1830 revolution, not 1789.
The cobble outline of the fortress walls is on the western side of the square — easy to miss in traffic. Take Rue Saint-Antoine back west; the fastest way to Hôtel de Ville is along Rue de Rivoli, on the south side of the street under the arcades.
- Markets of Parisstop 6 of 6 · 280 m
Marché Bastille
Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, Thursdays and Sundays only. The biggest open-air food market in Paris — over a kilometre of stalls. Locals come for fish (the Atlantic stalls are direct from the boat overnight) and for the seasonal mushrooms in autumn.
Thursday and Sunday only, 7 am to 14:30. Walk the central row, then double back along the side rows — the cheaper stalls are the inner ones. The chicken-rotisserie stalls are the lunch move; bring cash.
- Sundays Onlystop 4 of 6 · 280 m
Marché Bastille
Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, Sundays only (and Thursdays). The biggest open-air food market in Paris — over a kilometre of stalls. Lunch is the move: rotisserie chicken, oysters from the Atlantic stalls (overnight from the boat), and a bottle of cidre or rosé from a wine stall.
Closes at 14:30 sharp. Walk the central row first, then double back along the inner side rows where prices are 20% lower. The chicken-rotisserie stalls are the lunch standard; the cheese stall mid-market lets you taste before you buy.
Within a few minutes' walk
- Born Bad Record ShopRecord shop€ · 3 minTrading since 1999 and the eastern anchor of Paris vinyl, near Bastille. The bins lean garage, punk, post-punk, cold wave, surf, soul and French 1960s, in rare originals and quality reissues, much of it on the shop's own label.
- Coulée verte René-DumontElevated walk€ · 3 minNearly five kilometres of linear park along a railway viaduct closed in 1969 — the elevated walk that predates and prompted New York's High Line. The first stretch runs ten metres up over the brick arches of the Viaduc des Arts, whose vaults hold craft workshops.
- MoonshinerSpeakeasy bar€€ · 4 minA working pizzeria, Da Vito, fronts the operation. The cocktail room sits behind the walk-in fridge at the back, and you get in by pulling open the fridge doors — a 1920s register of leather, low light and a record player.
- Bistrot du PeintreArt Nouveau brasserie€€ · 7 minA 1902 brasserie with a listed Art Nouveau interior of curved wood and etched glass, the kind of room that justifies a plainer plate. Come for the onion soup gratinée and a tarte Tatin, and for the fact that it serves through the day when neighbours have closed.
- SupersonicFree live-rock club€ · 9 minA Bastille rock bar that has put on free concerts most nights since 2016, across two rooms and a mezzanine where a mock food-truck bar looks down on the stage. Three bands deep, the late set holding until six at weekends.
Landmarks nearby
The district · 11e
Oberkampf & Bastille — The going-out districtNo monuments to speak of, which is the point: the 11th is where Paris eats and drinks at night — natural-wine bars, neo-bistros, and the Oberkampf and Rue de Lappe nightlife. Bastille and the Marché d'Aligre edge sit inside it.
Best for: Anyone whose trip is built around dinner and a drink afterward.
Everything we've verified in the 11e →How we verified this
Confirmed currently operating as of September 2026,cross-checked against 1 source:
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