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© Yulya Shadrinsky
© Yulya Shadrinsky

Things to do in Paris this summer

Our full list of the 50 best

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Eating & Drinking

  • Bistros
Take it outside with the city’s best al fresco brunches
Take it outside with the city’s best al fresco brunches

There's nothing more Parisian than the tradition of a good weekend brunch. And with long sunny mornings beckoning, we want to take this tradition and put it where the sun shines. So let the fresh air chase away your hangover and grab another coffee, with our round-up of the best terraces for brunching on a Sunday morning...

  • Burgers
  • Le Marais
  • price 2 of 4
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Try the best burger in France
Try the best burger in France

A large wooden bar, stools, suspended lighting and a menu which promises to offer you ‘the four corners of Asia on a plate’ that being Japanese katsu chicken, Korean bibimbaps, Vietnamese boa buns and Thai pad thais. A mix of cuisine that a few people may find a little disconcerting, but that doesn’t really matter because we’ve come to Goku for one only excellent reason: the burger, voted as the best in France at the most recent French burger awards. 

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  • Cafés
  • Jaurès
  • price 2 of 4
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Let it all hang out by the canal
Let it all hang out by the canal

A pretty café-restaurant, Le Pavillon des Canaux is another great project with an artistic edge and a stimulating community feel to it. Set in an old two-storey house overlooking the Canal de l’Ourq and its houseboats, Le Pavillon is bright, colourful and peaceful...

  • Cocktail bars
  • Saint-Ambroise
  • price 2 of 4
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Treat yourself to some yummy cocktails
Treat yourself to some yummy cocktails

With its low-lighting and gloomy front windows, Monsieur Antoine, on a sidestreet off Avenue Parmentier, is hardly eye-catching. But once inside, you can't help but feel welcomed by the rock soundtrack and the sound of the cocktail shaker at work. 

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  • French
  • Les Halles
  • price 1 of 4
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Have a snack at one of Paris' gastronomy institutions
Have a snack at one of Paris' gastronomy institutions

On Rue Montmartre, at 1pm, streaming queues of workers emerge to get their take away bobuns, salads or burgers… But one shop tucked next to Saint-Eustache church remains a well kept secret: Comptoir de la Gastronomie. It's an institution which has been feeding Parisians for over a century. 

From luxurious rooftops to hidden al fresco cafés, these are some of our favourite spots to catch a shot of sunshine in Paris (and a few shots of liquor while we're at it). The city's café culture is at its finest as the beau monde relax into long summer evenings, and these outdoor bars provide the perfect setting (and sustenance) to soak it all up...

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  • Bistros
  • 19e arrondissement
  • price 2 of 4
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Have an authentic french dinner
Have an authentic french dinner

The large white buffet sits in front of you, with both groups of friends and lovers eagerly looking around at who's come to dine tonight. You’re welcomed into the charming dining room, which is more like somebody’s home, and kind of is as the owners live just below. It's as if you’ve come for supper at a countryside retreat, rather than in the middle of Belleville. 

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  • French
  • Faubourg Montmartre
  • price 2 of 4
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended
Get one of the best steaks in town
Get one of the best steaks in town

Whilst the vegan movement is picking up steam, the meat lovers certainly haven’t said their last words just yet. Having said that, the two owners of Bien Elevé in the 9th don’t like to be referred to as just meat-loving carnivores. They define their cuisine as French-produced meat; such as Black Angus from Chateâuneuf in the north of France, a farm whose ethos is solely focused on the well-being of its livestock.  

Scream for the best ice cream in Paris
Scream for the best ice cream in Paris

Our sticky-fingered guide to the best ices in the capital takes you from glorious gelati in luxurious ice cream parlours to sweet shops full of bonbons; simply the best places in Paris to indulge a sweet tooth...

Art & Culture

  • Film
  • Drama
Catch a short and sweet film festival
Catch a short and sweet film festival

The free open air Festival Silhouette is the biggest short film festival in Paris, and, having been around since 2002, has built up quite a following. For nine days you can expect to see a variety of genres represented: animation, horror, drama, comedy, documentary and experimental...

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  • Art
  • Galleries
A night of Les Jeudis Arty
A night of Les Jeudis Arty

Art galleries open late for an evening of diverse cultural festivities, which happens twice a year. When? Thursday June 1, 2017 6pm - midnight Where? In thirty galleries around the Marais area and Carreau du Temple for the Arty Party. 

