OTP’s Guide to the Best Sex Shops in Paris
Paris is a city where baguettes aren’t the only phallic objects you’ll find. TSA confiscation ruined your good times? Let OTP guide you to the finest sex shops in Paris to restock your toys and trinkets, so you can be saying “oui oui” all the way home.
If Ron Jeremy and Jenna Jameson were to marry, their wedding would look like Pigalle. During WWII, soldiers nicknamed the red light district “Pig Alley,” as many would rabidly visit for a taste of the good stuff after months of celibacy at the barracks. Today, the area is still a sty–where people flock like pigs to shit to buy sex toys. Pick your pleasure with an assortment of toys, peep shows, strip clubs and other x-rated attractions.
That’s the Spot
If you’re arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport, take the RER train into the city directly to Gare du Nord. From there, you can walk to Pigalle. If you’re feeling lazy, change to the #2 metro (blue) at Gare du Nord and get off right in the heart of it all. As you walk up the stairs in the middle of Boulevard de Clichy, you’ll know you hit the right spot when it starts to smell like the Playboy mansion grotto after an all-night pool party. This den of sex is located directly below the Sacre Coeur Catholic Church, perfect for cleansing your Catholic guilt or, more importantly, since Sacre Coeur sits at the highest point in Paris, checking out the amazing views while testing out your recent purchases.
Start your sexploits by visiting the Musee d’Erotisme (erotic museum) at 72 Boulevard de Clichy (daily 10am–2am; €7). Floors one and two are penis paradise. Here you can also find various figurines engaging in figurine sex, including tiny depictions of priests and nuns doing the nasty. The remaining floors house temporary exhibitions. After soaking up the museum culture, head to Rebecca Rils just down the street at 76-78. This “Supermarche Erotique” is a mainstream sex supermarket and attracts tourists (like your parents, which would be really awkward). The massive store is divided into four sections: DVDs, lingerie, gadgets, and shoes. The Supermarche is great for basics like colorful furry handcuffs, masks, whips, nipple clamps and chocolate sauce. For raunchier varieties, visit Sexodrome at #23 on the same street. The ‘drome is an adults-only Toys-R-Us, with more than 2,500 square meters of sex toys and apparatuses, freak-nasty reading material and general filth.
With a sex shop or dungeon every five-feet, there’s something for everyone in Pigalle. If the vibrator in one store doesn’t hit the “G” spot, go next door. Prostitutes and sex-crazed streetwalkers are a dime a dozen here, especially on Boulevard Clichy. Unfortunately, when prostitution enters the equation, so can crime. You may want to save your Pigalle sex tour for a daytime activity and avoid the risk of a moonlit reach around.
Getting Steamy
Now that the extra space in your backpack has been re-stuffed with sexual knickknacks, it’s time to find a place to use them. If you don’t feel like testing your new gear in the common room of your hostel, try finding a sauna mixtes. Mom always said not to talk to strangers, but she never mentioned anything about not having sex with them in saunas in Paris! Check out the glory hole at L’Amphibi on Rue Hallé–this sauna has a bi-sexual vibe, and attracts females and transsexuals with discounts (€5, or free, depending on the day). At Alina Sauna, the “Private Gang Bang” means couples can go at it for free before 11pm on Wednesdays. Who doesn’t love a bargain?
Paris may be known as the city of love, but it’s got more than a few kinks down at the core. Let go of the sophistication front for a bit and let Pigalle stroke your libido in every which way. We promise you’ll feel like a pre-pubescent boy who got his first nipple flash.
I’m Kyle, a 2002 graduate of UC Santa Barbara with a degree in English and Art History. My studies also include time at Cambridge University, but short of picking up phrases like “cheers” and an affinity for “a good curry,” the experience was more social than academic. In addition to fashionable beers and cuisines from far-flung places, I started embracing things like currency conversions and the metric system. In other words, it was when the travel bug nestled in for the long-haul.
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