It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Paris. Christmas windows at the big department stores windows, special holiday performances, holiday markets, outdoor light shows and classical music concerts are just some of the special events happening in the city.
If you’re going to be in the “City of Light” this holiday season, Travel Agent has you covered on where to visit for a true taste of Parisian Christmas. Here are our top picks:
Department Store Windows
Galeries Lafayette is celebrating its 130th anniversary bigtime with Kevin Germanier (he designed the special Golden Voyager costume for the closing night of the Paris Olympics) creating delightful and sustainable windows, using upcycled materials. Inspired by 1950s Christmas windows, there are over 20,000 sparkling lights complete with a light show inside the store every 30 minutes.
Elsewhere, actress Juliette Binoche launched the official holiday season at Printemps earlier this month. The "Printemps Express" is the theme for the windows and store displays, featuring 132 characters in handmade costumes who take a magical train ride.
Theater and Dance
“Les Miserables” returns to Paris after a 30-year absence, with a totally revamped script and updated production, performed in French with English subtitles. The show is running until January 3, 2025, at the Chatelet Theater.
“The Nutcracker,” alternatively, is going hip hop with a modern interpretation of the holiday classic. Choreographer Bianca Li goes to the streets with eight dancers who perform urban street moves to the beat of Tchaikovsky. The show is running until January 4, 2025, at Théâtre Libre.
Holiday Markets
La Defense, a modern office park just beyond Paris, has the largest holiday market in the city, Le Marche de Noel. It is decked out with 200 festive stalls stocking mostly locally made merchandise. Good to know: If you get hungry, there’s a bevy of food stalls serving holiday fare and hot drinks such as hot chocolate and mulled wine. The market will be open until January 5, 2025.
Back in Paris, the Tuileries has a double holiday treat: a Christmas market and an amusement park, rolled into one. The market prides itself on selling items that are either made in France or in French colonies. A specialty is a stall that creates hand-blown Christmas ornaments on the spot. The rides are anchored by the enormous Ferris Wheel, where you can experience great views of Paris.
Outdoor Light Shows
Take a walk through an enchanted forest with Lumieres en Seine, filled with illuminated animals, trees, and fountains. Located just outside of Paris in Saint Cloud, the one-and-a-half-mile-long park has views of the Seine. The show will be until January 12, 2025.
Jardin de Plantes, the botanic gardens of Paris, also containing the Museum of Paleontology, is going Jurassic this year. A winding pathway through the gardens has life-sized illuminated paper sculptures of dinosaurs, reptiles and early animal life from the Jurassic era, between 201 and 145 million years ago. Visitors can experience the display through January 19, 2025.
Classical Music Concerts
Imagine attending a concert in the Eiffel Tower! It’s possible with the Gustave Eiffel Tower Concert Series. Enjoy the music of Handel, Mozart, Schubert and Verdi while sipping a flute of Champagne. The concert series is running for a limited time only, from December 24, 2024, to January 1, 2025.
The 13th-century Sainte-Chapelle chapel, known for its magnificent stained-glass windows, is holding a series of holiday concerts. Two programs, the “Four Seasons” by Vivaldi and “Waltzes & Polkas” by Johann Strauss, will be played by Orchestre Classik Ensemble. There’s an option to have tapas and wine before the concert. This, too, will have a limited run from December 20 to December 31, 2024.
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