Shooting up beneath the store’s opulent dome and decorated with 3D models of imaginary characters sent in by children, this giant Christmas tree aims to transport visitors to the North Pole. Make sure to stick around, for every half hour the dome lights will be switched off to allow for an aurora borealis-like constellation of LEDs to glisten around it.
It’s hard to imagine Christmas in Paris without the Galeries Lafayette. Each year its glamorous window displays and gargantuan Christmas tree become queue-worthy tourist attractions in themselves, rivalling any Eiffel Tower or Sacré Coeur. Fortunately, this festive season is no different. The department store has gone all out to please families with a series of immersive installations and events themed around the fairy tale, from a specially commissioned film by Nicolas Bary to the inevitable inclusion of Harry Potter.
We suggest heading down to the labyrinthine main show at the Galerie des Galeries first. It promises a maze of doors and secret passages, accessed by a single door, in a world lifted straight out of a Hans Christian Andersen story. But now, for the shopping...
