Guide to Paris and its magic

Paris is well known to be one of the most beautiful, romantic, cultural and generally satisfying cities in the world. The art, the architecture, the history, the food, the wine, the café culture, the literature, the fashion, the shopping, the stylishness… all these things are widely appreciated internationally. What you may not realise, however, is that France has more than its fair share of top-class magicians and, if you enjoy watching live magic, Paris is a great place to do so.

It’s always a joy to visit Paris anyway but, given that you’re interested in magic, getting involved in the magic scene is a marvellous way to penetrate the surface of Paris culture and to experience Parisians as they really are, rather than as they behave with tourists. If you can speak some French, you will get even more out of it but, if you don’t, this is certainly not an insuperable barrier. Most French magicians can speak English at least reasonably well and will be happy to translate/perform in English, depending on the circumstances. In any case, magic is generally so visual that you don’t need to understand the patter to be amazed by the trick.

Magic is taken more seriously and has a higher profile in France than is the case in the UK. Although I like to think this is beginning to change, still too often in Britain people associate magic with children’s entertainment. In France, while there is a lot of magic for children, conjuring is also recognised as the sophisticated, grown-up entertainment it can be.

If you know little about magic but enjoy watching it, do make a point of taking in a visit to Le Double Fond while you are in Paris. This is a cosy little café bar in the trendy Marais area, which has a tiny theatre underneath where you can see some cool and excellent magic. You may also enjoy looking around Le Musée de la Magie and watching the little show they put on every hour. Since this is five minutes’ walk from Le Double Fond, it makes a good combined outing. See the Paris magic! page for a lot more information about these places and other magic shows in Paris.

If you are an established or aspiring magician yourself, you will have a wonderful time in Paris. You’ll see some fantastic magic and almost certainly get the chance to chat and exchange ideas with some Parisian magicians. There is also at least one world-class magic shop in Paris, called Magic Dream, where you can buy good stuff at good prices and have a good talk with the owners (one of whom speaks English). You may also meet other magicians there, as we did.

I am lucky to be best friends with the famous card magician Iain Moran (known amongst magicians as The Cullfather, after his legendary DVD teaching card techniques) and we went to Paris together to explore the magic scene. Iain had never been to Paris before, so we took in a few of the sights and museums too, but the purpose of the visit was to find out what goes on in Paris of a magical nature. I am an amateur magician/groupie and I run a website called We Love Magic, which is designed to tell lay people more about magic and where they can see it and to help aspiring magicians to get started and build a career in magic. When I settled down to writing about where we can see live magic in other countries, I realised very quickly that it was all about America. Since I know that a great deal of wonderful magic goes on across Europe (not to mention Japan and other further-away places), I decided to take it upon myself to look into continental magic and to report back on it. Well, hey, somebody’s got to do it!

On We Love Magic, then, I’ve reported my findings about the magic in Paris. On this website, I’ve put a lot of other information as well, to help you to plan your whole trip. There is enough to see and do in Paris to last probably at least a few months but, if you’re beady about planning, you can see the main highlights in a long weekend.

Be realistic about what you can do in the time available and don’t try to cram in too much or you’ll be too tired to enjoy it. If you’ve got only two or three days, I’d say you should be planning to visit The Eiffel Tower, a museum or two (remember that, in other countries, the word ‘museum’ encompasses ‘gallery’ as well as what we understand by museum), some nice cafés, bars and restaurants, Le Double Fond and/or another magic show, and a magic shop if you’re interested. And you must take a boat trip along the Seine.

If you’ve got longer, you could consider exploring further afield, taking the train out to Monet’s house at Giverny, for example, or to Versailles or spending a day at Disneyland Paris. Or you could visit a champagne vineyard. Or you could do some shopping, pick up some bargains at a flea market and check out some of the non-magical nightlife. Or you could take in more museums, monuments and cafés and go to more magic shows. Or a mixture. Paris has so much to offer!