9 activities in Paris for English speaking people

If you’re an English(wo)man in Paris, there’s no reason for you to feel like an alien. You can always find a pub or a nice place that will welcome you and your friends for a good time. We understand if sometimes you’re tired of spending a French night surrounded by French people and hearing French all the time. This is why we’ve gathered here, for you, different addresses in Paris where you can go with your friends or family to spend an English (or American) night.

1. Your own TV set at Quiz Room Paris Odéon

Quiz Room, that’s us! We’ve created a new concept in September 2019, and we’ve developed an English version to welcome people who don't (want to?) speak French. So, what is our concept? Quiz Room is a private real-life TV set such as the one in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? just for you and your friends. Alone or in a team of two or three people, you have four buzzers to answer our many funny and sometimes WTF questions. And don’t think you need to know Wikipedia by heart to find all the correct answers. Most of the time the lessons you’ve received from the school of life are more useful than your general knowledge. Oh and, we can’t talk about Quiz Room without talking about the jokers! At Quiz Room, nothing is fixed in advance, everyone can still win until the last question has been played. That’s thanks to our lovely jokers that can help you answer the questions or attack your opponents by blocking or stealing points from them (yes, there are no more friends in the game room, only opponents). What else? Well, we simply guarantee you more than one hour of fun, laughter and a certain amount of other emotions. Ready to hit the buzzers?

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The icing on the cake: Do you have a birthday, a wedding or any occasion to celebrate? That’s perfect. At Quiz Room, you can personalize 10 questions and surprise your friends or family with private jokes! Imagine their faces when they’ll hear the voice-over asking who is always super drunk during family gatherings!

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2. Special Sunday quiz at the Rush Bar

Sunday nights are the worst. They remind you that your weekend is almost over and you have to wake up early the next day. How sad is that? But isn’t it even sadder to waste your last weekend night just because you’ll be back to work tomorrow? Tomorrow is another day, don’t think about it and enjoy your Sunday night as you should with the special Sunday quiz at the Rush Bar! Located in the 11th arrondissement, the Rush Bar will definitely cheer up your Sunday blues. Bring your friends and enjoy homemade Fish & Chips and Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice cream. And if you think you won’t have the strength and energy to face questions on a Sunday, don’t worry, a beer, a glass of wine or a cocktail will definitely help you answer correctly. And if not, well it’s no big deal. Losing one Sunday quiz at the Rush Bar is still better than spending the night alone in your bed. And you will have the whole week to improve your skills to do better next Sunday!

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The icing on the cake: Monday nights can also be rough. But once again, the Rush Bar has the solution. Please welcome the Monday Open Mic’ Night! If you’ve already stayed in on Sunday, you have no excuse this time. Get out and sing, play or just listen to live music. You aren’t convinced? What if we tell you that musicians will be offered a drink? And it’s also Happy Hour prices for everyone all night long!

3. A Street Art Tour with Street Art Paris

Paris is well-known for its art and its museums! The Louvre, Centre Pompidou, Musée d’Orsay, Musée de l’Orangerie… So many places but also so many tourists! It’s hard to struggle among thousands of people for a picture of tiny Mona Lisa. Luckily for you, you don’t need to lock yourselves inside museums to appreciate a masterpiece. Discover nowadays art with a street art tour of Paris! You have probably already seen beautiful graffiti during your stay here. But the French capital is full of secrets and there are so many unknown places that will blow your mind and maybe even inspire your creativity! The best way to know it is to see for yourself! So, book your English-speaking street art tour for a fresh air visit far away from all the other tourists. You will learn about Parisian and international graffiti-street art culture while discovering Paris’s most famous street art neighborhoods.

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The icing on the cake: Street Art Paris is a network of artists, documentarians, producers, educators, who organize the street art tour. In addition to its knowledge shared through the walking tours, the organization is developing a printed matter project in collaboration with an ever-growing group of artists and institutions. You may find updated details of the project on their website!

4. Monday quiz nights at the McBride’s Irish Pub

You know that we like quizzes here at Quiz Room (and the verb “like” is clearly a euphemism). We’re always looking up for new spots and events that focus on quizzes and God knows we have a long list of them! So, here’s another plan for an English quiz night in the French capital: the McBride’s Irish Pub. To start, it’s an Irish Pub. Who doesn’t like Irish beers and a festive atmosphere? Next, the bar organizes a quiz night on Mondays. Two of our passions combined for one heck of a night! Feel free to come as you are, with or without any general knowledge, alone or with friends. Teams are formed before the quiz starts with everyone who wants to be part of the game. It’s a perfect occasion to meet new people.

