Entertainment in Paris

Entertainment in Paris runs on old stages. The Folies Bergère opened in 1869, the Opéra Garnier in 1875 and the Moulin Rouge in 1889. Jazz has played since 1946 in the cellar of the Caveau de la Huchette in the Latin Quarter, and the Philharmonie de Paris opened in 2015. The big houses keep their own seasons. What suits a guided format is the smaller, staged kind of evening, and Paris does it well: a tearoom with an actress, a walk with actors, a bar crawl that doubles as a history lesson.

Our side is the small and the staged. In a private room at Drouant, the restaurant tied to the Goncourt literary prize, an actress plays Marie-Antoinette over tea, pastries and a glass of champagne for 75 minutes, with up to eight guests. Montmartre gets a theatrical walk of about 100 minutes in which actors play the quarter's characters, in French only. The cocktail tour lasts three hours and visits four bars, from a speakeasy to a rooftop if the weather holds. For a free afternoon there is a self-guided scavenger hunt run through an app, three hours long and started whenever you like.

Practical. Choose by language first: the Montmartre walk is French only, and the cocktail tour is for adults, with a maximum of six people. July evenings are mild at around 20C, while January nights fall to about 3C, which suits the tearoom more than the rooftop. Wear comfortable shoes for the steps and cobbles of Montmartre. The tea is final sale; the walk, the hunt and the cocktail tour can be cancelled without charge up to 24 hours before.