Gargoyle at Notre-Dame Cathedral overlooking the Paris skyline

Paris 2024 Olympics Venues Guide

Our Paris 2024 Olympics venues guide contains all the essential info on the main sporting locations, and then some.
By <a href="#author-bio">Stuart Bak</a>
By Stuart Bak

Planning to head to the Paris Olympics this summer? Not sure where the action’s at or when it starts? Don’t know your Champs de Mars from your Château de Versailles?

The first thing you need to know is that much of the action will be taking place in and around Paris’s historic monuments and landmarks, taking advantage of iconic attractions like the Eiffel Tower, Pont Alexandre III and Trocadéro rather than relying on the more traditional (and dare we say dull) stadiums normally favored by Olympic hosts. And why not? Opportunities to showcase your city’s iconic attractions to a global audience of millions don’t come along very often. Nor do they come much bigger than the Olympic Games, which are expected to attract upwards of 15 million sports fans to the city alone during their four-week run. Read on for the lowdown…

Paris 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony

The Paris Games kick off with a suitably bombastic opening ceremony on July 26th, with the games themselves running for a little over two weeks, until August 11th. The Paralympic Games follow later in the month, with events taking place between August 28th and September 8th.

Breaking with traditional Olympic opening ceremonies, the Paris spectacular will take the form of a parade, running for six kilometers along the Seine between the Jardin de Tuileries and Trocadéro plaza, with separate boats for each national delegation. Access to the upper quays along the river will be free of charge, but tickets are required to get closer to the action along the lower quays. Expect music, fireworks, live entertainment and an utterly thrilling, once-in-a-lifetime atmosphere.

Paris 2024 Olympics: Venues In and Around Town

Woman running among pigeons at the Trocadéro in Paris

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of Olympic venues (20 out of the 35) will be located in and around central Paris, with 13 of those slap-bang in the city center itself. Here’s the lowdown on the ones to watch…

Top City-Center Olympic Venues

Marathon swimmer
  • Champ de Mars Arena: this temporary open-air stadium boasts perhaps the finest backdrop of them all. Here’s where epic beach volleyball and blind football battles will play out in the shadow of the mighty Eiffel Tower.
  • Place de la Concorde: urban sports rule the roost here on Paris’s largest public square, where the likes of Robespierre, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI faced the guillotine during the French Revolution. Let’s hope these modern practitioners of basketball, freestyle BMX, skateboarding and breaking (aka breakdancing, appearing at an Olympic Games for the first time) don’t lose their heads.
  • Grand Palais: this glass-roofed Paris icon was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition and will this year host fencing and taekwondo events across the Olympics and Paralympics.
Les Invalides in Paris
  • Esplanade des Invalides: home to Louis XIV’s flamboyant Dôme des Invalides. Paris’s tallest church, no less, Les Invalides is where it's at for fans of archery, athletics and cycling.
  • Hôtel de Ville: the extraordinary facade of this neo-renaissance confection provides a suitably grand backdrop to the start of the Olympics’ longest event: the marathon.
  • Trocadéro: not only does this riverside district boast glorious gardens, monumental fountains and some of the best views of the Eiffel Tower in town, it’s also where you can catch road cycling, triathlon and more at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.
  • Pont Alexandre III: this magnificently ornate bridge provides a suitably regal setting for triathlon, road cycling and marathon swimming events.

Top Olympic Venues Elsewhere in Paris

Roland-Garros Stadium
  • Roland-Garros Stadium: best known as the legendary venue of the French Open, the stadium will host boxing as well as tennis for the Olympics.
  • Bercy Arena: this peculiar pyramidal structure, with its sloping grass-covered walls, is the place to catch basketball, trampoline and athletics events.
  • Parc des Princes: no we haven’t forgotten you, football fans! The iconic home of Paris Saint Germain will play host to football preliminaries and finals during the Olympics, with the remaining games taking place in Bordeaux, Nantes, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Nice and Marseille.
Woman celebrating a medal win
  • Porte de la Chapelle Arena: put this brand-new complex in the 18th arrondissement on your list if badminton, para badminton, rhythmic gymnastics or para powerlifting are your bag. 
  • Aquatics Centre: located in Saint-Denis opposite the Stade de France, this is the only permanent sports facility built specifically for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Catch swimming, diving and water polo events here.
  • Stade de France: the country’s largest stadium, built for the 1998 Football World Cup (which France won), is called back into service for rugby, athletics and para athletics events at the Paris Games.

