The following is a guest post by Kyle Kroeger of ViaTravelers.com. ViaTravelers Is a modern travel blog that provides the best tips, tricks and itineraries to ensure you have an amazing adventure.Follow them Instagram, Taste, Facebook, with YouTube Get their latest travel updates in real time.
The French capital has some of the most fascinating tourist attractions in the world. The beautiful city of Paris is famous for its exquisite architecture, hearty cuisine, inspiring art and avant-garde fashion.
Paris hosts many festive celebrations in winter and is more attractive; therefore, it is people’s favorite winter destination in Europe.
Some tourists may think the weather is a bit cold, but this gives you the opportunity to put on your favorite comfortable clothes during a walking tour of Paris.
Paris winter weather
The climate in Paris is changeable in winter because it has a temperate climate. From sudden showers to the breeze from the Atlantic Ocean, the magical city of Paris helps you fully experience winter.
The temperature in Paris is between 36° F and 43° F (2-6°C), with very few snowy days. If you want to enjoy a warm winter day in the streets of Paris, you should take a trip between January and March.
During these months, you will be able to enjoy some outdoor activities, such as skating in the open air during the day. At the same time, you can also deal with temperature changes when visiting cold streets, centrally heated museums and restaurants at night.
Things to do in Paris in winter
- ice skating
- Swimming in Aquaboulevard
- Visit the Christmas lights on the Champs Elysées
- Shopping at Galeries Lafayette
- Channels covered
- Nurse a good coffee cream or chocolate jord
- Visit the museums and cathedrals of Paris
- Visit the Eiffel Tower
- Browse the bookstore
Go skating
One of the best things to do in Paris in winter is skating. In late November, many ice rinks locally called patinoires are open at the festival site. Some picturesque ice rinks include the town hall hotel and the ice rink in front of the Champs de Mars Christmas Village.
One of them is located at the bottom of the Montparnasse skyscraper. However, everyone’s favorite ice rink is about 200 feet high in the air on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. Therefore, if you visit this skating rink, you can also visit the wonderful Eiffel Tower itself.
All of these skating rinks are located in great locations and are great places to take pictures. These skating rinks can be used for free, but you must rent skates. For the Eiffel Tower skating rink, you must pay the tower entrance fee.
Skating in Paris can help you absorb the atmosphere, reproduce the best scenes in Hollywood romantic movies, and help you stay warm on a wonderful winter day!
Indoor swimming in Aquaboulevard
After skating, you can head to Aquaboulevard, a water park located in the southwest of Paris. Aquaboulevard has the best swimming pool, jacuzzi, water slide and sauna.
This place has a tropical island climate because many tropical plants grow in the main hall. You can also enjoy meals and spa facilities here.
Visit the Christmas lights on the Champs Elysées
The City of Light offers the most beautiful and eye-catching delicacies, one of which is the luminous Champs Elysées in winter. Festival lights cover the city’s streets, important buildings, cafes and shops.
During Christmas, trees are covered with dazzling lights on the Champs Elysées from Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. In addition, all the shops are filled with Christmas decorations, adding vitality to the celebration.
The lower end of the Champs Elysées is also worth seeing, with 300 fir trees covered by Christmas lanterns.
You can also visit Avenue Montaigne or the suburban street of Saint Honoré and enjoy the festive lights.
Shopping at the Galeries Lafayette
In winter, you should visit Les Soldes (sales shopping) in Paris. Paris is the center of fashion and trends, make the most of your travel opportunities, from high-end street shops to designer boutiques for shopping.
In winter, many items in these stores offer discounts of up to 75%. In addition, you can also shop in department stores such as Galeries Lafayette!
Galeries Lafayette department store also has a huge and beautifully decorated Christmas tree during the holiday season. This iconic tree rises from the central hall, allowing you to take the most beautiful Christmas photos!
Visit covered channels
Picturesque sidewalks and arcades are an important part of a trip to Paris. These covered arcades are brightly lit during the festival. In addition, they have many coffee shops that provide the best coffee and cocoa blends.