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The icing on the cake: Because all work deserves payment, the winning team will receive a reward. And what’s the best reward when you’re sitting in a bar? You got it: free drinks are waiting for you at the McBride’s Irish Pub!

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5. How to become a Parisian in 1 hour ? with Olivier Giraud

Broadway isn’t in Paris, but Paris won’t be ashamed of its numerous and talented theaters either! Do we have to remind you that Molière, Corneille or Victor Hugo were French? So, if you’re in Paris and you haven’t gone to the theater yet, what are you waiting for? If you don’t speak French, that can be a good argument... But now that we present to you How to Become a Parisian in One hour?, the 100% English speaking theatrical experience, you have no more excuses! Olivier Giraud’’s show will make you laugh and will also teach you a bunch about Parisians and their behaviors. You won’t be surprised anymore if you see a grumpy waiter in a restaurant or a mean pedestrian bumping you on the street. It’s a perfect way to learn more about the lovely culture and lifestyle of Paris! Because, if you’re visiting Paris, you can’t only have a look at the nice monuments and go on a boat tour. You have to experience the French art de vivre! Now, that’s possible thanks to Olivier Giraud and his funny and sadly realistic portraits of Parisians.

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The icing on the cake: Parisians are complex and one hour is not enough to understand everything you need to know about this particular species. But hopefully, if you want to know all the details and secrets about Parisians, that is possible! Everything Olivier Giraud cannot tell you can be found in his book How to Become a Parisian in One Hour? - available in French and in English. “Real” Parisian life awaits you!

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6. Experience France’s cinema culture with Lost in Frenchlation

For non-French speaking people who are more into movies than live shows, we don’t see the problem either! With Lost in Frenchlation you can watch the best French cinema and understand it thanks to handy English subtitles. You will have the full experience as you’ll be seated in an independent cinema. Films programmed are recent (released in the last 2 or 4 weeks) and once a month a film is presented by the film crew followed by a question and answer session (all in English of course). You want more? What about a monthly stand-up comedy show before a French comedy movie? Well you got it!

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The icing on the cake: Before or after every screening, a convivial cocktail is organized to meet new people or catch up with the cinema regulars. Yes, you’re in France so there had to be alcohol somewhere.

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7. Women walking tour in Paris

We have previously named famous French men when talking about theatre in Paris: Molière, Corneille, Victor Hugo. But there were also and as many and as talented and powerful French women back then! Unfortunately, typical tours of the city are dominated by great men. The Essential Women Walks in Paris enriches the capital tourism by offering a unique tour! While discovering the city, you will get to know the lesser-told side of its history: the marks made by inspirational women on Paris and on the world.

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The icing on the cake: Because it would be lame to lose some weight while walking down the streets of Paris, choose the Sugar & Spice Paris walking tour that includes tastings at 4 different locations. After all, if you want to visit Paris you have to visit (and try out) its patisseries, chocolatiers and confectioneries places!

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8. A draft beer at the Galway Irish Pub

Yes, another Irish bar! And this one has the advantage of being located exactly 450 meters away from Quiz Room (or, if you prefer: 1436 feet or 492 yards away). After a quiz session, you can all finish your night there and let the winner or the winning team buy drinks for everyone! Winners are so generous, right? But not as generous as the draft beers of the Galway Irish Pub! And for the nostalgic ones, you can enjoy English food while ordering another beer. For those who got used to good- er to French food - don’t worry, you will also find tasty dishes to satisfy your hunger. And of course, you won’t miss the nine TV screens of the pub broadcasting all major sporting events.

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The icing on the cake: The Galway Irish Pub is also the perfect place for all music lovers! Indeed, five nights a week the pub hosts live music to bless your ears as much as the beers will bless your mouth.

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9. A Parisian cooking class with La Cuisine Paris

We will never repeat it enough: French food is the best! If you disagree, that means you’ve never tasted a pain au chocolat or a macaron from Ladurée (and we won’t even debate on cheese and wine). And anyway, even if you don’t totally agree, you can’t argue that food isn’t very important in France. During your stay here, you should definitely try out a cooking class! The small business La Cuisine Paris offers a variety of cooking classes for every level of experience and knowledge. You might find, for instance, a pâtisserie or a baking class to learn how to make your own croissants or baguette! And while cooking, enjoy the view across the Seine to Notre Dame. How French is that?

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The icing on the cake (literally): You’re gone too soon and didn’t have the time for a cooking class? No problem. You can still join La Cuisine de Paris via their virtual classes!