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Paris Plages: What to expect from the city ‘beaches’ in summer 2023

From sunbathing and free swimming to pétanque, paddle-boarding and kid-friendly activities, here is what you can do at this year's Paris Plages.

Published: 26 June 2023 16:01 CEST
Updated: 7 July 2023 16:52 CEST

Paris Plages: What to expect from the city 'beaches' in summer 2023

A tourist boat passing in front of empty deckchairs along the Seine river during the annual Paris-Plage (Paris beach) summer event in Paris in 2022 (Photo by BERTRAND GUAY / AFP)

Each year, the beach comes to Paris – a programme of free activities initially set up by City Hall for those who could not afford a summer holiday, but these days increasingly popular with Paris residents and visitors alike.

In 2023, the Paris Plage will run from July 8th to August 27th at two locations – along the banks of the Seine in central Paris and on the Bassin de la Villette in the north of the capital.

Here’s a glance at what is in store.

Along the Seine

The Paris Plage events set up along the Seine will take place from Trocadero to Pont-Neuf and down to Pont Louis-Philippe. In addition to having lawn chairs, sun loungers and the typical Brumisateurs (mist-makers), this year there will be plenty of free events taking place along the river.

Activities

Tai chi – daily from 10am to 12pm on the Quai next to Pont-Neuf.

Baby-foot (table football/soccer) – daily from 1pm to 7pm next to Pont Notre-Dame.

Pétanque – daily from 10am to 10pm next to Pont Louis-Phillippe

Jumbo games – daily from 11am to 6pm in front of Hôtel de Ville

Running training sessions – Starting at the meeting point of the ‘Châtelet ramp’. Available Tuesdays from 6:30pm to 9pm and Thursdays from 8am to 10am. You can reserve a spot here.

Swedish gymnastics – courses to be offered on Saturdays and Mondays

Art and open-air exhibits – There will one one below the Châtelet ramp and another below the Célestins ramp. The theme to appreciate will be ‘street art’ – more info here.

Trocadéro gardens – For the Paris Plage, the gardens will be transformed into a sporting area with dedicated space for games

Creative workshops – From hat painting to decorating mini surf boards and drawing times for small children, there are plenty of artistic workshops to sign up for. Hat painting, for example, will run from Friday, July 14th to Sunday, August 20th, 2023, each weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) from 1pm to 5pm, as well as 10am to 12pm.

Dance courses – Running from Friday July 14th to September 3rd, each week (Wednesday to Saturday) from 5pm to 8pm, free dance courses will be available. More information here.

Reduce waste – There will be sessions teaching people how to reduce waste, going on Wednesdays to Saturdays, as well as Sundays from 11am to 6pm.

Water sports

This year, there will be water sports in the Seine as well. Head to the ‘Bras Marie’ (address: 68-74 Quai de la Rapée, Paris 12th arrondissement) for canoeing and kayaking. This is open to anyone aged 15 and older, and all minors must be accompanied by an adult and must know how to swim.

Water sports along the Seine will be open on Sunday, July 9th from 8am to 11:45am, as well as each Sunday after July 30th until August 27th, from 8am to 11:45am.

Bassin de la Villette

Located in the north of Paris in the 19th arrondissement, the canal basin of the Bassin de la Villette transforms each summer, with deck chairs, swimming, pétanque and plenty of water activities like kayaking and canoeing.

Swimming – The Bassin de la Villette will be open for swimming from July 8th to September 3rd, with two swimming pools and two ‘paddling pools’ along the Quai de la Loire side of the canal. All swimming will be free of charge and safe, with the water qualify monitored daily.

The pools – one 1.2 metres deep, one 2 metres deep, and another two just 40cm deep for young children – are open from 11am to 9pm daily during the summer period.

Closer to the centre of the city, the City of Paris and the Mairie of the 10th arrondissement will offer open swimming on Sundays from July 9th to August 20th, between 12pm and 4pm.

