Paris
The Seine between its quays, palaces turned into museums, the great houses of fashion, and a business airport of its own a short drive north.
- Arrival
- Paris–Charles de Gaulle · CDG
- To the city
- About 45 minutes to the centre by car
- Private jets
- Paris–Le Bourget, about 30 minutes away
- Best time
- May to September
The city
Two banks and a river.
The Right Bank holds the Louvre, the Tuileries and the Palais-Royal, the Place Vendôme and its jewellers, and the couture houses of the Avenue Montaigne and the Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Across the bridges, the Left Bank keeps the publishers, galleries and cafés of Saint-Germain, the Musée d'Orsay in its old railway station, and the ministries of the seventh arrondissement.
Each season has its calendar: fashion weeks in January, March, June and September, art fairs in October, the long evenings of June and July. In August many Parisians leave and some restaurants close; in winter the light is short but the museums are calm.
Arriving
Two airports, two kinds of arrival.
Long-haul flights land at Charles de Gaulle, north-east of the city. Private jets use Le Bourget, the business airport closer in, on the site where Lindbergh landed in 1927.
- London 45 min
- Geneva 55 min
- Nice 1 h 15
- Mykonos 3 h 15
- New York 8 h 00 long-range jet
When to go
May to September.
A temperate city with rain spread through the year. From May to September the days are mild to warm, in the high teens to mid-twenties. Winters are cool and grey, rarely freezing for long.
- 6° J 54
- 7° F 46
- 11° M 52
- 14° A 45
- 18° M 62
- 21° J 57
- 24° J 54
- 23° A 51
- 20° S 57
- 16° O 59
- 10° N 59
- 7° D 55
What to see and do
Days in and around Paris.
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Landmark
The Louvre
A royal palace turned museum, with the glass pyramid in its courtyard and the Tuileries gardens beyond.
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Landmark
The Seine
Quays listed by UNESCO, from Notre-Dame on its island to the Eiffel Tower, best seen from the water.
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Landmark
Montmartre
The hill of the painters, its vineyard and the white dome of the Sacré-Cœur above the rooftops.
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Opera & music
Palais Garnier
Ballet and recitals fill the Paris Opera's older house in the 2026/27 season, and its gilded interiors can be visited by day.
Official site -
Opera & music
Philharmonie de Paris
At La Villette, the Grande salle Pierre Boulez is home to the Orchestre de Paris, which gives 76 concerts there this season.
Official site -
Culture
Musée d'Orsay
Monet, Renoir and Degas hang in this Left Bank museum, which stays open throughout entrance works running until summer 2028.
Official site -
Culture
Fondation Louis Vuitton
In the Bois de Boulogne, the foundation shows Gustave Fayet and the icons of modern art until March 2027.
Official site -
Culture
Château de Versailles
Official residence of the kings of France and a UNESCO site, with some 90,000 works, the Trianon estate and formal gardens.
Official site -
Racing & sport
ParisLongchamp
Flat racing in the Bois de Boulogne, under a grandstand Dominique Perrault rebuilt in 2018, with the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe each October.
Official site -
Culture
Château de Chantilly
North of Paris, the château, its Great Stables and its grounds open every day except Tuesday.
Official site -
Golf
Le Golf National
Venue of the 2018 Ryder Cup and the 2024 Olympic golf, the Albatros course reopened to green fee players in September 2026 after two years closed.
Official site
On the calendar
Dates to plan around.
Dates as published by the organisers. Runways, hotels and slots fill early around these weeks: the sooner we know, the more choice you have.
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14 Jan 2027
Basketball
NBA Paris Game
NBA regular season game in Paris between the San Antonio Spurs and the New Orleans Pelicans.
Accor Arena
In 3 months
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1–9 Mar 2027
Luxury & fashion
Paris Fashion Week Womenswear (Autumn/Winter 2027)
The official Paris women's ready-to-wear season organised by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, showing Autumn/Winter 2027-2028 collections.
Paris
In 4 months
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23 May – 6 Jun 2027
Tennis
Roland-Garros
The French Open, the Grand Slam tennis tournament played on clay at Stade Roland-Garros in western Paris.
Stade Roland-Garros
In 7 months
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14–20 Jun 2027
Aviation
Paris Air Show
Biennial aerospace and defence trade show held at Le Bourget airfield north of Paris, with trade days followed by public days.
Paris-Le Bourget Airport
In 7 months
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16–19 Jun 2027
Technology & AI
VivaTech
Annual technology and start-up trade show at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.
