Travel Tips for the Paris Olympics
By Travis Parker
If you're traveling to Paris this summer, the 2024 Olympics will impact your stay, even if you're there before or after the games.
The XXXIII (that's 33rd) Olympiad runs from July 26 through August 11, followed by the Paralympics (August 28–September 8). Roughly 10 million tickets will be sold to see more than 10,000 athletes compete in hundreds of events across 32 sports.
We may think of it as the "Paris Olympics," but the entire country is getting involved. Sailing events are taking place in the Bay of Marseille, Lille is hosting basketball and handball, and soccer matches are happening in major cities throughout the country. (And surfing is being held in…Tahiti!) But the epicenter will indeed be Paris, and that's where travelers will feel the greatest Olympic effect.
One of the biggest impacts is sticker shock. Parisian hotel prices during the Olympics are sky-high — about double their normal summer rate. If you're heading to Paris to see the Games, these high rates are unavoidable. But savvy travelers should eye going just before or after the Games, when occupancy and prices are lower than normal. (August is France's vacation period, so post-Olympics visitors will find few Parisians in Paris).
You'll also encounter heightened safety measures and crosstown travel restrictions. On July 18, a series of colored "zones" were set up throughout Paris to establish secure perimeters around the city's unique Olympic venues. Whether or not you're holding a ticket to an event, you'll need the free Pass Jeux to walk or cycle through these zones, which include the Champ de Mars, Place de la Concorde, and along the Seine River. This "Games Pass" is a standard QR code that's attainable by submitting personal information through a government-issued form.
It's standard for major sporting events to leave host cities with an improved infrastructure — London, Turin, and Athens still benefit from upgraded transportation lines and redevelopment from their past Olympics — and the City of Light is no different. New bicycle paths crisscross the city, hundreds of buildings have been upgraded to make them greener and/or more accessible, and the Paris tourism bureau has developed an interactive map for visitors that lists everything from restaurants to museums to shops. The city is in full-swing, get-ready mode: Even the Tour de France, which traditionally ends in Paris, has had to re-route to Nice this summer to avoid disrupting the preparations.
One Paris monument that will not quite be ready in time for the Olympics is Notre-Dame Cathedral, which remains under restoration after the devastating fire it suffered in 2019. It's set to reopen this December.
Even if you're not traveling to France this summer, these Games warrant your attention. It's been exactly 100 years since the Olympics last came to Paris, and to celebrate this centennial, the French capital is rolling out some unprecedented spectacles.
The Opening Ceremony has always been hosted in a large stadium, with a parade of nations walking in together before tens of thousands of spectators. Not this year. In Paris, the Opening Ceremony took place on the Seine, with nations floating in on barges in front of hundreds of thousands gathered on the banks of the river and its many ornate bridges. Country flags wove their way through the six-kilometer route while international superstars ogled the sparkling city like tourists aboard a Bateaux-Mouche. The procession ended memorably at the Place du Trocadéro, across the river from the Eiffel Tower.
Paris is using every possible opportunity to show off. Here are some other examples: A sandy court was built on the Champ de Mars, where beach volleyball is being played at the temporary "Eiffel Tower Stadium," in the shadow of France's most iconic monument. Fencing and taekwondo are naturally illuminated through the Beaux-Arts glass roof of the Grand Palais des Champs Élysées. Just down the street, Place de la Concorde — the largest square in Paris, where the guillotine famously made the aristocracy a "foot shorter at the top" during the French Revolution — is hosting the Olympic debut of breakdancing, along with skateboarding, BMX cycling, and 3x3 basketball. Equestrian competitions are being held (where else?) in the gardens at Versailles, and archery fills the lawn of the military museum, Les Invalides.
Imagine: Where heads once rolled, heads will now turn to watch a newly anointed sport. Horses will trot, vault, and show-jump their way across a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And the world's top archers are taking aim at gold mere feet from the tomb of Napoleon.
Culturally, the Olympics are not as important to the French (or most Europeans in general) as the Euro Cup, the football (soccer) tournament that took place in Germany earlier this summer. But the spectacle of athletes competing with Paris for the global spotlight is enough to grab anyone's attention. Even if you're not traveling to the City of Light this summer, the 2024 Olympics might inspire you to visit soon.
Travis Parker is a former tour guide for Rick Steves' Europe.