What’s On in Paris – July & August 2023

Summertime is music festival time. Time Out Paris is a great place to start if you want to see the schedule of festivals in and around Paris this summer, in French only (use Google translate): Les Festivals de Musique à Paris

And for the schedule of free concerts in the park kiosks all over Paris, download the summer schedule here.

SCROLL DOWN FOR ONGOING EVENTS ALL MONTH LONG

July 1
There will be 3500 balloons released in the Collège des Bernardins (20 rue de Poissy, 5th) today from 2:30pm with a ticket inside each one for a free entrance to Parisian museums, monuments, dance, theatre, and musical performances, and other cultural events. They are first come, first served, and will surely attract a crowd! The event Grande Cueillette de la Culture, is hosted and sponsored by the Culture and the City Association and different cultural institutions.

July 1-2
This weekend is the 3rd annual Paname Bouquine festival celebrating the bouquinist booksellers of Paris along the quays of the Seine. On the program are author signings, exhibitions, music concerts, dances, treasure hunts and other original installations in the booksellers’ boxes! Check out their website for the map of the events by bookseller, or just take the opportunity to stroll along the quays of the Left and Right Banks to see what you find at each one (there’s an information point at the bouquinists on the quay Hôtel de Ville).

July 1-2 💚
If you think the French haven’t fully embraced vegan food yet, head over to the Smmmile Vegan Festival at the Grand Halle de la Villette (Parc de la Villette, 19th). Tickets are “pay as you like”, and the food court is open freely to the public. In addition to yummy vegan food (mostly by local vegan restaurants), there will also be live concerts, DJ sets, “silent” dance party, workshops, yoga and fitness sessions, a section for different environmental/animal welfare groups, and public conferences.

July 2
Celebrate summer with the annual Carnival Tropical de Paris parade on the Champs-Elysées (starting at the Rond Point) from 1pm until 6pm, with 2000 colorfully-dressed dancers from 26 dance groups. Expect a party atmosphere! Free entry.

July 6
Le Food Market is a monthly open-air food market in Belleville along the boulevard between metros Ménilmontant et Couronnes. Unlike most food markets, this one isn’t for purchasing ingredients to take home and cook up, but is a market of food stands with chefs from local restaurants. Tonight they’ll be celebrating their eighth-year anniversary! There are seating areas to sit and enjoy your food or you can order to go. From 6-10:30pm.

July 6-9
Cinema Paradiso – register now to win one of the free spots at the fourth annual open-air films and concerts in the Cour Carré of the Louvre Museum.

Paris Plage! July 8 – September 3
Paris Plage : grassy beaches, palm trees, volleyballs and ice-cream stands — on the Seine! This year it will take place along the Right Bank quays at the foot of the Hôtel de Ville, the Bassin de la Villette for water sports and the three swimming enclosures in the canal. As usual, Paris Plages will feature many fun sporting activities (especially in preparation for the 2024 Summer Olympics), water misters, kids activities, live music, open-air dancing, pétanque, and even a little Seine-side library. Free entry, open from 10am until 10pm. Map and more details here (2022 post, while waiting for the official 2023 program).

July 14th – Fête Nationale
La Fête Nationale, aka Bastille Day to Americans, is one of the biggest holidays in France. There will be the usual parade on the Champs Elysées in the morning and fireworks at the Eiffel Tower in the evening. In addition to the fun Bals des Pompiers firemen’s dance parties, there are plenty of other fun entertainment options: Bastille Day: What to See & Do in Paris

July 15 💚
Soirée Wild plant-based party with vegan street food stands, DJs ad live music at Le Consulate Voltaire (14 ave Parmentier, 11th). Tickets €13 (includes a vegan snack), hosted by Vegan Tourist Paris: https://linktr.ee/vegantouristparis

July 19 – August 20
The Parc de la Villette is once again hosting its popular Cinéma en Plein Air open-air screenings every Wednesday through Sunday nights. Totally free (but they may limit the number of people if it gets too crowded on the lawn (Prairie du Triangle, behind the Grande Halle de La Villette, metro Porte de Pantin), so get there from 8pm to claim your spot — picnics allowed (but no glass, sharp objects like cutlery or corkscrew bottle openers, knives, etc). The films start after sunset, so sometime between 9:30pm and 10:30pm. All films are shown in their original language with French subtitles. Tim Burton opens the festival with Miss Peregrine and the Peculiar Children while Steven Spielberg ‘s West Side Story closes it, with Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite, among others, in between.

