Paris Travel Guide (2024): What to Expect

If you are planning on traveling to the city of light in 2024, this Paris travel guide is meant to help you understand a few things you should know and what to expect on your trip. As the city prepares for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, the 80th anniversary of D-Day, and continuous recovery from the global pandemic and civil disturbances, many things are happening that may impact your trip.

I have been to Paris more than 50 times. During every month and every season. We often stay 1-2 weeks and move around the city to live like a local in different arrondissements. All that to say I have some experience.

Also, I love all my expat friends who live in Paris, living the day-to-day in the city of light, but there is a different experience when you are visiting as a tourist and not living as an expat or a local. Every time I return it is as a visitor, with fresh eyes, new experiences, and lots of snags.

Sure. Paris is always a good idea. But maybe some times are better than others!

If Paris is where you want to go, I say go for it. BUT I do want to provide information so that this guide serves you and helps set expectations as to what it will be like to visit Paris in 2024.

The good news and there are a lot of new things to visit and see, and several significant re-openings of old favorites.

Hopefully, you will avoid some disappointment by reading this post.

My intent isn't to discourage you from visiting Paris. I just want you to take off the rose-colored glasses for a moment, reset your expectations, then you can quickly shove them back on! I am providing an overview of what to expect in Paris in 2024 (not an update to the usual information about Paris). I hope this information helps make your trip planning easier!

D'accord? Bon ! On y va ! (Okay? Good! Let's go!) with this year's Paris travel guide!

Here is what you need to know about visiting Paris in 2024!

When to Visit Paris

Paris is a year-round destination, and each season offers a unique experience. Spring (March to May) brings blooming gardens and mild temperatures, making it perfect for strolling along the Seine. Summer (June to August) is bustling with tourists, but it's also the time for open-air festivals and longer daylight hours.

Fall (September to November) showcases beautiful autumn foliage, while winter (December to February) offers a quieter atmosphere, with the city adorned with holiday lights. Choose the time that suits your preferences and interests.

However.

For 2024, the months between January and July will be challenging. The closer you get to the Olympics, the crazier it is going to be. Construction projects will be in super-sonic mode trying to meet their deadlines, price hikes will make your wallet cry, and the French are downright grumpy at the moment.

If you do not have a friend or family member participating in the Olympics, if you do not have a ticket for an event, and if you don't like crowds, you do not want to be in Paris between July and August. And I highly recommend you avoid Paris at this time. It's not going to be a good experience and it is going to be EXPENSIVE.

A great time to visit is AFTER the Olympics. All the shiny things that were built for the Olympics will still be in place. There will be tons of new things to see. While the price increases will likely still impact you, hotel, restaurant, and tour prices should dip.

If you want to learn more about the individual month you are planning to visit Paris in, check out my monthly guides:

PARIS IN:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec

Price Hikes

• Paris raised taxes on hotels and other accommodations on Jan. 1. The increase charges visitors up to 200 % more in nightly tax for 2024. The increase varies based on the type of accommodation. 
• Accommodations whether it be hotels or networks like Airbnb or VRBO, will all be outrageously high.
• The Louvre Museum is increasing its entrance fee in January to 22 euros ($23.70) from 17 euros. It is the first price hike since 2017!
• Paris metro ticket price to double during the 2024 Olympics. The Olympics will be held from July 26 to Aug. 11 and the Paralympics from Aug. 28 to Sept 8, and the higher prices will be in effect from July 20 to Sept. 8. If you are visiting during the Olympics, be on the lookout for the Paris 2024 Pass. It will cost 16 euros per day.

Paying for Things

Speaking of price hikes, the best way to pay for anything in Paris is with a chipped credit card. It is fast, contactless (under 50 Euro) and above all, preferred. If you want to use cash (that is my preference honestly) then have smaller denominations of bills with you. You will have a tough time getting people to break a 50 or 100-Euro note. Heck if you are buying something under 5 Euros, with a 20 most vendors won't be happy!

