A couple lean in for a kiss at a cafe table

Why we love Paris in February

By Ian Packham

What could be better than a trip to the City of Love for Valentine’s Day? If you’re wondering if February is a good time to visit Paris, the answer is hell yes! Whilst Paris in February may not have the new growth of spring or the heat of summer, it does have a surprising number of events to look forward to.

What’s more, although you might think Paris in February would be packed out because of the presence of Valentine’s Day, the month sits firmly within the city’s low season meaning there’s fewer other visitors and the possibility of cheaper hotel rates too.

Here are just some of the reasons we love Paris in February.

Paris without the crowds

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Although you can never say that Paris is free of visitors, it certainly can seem like that when comparing the flow of people into the city’s museums in February to that during the months of July and August.

So why not take advantage of the reduced crowds to get up close with the Mona Lisa in the Louvre or climb the 674 steps to the viewing platforms of the Eiffel Tower with a guide in tow.

The one exception is the big day of February 14 itself, when entry to the tower is regularly booked up months in advance. If you’re planning to pop the big question, don’t get caught out by this!

Celebrate Crepe Day

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One of Paris’s lesser-known celebrations, Crepe Day nonetheless holds a special place in the hearts of many Parisians. Taking place on February 2, it stems from the Catholic festival of Candlemas or La Chandeleur.

It seems to have developed out of the Popes of centuries past giving food to the poor as part of the mid-winter holy day. It has become a way of marking the last days of winter and the first days of spring. Look out for special dinner menus incorporating all things crepe, or grab one from a stall during the day.

Discover the bizarre love stories of Versailles

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Perhaps the grandest estate ever built, the Palace of Versailles and its expansive gardens became one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1979 such is its importance.

The main residence of the kings of France for 200 years, its rooms and corridors have seen their fair share of strange love stories. For instance, Louis XIII never allowed his queen to spend a single night here.

To wander these historic spaces, where gold glints off crystal, marble and old master paintings, is an ideal thing to do on an overcast February day whether you’re traveling as a couple, as a group or if you’re a solo visitor.

See Paris at its most glamorous

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The end of February welcomes many of the world’s top models to the boulevards of the French capital for the half-yearly Paris Fashion Week. The country’s top designers and fashion houses – the likes of Chanel and Dior – host lavish events to coincide with the release of their latest collections.

Many take place in unique settings such as the Grand Palais exhibition hall and the Carrousel du Louvre underground shopping mall.

Should you arrive in Paris at the beginning of the month instead, you don’t have to miss out on the opportunity for some retail therapy. Great savings can be had with the end of the winter sales period – stores of all budgets slash their prices even further.

Revel in the Chinese New Year festivities

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Firecrackers popping around Paris. Performers leaping to the sound of cymbals. Colorful parades taking over the streets. It can only be Chinese New Year, which falls at the start of February (or very end of January).

Paris’s size means it’s able to boast several ‘Spring Festival’ celebrations. The largest happens in the 13th arrondissement’s Asian Quarter (Quartier Asiatique). The area’s street parade usually has around 2000 participants with ancestry in China and its neighboring countries.

But that’s nothing compared to the 200,000 who turn up to get involved and admire the meticulously choreographed lion dances and sample traditional New Year cuisine.

Join the carnival parade

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Chinese New Year isn’t the only street festival to take place in Paris in February. There is also the small matter of the Paris Carnival, or La Promenade du Boeuf Gras, coinciding with Mardi Gras.

Held in one form or another since the 16th Century, the carnival starts with a parade of masked figures at Place Gambetta in the 20th arrondissement. It makes its way to the Place de la République where the celebrations continue as a street party.

Make a day of Paris’s monuments to love

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Offering views of Notre Dame Cathedral,, the Pont des Arts is better known to many as love lock bridge. Literally millions of padlocks marked or engraved with lovers’ initials have been attached to its railings – creating a sea of metalwork estimated to weigh around 45 tons.

Amidst the winding streets of Montmartre lies the 40 square meter Wall of Love. Made up of over 600 individual ceramic tiles, they include the words ‘I love you’ roughly 300 times in 250 different languages, including Inuit and Esperanto.

