Arkose Didot

Went once as closest to where I was staying. A few things to say about the place: Gym is underground which can feel a bit claustrophobic at times. The lighting helps a bit. Lack of very easy climbs (ladder-like) to warm up and teach beginners good technique. Rest of the setting was pretty good, I definitely enjoyed some of the climbs I did. And finally, people are very friendly but (and this is just my experience) the mansplaining that I got kind of ruined my session. I struggled to approach a climb without any man giving me unsolicited beta or telling me the climb is « one of the easy one ». When I fed this back to staff, they were immediately defending the place saying they’ve never heard anyone say that and that people are just being « friendly ». Small but well furnished training area, sufficient for warm up and cool down.

Not a bad boulder gym but wasn't very extensive and I didn't particularly enjoy the setting. Price intially seemed very expensive but with happy hour and student discount was quite reasonable actually. Staff were friendly and helpful, didn't really push the membership like others have mentioned once they realised I wasn't a local. Found it very hot and sweaty inside, plus you can't take shirts off to cool down or use loose chalk. Fair enough if these are the rules but it made the holds really greasy and I found myself sweating off a lot of climbs. The setting was uninspiring, all felt a similar comp style and the harder climbs all seemed to use a lack of footholds as a way to make the climb trickier. Lower grades seemed more varied and enjoyed these more, but might be that the style just didn't suit me on the harder climbs. Restaurant takes over most of the space but looked nice enough with a decent bar upstairs. Probably a nice vibe for a post climb beer with mates. Visited on a weekend trip to Paris so have no comparison point to others in the city in terms of price/space but just felt a bit underwhelming to me.

Large space and many terrains for you to practice. Friendly staff will guide you in detail if it is your first time participating. Shoes can be rented if you do not have it

Way too packed in the evenings and policies about memberships and how you use the carnet seems to change every time. Super frustrating.

Can’t recommend this gym. The quality of the boulders concerning setting and holds is really low level and it’s super small. Not even close to standard of climbing gyms nowadays. Besides that they don’t take customer service as a point. Went there while being on a trip to Paris and saw on the website they had a first time offer for 10€. When you arrive at the gym and say it’s your first time you need to register but they tell you to pay later. So after a short session in which the main part was functional training because of the poor quality of the boulders I had at least some good food. They charge everything on your account to pay at then end so you don’t have an overview what you pay in detail. In the end they charged me an entrance of 19€ which was so not worth it. When I asked why it’s not the 10€ offer I was told I can just purchase online but of course the girl at the check in didn’t mention this as I would expect regarding customer service (btw I used to work in the biggest climbing gym in Munich and it was definitely the intention of the management to have a nice welcome offer and let the people know about it). The team at the check in can’t do refunds so I was given an email address. After sending a polite email I just got the answer that they won’t refund the difference because the website (IN FRENCH) says you have to purchase this online. Best practice of how franchise works badly. Heard good stories from friends in the climbing industry about Arkose but was probably about the original one. Never again. Next time I’ll take a longer ride to have a good training session ADDITION: I did mention that I had a good bowl, yes, but I didn’t say I had a good session because I was really disappointed from the space. Ended up pretty fast doing some exercises in the small workout area to get some training done. I have seen a lot of different gyms in my 20 years of climbing career and also working as route setter. But the main fact is still that you don’t care about customer service or communication and point on the customer as it’s their problem. Just not a nice behaviour and not how I’m used to deal with customers and never did myself when I was working at the check in.