These indoor arcades are all over Paris, so one of these indoor attractions is likely to always be not far from the other attractions you will visit.
Nurse a good coffee cream or chocolate Chaud
One of the winter fun in Paris includes sitting in an outdoor cafe on a cozy winter day. You can enjoy coffee cream, chocolate sauce or vin chaud. You don’t have to worry about the cold, because most restaurants in Paris use braziers to warm tourists.
We also recommend that you enter Cafes and restaurants in Paris Because they have the most amazing interior.
But, most importantly, if you are a reading lover, you can pick up your favorite book and enjoy a cup of warm hot chocolate (chocolat chaud) to enjoy the pleasure of reading.
Visit the museums and cathedrals of Paris
If you like indoor activities like exploring museums and visiting cathedrals, Paris has prepared some wonderful attractions for you! The city has hundreds of cathedrals and museums, including Notre Dame, the most beautiful Gothic cathedral.
You can visit the Orsay Museum, the Fragonard Perfume Museum, the Army Museum with the Golden Dome, and the National Museum of Natural History.
Another location with the most extensive collection of pre-20th century art is the Louvre Museum. This museum is home to the Mona Lisa, Milo Venus, and the Sphinx of Tanis.
The Louvre has more than 35,000 pieces of the world’s most famous works of art, as well as the most diverse sculptures, paintings and decorations. This palace also has historical significance because it is a work of art.
In addition, if you like architecture, the medieval beauty of Notre Dame is a place worth visiting. With its striking towers, glass windows and archaeological cellars, Notre Dame de Paris is one of the fascinating monuments of Paris. Unfortunately, it was severely damaged in a fire in 2019, but part of it has been reopened to the public.
Visit the Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is an architectural marvel, so your trip to Paris will not be complete without visiting this symbol of elegance and love.
If you want to witness the most fascinating place in the city at night, then the Eiffel Tower can meet your needs. Under the shining of festive lights, it provides stunning views on winter nights.
The tower was also recently refurbished, so it now has a glass floor observation platform and solar panels.
Browse the bookstore
Most movies feature traditional Parisian cafes and their book corners. If you want to explore these, a few hours of high-quality reading should be on the list of things you want to do in Paris.
In addition, you can also browse the English bookstores in Paris. Some well-known bookstores include Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore and Shakespeare and Company.
What to wear in Paris in winter
The winter in Paris is very cold, but it will never be below freezing. Even in December and January, the weather in Paris is mild and cold. If you have experienced winters in the United States or Canada, you probably won’t feel so cold in Paris. Therefore, you must package accordingly.
For centrally heated indoor places, it is best to pack clothes. Therefore, stratification is wise! Depending on the places you will visit in Paris and the weather of the day, pack clothes that are easy to put on and take off.
In addition, make sure to bring an umbrella with you, because rainy days are common in this city.
Where to stay in Paris in winter
arrondissement is a French word that means a region of France. There are about twenty districts in Paris.
If you are coming to Paris for the first time, you should find a place to live in the 1st to 4th districts, as they are located in the city center and cover most of the tourist attractions.
The Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, Pompidou Centre, Picasso National Museum and Arc de Triomphe are located in the 1st to 4th districts.
In addition, living near the subway means you will be able to travel through the city with ease.
If the budget is reasonable, staying in a five-star hotel in Paris is a dream come true. Some of the best hotels are Hotel Raphael, Hotel Ritz Paris, and Hotel De Cillon.
The best thing about Paris in winter is that you can also enjoy the comfort of Top rated Airbnb in Paris Compared with summer, you can enjoy a comfortable life at home while enjoying the magnificent scenery outside the window.
Although most people book a trip to Paris in summer, this magical city has not lost its charm in winter.
Winter in Paris offers a lot of interesting activities and many exciting activities. Also, if it snows, consider yourself lucky, because you may witness the most beautiful snowfall in your life!