  • Film
See outdoor cinema at its finest
See outdoor cinema at its finest

The fantastic (and fantastically popular) free open-air cinema festival Cinéma en Plein Air returns to Parc de La Villette for its 25th edition this summer. It's just one of the events that brings the buzz to this increasingly hip corner of northeast Paris...

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  • Things to do
  • Film events
Come watch a french film with lost in Frenchlation
Come watch a french film with lost in Frenchlation

When? Once a week  What? Screenings of French films with English subtitles. Where? Independent cinemas around Paris Even if you have a high level of French, it can often be tricky to follow the dialogue in fast-paced French films. ‘Lost in Frenchlation’ was started for exactly this reason, hosting monthly screenings of French films with English subtitles in independent cinemas around the capital. 

Music & Nightlife

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  • Music
  • Music festivals
Rock en Seine 2017
Rock en Seine 2017

The city’s premier annual rock festival, Rock en Seine has been held in the Domaine National de Saint-Cloud every last weekend in August since 2003. For the best experience, buy a three-day pass and camp in the historic park grounds, which include Marie Antoinette’s rose garden...

  • Music
  • Dance and electronic
Macki Music Festival 2017
Macki Music Festival 2017

The brainchild of two kingpins of the Parisian party scene, DJ Mamie's collective and the label Cracki, Macki combines a quality line-up with the novelty value of a brand new venue...

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  • Music
  • Folk, country and blues
Party in the park with Paris Jazz Festival
Party in the park with Paris Jazz Festival

The Paris Jazz Festival is one of the favourite summer destinations for overheated Parisians. From mid-June until the end of July, two jazz groups play every Saturday and Sunday in the big open hall of the Parc Floral de Vincennes. The free festival (you only pay entry to the park) makes for a brilliant summer outing...

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  • Music
  • Music festivals
Preen at the Peacock Society 2017
Preen at the Peacock Society 2017

This techno, house and electro festival manages to cram an absolutely stonking line-up of more than 30 international DJs into its two days. Break out your shutter shades, your crowns of flowers and your rolling baccy – it's time to party in the Parc Floral...

  • Nightlife
Celebrate with LGBTQ+ collectives
Celebrate with LGBTQ+ collectives

The creative energy of the clubbing collectives ruling Paris’s nightlife scene has to be seen to be believed; it's fast becoming a European alternative clubbing capital in its own right. And LGBTQ+ voices are particularly strong here, proving that gay life in Paris is about much more than just the Marais...

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  • Music
  • Jazz
Get groovy at Jazz à la Villette festival 2017
Get groovy at Jazz à la Villette festival 2017

The Jazz à la Villette festival is one of the most hotly anticipated events of the back-to-school season for musically-minded Parisians. Every concert is unique, a meeting between different artists: jazz, funk, hip-hop, blues and world...

 

Things to Do

  • Things to do
Be a beach bum at Paris Plages
Be a beach bum at Paris Plages

If there’s one event that sums up Paris in the summer, this is it. Back in 2002, Mayor Bertrand Delanoë began the tradition of lining the banks of the Seine with sand, deckchairs, food stalls and volleyball nets, creating a series of city beaches for those stuck in town during the long hot months...

  • Things to do
Celebrate Bastille Day with the best of them
Celebrate Bastille Day with the best of them

The evening before the holiday, Parisians dance at Place de la Bastille. At 10am on the 14th, crowds line up along the Champs-Elysées as the President reviews a full military parade. By night, the Champ de Mars fills for the firework display...

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  • Sport and fitness
  • Paris et sa banlieue
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Not just a pool, but an aquatic centre with three different indoor sites: one training pool, one for learning and one for fun as well as a small outdoor pool, two solariums and one ‘beach’. It also offers a spa, hammams, saunas and UV cabins...

  • Things to do
  • Walks and tours
  • 20e arrondissement
Loop the loop on La Petite Ceinture
Loop the loop on La Petite Ceinture

A kind of illicit pedestrian counterpart to the boulevard périphérique, the Petite Ceinture is one of Paris’s least well-guarded secrets, in both senses. Essentially a disused railway that loops around the city like a ‘little belt’, the route has lain derelict since the last commercial train rattled along its tracks last decade...

