Paris 2024 Olympics Venues Guide

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?

By <a href="#author-bio">Stuart Bak</a>
By Stuart Bak
Published: July 18, 2024
Gargoyle at Notre-Dame Cathedral overlooking the Paris skyline

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.

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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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For art lovers, the palace contains a collection of over 60,000 pieces, but if that’s all too much then the nearby village of the same name has some pleasant local markets and cafes. Disneyland Paris Just under an hour from the city, Disneyland is Paris’ most famous attraction for the young - or young at heart! All the magic of childhood comes alive as you explore fantastical lands from pirate ships to the wild west and have your photo taken with your favorite characters. Adventurous park goers can try the Pirates of the Caribbean ride that inspired the movie, get lost in Alice’s Labyrinth or spy on a Star Destroyer in the Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain. If you’re a Marvel fan you can get up close and personal with your heroes at the Avenger’s Campus, or take in views of the whole park on a Panoramagic balloon ride. There are also plenty of restaurants and child-friendly zones so it’s easy to keep the whole family busy for the day. 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Parc Astérix Just an hour’s drive north of the city is Parc Astérix, an adrenaline-fueling action theme park inspired by the comic book character Asterix and his sidekick Obelix. Guests can follow in the footsteps of the famous heroes as they travel back in time to the ancient civilizations of Rome, Greece, Egypt and even the vikings, enjoying themed rides, rollercoasters and restaurants as they go. Though less famous than its Disney counterpart, Parc Astérix has plenty to offer for a full day out and will satisfy children, history buffs and thrill seekers alike. Monet’s Gardens at Giverny If you need a quieter escape, one of the best day trips from Paris is a visit to Monet’s house and gardens at Giverny, which were home to the artist for more than forty years of his life. 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Finish the day with a visit to its historic cathedral, site of the coronation of many French kings and queens, including that of Edward VII in the presence of Joan of Arc. Abbaye Royale De Chaalis If you’re looking for some French culture beyond the capital, but can’t decide between a castle, an abbey or a garden, the Abbaye Royale de Chaalis may just tick all your boxes. At just over an hour’s drive it’s an easy day trip from Paris, but the romantic and peaceful setting will make you feel as though you’ve left the city far behind and wandered deep into provincial France. As well as the atmospheric abbey ruin and enchanting rose garden, there’s a castle which has been converted into a museum and holds over 600 pieces including works by Giotto, Houdon and Boucher. If you’ve got time leftover, you can also include a stop at the Condé Museum in the Château de Chantilly nearby. Save on things to do around Paris There are so many things to do in Paris, but if you need an escape there are plenty of nearby places to visit as well. Get the best value with Go City, which gives you substantial savings on over 80 attractions within and around this beautiful and wondrous city.
Karleen Stevens

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