No words are needed to visit the heart of Voltaire, situated beneath a marble statue of the writer-philosopher in the Salon d’honneur (Hall of Honor) at the National Library. But if that’s a little bit ghoulish, you can instead hover above the buildings of Paris with a romantic balloon ride on the Ballon de Paris Generali – the world’s largest.

Explore the hidden side of Paris

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Taking place over a long weekend, the Face Cachée (Hidden Side) event is another wonderful thing to do in Paris in February. Around 120 venues and organizations are involved in creating unique experiences. They allow the public to enter parts of the city usually closed off, or experience events they would never otherwise be able to.

There are no such limitations with the Palais Garnier Opera House – the reputed home of the Phantom of the Opera. It opens its doors throughout February for self-guided and guided tours of its extraordinary interiors.

Ways to save in Paris in February

Checking out the discount rails of the department stores isn’t the only way to save in Paris in February. Go City All-Inclusive and Explorer passes get you a great deal on admission to many of the city’s top attractions. All you need to do is pick the right pass for you and start exploring to save!

Ian Packham
Go City Travel Expert

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The boating lake in Bois du Boulogne park in Paris
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Things to do in Paris During The Day

With over 1,000 museums, around 400 parks and more boutique shops and cute pavement cafés than you can shake a very large stick at, there are dozens of things to do in Paris during the day. Here’s our pick of the crop. See the Sights Paris’s relatively compact center is easy to explore on foot but if you really want to max out your daytime sightseeing, there’s an abundance of other great ways to see the city. For sheer convenience, you’ll find Paris’s near-ubiquitous electric scooters tough to beat. Known as trottinettes to locals, these zippy little machines can be picked up and dropped off at hundreds of locations around the city, making them a super-easy way to get from A to B with minimal effort. Note that for safety reasons the speed limit for trottinettes is restricted to 10km/h in most parts of Paris. Join a guided Segway tour to tick off some of the city’s big attractions in, um, style. A self-deprecating sense of humor and a decent ability to stay upright are all you need to participate. Pass the mandatory training session and in no time you’ll be whizzing to big-hitting Paris landmarks including Les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe and the soaring Pont Alexandre III with its photogenic Art Deco lanterns. Alternatively, plan your own tour itinerary and rent a Vélib bicycle – also available for pick-up and drop-off pretty much everywhere in central Paris. Meander riverside and through the city’s stunning parks, pausing to admire the fabulous architecture and smell the roses, and, of course, to pick up some still-warm pains au chocolat from a boulangerie along the way. Seine sightseeing cruises depart from the Eiffel Tower throughout the day and are particularly enchanting at sunset, while hop-on hop-off bus tours are another fine way to see the city, especially from the top deck on a sunny afternoon. Have a Picnic in the Park Picnicking in the park should be considered mandatory on any trip to Paris. Open-air markets and street food abound in the city, so putting a gut-busting lunch together is pas de probleme. Rue Montorgueil is brimming with fab boulangeries, fromageries and street stalls that runneth over with juicy, fresh fruits. Pick up some just-baked bread, aromatic cheeses, plump grapes and artisan wine then hit the oldest pâtisserie in town for a decadent dessert of creamy rum babas and éclairs. Or head to Marché des Enfants Rouges in the Marais for gut-busting fried sandwiches, galettes that fairly ooze cheese, and some of the best Moroccan street food this side of Marrakech at Le Traiteur Marocain. Now fully equipped for your al fresco feast, the question is which park? Decisions, decisions... In the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, the Champ de Mars is a picture-perfect location for whiling away a few hours. Its sprawling