I mention this in my packing posts on bags, but bring a double-sided coin purse, you will thank me!

Strikes

Okay. This is not unusual for France in general, especially during the months of May and October. But this year, there is an extra round of strikes around France's retirement pension reform that began in February and will continue throughout the spring which will impact your trip to Paris.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Most of the time strikes = public transportation issues.
  • That means the metro (RER), trains (SNCF and RER), buses (RER), and sometimes taxis too.
  • Make sure your airport transfer is secured well in advance of any possible transit strikes. By pre-booking an airport transfer, you won't be stuck without transport and the hotel will take care of providing updates concerning delays or disruptions that may occur.
  • One thing I do is head to the CDG area the night before my flight so that any possible delays will not force me to miss my flight. I love the Sheraton Paris Airport Hotel but have also stayed at the Paris Marriott Charles de Gaulle Airport Hotel and citizenM Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
  • For air travel, 95% of the time international flights are not impacted. However, as soon as you arrive in France, you may have issues if you have inner-France connections to other French airports.
  • BUT you may have trouble getting to the airport on the day of a strike. Taxis will not be able to get through demonstrations at the airport and will drop you off in inconvenient locations and you will have to walk! My best advice is to ask the taxi driver to drop you off at Ibis Paris CDG Airport it is a 5-minute covered walk to Terminal 3. Or the citizenM Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
• You can check when and where major strikes and demonstrations are taking place with this site: C'est la Grève. It is in French, but you can use an online translator. It is pretty self-explanatory.
• Before heading out of your hotel check in with the front desk or concierge. They usually know where and when protests are planned. You do not want to be inadvertently swept up into a demonstration. 
• Avoid the large public areas called “Places”, especially around Place de la Republique, Place de la Bastille, Place d'Italie, and Place de la Concorde.  
• Tune into France24 online. It is in English and can help you keep track of what is going on in real-time. Also, try Gov.uk.
• Download the Citymapper app for the latest transportation updates. This savvy app will keep you up-to-date on train and transit info, providing alternative routes when necessary.

Construction everywhere!

Over 70 construction projects are going on right now in Paris leading up to the 2024 Olympics and it impacts a lot of major sites. Things will be closed, views will be blocked, and it’s a real mess, so be prepared for that!

Here is an essential resource from the Paris.fr website you will need it if want to know where major construction is taking place by arrondissement. It is in French, but there is still information you can gather even if you don't speak English. And you can use an online translation tool to get you a little further.

Probably most painful for first-time visitors to Paris will be the construction of the garden between the Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower. If you are someone who looks at Google Street View, which the Misadventures family does a lot, the images are outdated, so you would never suspect that anything was amiss.

If you are dreaming about all those awesome Instagram-worthy photos of the Eiffel Tower from the Palais De Chaillot sorry to disappoint you, but the cannons are still out of commission and the carousel is gone for the moment.

This is an enormous project (you can get more info, in French, here and here) that is going to take a while to complete.

This Paris travel guide is about preparing you for the current situation so you will not be surprised! The bright side? There are thousands of places to visit in Paris. There is no shortage of awesome things to see.

And if you want to see some of the major sites, you just need to get a little creative and maybe brush up on your yoga, as you may have to twist your body in some unnatural ways to get that shot!

If you decide to go the Airbnb route ask if there is any major construction on the street. Read all the reviews for the apartment!

If you are staying in a hotel, call or email them to ask the same question about construction. The last thing you want is to spend money on a nice hotel and then not get the view you want (or worse). Mr. Misadventures and I splurged on a hotel for 24 hours so we could get their rooftop terrace view of the Eiffel Tower only to arrive at the hotel and learn it was closed for construction…le sigh…

Other Construction:

• The Opera Garnier may be splendid on the inside, but the front is covered up by a huge billboard. The facade is undergoing renovation and the project will not be completed by the 2024 Olympics.
• As you likely know, Notre Dame was destroyed in a fire in April of 2019. At the time French President Macron promised it would be completed by the time the Paris Olympics open in 2024. December 2023 the spire went up. But Notre Dame will not be done until December 2024.
  • If you are interested in seeing some of the relics that were saved in the fire, the Louvre will have them on special display.
• Started in 2022, the Place de Catalunya in the 14th arrondissement began an ambitious project to develop an urban forest with greenery and vegetated sidewalks. Impact, there are closures of sidewalks and streets in the area.

