Paris in December: A Christmas Food Tour Awaits
Explore Paris with our Christmas Food Tour and taste holiday favorites like foie gras, Bûche de Noël, and fine French cheeses under festive lights.
Paris in December belongs to those who know where to look. Beyond the illuminated boulevards, the season opens doors that stay closed the rest of the year: after-hours visits to museums, ateliers preparing their bûches de Noël, and a Réveillon table that took a year of relationships to secure.
Our travel designers live here. They know which restaurants quietly open on the twenty-fifth, which hotel still holds a suite over New Year, and which of the season’s concerts are worth rearranging an evening for.
A selection of the experiences we arrange through December and early January. Each is private, guided by a specialist, and shaped around your pace rather than a fixed schedule.
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We book through partner programmes that add value to the stay itself — breakfast, late checkout, a welcome amenity, and occasionally an upgrade that would not otherwise be offered. Over the festive season these properties fill six to nine months ahead, and the best rooms are held by returning guests.
Paris stays more open on 25 December than London does, but the day still needs shaping. Most major museums close, including the Louvre. The Métro runs a reduced service. A number of restaurants open by reservation only, and hotel dining rooms serve throughout. A private walking tour of a quiet city is often the best use of the morning.
Réveillon dinners are long, formal and reserved early. The Champs-Élysées draws large crowds and closes to traffic, which affects transfers across the 8th arrondissement — we plan around it rather than through it. Private transfers on 31 December should be confirmed at least a month ahead.
Taxis are scarce on 24, 25 and 31 December. We arrange private transfers with chauffeurs booked in advance for exactly these days.
Paris stays more open on 25 December than London does, but the day still needs shaping. Most major museums close, including the Louvre. The Métro runs a reduced service. A number of restaurants open by reservation only, and hotel dining rooms serve throughout. A private walking tour of a quiet city is often the best use of the morning.
Réveillon dinners are long, formal and reserved early. The Champs-Élysées draws large crowds and closes to traffic, which affects transfers across the 8th arrondissement — we plan around it rather than through it. Private transfers on 31 December should be confirmed at least a month ahead.
Taxis are scarce on 24, 25 and 31 December. We arrange private transfers with chauffeurs booked in advance for exactly these days.
The Paris Opera’s festive programme is Pulsations at the Palais Garnier and Rituals at the Opéra Bastille, both running into the first days of January. Families expecting the traditional Christmas ballet should know this before booking; we are happy to advise on alternatives.
Paris in December is quieter and more gastronomic than most visitors expect. Illuminations run the length of the Champs-Élysées and along the grands boulevards from mid-November, the department stores unveil their window displays, and markets open across the city. But the centre of the season is the table: long lunches, patisserie, and Réveillon dinners on 24 and 31 December that run well past midnight. It is a romantic season rather than a boisterous one.
No. The Louvre closes on 25 December and again on 1 January, as well as every Tuesday. Several smaller museums and private collections stay open across the festive period, and we arrange private guided visits on both days where availability allows.
The 1st and 8th arrondissements put you within walking distance of the Champs-Élysées illuminations, the Tuileries market and the department store windows — the best choice if the season itself is the reason for the trip. Saint-Germain-des-Prés on the Left Bank is quieter and more residential, and suits travellers who want Paris rather than Christmas in Paris. We book across both, with partner benefits attached to the stay.
Réveillon is the long celebratory dinner held twice in the French festive season: on Christmas Eve, 24 December, and again on New Year’s Eve, 31 December. It is multi-course, unhurried and central to how the season is marked in France. Restaurants publish their Réveillon menus in the autumn, and the notable tables are reserved by late September.
Yes. Guide availability on 25 December and 1 January is limited and reserved early, but private walking tours, transfers and selected museum visits can all be arranged when confirmed well in advance. With most major museums closed on both days, a private walk through a genuinely quiet Paris is often the best use of the morning.
Most Paris markets open in mid to late November and run to the first days of January.
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