Calendar of events in Paris
Throughout the year there are a number of festivals and special
occasions held within Paris city. Go along and experience the
festivities on your visit!
Month and
event
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Paris
Events |
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March |
Foire du Trône
Bois de Vincennes, 12e.
Held in a huge amusement
park, the Foire du Trône has a Ferris wheel, carousels,
acrobats, fire eaters, and much more. From 2pm to midnight.
End of March to end of May.
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April |
International Marathon of
Paris
International marathon that
commences on the Champs-Elysées.
Early April.
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May |
VE Day (Jour de
l'Armistice)
A
parade along the Champs-Elysées to commemorate the
capitulation of the Nazis on May 7, 1945.
French Open Tennis
Championship, Stade Roland-Garros, 16e.
The French Open features 10 days of Grand Slam men's and
women's tennis
Late May to early June.
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June |
Fête de St-Denis, St-Denis.
Music festival. Early June to July.
Fête de la Musique,
citywide.
Musicians and hopefuls pour into the streets to make music
any way they can. Concerts at place de la Bastille and place
de la République, and in La Villette and the Latin Quarter,
plus in many open spaces. Mid-June.
Festival Musique en
l'Ile.
Series of concerts, mostly music composed from the 17th to
the late 19th centuries, presented at the Church
St-Louis-en-l'Ile and the Church St-Germain-des-Prés.
Late June to late August.
La Course des Garçons de
Café, throughout the city Balancing heavy trays,
waiters and waitresses line up in front of the Hôtel de
Ville in the 4th arrondissement and then race for 8km (5
miles) through the streets, ending back at the Hôtel de
Ville. A Sunday in the last week of June or first week of
July.
Gay Pride Parade, place
de la République to place de la Bastille.
Late June.
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July |
Tour de France
The race is decided at a finish line drawn across the
Champs-Elysées. Month of July.
Bastille Day, citywide
The celebration of the 1789 storming of the Bastille is the
birth date of modern France, and festivities reach their
peak in Paris with street fairs, pageants, fireworks, and
feasts. The day begins with a parade down the Champs-Elysées
and ends with fireworks in Montmartre. July 14.
Paris Quartier d'Eté,
Latin Quarter.
For 4 weeks the Arènes de Lutèce or the Sorbonne's Cour
d'Honneur host pop orchestral concerts. On the fringes you
can find plays, jazz, and parades in the Tuileries. Mid-July
to mid-August.
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August |
No events - Paris goes on
holiday.
(No markets, no stalls, not many fresh baguettes, very few
open restaurants and shops)
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September |
La Villette Jazz Festival,
La Villette.
A homage to the art of jazz incorporating 50 concerts in
churches, auditoriums, and concert halls in all
neighborhoods of this Paris suburb. Early September.
Fête d'Automne (Autumn
Festival), citywide
Eclectic festival of modern music, ballet, theater, and
modern art. Mid-September to late December.
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October |
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe,
Hippodrome de Longchamp, 16e.
France's most prestigious horse race. Early October.
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November |
Armistice Day,
citywide.
Military parade from the Arc de Triomphe to the Hôtel des
Invalides. November 11.
Fête d'Art Sacré (Festival
of Sacred Art).
A series of classical concerts is held in five of the oldest
churches of Paris. Mid-November to mid-December.
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December |
Le Salon Nautique
de Paris (Boat Fair), Parc des Expositions,
15e.
Big boat show ten days in early December.
Fête de St-Sylvestre
(New Year's Eve in Paris), citywide.
Best celebrated in the Latin Quarter around the
Sorbonne. At midnight, the city explodes. The
boulevard St-Michel and the Champs-Elysées become
virtual pedestrian malls. December 31.
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