Cabarets

Paris's cabarets range from vintage venues once haunted by Picasso and Piaf to those sinful showplaces where tableaux vivants offer acres of bare flesh. Some of these places, like the Lido, are more Vegas than the petticoat vision re-created by Hollywood in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge—but the rebirth of burlesque is making some of the old-school venues and racier versions like the lascivious Crazy Horse more popular. Although you can dine at many cabarets, food isn't the attraction. Prices range from about €50 (admission plus one drink) to more than €200 (dinner plus a show) and can go as high as €300 for the works. At all but a handful of specific cabarets on specific nights, the clientele tends overwhelmingly to be visitors, middle-aged and older, from either the French countryside or abroad.