manicured lawns and ringside views of the tower makes it an inspired location for your picnic – and a dozen or so selfies. One of Paris’s biggest parks, Bois de Boulogne contains – among other attractions – a château, a botanical garden and several lakes. Hire a boat to row across the largest of these (you’ll work up an appetite for sure), then walk off your picnic with a wander to the beautiful Parc de Bagatelle botanical garden, with its bountiful rose gardens and heavenly scents. The exquisite Luxembourg Gardens promise some low-octane pursuits including giant chess and the ancient French sport of pétanque. Head to Parc de la Villette for its fascinating series of architectural follies – there are 26 to find across the 137 acres of this huge green space, plus open-air music and cinema in the warmer months. Also in summer, take your picnic down to the banks of the Seine for the annual Paris Plages, where golden sands, deckchairs and ice creams are the order of the day. See Some Great Art Paris is a paradise for art lovers – and artists. Matisse, Modigliani, Manet, Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec are just some of the painters who went on to become household names after being inspired by this great city. No surprise, then, that you’re rarely more than a stone’s throw from an amazing museum or gallery. Of course, you can’t come to Paris and not visit the Louvre, home of the world’s most famous painting. Once you’ve ticked off the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo it’s time to experience what is hands-down the finest work of art in the museum. That would be the Mont Blanc, a decadent, gravity defying French fancy comprised of whipped Chantilly cream, meringue, chocolate shavings and chestnut vermicelli. You can view – and demolish – this bona fide masterpiece in Café Angelina on the first floor of the Richelieu wing. If you find the Louvre just a tad overcrowded for your liking, nearby Musée d’Orsay provides a less hectic alternative within the picturesque surroundings of the old Gare d’Orsay train station. The museum boasts one of the biggest collections of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art on the planet, with many pieces from Toulouse-Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge series and a number of Monet masterpieces, including one from his Water Lilies series. Other smaller but equally unmissable galleries include Musée de l'Orangerie in the Jardin des Tuileries, the Rodin Museum with its extraordinary seven-acre sculpture garden, and Renoir’s pretty garden at the Musée de Montmartre. Spend a Day in the Marais Picking a favorite district in Paris is like being asked to choose a favorite French fromage. There are just so many good ones to choose from! Set on the Seine’s Right Bank in view of Notre-Dame, the Marais is an entrancing maze of narrow, winding streets and alleyways that are chock-full of tiny independent boutiques, tempting pâtisseries and adorable pavement cafés. Grab a spot beneath the linden trees and watch the world go by in the Place des Vosges. This formal garden sits in the oldest planned square in Paris, hemmed in by atmospheric arcades and immaculate 17th-century townhouses with steeply pitched slate roofs. One of these – the former home of Les Misérables author Victor Hugo – is now a museum exhibiting furniture and works of art that belonged to (or were created by) the man himself. Indeed, for such a diminutive district, the Marais packs in a fairly impressive number of museums and galleries. Make for the Maison Européene de la Photographie for the best in contemporary photographic art, and don’t miss the Musée National Picasso-Paris, a stellar collection of over 700 paintings and sculptures by the father of Cubism. The legacy of Paris’s former Jewish quarter lives on in the Marais, primarily via its selection of kosher restaurants and bakeries. Make sure to treat yourself to a falafel wrap or pastrami sandwich at one of the excellent takeaway joints on the Rue des Écouffes or Rue des Rosiers – just follow your nose to discover true manna from heaven. Save on things to do in Paris during the day 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 girl taking a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower
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Things to do in Paris With Teens