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  • Things to do

The quays of the Seine and banks of the canals de l’Ourcq and Saint Martin are adored and regularly visited by Parisians, playing host to many a party, picnic or apéro. In Paris, houseboats – or péniches – function as more than just accommodation: many a water-loving entrepreneur has turned their houseboat into a lovely business or venue...

  • Things to do
  • Paris et sa banlieue

When Paris’s parks overflow in summer, those in the know will head to this out-of-town Eden at Sèvres – a former island (on a tributary of the Seine which was blocked up in the 19th century) that’s now a 7.5ha ecological park, found just at the end of the metro line 9...

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  • Things to do
  • Festivals
Overdose at candyfloss at the Tuileries summer funfair
Overdose at candyfloss at the Tuileries summer funfair

The summer fairground returns to Paris, bigger and better than ever Can you smell waffles? Must be the return of the annual fête foraine (summer fairground) to the Tuileries. Merry-go-rounds of various stripes are the stars of the show: you'll have the chance to mount a vintage carrousel dating from 1900, as well as a zippy modern 6G…

  • Things to do
Find out what bouldering is, and get hooked
Find out what bouldering is, and get hooked

The forests at Fontainebleau (which surround the manificent Château de Fontainebleau) are famous for their massive, prehistoric boulders; French alpine climbers have been coming here to train since the early 19th century. More recently, the area has become a prime location for 'bouldering'...

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  • Sport and fitness
  • Cycling
Join the crowds for the final leg of the Tour de France
Join the crowds for the final leg of the Tour de France

The grand finale of the bike race to rule them all returns to Paris again this year. The chance to watch last leg of the Tour de France powering up the Champs-Elysées after cycling 2,000 miles in 21 days draws crowds of thousands...

Pop along to a pop-up summer terrace
Pop along to a pop-up summer terrace

Paris Plages is well known for lining the Seine with sand and deckchairs during the summer months, but there are plenty of other venues across the capital that open up extra spaces when the sun comes up. With DJs and bars, summer sports or just shady places to relax, these summer spaces are the perfect spots to plant your parasol...

Shopping

  • Things to do
  • Literary events
Lay in your summer reads
Lay in your summer reads

The city that nurtured Hemingway and Fitzgerald, Orwell and Beckett is a major hub and an inspiration for English writers and readers, and there are glossy emporiums, delightful second-hand treasure troves and plenty of mixed-language outlets to explore...

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  • Shopping
  • Lingerie and swimwear
Put some sauce on your summer
Put some sauce on your summer

Fancy pants, cheeky bits and some more serious adult playtime gear can all be found at these come-hither Paris lingerie boutiques.

  • Shopping
  • Home decor
Discover Paris Design Week 2017
Discover Paris Design Week 2017

Paris Design Week provides an international platform for young and emerging design talent. Organised across Paris in some of the city's premier exhibition spaces, concept stores, hotels and restaurants, the week-long design 'itinerary' is free of charge...

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  • Shopping
Consider some ink at Paris's tattoo parlours
Consider some ink at Paris's tattoo parlours

Whether you're browsing for ideas or ready for your inking session, we've visited some of the top Paris tattoo studios to meet the artists and check out their work. Scroll through some artwork and see if any of the styles inspire you...

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  • Shopping

Want to put in a bid for a Louis XIV wardrobe? Or simply stroll through the streets of Montmartre in search of a vintage postcard to send home? Either way, we've got you covered with our pick of the most interesting art and antique markets the city has to offer. Just make sure to bring a full wallet and an empty carrier bag...

  • Shopping
  • Designer
Glimpse the gorgeousness of Haute Couture Fashion Week
Glimpse the gorgeousness of Haute Couture Fashion Week

While Parisians are away on summer holiday, the international fashion intelligentsia, models, stylists, socialites and celebrities all descend on the French capital for its semi-annual Haute Couture Week...

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  • Shopping
  • Off licences
Hop along to some fine new Parisian beer vendors
Hop along to some fine new Parisian beer vendors

Perhaps the most striking index of Parisians' newfound thirst for beer is the rate at which the brown stuff is being taken up by traditional wine merchants. Artisanal lagers and ales are increasingly found alongside the usual bottles of rouge and champagne, while dedicated beer shops are expanding into ever more specialised territory...

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