Getting Around

Taxi drama at CDG Airport

Because of all the construction and street closures traffic is horrific which severely impacts travel times in taxis when going from here to there in the city. PLUS there is a new phenomenon at the airport that I witnessed.

Depending on the time of day I saw taxi drivers at the airport rejecting people going to the city (mind blown) because there is a set fare from CDG to Paris and depending on traffic taxi drivers lose money.

• Flat rate to the left bank: €62. The left bank is these arrondissements: 5th, 6th, 7th, 13th, 14th, and 15th.
• Flat rate to the right bank: €55. The right bank is these arrondissements: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th.

Also when you do get in the cab, confirm the tariff, don’t get scammed!

Start by making sure to get in an official taxi queue/line. (NOTE: licensed “Taxis Parisiens” (Parisian taxis) park outside the baggage claim areas in each terminal). Look for the blue “Taxi” bubbles on the floor at CDG to guide your path to the official taxi line.

Only get into a taxi that has an illuminated rooftop sign (it's a green light). And make sure it has a meter!

Bikes

If it is the first time you are visiting Paris or if it has been a while you need to be aware that there are a lot more bikes than there used to be. More bike lanes too. They can be a real hazard in overcrowded areas, so please be aware of them. You may not realize you are walking on a bike path which could potentially cause an accident. Be on the lookout for them at all times!

Metro Tickets

The old-style paper tickets, that you could be in a set of 10 known as a carnet, are gone forever. As of Thursday, September 21, 2023, the Paris metro ceased selling paper carnets of tickets. There is no longer any window or machine to buy them at the metro station. You can buy a single paper Paris Metro ticket until the end of 2025 when sales are scheduled to stop.

The bulk packs have been replaced by the Navigo Easy Pass which you can have on your phone if you like. I recommend the Bonjour RATP app for you to get all the latest info. Check out my Paris metro guide.

Repeating this here: Paris metro ticket price to double during the 2024 Olympics. The Olympics will be held from July 26 to Aug. 11 and the Paralympics from Aug. 28 to Sept 8, and the higher prices will be in effect from July 20 to Sept. 8. If you are visiting during the Olympics, be on the lookout for the Paris 2024 Pass. It will cost 16 euros per day.

Restaurant closures

This is a global phenomenon due to the pandemic. Many restaurants around the world have closed including probably some of your favorites in Paris. Make sure you double-check online to ensure that the business is still open.

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Crowd control

Places like the Louvre are introducing limits on the number of people they allow to visit. They are going to be capping the number of visitors to 30,000 people per day. If you are visiting, I highly encourage you to buy your tickets ahead of time.

What about that ETIAS Visa for Americans?

Surprise! The previously scheduled 2024 introduction of ETIAS, a special travel authorization covering most of Europe, has now been postponed until May 2025. I am sure the Olympics had a little something, something to do with that!

The Good News: What to Do in Paris in 2024

This Paris travel guide is not all doom and gloom! Here are just some of the things you can look forward to:

