How to meet people in Paris when you are new

This is the fastest way in, because everything is arranged for you: a table booked, four to six people who have never met.

• Timeleft: dinners for 4 to 6 matched by a personality test, Wednesdays and Fridays at 20:00, drinks on Thursdays, a women and LGBTQ+-friendly dinner on Mondays and a singles dinner on Tuesdays. You need a subscription to book, you pay for the meal at the restaurant, and bookings close 13 hours before.
• Strangrs: a French service, and Paris is its only city so far. Dinner for 4 to 6 from around 20:00, as well as drinks, coffee or a walk. You get first names and the address a few hours before, and everyone pays their own bill.
• Dixner: tables of 6 to 10 guests plus a host they call an ambassador, for an aperitif, dinner or brunch, every week. Some offers include the menu and drinks.
• Socials by Detor (this site): 4 to 6 people at a social table for dinner, drinks, coffee or brunch, or a small group doing one activity. We build the group from a few answers you give once, language included, so English works. A person checks every group, and the address comes the day before. Nobody sees a name until the table's chat opens, an hour before, and there are no profiles. A seat has a price per session, shown before you pay, with no membership; you pay the venue for your own food and drinks.

This is where English speakers meet the French who want to practise on them. Polyglot Club Paris meets every Tuesday and Saturday from 20:00 to 02:00 at Le Baratin, 41 boulevard Saint-Marcel in the 13th. Entry is free with one drink minimum, and the group has more than 24,000 members on Meetup. The venue has moved before, so check it on Meetup first.

Franglish runs French-English speed exchanges in bars, for instance at the Lizard Lounge in the 1st, 19:00 to 21:00. School French is the point here, not a problem.

The first hellos come easiest from people who were new themselves. Meetup has large expat groups such as Internationals in Paris and Glocally Paris; the app is free, though some events are paid. r/SocialParis, with about 117,000 members, runs a beer night called Jeudi Bière and a monthly Vin du Mois.

The Local's list of friendship apps for France adds Frimake (free group outings), Need Sporty, UNBLND, Bumble For Friends and Knockk.

Serve the City Paris works in English: food distributions at least three days a week, with membership at 10 euros a month. Benenova is French and built for people who come alone, with collective missions of one to five hours.

Every September, each arrondissement holds a Forum des associations, free, where the city's roughly 75,000 associations look for members. The next round is September 2027.

The Paris Hash House Harriers, a "drinking club with a running problem", set off every other Saturday at 14:00. Lolë runs monthly, mostly on Sundays, and the Paris Running Club takes people by referral. KIIN, Bromance Athletic Club and Circle Run Club post their sessions on their own channels.

For climbing, Arkose has five Paris gyms. It lists no social nights, but you rest between climbs, and people talk.

A crowded bar is the hardest room in the city to meet anyone in. Pick a night with a format instead (a pub quiz, live music, a language exchange) in a part of town that is awake: Oberkampf, République and the Canal Saint-Martin, Bastille, the Marais, or Belleville for gentler prices.

A workshop works better, because your hands are busy: Wecandoo for crafts, La Papoterie, a ceramics café in the 9th and 11th, or Mazette and Drink & Paint evenings. Prices depend on the workshop.

And learn the apéro: 18:00 to 20:00 is when Parisians see friends and neighbours. Once you've met two people twice, invite them round.

• Go back. Being a regular counts for more than a brilliant first evening.
• Learn enough French to order and to joke. Expat circles run in English; French friendships mostly don't.
• Choose a small group with something to do over a crowded bar.
• Say yes to everything in the first few months.

If you want the fastest option first: see this week's tables and meetups in Paris.