Paris 2024 Olympics: Venues Beyond Paris

If you’re football mad, you’ll likely want to tour the country to get to the various stadiums hosting matches throughout the tournament, but it’s not all just football, football, football outside of Paris. There’s golf, mountain biking, track biking, shooting and more going on at Olympic venues across France…

Top Olympic Venues Outside Paris

Mountain biker in action
  • Palace of Versailles: the ostentatious château at the heart of Louis XIV’s court will become one of the Paris Olympics’ most picturesque settings when the Etoile Royale esplanade in the palace gardens hosts Olympic and Paralympic equestrian events and modern pentathlon this summer. They’re just the kind of showily extravagant sporting activities that ol’ Louis himself might have approved of.
  • Les Yvelines: experience all the two-wheeled thrills and spills you could ever need, with BMXing, track cycling and para cycling all on the roster at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Vélodrome, and mountain biking over at Elancourt Hill.
  • Golf National: having previously hosted the French Open and Ryder Cup, it’s now the turn of the Paris 2024 Olympics, which will see world-class swingers try their luck against the fiendishly tricky L’Albatros course.
  • Châteauroux CNTS Shooting Centre: the clue’s in the name. Here’s where all the shooting finals will take place, including pistol and rifle shooting.
View of Marseille
  • Bordeaux Stadium et al: hosts of the Olympic football heats include Bordeaux, Nice, Marseille, Lyon, La Beaujoire in Nantes and Geoffrey-Guichard in Saint-Etienne.
  • Pierre-Mauroy Stadium: for a different kind of ball-play, this Lille legend is where it’s at for all things basketball and handball.
  • Marseille Marina: you shouldn’t need an excuse to visit beautiful Marseille in the summertime. But if you did, the 2024 Olympic sailing events will surely fit the bill, bringing a festival atmosphere to the already-lively Roucas-Blanc Marina.

Which brings us to the end of our almost-comprehensive guide to the venues of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. For more information on all the venues taking part, check out the official Olympics website.

Save on Attractions, Tours and Activities in Paris

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Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak
Freelance travel writer

Stu caught the travel bug at an early age, thanks to childhood road trips to the south of France squeezed into the back of a Ford Cortina with two brothers and a Sony Walkman. Now a freelance writer living on the Norfolk coast, Stu has produced content for travel giants including Frommer’s, British Airways, Expedia, Mr & Mrs Smith, and now Go City. His most memorable travel experiences include drinking kava with the locals in Fiji and pranging a taxi driver’s car in the Honduran capital.

