In This Guide
- 1.La Féline: The Rooftop Terrace Nobody Photographs
- 2.Le Barbouquin: Books, Vermouth, and Pétanque at Dusk
- 3.Parc de Belleville's Unofficial Wine Terrace
- 4.La Commune: Cooperative Wine Bar with a Courtyard Secret
- 5.La Guinguette de Ménilmontant: The Original Returns
- 6.Mama Shelter's Rooftop: The Polished Counterpoint
- 7.Sunday Morning Recovery at Aux Folies
The first warm evenings of May transform Ménilmontant into something most visitors never see. Along its sloping streets, above the rooftops of Haussmann's Paris, makeshift bars unfurl mismatched chairs onto cracked terraces and string lights between plane trees. These are the guinguettes — outdoor drinking spots rooted in a working-class tradition that predates the Eiffel Tower — and they are having a fierce, defiant renaissance in the 20th arrondissement.
This guide maps the essential open-air drinking destinations across Ménilmontant and neighbouring Belleville for May 2025, when most reopen for the season. We cover where to find natural wine poured from magnums at sunset, which spots draw local pétanque players versus DJ crowds, and exactly when to arrive to claim the best perch overlooking the city. If you've done the Canal Saint-Martin circuit, consider this your long-overdue graduation.
1. La Féline: The Rooftop Terrace Nobody Photographs
Tucked behind a graffitied doorway at 6 rue Victor Letalle, La Féline operates as a small music venue most of the year. But from early May, its rear courtyard and improbable rooftop terrace open to drinkers who know to ask. The space holds maybe forty people, and the view catches the zinc rooflines of lower Belleville in a way that feels accidental and earned.
The wine list skews natural and Jurassic — expect oxidative Savagnin from Domaine de la Tournelle and skin-contact whites from the Ardèche. Glasses start around seven euros. You won't find cocktails here, and nobody apologises for that. The cheese plate, sourced from the fromagerie two doors down, is quietly excellent.
Arrive before 18h30 on weekdays to claim the upper terrace. By 19h15, the narrow staircase becomes a bottleneck, and staff stop allowing access once capacity hits. Weekends are tighter still — Saturday evenings often feature live jazz that draws a devoted neighbourhood crowd who treat the space as a private club.
The crowd is a genuine cross-section of the quartier: ageing artists from the nearby ateliers, young graphic designers from the co-working spaces on rue des Panoyaux, and the occasional confused tourist who wandered up from Père Lachaise. Nobody checks a door list. You simply need to know it exists.
Pro tip:Ask the bartender for the 'cuvée du moment' rather than scanning the chalkboard — they rotate unlisted bottles from small producers and often pour a taste before you commit.
2. Le Barbouquin: Books, Vermouth, and Pétanque at Dusk
Le Barbouquin at 1 rue Denoyez sits at the entrance to Belleville's most famously street-art-covered lane, but its rear garden is another world entirely. A gravel pétanque court runs alongside shelves of second-hand French paperbacks, and the house vermouth — served over ice with a grapefruit twist — has become a quiet neighbourhood institution since the bar reopened under new ownership in 2023.
The pétanque court is free to use, and the bar lends sets of boules if you ask at the counter. Games tend to start organically around 18h on warmer evenings, and joining an existing match is not just tolerated but expected. Losing gracefully earns you more social currency here than winning.
Food is limited to planches — cured meats, pickled vegetables, and excellent rillettes from a charcutier in the 11th. You won't eat dinner here, but you'll ruin your appetite for one. Pair the duck rillettes with their rosé from Domaine de Sulauze and you have one of the best inexpensive aperitifs in eastern Paris.
The literary angle is genuine: monthly reading nights in the courtyard draw local writers, and the shelves operate on an honour system — take a book, leave a book. The selection skews heavily toward crime fiction and mid-century French philosophy, which tells you everything about the clientele.
Pro tip:Rue Denoyez's murals change constantly — street artists repaint walls weekly. Visit Le Barbouquin on a weekday afternoon and you may catch painters at work, which makes for a far better photo backdrop than the weekend crowds.
