How to meet people in Paris when you are new

The fastest way, because it 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, a singles dinner on Tuesdays. A subscription is needed to book, the meal is paid at the restaurant, and bookings close 13 hours before.
• Strangrs: a French service; Paris is its only city so far. Dinner for 4 to 6 from around 20:00, drinks, coffee, a walk; first names and the address a few hours before; 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, with menu and drinks included in some offers. Its site does not name Paris; the Paris press describes its dinners here.
• 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; the address comes the day before; until then the others see only your first name and pronouns. A seat has a price per session, shown before you pay, no membership; you pay the venue for your own food and drinks.

This is where English speakers and the French who want to practise on them meet. Polyglot Club Paris meets every Tuesday and Saturday from 20:00 to 02:00 at Le Baratin, 41 boulevard Saint-Marcel in the 13th: free entry, one drink minimum, more than 24,000 members on Meetup; check the venue on Meetup first, it has moved. Franglish runs French-English speed exchanges in bars; a recent listing had it 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, some events are paid. r/SocialParis, 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 is English-speaking: food distributions at least three days a week, membership 10 euros a month. Benenova is French and built for people who come alone: collective missions of one to five hours. The Forums des associations in every arrondissement, each September, show off the city's roughly 75,000 associations, free; the next round is September 2027.

According to an older article, 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 talk.

A crowded bar is the hardest room in the city to meet anyone in. Pick a night with a format, 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, hands busy: Wecandoo for crafts, La Papoterie, a ceramics café in the 9th and 11th, 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 have met two people twice, invite them to yours.

• 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 do not.
• Pick 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 one first: see this week's tables and meetups in Paris.