Le Lapin Agile, 160 years of poetry and song in Montmartre

A veritable institution on the Butte Montmartre, the Lapin Agile has been fascinating audiences for over 160 years. A cabaret from another era that continues to thrill Parisian nights. A unique place to experience the Paris of yesterday… still very much alive today.

There are some addresses that seem frozen in time, and the Lapin Agile is one of them. Perched in the heart of Montmartre, this cabaret founded in 1860 remains one of the capital’s oldest live entertainment venues. With its orange facade and green shutters, it’s a real eye-catcher, but it’s what’s inside that makes it so special.

Just a stone’s throw from the Montmartre vineyards, at the junction of rue des Saules and rue Saint-Vincent, this modest little building continues to attract artists and the curious. Four nights a week, poems, French songs and poetic humor are performed in an untouched setting. No microphones, no sound effects: the bare voice, the piano and the lyrics are enough to captivate.

The cabaret of artists past and present

Once frequented by Guillaume Apollinaire, Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso and Aristide Bruant, the Lapin Agile was home to Paris’s artistic bohemia during the Belle Époque. Frédé, the place’s central figure, and his friend Bruant saved the place from demolition after Montmartre was annexed by Paris. Thanks to them, this nugget of popular culture has resisted standardization and the ravages of time.

Even today, people come here to sing, declaim and listen. Passing tourists mingle with regulars in a warm, sincere atmosphere. It’s not a show calibrated for Instagram, but a timeless parenthesis, where every table becomes a small shared stage.

A lively address even in August

Good news for summer Parisians: the Lapin Agile remains open in August. All you have to do is make a reservation, come on a Tuesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday evening, and let yourself be carried away. At a time when everything is becoming event-driven, the Lapin Agile still offers a taste of simplicity and authenticity.

📍 Le Lapin Agile – 22 rue des Saules, 75018 Paris
Open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9pm – reservations recommended

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