Celebrate Christmas and New Year in Paris

Celebrating the New Year in France is the chance to spend an unforgettable moment. Paris, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, provides a romantic and spectacular setting that is even more impressive during the end of the year celebrations. Numerous monuments are often cloaked in snow and covered in lights during this festive period, creating an undeniable Parisian charm.

If you’re lucky enough to stay in Paris during Christmas holidays, extending your stay until New Year’s Day would be the opportunity to admire the City of Lights at its most beautiful. You could spend a memorable night out on New Year’s Eve before enjoying the first day in 2021 in the world’s most famous capital.

However you decide to spend your evening -- a flute of champagne in hand, dancing, a boat cruise on the Seine, or a candlelit dinner at the Eiffel Tower -- Paris is without a doubt the ideal destination to bid adieu to 2020 and welcome in 2021.

In various neighborhoods, department stores put up Christmas lights, decorations and window displays that lend a certain magical quality to the city. The most beautiful avenue, the Champs Elysées, is a prerequisite visit for anyone wanting to soak up the festivities. The avenue is decked out in stunning Christmas decorations and is home to a typical French Christmas market.

In light of these end of year celebrations, countless evenings out are proposed in France and in Paris. Special dinners are created and organized to celebrate the New Year in typical, popular Parisian brasseries, in romantic restaurants, or in dinner-dance halls.

You can also choose to spend a magical time at Vaux le Vicomte, just next to Paris, where we’ll take you to discover the château and its gardens adorned in lights, a truly royal decoration that’ll make your day an unforgettable one.

This is why visiting Paris in December is a must-see. Not only will you be able to admire the magical Christmas decorations that border the banks of the Seine and the streets of Parisian neighborhoods but you’ll also be able to admire the city’s grand monuments whose holiday lights accentuate their architecture.

PARISCityVISION also proposes a panoramic bus tour, a fantastic way to check out the Opéra and its neighborhood, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe, among other sites. Celebrate New Year by treating yourself to a gastronomic dinner in one of Paris’s typical neighborhoods or on the Seine. You can then bring in the New Year by dancing the night away to the beats of a DJ until the first dawn of 2021!

Christmas decorations in the streets of Paris

Elegant and lovely at any time, Paris is particularly beautiful during the end-of-year festivities. Parisian streets and monuments are decked out in lights and magnificent decorations that you can enjoy during your vacation.

The Champs Élysées

The Champs Élysées is trimmed with fairy lights and decorations starting in November. For a few weeks, the most beautiful avenue in the world and its many shops offer Parisians and tourists a special holiday atmosphere. The Christmas market is set up there too, providing an occasion to discover typical French crafts and local food products while warming up with a glass of mulled wine.

Place Vendôme

Place Vendôme, the square chosen by the greatest jewelry makers and sellers, is bedecked in wonderfully refined Christmas decorations. You can also admire the lights of Avenue Montaigne, an emblematic place for French high fashion.

Parisian monuments

The monuments are also decked out in thousands of lights: The Palais Garnier opera house, the Louvre, Les Invalides, and the Notre-Dame cathedral rival each other in effort and creativity to celebrate Christmas. Without a doubt, the unmissable Eiffel Tower is the culmination of Parisian lights and decorations.

The number are staggering. Just imagine: 800,000 LED bulbs for the Champs Élysées alone!

Feel the magic of Christmas window displays in Paris

Grandiose decorations at Galeries Lafayette

What if you took your trip at the end of the year, when the large department stores dress their windows with numerous Christmas holiday decorations?

The decorations of this hundred-year-old department store are a true Paris institution. Set against an illuminated facade, the windows are settings for magical, animated scenes that are the delight of onlookers. You will also love the Christmas tree situated under the majestic 42-meter-high cupola, made of glass in the Art Nouveau style.

Address : 40 boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris

The enchanted windows of Printemps

The 11 windows of the Printemps department store offer several marvelous scenes, all related to a theme that changes each year. A luxury brand that perfectly embodies French expertise and know-how participates in the project to bring it together impeccably. Small children and adults alike will finish their visit to Printemps with a feeling of wonder.

Address : 64 boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris

Poetic scenes at Bon Marché

The Christmas window displays at the Bon Marché department store create a magical, enchanting world that invites the viewer to dream and escape to another place. The displays are always poetic, and childhood is always in the spotlight. You will leave this department store with visions of the images and colors you have seen dancing in your head.

Address : 24 rue de Sèvres, 75007 Paris

Want to spend Christmas in Paris? PARISCityVISION offers a large variety of touristic offers.