The water quality will be checked before each opening of the baignade, which may be closed in the event of poor water quality or storms.

Activities – From table football to pétanque and tai chi, there will be plenty of activities along the Canal this year.

Reading (kids under 7) – Similar to 2022, there will be spaces set up for children ages three to seven years old called the “Ludo Plages” with small climbing areas, trampolines and age-appropriate fun, like the “Bibliotèques hors les murs” (Outdoor library) for free read-along sessions and workshops.

Dance – From the opening of Paris Plages to its closing in August, there will be various free dance courses available, from jazz and raggaeton to breakdancing and salsa. Courses will be on each Friday and Saturday from 6 to 9pm, as well as from 5 to 8pm on weeknights (Monday to Thursday) and Sundays.

Kids under 12 – This year, there will also be a carousal, accessible for children aged 5 to 12 years old, in addition to three trampolines of various sizes (for kids aged four to 12).

First-aid workshops – You can also sign up for free first-aid courses. They will be held Tuesday to Saturday, as well as on Sundays, from 2 to 5pm. More information here.

Water sports – Water sports, such as canoeing, paddle-boarding, kayaking, and pedal-boats, will be available. You can reserve a spot on-site. Typically, the city requires a 25m swimming certificate and parental authorisation for children. It is best to arrive early.

Other parts of the city

For those looking to take a free swim, the city of Paris will also set up several temporary outdoor pools from July 8th to August 20th.

They will be at Baignade Louis Lumière in the 20th arrondissement, Baignade Georges Carpentier in the 13th, Baignade Léo Lagrange in the 12th, Baignade Poissonniers in the 18th and Baignade Jules Noël in the 14th arrondissement. You can find more information on the town hall website here.

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Travel deals to take advantage of as prices drop ahead of Paris Olympics

After some soaring prices earlier in the year, costs for both accommodation and travel are now back to roughly seasonal norms.

In certain cases, train and plane tickets have fallen well below their summer averages.

As for lodging, the French press has reported that occupancy rates at Paris hotels are “gradually falling” as the event approaches, with many hotels and Airbnbs available.

What’s going on?

Around 15 million people are expected to visit Paris between late July and early September – considerably more than the 6.2 to 6.4 million visitors who came between July and August in 2023 or the roughly 10 million summer visitors Paris saw in pre-pandemic days.

As such, many predicted that prices would skyrocket ahead of the Olympic Games, but there are a few other factors to consider aside from large volumes of tourists.

A survey in March 2024 found that almost half of Parisians planned on leaving the city during the Games period. On top of that, over half (64 percent) of Olympics tickets were sold to French people, many of whom are planning to stay with friends and relatives in the capital and thus have not booked accommodation.

As of late May, almost half of the French ticket holders had not reserved any hotels or Airbnbs during the Olympic period.

Many property owners in the capital also listed their homes on Airbnb with the hopes of earning some extra money during the Games. However, this led to an over-saturation of the market.

French daily Le Monde reported that there were more than 145,000 properties on offer on Airbnb during the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, compared with 65,000 in normal times.

When it comes to hotels, UK online newspaper The Independent reported that hotel occupancy rates are expected to be “between 60 and 70 percent during the Games.”

The deals to look out for

Eurostar

According to reporting by The Independent, Eurostar tickets during the Olympics have declined by 11 percent in the last two weeks alone. The UK online newspaper found that the average Eurostar ticket price had dropped by €30 (or £26).

At the time of writing, The Local found that the cheapest one-way tickets on the day of the Opening Ceremony (July 26th) were €126, dropped to €112 the following day.

For a round trip ticket from July 26th to August 2nd, the lowest price was €169 – around average for the summer holiday period.

Flights

If you are flying from the UK, as of mid-June, Google Flights placed London-Paris flights in the ‘Typical’ price range. The cheapest round-trip tickets were with budget airline Vueling, at €139 for one week (July 26th to August 2nd).