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Best Paris Souvenirs

Did you know the word souvenir derives from the French term for memory or remembrance? What could be more appropriate, then, than to take a memento of your visit to the City of Love home with you? Read on for our guide to the best Paris souvenirs, and where to find them. From the Ubiquitous to the Unique No Paris souvenir is more emblematic or ubiquitous than the humble Eiffel Tower. You’ll find reproductions of The Iron Lady absolutely everywhere, from kitsch souvenir booths and street stalls to the high-end jewelry stores that line the Champs-Élysées. Tacky? Perhaps. But you’re guaranteed a reminder of that wonderful weekend you spent in Paris each and every time you look at it. The tower comes as – deep breath – a fridge magnet, bottle opener, wine-stopper, mug, cuddly toy, bedside lamp, keyring and pen. You’ll see it on t-shirts and tea-towels and inside snow globes. It comes in every shape, color, size and format imaginable, with or without flashing lights. But you can’t really beat a simple metal replica. These tiny, faithful reproduction ornaments can be found in the Eiffel Tower’s gift shops and, well, just about everywhere else. Looking for something a little more unique to you? Paris is home to some of the finest perfumers on the planet, with many offering unique custom fragrances. Scent magicians Fragonard have a workshop in which you can design and create your very own mini eau de toilette to take home. Alternatively – should you have deep enough pockets – you can engage the services of celebrated Paris perfumer Stéphanie de Bruijn, who will personally oversee the creation of your very own signature scent. Or head to Place du Tertre in Montmartre where, on a picturesque cobbled square against the stunning backdrop of the Sacré-Cœur Basilica, local artists will create perhaps the ultimate Paris keepsake: a portrait or caricature of your own beautiful face, captured for posterity. And you don’t get much more unique than that! Souvenirs for Culture Vultures Paris boasts literally hundreds of museums and art galleries. And where there’s a museum or gallery, there’s a gift shop. Hit up the Louvre for all your Mona Lisa mug and tote bag requirements. Of course, as befits the world’s most-visited museum, there’s much more to the Louvre’s beautiful wood-clad boutique than da Vinci knick-knacks alone. Think intricately detailed maps of pre and post-Haussmannian Paris, replica period jewelry and hundreds of prints of masterpieces from the museum's vast art collection. Gift shops at the Rodin and Picasso museums also merit a visit in their own right. The Rodin Museum boutique is where you’ll find note-perfect ornamental replicas of the French sculptor’s most famous works, including The Kiss and The Thinker. While the Musée Picasso boutique in the Marais is your one-stop-shop for decorative houseware, pottery, bags, artful cushions and more, all designed to pay tasteful homage to the father of Cubism. The stretch between Quai Voltaire and Quai de la Tournelle on the Seine’s Left Bank is a bonanza for book lovers. Stroll the pretty embankment, enjoying glorious views of Notre-Dame and the bateaux that bob along the river, as you browse the wares of the Bouquinistes. This is the place for books of all shapes and sizes sold from stalls that line the riverside. Think literary classics, graphic novels, dusty antiquarian doorstops, childrens’ books, art, poetry... it’s all here, and then some. Budding philatelists and deltiologists are also well catered for by the Bouquinistes, with many selling antique French stamps and postcards alongside their books. At the eastern end of this stretch, on the edge of the Latin Quarter, is also where you’ll find beloved English-language bookstore Shakespeare and Company. Within this labyrinthine treasure trove of groaning shelves and teetering piles lies the perfect souvenir or gift idea for the bookworm in your life: a beautiful book of your choice, stamped with the shop’s famous logo on its flyleaf. Wearable and Edible Paris Souvenirs If you’re lucky enough to be able to rock the beret-and-marinière look like the couple in the picture above, we recommend splashing out on these traditional Gallic fashions in a store with French-made goods, rather than picking up the cheap knock-off versions that are ubiquitous in the high-street souvenir shops (and that are liable to fall apart the minute you get them home). Try La Cerise sur le Chapeau for your chic headgear and Armor-Lux for your Breton striped shirt. Neither will break the bank and both have branches throughout Paris. What might break the bank, however, is a visit to the flagship Louis Vuitton megastore on the Champs-Élysées, the biggest in the world. Seven stories of eye-wateringly expensive accessories await you in this palace of pleasure. It’s worth visiting purely to ogle at its many wonders but, if you can afford it, what an absolutely perfect souvenir that magnificent little purse would make. Food, glorious food... Given that France can stake a reasonable claim to having the finest cuisine on the planet, it would be remiss if you fail to take home something edible: an exquisite little jar of the yellow stuff from the Maille boutique on Place de la Madeleine, perhaps. Or some powdered hot chocolate from the legendary Café Angelina. Paris is also crammed with delightful fromageries and caves à vin for all your cheese and wine needs. Follow your nose to quaint Rue Mouffetard, one of the oldest streets in Paris and home to The House of Androuet, its highly decorative exterior tempting you inside to where hundreds of fragrant French fromages await. Head to Galerie Vivienne for an old-fashioned wine-shopping experience at Legrand Filles et Fil. Beneath the grand glass canopy of this 19th-century arcade, you’ll find a wonderland of wines from Bordeaux to Burgundy and beyond. And finally, it’s impossible to talk about edible souvenirs without mentioning macarons, those colorful little meringue confections so beloved of Parisians and Instagrammers everywhere. You can pick these up from any Paris pâtisserie worth its salt, but for a truly decadent souvenir or gift, treat yourself to a box of beautifully presented macarons from the opulent Ladurée store. Or visit rival Pierre Hermé, whose must-try signature flavors include Ispahan (raspberry, lychee and rosewater) and Mogador (chocolate and passion fruit). You’ll find both of these fine establishments on (where else?) the Champs-Élysées. Save on things to do in Paris Save on admission to Paris attractions with Go City. Check out @GoCity on Instagram and Facebook for the latest top tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak
A young couple take a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower
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Things to do in Paris For Couples

