Paris, France City Guide

For over 20 years, Pamela Lanier's Paris, France Travel Guide has been your connection to Paris's tourism community with invaluable details on local attractions, restaurants, shopping, museums, history, outdoor recreation and more.

Events

Although most of the city shuts down for the whole month of August for summer vacation, each year Paris hosts over 1,600 events, including over 400 trade shows open to the public. The following list is a sample of the kinds of fairs and festivals that happen over the course of the year.

In February, the Bibliophile Fair, one of the biggest conventions for rare book dealers and collectors in Europe, is held at the Carrousel du Louvre at the same time as the Great Wines Fair. This is a rare opportunity to see over 100 of the finest grand wineries of France collected in one place.

From late February to early March, Le Salon d’Agriculture is held each year at the Porte de Versailles Convention Center, with hunting and fishing exhibits and samples of the finest regional French cooking.

The music and art of the world’s cultures is celebrated throughout the month of March at the Maison des Cultures du Monde, as representative top artists and musicians come to lecture and exhibit their crafts at the Festival of the Imagination

Running through April and May, the Foire de Paris (Paris Fair) at the Porte de Versailles draws more than 3000 exhibitors of art, craft and design every year from the far corners of the globe to the latest interior design trends.

In Paris and other world cities, May Day or International Workers' Day commemorates the international labor movement with massive street rallies and a parade down the Champs Elysees. Everything closes except the Eiffel Tower—making it a good day for a trip out to Versailles, Chartres, the gardens of Giverny or Disneyland Resort Paris.

From Easter through the month of May, the Foire du Trone is celebrated in the Pelouse de Reuilly in the Bois De Vincennes to the south of central Paris. This traditional fair dates back to the 12th century, with spiced pig-shaped bread, carnival rides, freak shows and circus performers.

The most important holiday in France happens in mid-July, Bastille Day, when the start of the French Revolution is celebrated all over the country. Dancing, military parades and ceremonies and general festivities center around the Place de la Bastille and all along the Champs Elysees.

The Festival Ile-de-France presents a variety of live music and other programs as the end of summer is celebrated throughout the month of September, and into October at a number of cultural and ethnic venues of significance to French history and culture.

The Antiques Biennal, the largest antiques fair in Paris, is held at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais during the last half of September only once every two years on years ending in odd numbers.
La Semaine de Gout celebrates the regional gastronomic specialties of the nation in a festival of food and wine tastings for a week in mid-October.
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