The Moulin Rouge cabaret show is easily one of the most famous nightlife activities in Paris, but it’s not always easy to find tickets once you arrive in the City of Light. Here are several ideas on Moulin Rouge tickets and packages, such as Moulin Rouge tickets combined with tours or special Parisian dinners.
Moulin Rouge Dinner and Show with Private Car
This is one of the cheapest options for booking Moulin Rouge tickets. The agreement includes transfers to and from your hotel and tickets to the show, plus a half bottle of champagne.
Reserve with Viatour
Paris by Night Moulin Rouge Tour and Illuminations after dark
This is a good option, and best of all, it also includes the opportunity to see Paris when it is most impressive: after dark. There are many reasons why Paris is called the City of Light. The tour passes through Concorde and Vendome squares, Pigalle and Blanches squares, the Opera, La Madeleine Church, rue Royale, the Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, the Trocadero, Les Invalides, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Chatelet Square. In the summer (April to October), you generally get the show at 11pm (unless there is availability at 9pm). In winter (November to March), you usually see the first show at 9pm But you might get lucky and get the 11pm show, in which case you will get a free Seine River cruise after the Illuminations Tour and before the Moulin Rouge show.
Reserve with Viatour
Dinner at the Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge show in Paris and Seine river cruise
Looking to impress your sweetheart or have a dizzying Parisian experience in one night? This Moulin Rouge package features seven hours of an incredible night to remember, from dining at the airship-style 58 Tour Eiffel restaurant on the first floor of that great Paris icon to cruising the Seine. You end up at the Moulin Rouge, the oldest cabaret in Paris. 58 tour Eiffel isn’t the best restaurant here (it’s reserved for the gastronomic restaurant Jules Verne, run by Alain Ducasse), but the view of Paris below is pretty hard to beat.
Reserve with Viatour
The story of the extraordinary Moulin Rouge
It all started during the Belle Epoque in 1889 when two businessmen who also owned the Paris Olympia attractions opened the Moulin Rouge in Montmartre, instantly recognizable by the red mill on its roof. It was a good time, with the Expositions Universelles of 1889 and 1900 showing the inventiveness, wealth and entrepreneurship of France and the rest of the world. The Eiffel Tower was also built in 1889; It was a very good year.
Montmartre was the artists’ area, with a reputation as the avant-garde, if not downright, area of Paris. The idea of luring the rich here to the slums turned out to be a winner. It was also due to its new architecture where the scenery could change quickly; and the champagne nights and exaggerated shows. However, one of the great innovations was the new dance, the can-can with its exciting positions leaving little to the imagination and extravagant costumes. In 1890, the decidedly ruthless British Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, who had a good reputation with the ladies, came here to see the cancan dancers. La Goulue, one of the best dancers of her time, recognized him and, apparently with her leg in the air and her head in her lap, called out, “Hello Wales, Champagne is with you.” The story does not count if he paid. Albi, his hometown at the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum.
The Moulin Rouge closed for renovations, reopening in 1903 to a design by Edouard Niermans, who designed the Casino de Paris, the Folies Bergère, and the Hotel Negresco on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. Famous artists continued to perform here, but none were dearer than the famous Mistinguett who first wowed audiences in 1907.
Mistinguett was followed by Jeanne Aubert and Maurice Chevalier, and the American shows of Hoffmann Girls.
In the 1930s it became the best nightclub in Europe, with the first American jazz stars. In 1937 the Cotton Club performed. During World War II, it became the favorite location for German offices; in 1944, just after the liberation of Paris, Edith Piaf sang here, accompanied by a new and unknown Yves Montand.
The list of famous names continued; In 1953, the French president saw Bing Crosby appear for the first time in Europe and Josephine Baker, who lived in the Dordogne. Charles Trenet, Charles Aznavour and Lena Horne added their particular magic.
The 90th anniversary of the Moulin Rouge in 1979 saw Ginger Rogers, Dalida, Charles Aznavour, George Chakiris, Zizi Jeanmaire and Village People. Over the past few years, Liza Minnelli, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, and Mikhail Baryshnikov have appeared. In fact, it’s hard to find a more famous and eclectic list of stars to hit the boards at the Moulin Rouge: Lauren Bacall, Ray Charles, Tony Curtis, Ella Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Barbara Hendricks, Dorothy Lamour. Jerry Lewis, Jane Russell, Esther Williams, Elton John, Juliette Binoche, and Jessye Norman have appeared here.
So how is today? Well, famous performers no longer appear (except at private functions), but this glorious, over-the-top theater maintains its glamor. It is worth a visit.
Read Courtney Traub on an evening at the Moulin Rouge.