July 21st 💚
It might seem like a strange mix, but if you love board games and want to meet some of the locals in a fun setting, the Vegan Tourist Paris creator Franck is hosting PlayGround, where the Ground to Grow yoga studio and vegan coffee house in the Marais is being transformed into a “jeux de société” soirée with 30 different board games and a vegan buffet for up to 40 participants. Tickets are €28 (drinks included).

July 23rd
The 110th edition of the Tour de France kicked off from Bilbao on July 1st and finishes on the Avenue des Champs Elysées today. It will be broadcast live on networks around the world (see “Broadcasters” link on the website), but of course if you’re in France it doesn’t cost anything to set up a chair anywhere along the route to watch the cyclists as they pass by (the Champs Elysées is usually so crowded you can’t see anything there anyway unless you got a seat in one of the restaurant upper floors overlooking the avenue).

July 28- August 19
Les Arènes Lyriques are back in Montmartre, with ten live concerts featuring orchestra, opera, and piano classics in an open-air garden setting with a view over Paris. Buy your tickets {€39 for adults) online to ensure you get a spot! https://areneslyriques.com/en/programme/

August 23-27th
Rock-en-Seine Festival at the Domaine de Saint-Cloud, headliners include Billie Eilish, Florence + The Machine, Placebo, The Chemical Brothers, The Strokes, among others. Tickets from €75, they go fast!

Ongoing Events

Through July 14
The 38th annual Chopin Festival concerts take place in the Orangerie of the gorgeous Parc de Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne. These grand piano concerts pay homage to the Polish composer (with Rachmaninov as this edition’s “guest of honor”). The candlelight concerts are the most romantic. Tickets €17-€27 (plus park entrance of €2.50). Buy your tickets online, or in cash at the door.

Through August 27
The festive Fête des Tuileries takes place again this summer with the Ferris wheel, stomach-emptying rides, barbe-à-papa (cotton candy) and whack-a-mole games. Open daily at the Jardin des Tuileries, 11am-midnight (free entry, tickets can be purchased for individual rides). As the fair is in the center of Paris, there’s no loud music or noise effects for the rides that you’d normally expect, preserving a bit of the tranquility of the gardens as well.

Through September 2
The annual open-air summer concerts in the Bois de Vincennes’s Parc Floral include the free Paris Jazz Festival (with French and international jazz concerts), the free Classique au Vert featuring up-and-coming classical music ensembles and orchestras, and Les Nocturnes featuring evening concerts by some of the greatest performers in both jazz and classical music (tickets required for these, see the program). Even when concerts are free; entry to the park is €2.50. 

Through September 3
The Centre Pompidou Library (BPI) is hosting a free exhibit on the private belongings of the late French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, “Le Mot Exact” (the exact word) to celebrate the opening of the new Maison Gainsbourg museum in September (tickets are already on sale, reserve yours online here). The free BPI exhibit is “a thematic journey exploring the very special relationship that the artist had with more than 500 songs to literature, through precious manuscripts and annotated typescripts, personal objects, small papers, books from his library and archival documents, is built around three thematic parts. As soon as you enter the exhibition, the photo of Serge Gainsbourg at his office, in which he wrote most of his texts, welcomes visitors, inviting them to enter into the intimacy of his creative process.” Open weekdays (except Tuesday) noon-10pm, weekends from 10am. Follow signs for the “espace d’exposition” in the BPI on the 2nd floor of the Centre Pompidou (downloadable brochure of the exhibit in English here).

Through September 30
The magical Candlelit Evenings at the Château Vaux-le-Vicomte are back! Open every Friday (in July and August) and every Saturday (through Sep 30th) from 2pm, 2000 candles are lit at sunset, and fireworks show before the 11pm closure; reservations required. Due to Covid, the shuttle from the train station is no longer running (reserve a taxi or come by car, free parking). Read the Secrets of Paris article about it here.

Through November 3
Visit the free, open-air exhibition of the Cité Universitaire’s 6th edition of “Gardens of the World in Motion ” festival, featuring six of the competition’s winning gardens spread around the 34-acre grounds of the university campus. “The ephemeral gardens fit harmoniously into the decor by interacting with the emblematic architecture of the City and by integrating sustainable development through the use of bio-sourced materials, the recovery of rainwater or the creation of ecological niches.” Free and open to the public during daylight hours. Cité Universitaire (17 Boulevard Jourdan, 14th).

Through November 5
Immerse yourself in the art of the iconic Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha at the interactive digital show at the Grand Palais Immersif (110 rue de Lyon, 12th). Tickets €6-€20. Reserve your time slot online.