Eye-rolling teenagers everywhere will tell you, with utter conviction, that there are few things in life more embarrassing than going on vacation with mum and dad. Here’s your chance to prove them wrong in one of the world’s greatest cities, with our guide to the best things to do in Paris with teens. Demonstrate your cool credentials and wow your progeny with ideas that include selfies at the Sacré-Cœur, rollercoaster rides, spooky subterranean skeletons and more. Instagram Inspiration Of course, your little darlings will be keen to document every moment of their Paris adventure online. And why not? Many literary and artistic greats have been seduced by the city’s beauty down the centuries, and your kids will likely be no exception. A selfie in front of the Mona Lisa should be considered essential. But be warned: the Louvre’s vast network of galleries and buildings makes for a fair bit of hiking from one major exhibit to the next. Planning your visit carefully and making a list of must-sees before you arrive may help mitigate any family arguments once you’re inside. Photo opportunities abound on a climb up the 674 steps to the viewing platform on the Eiffel Tower’s second floor. During the ascent, intrepid teens with a head for heights can step out onto the first level’s – gulp – transparent floor, 58 meters above the forecourt. Better still, kids over 12 can make the climb without parental supervision, meaning that, while they wear themselves out trying to bag the best selfie, you can get started on your picnic of cheese and wine on the sprawling lawns of Champs de Mars far below. Tick off some of Paris’s other great views. The Ballon de Paris Generali is a lot of fun: this tethered helium balloon rises a whopping 150 meters over the Parc André-Citroën. Montparnasse Tower goes even higher at 200 meters (by elevator), while the climb to the top of iconic Paris landmark the Arc de Triomphe is a relatively exhausting 284 steps, but does benefit from being on the famous Champs-Élysées boulevard, for a bit of light window-shopping and some decadent Ladurée macarons afterwards. Museums and Art Paris has a plethora of fine museums and galleries to keep teens entertained. Many, including big hitters like the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay offer free entry for under 18s. Centre Pompidou is a cultural mecca with cool ‘inside-out’ architecture; its colorful exposed pipework and air ducts making it something of a work of art in itself. There’s an entire floor dedicated to kids, including workshops, interactive exhibits and bags more hands-on fun. Workshops for teens don’t require parental supervision, leaving you free to explore the center’s vast collection of modern art, from Picasso to Pollock. Play hide and seek among the box hedges, statues and ornamental pools in the Rodin Museum’s seven-acre sculpture garden and visit Europe’s biggest science museum in Parc de la Villette, where the Cité des Sciences (CSI) counts a planetarium, an IMAX theater, and even a submarine among its myriad attractions. Or, if your offspring roll their eyes dramatically at the very idea of enduring all that boring old stuff from the past, rent some Vélib bicycles instead, and take them on a self-guided tour of eye-popping contemporary Paris street art around the Oberkampf neighborhood, La Villette canal and Montmartre. They’ll thank you for the additional Instagrammable photo opportunities, if not the mild physical exertion required to get there. Teen-Friendly Tours Bike isn’t the only fun way to see Paris though. Guided Segway tours are a great way to tick off some of the city’s big attractions with minimal effort. There are short tours, long tours, day tours, night tours, every kind of tour! All you need to bring with you is a reasonable sense of balance and in no time at all you’ll be whizzing to the likes of the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides and beautiful Pont Alexandre III with its soaring arch and Art Deco lanterns. Teens are permitted to ride if joined on the tour by their parents. Creepy and very cool – the perfect combination for any self-respecting teenager – the Paris Catacombs are an underground network of tunnels and caverns used to store the mortal remains of some six million or so Parisians, displaced from the city’s cemeteries in the 18th and 19th centuries. Kids will love this bone-chilling subterranean adventure, where wall-to-wall skulls and bones are stacked neatly from floor to ceiling. There’s a 1.5-kilometer circular route through this macabre ossuary: just about the right length for fidgeting teens before boredom starts to set in. Shopping and Entertainment Even the most apathetic teenager will struggle to feign immunity to the charms of a themed rollercoaster ride for long. Good news! Both Disneyland Paris and Parc Astérix are easily reached from central Paris, with trains taking less than an hour. Teens can also take to the skies on a jetpack adventure with Flyview Paris. This thrill-a-second VR experience mimics the real-life sensations of jetpack flying and takes you on a dizzying flight over major landmarks including the Notre-Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tower and more. Back on terra firma, take them shopping for unique souvenirs in the atmospheric cobbled streets of the Marais and Montmartre districts. Here’s where you’ll find independent boutiques selling vintage fashions, old-fashioned sweets, handmade artisan crafts and jewelry, and much more. The cute funicular that carries foot-weary passengers up the hill to the top of Montmartre will melt all but the hardest of teenage hearts. After grabbing a chocolate crêpe – and, naturally, a selfie or ten in front of the Sacré-Cœur – head round the back of the basilica to the Place du Tertre, a traditional Parisian square that’s teeming with local artists who’ll be delighted to provide your kids with a souvenir they’ll treasure forever: a one-of-a-kind portrait or caricature of themselves. Who knows, they might – just might – even crack a smile for the occasion. Save on things to do with teens 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

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