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Expedia →3. Parc de Belleville's Unofficial Wine Terrace
There is no licensed bar at the summit of Parc de Belleville, and that is precisely the point. Every evening from May onward, the upper terrace at 47 rue des Couronnes becomes Paris's greatest unofficial guinguette, as residents arrive with bottles, charcuterie boards, and portable speakers. The panoramic view — Sacré-Cœur to the north, the Eiffel Tower dead centre — rivals anything you'd pay thirty euros to see from a hotel rooftop.
The protocol is simple: bring your wine, bring your glass, and sit on the concrete steps facing west. The golden hour here starts around 20h30 in May and lasts nearly forty minutes. Seasoned regulars bring cushions, a detail you'll appreciate after twenty minutes on raw stone.
For provisions, stop at Les Caves de Ménilmontant at 80 rue de Ménilmontant, a five-minute walk downhill. The owner, Mathieu, stocks an impeccable selection of natural wines under fifteen euros and will recommend bottles based on the weather — lighter Gamays on warm evenings, structured Chenin Blancs when it's cool.
A word of caution: the park officially closes at varying hours depending on sunset, typically between 21h and 21h30 in May. Municipal guards do occasional sweeps, though enforcement is gentle. Carrying your rubbish out isn't just polite — it's what separates regulars from tourists and ensures this tradition survives.
Pro tip: Bring a flat wine key, not a bulky corkscrew — space on the steps is tight, and fumbling with a lever model while balancing a board of comté on your knees is a rite of passage best avoided.
4. La Commune: Cooperative Wine Bar with a Courtyard Secret
La Commune at 80 boulevard de Ménilmontant is a worker-owned cooperative wine bar — one of very few in Paris — and its cobblestoned interior courtyard opens fully in May. The space is sheltered enough to handle the erratic spring weather that catches other terraces off guard. Heaters appear on cooler nights, and a retractable canvas awning handles light rain without anyone moving indoors.
The wine programme here is serious without being solemn. Expect fifteen to twenty references by the glass, almost exclusively natural, with a bias toward Loire and Roussillon producers. The Anjou rouge from Catherine and Pierre Breton is a permanent fixture and deservedly so — earthy, bright, and startlingly good at six euros fifty.
Food goes beyond bar snacks. The kitchen turns out a short menu of seasonal plates — think burrata with grilled spring onions, bavette steak with shallot confit, and a crème caramel that would hold its own in the 6th. Everything is cooked in an open kitchen visible from the courtyard, which adds theatre without pretension.
The cooperative structure means staff are invested in the place, and it shows. Service is knowledgeable, unhurried, and genuinely warm. Tuesday evenings feature vinyl sessions — a turntable appears in the courtyard, and regulars take turns selecting records. The unwritten rule: no requests, no skipping.
Pro tip:Reserve the courtyard table nearest the kitchen pass — it seats only four and gets the warmest ambient temperature on cool evenings, plus you'll see dishes before they appear on the menu board.
5. La Guinguette de Ménilmontant: The Original Returns
After a two-year hiatus for building renovation, La Guinguette de Ménilmontant reopened in spring 2024 at its original site near the intersection of rue Boyer and rue de Ménilmontant. The open-air terrace wraps around a century-old chestnut tree, and the owners — third-generation restaurateurs from the neighbourhood — have resisted every temptation to modernise the format.
Drinks are served in thick-bottomed bistro glasses. The wine is unpretentious: a house Côtes-du-Rhône rouge and a Languedoc rosé dominate, both available by the pichet. If you need a craft cocktail to be happy, this is not your evening. But if a cold pichet of rosé and a plate of saucisson feel like civilisation's peak, welcome home.
Live accordion music happens on the first and third Saturday of each month, drawing a crowd that skews decidedly older — couples who've been dancing here since the Mitterrand years, and a few who remember Giscard. The dance floor is packed gravel, and the two-step is the dominant idiom. Joining is encouraged regardless of ability; sitting out is considered mildly antisocial.
The food is canteen-simple: grilled merguez, frites, and a salade verte. Nothing costs more than nine euros. The merguez, sourced from the Algerian butcher on rue des Pyrénées, are aggressively spiced and genuinely excellent — they alone justify the visit on nights when the music doesn't move you.
Pro tip: The third Saturday evening in May typically coincides with the Fête de la Musique warm-up events across Ménilmontant — arrive by 19h to get a table, as the accordion nights on these dates draw double the usual crowd.