However, flights from other cities in the UK were significantly cheaper, particularly if you are willing to change the dates slightly.

For example, five-day (July 29th to August 2nd) round-trip tickets from Bristol from cost €99 with Easyjet, and one-week (July 27 to August 3) round-trip tickets with Ryanair from Belfast cost €59.

For those flying from the US, prices had dropped significantly for a 10-day trip (July 26th to August 5th) from NYC to Paris, when compared with December 2023.

At the time, tickets were in Google Flights’ seasonal norms with average prices around €821. However, as of mid-June the same round-trip tickets were available for as low as €523.

The flight planning tool also ranked tickets during the Olympic period between LA and Paris as ‘low’ compared to seasonal norms.

Hotels and accommodation

As mentioned above, there were still many hotel options still available in and around Paris as of mid-June.

At the time of writing, Airbnb offered over 1,000 options for the first week of the Games, with options around €150 for an entire apartment for two people in central Paris, and possibilities closer to €230 for a family of four.

When it comes to hotels, many were still above seasonal norms, but prices were lower than initial estimates.

For example, in December the Paris deputy mayor in charge of tourism Frédéric Hocquard had estimated that the average price of one night in a hotel in Paris would be €699 during the Olympic Games, compared with €169 in July 2023, an increase of 314 percent.

At the time of writing websites such as Booking.com and Kayak still had several rooms available for around €200 per night.

Other costs

Those visiting during the Games will also pay a higher price for public transport.

Between July 20th and September 8th, the price of a single ticket – which can be used on the Metro, buses, RER trains or trams – will go up to €4, in contrast to the €2.10 it costs currently, and purchasing a 10 tickets at once (a carnet) will increase from €16.90 to €32 during the Games.

This does not affect residents with a travel pass or monthly card, or people who buy tickets in advance.

Are Olympics tickets still available?

Yes. While many have already secured tickets, there are still opportunities on the official resale platform – full details HERE. Games organisers are also releasing a limited number of new tickets every Thursday on the official ticket platform here.

Meanwhile there are ticket available for the Paralympics via the ticketing website here.

The Olympics/Paralympics website is the only official channel for ticket sales, so you should be extremely cautious about any tickets offered for sale on any other websites or forums.

But should I visit Paris during the Olympics?

If you were hoping for a last-minute Olympics trip then this is very much still on the table.

But if you want to enjoy a more typical tourist visit, you should expect larger than normal crowds and you should be prepared to reserve early. You should also keep in mind that there will be security zones across the city, as many of the matches and events are taking place in central Paris.

Eiffel tower – Be aware that the Tower is close to a Games venue. It will remain open during the Olympics period apart from the day of the Opening Ceremony (July 26th). However between July 18th and July 25th the Tower is in a security zone so you will require a QR code to enter – more info here. From July 27th onwards no QR code will be required for visitors – the Tower will be in a red zone, which has restrictions on vehicles, but which pedestrians can enter freely.

Louvre – During the Olympic Games, the Louvre will remain open to visitors, except for July 25th and 26th. However, all visitors from July 1st to September 8th must book a ticket ahead of time. As for the Tuileries Garden, it will be closed on August 28th and throughout the Games it will be in a security zone, meaning vehicular traffic will be severely limited – although pedestrians can still access it.

You can find more info about Olympics related disruption/changes for the Louvre HERE.

Versailles – The château, as well as the gardens will remain open to the public throughout the Games, with normal visiting hours.

The rest of France

Just because you’re taking a train or a plane to Paris, it doesn’t mean that you have to stay there – the capital is connected to all of France’s major cities – Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon and more – by high-speed TGV trains, as well as many smaller cities and towns.

Of the millions of people who visit France each year, 80 percent of them visit sites within just 20 percent of the country; largely Paris, the Riviera and certain well-known Alpine towns.

However, there are many other options – here is our guide to off-the-beaten-track places.

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