Paris lost three good bars this year. Sherry Butt, Lulu White and Le Forvm all closed before we finished this list, and two of them were canon — which is the first thing to say about a city whose cocktail scene reads, from outside, as permanent. What's left is stronger than the losses suggest. Bar Nouveau is seventeenth in the world out of a room the size of a front parlour in the Marais. Le Syndicat pours nothing that isn't French and is the best value in the top five after Combat. Combat leads; Le Bar Hemingway, which led long before any list existed, is second, and Little Red Door third.
The palace bars are ranked here rather than on their own list: Paris has eight worth the walk and one of them is world-class, which is a different shape from London's eleven. Every number on this page is ours alone: the editorial score, never a blend.
Also in Paris: The 7 Best Wine Bars in Paris and The 9 Best Cafés in Paris.
