Pleasure Gardens and Popular Resorts

The Folies Bergère might epitomize Belle Époque nightlife, but daylight pleasures mattered equally. Paris's pleasure gardens—the Tivoli, the Élysée-Montmartre—offered family-friendly entertainment mixing nature with amusement. These venues featured outdoor dancing, concerts, carnival rides, and restaurants in landscaped settings.

The guinguettes along the Seine and Marne rivers provided working-class families Sunday escapes. These riverside taverns with dance floors and gardens had existed for centuries, but improved transportation made them newly accessible. The Métro and suburban trains delivered thousands seeking fresh air, cheap wine, and freedom from urban supervision.

At Robinson, south of Paris, restaurants built in trees created a fairy-tale atmosphere. Families ascended rope ladders to platforms where they dined among branches. The combination of nature, novelty, and mild danger epitomized Belle Époque leisure—modern thrills in pastoral settings.

The seaside resorts—Deauville, Cabourg, Biarritz—served wealthier pleasure-seekers. But even exclusive resorts showed democratizing tendencies. The casino at Deauville welcomed anyone with proper dress and entrance fee. Social climbers mixed with aristocrats over baccarat tables. The beach itself resisted class segregation—sand and sea recognized no social distinctions.