Paris is a dream destination any time of the year, but Christmas is a particularly magical time to visit, with amazing decorations and street markets throughout the city, and the best seasonal food. Having visited Paris several times, including during Christmas, I have to say that it’s my favorite time of the year to visit, and I frequently long to visit again in December!
Here are my picks for the 5 BEST things about Christmas in Paris, beginning mid-November to the end of the year.
Delightful Christmas decorations throughout the city
Christmas markets – lots of them!
Galeries Lafayette decorations (yes, this deserves it’s own category)
The best seasonal foods
Magical Christmas lights
Delightful Christmas Decorations
Christmas decorations are EVERYWHERE!! The entire city seems to be decorated, festive and oh so pretty! You’ll feel like you’ve stepped into a highly decorated storybook land.
Some areas that should not be missed for their Christmas decorations:
- Place Vendôme (you might be lucky to see a horse-drawn carriage bearing blue gift boxes in front of Tiffany’s there!)
- Avenue des Champs-Elysées
- Avenue Montaigne
- Galerie Vivienne
- Village Royal
- The department stores on Avenue Haussmann including Galeries Lafayette and Printemps
Lots of Christmas Markets
There are 15-20 Paris Christmas Markets across the city, so you’ll be sure to run into at least a few of them on a daily basis! You can enjoy crepes, hot mulled wine, roasted chestnuts, colorful macarons and all sorts of regional food specialties while enjoying the festive booths and decorations complete with life-sized Santas and reindeers!
A few of the larger ones are at the Tuileries, Les Halles, across from the Notre-Dame, and the Christmas Village at La Défense. The Paris Visitor’s Bureau has a full list of the Christmas Markets in the city.
Some Christmas markets specialize in arts and artisan crafts made in France, so it’s a great opportunity for gift shopping as well!
Galeries Lafayette Department Store Decorations
The decorations at the Galeries Lafayette department store on Boulevard Haussmann are so amazing that it deserves its own category. The entire building, already beautiful on a regular day, is transformed into a wondrous display like no other. It’s like walking through a sparkly magical most beautiful fairy tale setting. The Christmas tree inside, which soars up towards the magnificent glass dome, has a different theme every year and it never fails to be spectacular.
Equally spectacular are the window displays on the street level of the store, which are best seen at night when they are lit up. Each display is an elaborate work of art and wonder, with unique themes and settings full of animated characters doing the most adorable and cutest things, full of personality and mischief. Make sure to catch the equally amazing window displays at the Printemps department store down the street also!
I’m going to go so far as to say that Galeries Lafayette alone is worth a visit to Paris in December!
The Best Seasonal Foods
One of my absolute favorite things to do in Paris is sampling all the delicious food of course! Parisian chefs and bakers are second to none and seem to make everything, even a loaf of bread or an omelet, more elevated than anywhere else in the world.
Being in Paris in December means that you get to experience the amazing Parisian food and also all the special holiday and seasonal foods as well!
Special foods not to be missed include fresh truffles (I love them with pasta), the most amazing french onion soup, special pastries, cakes, macarons, hot chocolate, and holiday meals. The hot chocolate at Angelina’s is available year-round, but seem to taste even better when it’s cold outside!
Magical Christmas Lights
Paris is known as the “City of Lights” and I’m certain that it must have obtained that name in December! As pretty as the city is during the daytime with all the holiday decorations, it’s even more magical at night when the holiday lights come on. The city becomes a true winter wonderland and it will be worth braving the cold to see all the lights around the city!
Head to areas such as Avenue des Champs-Elysées, Avenue Montaigne, Place Vendôme, the Montmartre district, and Bercy Village to see all the spectacular lights! And don’t forget to visit the Galeries Lafayette and Printemps window displays in the evening for the most adorable and enchanting little scenes ever. They’re located on Boulevard Haussmann.
More Christmas Events in Paris
In addition to all of the decorations and foods, there are also lots of festive events in and around Paris. The Paris Visitor’s Bureau has a list of events, including concerts and ice skating rinks, on their website.
Two places that I would love to visit are Disneyland Paris and Versailles, both of which have Christmas decorations and/or events for the holidays!
CAMERA INFORMATION
Most of the photos on this page were captured with the fantastic Fuji X100, the best compact and lightweight travel camera with a 24.3 MP APS-C sensor. A few were taken with an iPhone. All photos were edited with Adobe Lightroom. Read more about my photography equipment here.
THANK YOU!
If you found this article helpful, please pin, share or leave a comment below! Thank you and I hope you have an amazing trip there if you have one planned! ❤️
Paris is beautiful any time of year, but especially magical at Christmas. I loved being there a couple years ago for the amazing Christmas markets and beautiful lights everywhere. You’ve captured that perfectly and given me a couple of ideas for future trips to Paris, of which I’m sure there’ll be many
Paris seems so dreamy anytime of year, but add Christmas decorations and lights and wow! Absolutely stunning! That Christmas tree of macarons is so cute! And I can’t get over how big the tree at Galeries Lafayette is!
That French soup captured my heart. And it jumped about Christmas markets! Love your article!!