Paris is a playground for couples, a veritable feast of top-rated restaurants, world-beating museums and galleries, and some of the best night-time entertainment you’ll find anywhere on the planet. Dive in to discover our pick of the 10 best things to do in Paris for couples. Get High on Champagne There are a few different ways to reach the top of the Eiffel Tower. The smart money is on taking the glass elevator aaaall the way up, but those with a sense of adventure (and buns of steel) can also climb the 674 steps to the second level and then catch the lift. There’s even a see-through floor at level one, from where the boldest visitors peer right down between their legs to the forecourt far below. However you do it, you’ll want a selfie with your significant other, glass of Champagne in hand, when you reach the top. Conveniently, a sky-high bar awaits you. But, at 276 meters above terra firma, best not let the bubbles go to your head. Take a Cruise on the Seine A Seine cruise is a fine way to see some of the city’s most iconic museums and monuments. Board at the Eiffel Tower and meander downriver past sights including the grand gothic melodrama that is the Notre-Dame Cathedral, and the Louvre Museum’s instantly recognisable glass pyramid. Sunset is a particularly atmospheric time of day to take the cruise, as dusk falls and the Seine’s grand bridges and riverside gardens and museums turn their lights on. Visit a Museum Whether you share a passion for the arts or not, you’re sure to find something of interest in Paris’s galleries – there are over 1,000 to choose from, after all. Couples who wish to avoid the crowds should opt for small but perfectly formed collections such as those found in the Rodin Museum or Gustave Moreau Museum. Choose Rodin for the splendid formal gardens, where sculptures including The Thinker and The Gates of Hell lurk among box hedges, rose gardens and ornamental fountains. Or pick Moreau for a fascinating glimpse into the artist’s mind: printed guides to the trippy and fantastical paintings inside his former home were written by his own fair hand. Go for a Wander Paris’s relatively compact center is best experienced on foot, and nowhere more so than on a romantic stroll along the Canal Saint-Martin. Starting where the Rue de Marseille joins the Quai de Valmy, meander past colorful waterside boutiques, and soak up the atmosphere from boho bars and bistros. Take a detour onto Rues de l’Ourcq and Rue Germaine Tailleferre for the wonderful street art, then cross the bridge to enter Parc de la Villette, a vast and verdant Paris playground that’s packed with sculptures, museums and music venues, where you could quite easily while away the rest of your day. Make Macarons Ever tried a macaron? These deliciously sweet little pastries are ubiquitous in Paris and come in any number of different colors and flavors. One taste and you’ll be hooked – find them brightening up the window display of every self-respecting pâtisserie in town. Now just imagine you could continue to eat these decadent French treats after you return home. Step forward the popular macaron-making class at the Galeries Lafayette Haussman department store where, in just 90 minutes, you and your partner will learn to mix, bake, assemble (and of course eat) macarons like pros. With your newly acquired skills, we guarantee your friends will love you forever, even if your weighing scales do not. Browse the Markets Paris has around 100 different markets, with something to satisfy every appetite, from farm-fresh produce to flea market knick-knacks, flowers and, yep, even animals. Pick up a selection of fabulous fromages, an oven-fresh baguette, a punnet of ripe strawberries and a bottle of organic wine at Marché Bastille, then head to nearby Place des Vosges for an impromptu picnic. Or satisfy your urge to bag a bargain at the vast Saint-Ouen flea market where the seemingly endless labyrinth of alleyways contains every treasure under the sun, from vintage vinyl to retro fashion, period antiques to old-fashioned toys and games. Take a Day Trip to a Château There are dozens of grand palaces and châteaux within easy reach of Paris, perfect for a romantic day trip out of town. A direct train gets you to the ridiculously opulent Palace of Versailles in under an hour. You could easily lose a whole day at this former royal residence, wandering among the countless paths, ponds, fountains and sculptures with your own king or queen, and exploring the almost comically extravagant interiors of the Hall of Mirrors and the King’s private apartments. More tastefully restrained chateaux including fairytale Fontainebleau and Renaissance-style Rambouillet are equally accessible by train from the center of Paris. Go Wine-Tasting Established in the 18th Century by King Louis XV’s personal sommelier (how the other half live, eh?), Les Caves du Louvre offers a different kind of wine-tasting experience. Descend into a network of tunnels beneath the streets of the 1st arrondissement, where your guided tour of the royal cellars culminates in a tasting experience with three different French wines. If you fancy viewing some fine art with your newly acquired double vision afterwards, it’s just a short stagger to the Louvre Museum. Take in a Show Get your glad rags on and hit the cabaret clubs. No self-respecting visitor should leave Paris without experiencing at least one of the myriad burlesque shows on offer at the likes of the Moulin Rouge, with its famous neon-red windmill. Or, if you prefer your entertainment a little less... risqué, you can take your date to see a classic opera or ballet at the refined Palais Garnier or Opéra Bastille. Or enjoy an old-fashioned movie night at one of the city’s historic picture houses, such as The Louxor, a sumptuous century-old mash-up of Egyptian and Art Deco design. Don’t forget the popcorn! Watch the sunset from Montmartre Hopeless romantics will be unable to resist Montmartre, with its atmospheric cobbled lanes, sultry bars and ultra-Parisian café culture. Take the funicular up to the top of the hill and stroll round the Sacré-Cœur to grab a selfie at Le mur des je t'aime (the Wall of Love). Ask one of the resident artists in the Place du Tertre to sketch a cutesy caricature of you and your beau, before heading back to the steps in front of the basilica and sharing a chocolate crêpe as the sun sets over the city. Save on things to do in Paris for Couples Save on admission to Paris attractions with Go City. Check out @GoCity on Instagram and Facebook for the latest top tips and attraction info.
Stuart Bak
Stuart Bak
A woman looking at getting around Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background
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The complete guide to getting around Paris

Only those with a machoistic streak would ever consider driving in or around Paris unnecessarily. At their worst, roads can be likened to parking lots, which is ironic given how hard parking can be to find.
Ian Packham

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