Paris Travel Blog

Cinéma en Plein Air Parc Villette © P E Rastoin A study  released last week reported that Paris has dropped from 17th to 27th place among the world’s most expensive cities. Perhaps that’s because, especially in the summer, the French capital abounds with free things to do. There are all sorts...

Map of Tour de France 2011 courtesy of organisers Ever since it began in 1903, the annual Tour de France cycle race has been a spectacle that engages everyone in France. Cycling is a very popular sport here and who wears the prestigious maillot jaune (yellow jersey) of fastest rider is a hot topic in...

The event? Paris’s annual Fête de la Musique – held every 21 June and now in its 30th year The scene? Everywhere, but I concentrated on Canal Saint-Martin area in the 10th arrondissement The atmosphere? Balmy – the forecast rain held off Barmy – those crazy Parisians know how to party Where...

Will Bastille Day, usually known in France as le quatorze juillet (14 July) see you up bright and early at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arc de Triomphe, waiting for the start of the military parade down the Champs-Elysées? Or will you be nursing a hangover and sore toes after dancing in the street...

Rue Norvins © Paris Tourist Office / Amélie Dupont Especially if it’s your first time in Paris, Montmartre is probably on your top ten of places to visit. The hill – or Butte – of Montmartre affords a wonderful view over the city from the terrace in front of the white meringue of Sacré-Coeur...

Summer in the city can leave you needing more than an ice-cream to cool down – especially if you have been slogging round the must-see sights. As the sun beats down on the roofs of Paris and crisps the leaves of the horse-chestnut trees in the Jardin du Luxembourg, the beaches of Paris Plages appear...

What’s happening? On the night of Tuesday 21 June, it’s France’s 30th annual Fête de la Musique. In Paris and all over the country, choirs, orchestras, Andean flute players and scruffy indy kids will be striking a chord or several and providing free entertainment for anyone who wants it. What...

What makes half a million people a year visit the Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s garden at Giverny? For me, May was the perfect time for a first visit to find out. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, the frogs were on the lilypads and the wisteria was in flower. As a result, the Japanese bridge...

Tomorrow, Saturday 14 May, for one night only, nearly all of the museums in Paris will be open late, mostly until midnight, celebrating the annual European Museums Night. As well as keeping their doors open way past their usual bedtime for visits to their regular collections and their temporary exhibitions,...

All eyes will be on Cannes this week for the annual film festival. Among the many accolades the French film world can bestow, one of the greatest is to be chosen as the film to open the festival. This year at the 64th festival, that honour goes to the American director Woody Allen and his latest movie,...