• Museums you can visit for FREE on the 1st Sunday of the month:
  • Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine
  • La Cité de la Céramique de Sèvres
  • Musée de Cluny
  • Musée d'Archéologie National
  • Musée de la chasse et de la nature
  • Musée de la Grande Guerre
  • Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace
  • Musée de l'Histoire de l'Immigration
  • Musée de l'Orangerie
  • Musée d'Orsay
  • Musée des Arts et Métiers
  • Musée du Quai Branly
  • Musée Français de la Carte à Jouer
  • Musée Guimet
  • Musée Gustave Moreau
  • Musée National d'Art Moderne
  • Musée National Picasso
  • Musée Rodin
• The Musée d’Orsay will have a special Van Gogh exhibit featuring Vincent Van Gogh's works from the last two months of his life, in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris. It runs from October 3 through Jan 2024.
• Marc Chagall at the Atelier des Lumières runs from Feb 17, 2023, to Jan 7, 2024. (38 rue Saint-Maur in the 11th arr)
• Treasury of Notre-Dame Cathedral at the Louvre Museum from October 18, 2023, until January 29, 2024. The exhibition is a condensed history of the treasury of Notre Dame “through more than 120 works, restoring them to the context of its age-old history: from its origins to the Middle Ages up to its resurrection in the 19th century and full flowering with Viollet-le-Duc during the Second Empire.”
• Picasso Exhibit: Drawing to Infinity at the Centre Pompidou (October 18, 2023, through January 15, 2024) In honor of the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death, Centre Pompidou exhibits his work through more than 2,000 recognized and unpublished drawings and prints from the artist’s studios.
• The Delacroix Museum the former home of artist Eugène Delacroix, will reopen after renovation on March 20th, 2024.
• The annual Museum Night (Nuit des Musées) that is celebrated throughout Europe takes place on May 18th. All participating museums offer free admission!
• Nuit Blanche (White Night) will be June 1. This is a major art and cultural event where contemporary art is on display in the streets of Paris from dusk to dawn.
• Heritage Day will take place on September 21 and 22. This is the opportunity (if you can handle the lines) to visit the Élysée Palace, the Assemblée Nationale, and other spots not typically open to the public.
• The Maison Gainsbourg, the long-awaited museum dedicated to the legendary singer Serge Gainsbourg opened in September and ran through Dec 31, 2023. They will re-open their doors for a new round of visits in the spring.
• Centre Pompidou Exhibition on Gilles Aillaud (through Feb 2024) showcases this painter's work in a wonderful display of man and nature.
• Grand Palais exhibition on the history of urban art (L’art urbain à l’ère numérique) through July 2024.
• Festival des Lumières is a must-visit winter light festival at Jardin des Plantes with extraordinary giant light sculptures with moving parts and changing colors. (Through Jan 21, 2024.)
• Disneyland Paris launches its new Symphony of Colours on January 8, 2024. [Also, the refurbished Disneyland Hotel re-opens on January 25, 2024!]
• New hotels! Villa-des-Prés (opened in Dec 2023); Hotel Pilgrim (opened in Nov 2023); 1 Place Vendôme and Bloom House Hotel & Spa (both opened in Sept 2023); Hôtel des Grands Voyageurs (opened late 2023)

Check out more events and exhibitions in my monthly guides:

PARIS IN:  Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec

Don’t miss the opportunity to explore Paris in 2024! To ensure a smooth trip, be sure you know where construction is happening and plan accordingly. Hopefully, this travel guide to Paris updated for this year will help you have the trip of a lifetime!

Once you decide when you are visiting, here are guides to the individual Paris Arrondissements so you can decide where:

Paris Arrondissement Guide | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th | 16th | 17th | 18th | 19th | 20th 

And if you are looking for packing advice, I've got you covered!

AUTHOR BIO

Andi Fisher

I am married to a French man, lived in France for 3 years, and have been to Paris more than 50 times. I am always a tourist so the information, tip, and tricks I share are created to help you!

If you're planning a visit to Paris in 2024, you're in for a treat! The City of Light continues to enchant travelers with its timeless charm, world-class cuisine, and iconic landmarks. As someone who has visited Paris more than 50 times throughout the year, I'm here to provide you with the best Paris travel guide that I can that covers everything you need to know about your upcoming trip to this magical destination.

With a little planning, your trip to Paris is sure to be a success!

How about you? Are you planning to travel to Paris in 2024? How can I help?

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