Cybercafes@Paris
There are quite a few internet cafés in Paris. They spring up like mushrooms all over the place, and of course many of them have withered away. The competition is fierce-although there are plenty of locals and visitors desperate to get on-line, there's also a very social side to Paris' cybercafés.
Where are they? You can find listings for internet cafés on Paris-Anglo.com, though none have been reviewed. The Internet Café Guide also lists a fairly large number of cybercafés all over France. Best thing would be to call or e-mail to find out in advance if a place you're looking for is still open. Most internet café staff speak enough English (if they aren't indeed Anglophones themselves) to help you out.
Some of my favorites Long before I had moved permanently to Paris, I had been a regular visitor to the few internet cafés that were around at the time. My favorite was the High Tech Café up on top of the Galeries Lafayette next to Montparnasse. It has passed on to its next life as a restaurant, but just to give you an idea of how the French interpret an internet café: the computers were lined up on one side, with a dining room and bar on the other side, a big dancefloor in between with a disco ball. I could order food and drinks while sitting at the keyboard, and on Friday nights I could barely type out my e-mails because the karaoke was too loud. Maybe that's why they're gone, but quite a few have filled the gap. The oldest cybercafé in Paris is the Café Orbital across from the Jardin de Luxembourg. It's always a bit packed, with computers upstairs and downstairs, a small bar to sit at while waiting. They have a nice website to explain all of their tarifs, classes, services, and events, and offer AZERTY or QWERTY keyboards (when you're paying by the minute, why get slowed down by an unfamiliar keyboard?).
The Web Bar next to République quickly became my favorite cybercafé, and I still like to stop in for the entertainment. It's a very large space, three levels for the bar and restaurant, computers, and an art gallery. They have quite a few events here, from Tango lessons to plays to concerts and films. It's a very comfortable place to surf around, but avoid the early afternoon (when the students all arrive), and if you think you'll go back, get the abonnement (subscription) to save a few francs. They're open all day until the late evenings on the weekend.
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