Paris Expo Porte de Versailles
In 8 months
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25 Jul 2027
Cycling
Tour de France Paris finish
The final stage of the 2027 Tour de France, from Saint Quentin en Yvelines to Paris.
Champs-Élysées
In 9 months
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27 Sep – 5 Oct 2027
Luxury & fashion
Paris Fashion Week Womenswear (Spring/Summer 2028)
The official Paris women's ready-to-wear season organised by the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, showing Spring/Summer 2028 collections.
Paris
In 11 months
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October 2027 Dates to be confirmed
Horse racing
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe
Europe's richest flat race over 2,400 metres at ParisLongchamp, open to geldings from 2027.
ParisLongchamp
In 11 months
Where to stay
Palaces on both banks, and two châteaux to the west.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
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Cheval Blanc Paris
In the old Samaritaine department store, with the Seine below every window.
- Ritz Paris On the Place Vendôme since 1898, with a garden behind its arcades.
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Le Meurice
Facing the Tuileries gardens, a few steps from the Louvre.
- Hôtel Plaza Athénée Red awnings on the avenue of the couture houses.
- Le Bristol A French garden at its centre and a rooftop pool.
- Four Seasons Hotel George V Three starred restaurants under one roof, near the Champs-Élysées.
- La Réserve Paris A private mansion of some forty rooms, close to the Élysée.
- Maison Villeroy Eleven rooms and suites in a private townhouse, with butler service and a starred table.
- Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel An eighteenth-century palace on the Place de la Concorde.
- Saint James Paris A château in its own gardens, the only one inside the city.
- Airelles Château de Versailles, Le Grand Contrôle Built in 1681 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart inside the grounds of the château, with a Valmont spa and a 15-metre indoor pool.
- The Peninsula Paris The former Hôtel Majestic of 1908, with the restaurant L'Oiseau Blanc on its roof.
- Mandarin Oriental Lutetia Paris Opened in 1910 opposite the Bon Marché, and today the only Palace on the Left Bank.
- Bvlgari Hotel Paris Opened in 2021 on the avenue George V, with a 25-metre indoor pool in its spa.
- Royal Monceau, Raffles Paris Redesigned by Philippe Starck in 2010, with a private cinema and an art bookshop of its own.
- J.K. Place Paris Twenty-nine rooms in a townhouse near the Musée d'Orsay, and an Italian restaurant under a glass roof.
- Nolinski Paris Forty-five rooms decorated by Jean-Louis Deniot, between the Louvre and the Opéra Garnier, with a mineral pool in the spa.
- Shangri-La Paris Prince Roland Bonaparte's residence of 1896, looking across the Seine to the Eiffel Tower.
- Fouquet's Paris At the corner of the Champs-Élysées and the avenue George V, above the brasserie that opened there in 1899.
- Maison Barrière Vendôme Twenty-six rooms and suites in a house that runs from the Place Vendôme towards the Tuileries, new to the MICHELIN Keys in 2026.
Where to dine
The tables the guide rates.
From the MICHELIN Guide 2026, shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these restaurants.
- Plénitude Three Michelin stars Creative €€€€ Cheval Blanc Paris, 1st
- Kei Three Michelin stars Modern French €€€€ Rue Coq-Héron, 1st
- Arpège Three Michelin stars Creative €€€€ Rue de Varenne, 7th
- Le Cinq Three Michelin stars Creative €€€€ Four Seasons Hotel George V, 8th
- Épicure Three Michelin stars Classic French €€€€ Le Bristol, 8th
- Le Gabriel Three Michelin stars Creative €€€€ La Réserve Paris, 8th
- Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen Three Michelin stars Modern French €€€€ Jardins des Champs-Élysées, 8th
- Pierre Gagnaire Three Michelin stars Creative €€€€ Rue Balzac, 8th
- Le Pré Catelan Three Michelin stars Modern French €€€€ Bois de Boulogne, 16th
Elsewhere in France
More reasons to come.
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Nice
The pastel façades of Vieux-Nice, and the flower market of the Cours Saleya.
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Monaco (Principality)
A principality of its own on the French border: twenty minutes from Nice by road, seven by helicopter.
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Cannes
The Croisette in festival season, with its own business airport at Mandelieu.
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Saint-Tropez
A former fishing village, best reached by helicopter from Nice.
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Courchevel
Ski-in chalets at 1850, and more Michelin stars than most cities.
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Megève
Horse-drawn sleighs, a medieval square, and Geneva an hour away.
- Bordeaux The wine capital, between the Médoc and Saint-Émilion.
- Biarritz Belle Époque villas, surf and the Basque coast.
Flying to Paris?
Choose how you arrive.
A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.