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Expedia →6. Mama Shelter's Rooftop: The Polished Counterpoint
Mama Shelter at 109 rue de Bagnolet is the one entry on this list that requires an elevator rather than a steep climb. Its rooftop bar — open from late April — offers a slickly designed terrace with hanging plants, candy-coloured furniture, and a cocktail menu that actually uses the word 'mixology.' It is, categorically, not a guinguette. But it provides essential context for understanding what the others are reacting against.
The Spritz here costs fourteen euros and arrives in a comically oversized glass. The Moscow Mule is competent. The crowd is international, photogenic, and largely under thirty-five. On warm Friday evenings, a DJ plays poolside — yes, there is a small pool — and the energy tilts toward Ibiza rather than Ménilmontant.
The view from this rooftop faces west and catches sunset light beautifully, though it lacks the dramatic elevation of Parc de Belleville. What it offers instead is comfort: proper seating, table service, and reliable weather backup when the sky turns. For anyone whose commitment to outdoor drinking has limits, this is the safety valve.
Use Mama Shelter strategically. Start your evening here around 18h for a single drink and the sunset, then walk fifteen minutes downhill into the neighbourhood's rawer offerings. The contrast sharpens your appreciation for both worlds — the designed and the improvised, the priced and the priceless.
Pro tip:Skip the rooftop food menu entirely — it's overpriced hotel-bar fare. Instead, eat beforehand at Le Grand Bain on rue Denoyez, whose sharing plates are among the best in the 20th arrondissement.
7. Sunday Morning Recovery at Aux Folies
After a Saturday night spent hopping between courtyard bars, your Sunday morning belongs to Aux Folies at 8 rue de Belleville. This unreconstructed café-tabac has occupied the same corner since 1903, and its sprawling terrace — heated, covered, and directly facing the Belleville market — is the neighbourhood's communal living room on weekend mornings.
Order a grand crème and a tartine beurrée. Nothing else. The coffee is strong, slightly bitter, and served in bowls if you request it. The tartine arrives on a thick slice of Poilâne-style bread with proper butter — salted, from Brittany. Together they cost under five euros and accomplish more than any brunch menu in the Marais.
The Belleville market unfolds directly in front of you along boulevard de Belleville every Tuesday and Friday, but the Sunday morning atmosphere is about the people-watching, not the shopping. Ménilmontant wakes up slowly and theatrically: dog walkers, hungover musicians, elderly Tunisian men playing cards, and bleary-eyed couples debriefing the previous night over their second espresso.
Aux Folies is cash-preferred, though cards are grudgingly accepted above ten euros. The interior is worth a glance — ornate Belle Époque tilework and a zinc bar that has absorbed a century of spilled pastis — but in May, you sit outside. No exceptions.
Pro tip:The terrace's south-facing corner table catches morning sun from around 9h30 in May — arrive at 9h15 to claim it, order immediately, and settle in. Lingering for ninety minutes is standard and staff won't rush you.
Essential tips
Take Métro Line 2 to Ménilmontant or Couronnes. Avoid Line 11 via Belleville on weekend evenings — it's overcrowded and adds unnecessary transfers. From either station, every address in this guide is within a twelve-minute walk.
May in Paris averages eleven rainy days. Carry a compact umbrella and prioritise spots with covered options — La Commune and Mama Shelter are your best wet-weather fallbacks. Uncovered terraces empty fast, meaning a rain shower can actually work in your favour for snagging seats.
Budget thirty to forty euros per person for a full evening of drinking and light eating across two to three stops. Carry cash in small denominations — several neighbourhood bars still prefer it, and splitting bills at outdoor pop-ups without card readers is common.
Ménilmontant is the hilliest quartier in Paris. Wear flat, grippy shoes — the cobblestones on rue de Ménilmontant are uneven, and the climb from boulevard de Belleville to Parc de Belleville gains sixty metres of elevation in under ten minutes.
A few words of French go further here than in tourist-facing Paris. 'Un pichet de rouge, s'il vous plaît' and 'on peut s'asseoir là?' will cover most situations. Staff at neighbourhood guinguettes are welcoming but rarely speak fluent English — they appreciate the effort more than the accuracy.
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