Le Piano Vache

A useful address in the 5th arrondissement, where the majority of bars sport plasma screens and are filled with tourists, the Piano Vache is a relaxed student bar with a great happy hour from 6pm-9pm. On the walls, thousands of posters have built up over the years, forming a sort of living wallpaper interspersed with student ID photos. Other random collected objects can be found in the gloom, like the old piano overlooked by a stuffed cow’s head that gives the place its name. The enormous venue includes three bars, and everywhere are huge wooden tables of the sort that your elbows stick to. Come here for the relaxed atmosphere and the regular programme of themed nights: Monday is live jazz manouche, Tuesday ’80s night, Wednesday is Goth, Thursday ‘after work’, and Friday and Saturday rock, punk and pop.