THIS IS
MAXIME

Lisbon has changed… it is different, worldlier and irreverent, but it will (always) continue to conceal mysteries… My story was born here, in Praça da Alegria, in the dancing, in the music that echoes in the walls… The ultimate expression of bohemian Lisbon, I created the Maxime Hotel in the image of cabaret: burlesque and provocative. The show lives in every corner of the hotel and 75 rooms that set it clearly apart from all the other hotels in Lisbon.

The Maxime Restaurant – Cabaret is our ideal and the stage of unique experiences. Here, we present the most varied shows but the star of the house is the gastronomy of Chef Luca Bordino.

Welcome to the Maxime Hotel in Lisbon, to the cabaret, to bohemia, to kisses exchanged and to whispered secrets, welcome to the music and dancing. I am Lady Maxime and I am going to tell you Maxime’s story…

THE HISTORY OF MAXIME

Economic, social and cultural prosperity. Widespread consumption and ostentation are on the rise. Entertainment becomes essential to life and Lisbon sees the emergence of the first nightclubs, gambling establishments, dancing clubs and cabarets, among them, Club Maxim’s, one of the icons of Lisbon’s nightlife at that time.

[1920]

THE ROARING TWENTIES

[1949-1959]

Maxime Dancing

10 YEARS OF GLORY

On 30 November 1949, Maxime Dancing opens its doors, in Praça da Alegria, inspired by the former Maxim’s.
A luxurious cabaret along Parisian lines with orchestras and choreographic shows.
For years it was the stage of grandiose national and international performances. Singers, actors, dancers, Spanish hostesses made this stage their home.
Maxime Dancing was unique and unrivalled, with its own atmosphere, light effects ahead of its time, “The best cabaret of Lisbon of all times”.
Here, performed the great names of Portuguese singing – António Calvário, Simone de Oliveira, Tony de Matos, Alfredo Marceneiro, fado singer Fernando Farinha and great artists – Raúl Solnado, José Viana and Gina Braga. This site even received Júlio Iglésias in the early days of his career.

[1960]

Maxime Dancing

THE DECLINE

With the passing of time, the customers thinned and its golden period gradually slipped into a paradise of decadence that lasted for various years. The famous Spanish dancers were replaced by dancers from the East and the formerly renowned shows gave way to fado and folklore at proper hours of the day and young ladies stripping off their clothes at improper hours.

[2006-2011]

Maxime

THE REBIRTH AND THE END

Manuel João Vieira attempted to recreate a new Portuguese cabaret, rescuing this emblematic site from the decadent atmosphere that called for its end in the 1960s. From 2006 onwards and for approximately 5 years, Maxime returned to being fashionable and rapidly gained its place in the roadmap of Lisbon’s nightlife, being the stage of various concerts and burlesque shows. In 2011, the red M encrusted in a sort of blue insignia faded into nothing and Maxime ended up by closing its doors.

[2018]

Maxime

BECAME A HOTEL AND REOPENED ITS DOORS

Seven years later, the ultimate expression of bohemian Lisbon of the middle of the last century, Maxime, becomes a Hotel and reopens more passionate than ever for the capital that was always its cradle.Maxime rejuvenates to accompany the city’s lifestyle and promises to be the stage of grandiose experiences for those who wish to live and feel the city through the vibrant and glamorous concept of the cabaret. Maxime Hotel broadens its horizons to accommodate, within its doors, the experience of the whole wide world.

A TRIBUTE TO THE FORMER CHORUS GIRLS AND DANCERS

A tribute
to the former
chorus girls and
dancers

At the Maxime Hotel the chorus girls and dancers, who, for years, gave life to the stage of Cabaret Maxime, will be eternally remembered.
Each of the 70 deluxe rooms lends them tribute through the pictures that illustrate the walls and give soul to the room. And one of them, the 501, is truly special because, being called Judite, it celebrates the life of this artist, who has acted here several times. The story of Judith, “Batatinha”, given this nickname because she started selling cigarettes and chips at Maxime, intends to remind us of all choristers who have passed by and left their mark here.

The Spanish girls, on the other hand, also had a determining role in the history of Maxime. Perky and more outgoing than the Portuguese dancers and choristers, the “Irmancitas” were fleeing from Franco’s dictatorship and delighting the Portuguese. Sometimes they acted alone, but most of the time they acted in groups, in the famous Troupes, like the Troupe Hispánica. In the Dressing Room, they are honored through the sisters Las Carmencitas, who are the characters that inhabit this thematic room and give life to the most famous Spanish dancers of the Maxime Restaurant-Bar these days.