People work on the Olympic and Paralympic construction site at the Grand Palais ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, on March 14.Benoit Tessier/Reuters
Paris’s sweeping Aquatics Centre, newly built for Olympic diving, synchro and water polo, is already complete. The pristine white buildings of Marseille’s Olympic Marina shrugged off the last construction dust in February. Even the Grand Palais, that spectacular Art Nouveau glasshouse that recently closed for a four-year rescue mission, will appear temporarily to play host to the fencing and tae kwon do events.
The city is ready for the biggest sporting extravaganza of the quadrennial: the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. And with the resale platform opening April 17, you could be one of the 10,000 spectators – for a price. Tickets that started at $22 in the first round will likely cost upward of $650 going forward.
Whether or not you nab a seat, the city promises to be uncharacteristically jolly between the opening ceremony on July 26 and Sept. 8, when the Paralympic Games bid adieu. Brits will remember the vibe in 2012, when Londoners were warned to get out of town for the duration, leaving the holdouts to enjoy the calmer-than-expected festivities. If the same happens in Paris, you should even get a warm welcome at the cafés of the Marais and the swish Sixième, miles from the venues.
A view of the Olympic Aquatic Centre, in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, on March 6.Christophe Ena/The Associated Press
Besides which, much of Paris 2024 will play out in the open air. You might not have front-row seats for Beach Volleyball, set up alfresco behind the Eiffel Tower, but you’ll be able to hear every point. The same goes for BMX, 3x3 Basketball, Skateboarding and Breakdancing at Place de la Concorde – not to mention horseplay at the Château de Versailles and water sports in Marseille.
Any hotel rooms that remain will likely cost more than double their usual rate, but new home-sharing opportunities are coming onto Airbnb and Vrbo every day. In fact, the glut of apartments in Paris and partner regions such as Lille and Bordeaux is a good sign locals are planning to flee, clearing the streets of traffic and the air of classic French disdain.
Still determined to make it happen? Follow this who-what-where guide across Le Bleu, Blanc et Rouge.
Start in: Paris
For: Aquatics, athletics, tennis and rugby
Canada's Philip Kim (b-boy Phil Wizard) competes in the b-boys gold medal finals for breaking at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, on Nov. 4, 2023.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Canadian athletes to look out for: Toronto breakdancer Philip Kim (a.k.a. B-Boy Phil Wizard), at Place de la Concorde; Toronto’s Penny Oleksiak and Maggie Mac Neil, originally from China, swimming at La Défense; Québécois artistic swimmers Jacqueline Simoneau and Audrey Lamothe, at the new Aquatics Centre in Saint-Denis; B.C. marathoners Cameron Levins and Malindi Elmore, on the streets of Île-de-France; the women’s rugby sevens team, at the Stade de France.
Get there: Flights on Air Canada from $1,163, return.
Stay: A pied-à-terre between Roland-Garros (tennis) and Parc des Princes (football) sleeps five, from $534 a night.
No tickets? The triathlon is free to watch, from Alexandre III bridge to the Champs-Elysées. Ditto the marathon route, from Hôtel de Ville in the 4th Arrondissement to Château de Versailles and back again, ending on the Esplanade des Invalides. The cycling time trial circles the Bois de Vincennes, and the road race heads west into Les Yvelines. Next to the Eiffel Tower, the temporary gallery Spot24 shows contemporary art inspired by new “urban” Olympic sports such as breaking, skateboarding and 3x3. Take a tour through Villa La Roche, the Corbusier-designed UNESCO-designated house that turns 100 this year. And for dinner book into Pouliche, a cozy bistro near Gare du Nord, to sample the rustic fish and fowl of chef Amandine Chaignot. She was chosen by the Olympic Committee to replicate her signature guinea fowl with crayfish for thousands of athletes in the Village during the Games.
Travel to: Versailles
For: Equestrian
Canada's Mario Deslauriers competes at the Pan-Am Games on Nov. 1, 2023.IVAN ALVARADO/Reuters
Canadian athletes to look out for: show-jumpers Mario Deslauriers, Tiffany Foster, Amy Millar and Beth Underhill, and the dressage team of Mathilde Blais Tétreault, Camille Carier Bergeron, Naima Moreira-Laliberté, Beatrice Boucher and Tanya Strasser-Shostak, all at Château de Versailles.
Get there: 36-minute Ligne L train from Gare Saint-Lazare, $11.
Stay: An Airbnb “superhost” is renting her compact one-bed (plus sofa bed) apartment in the buzzy marketplace from $434 a night.
No tickets? View the “small apartment” Marie Antoinette demanded of the king for receiving visitors and entertaining her children at the Château de Versailles. Destroyed during the French Revolution, the private chambers were opened to the public for the first time last year after a long restoration. Apart from the portraiture and original oils hanging in every bijou room are reproduction toile de Jouy fabrics, a library with trompe-l’oeil stacks and the swan-head copper taps over the royal bath. Across the road, the royal stables hold weekend dressage and horseback-fencing spectacles by the arts company Versailles Riding Academy.
Travel to: Bordeaux
For: Soccer
Canada'a Adriana Leon (19) kicks the ball during the first half against Costa Rica, in Houston, Texas, on Feb 28.Maria Lysaker/Reuters
Canadian athletes to look out for: Ontario’s Adriana Leon, Cloé Lacasse and Nichelle Prince from the women’s soccer team, at Bordeaux Stadium.
Get there: Three-hour TGV train from Gare Montparnasse, $72.
Stay: A chic one-bed with a balcony off historic Rue Sainte-Catherine starts at $181 a night.
No tickets? Hang down by the River Garonne. At the city’s south end is La Méca, a new cultural “laboratory” with halls for contemporary art, theatre, dance and general pageantry. A terrace designed like an infinity pool frames the water, offering views down to the Simone Veil bridge, a public-friendly construction that devotes most of its surface to pedestrians and cyclists, due to be unveiled in June. In the north, the protoplasmic Cité du Vin bulges over the riverbank. Massive spaces dedicated to winemaking and tasting prime you for a jaunt to the vineyards. The Olympic Torch Relay will arrive on the banks of the Garonne May 23.
Travel to: Marseille
For: Sailing and kiteboarding
Canadian athlete to look out for: Women’s kiteboarder Emily Bugeja, from Vancouver, at Marseille Marina.
Get there: A 3.5-hour TGV train from Gare de Lyon, from $64, or a six-hour train from Bordeaux, from $81.
Stay: With nautical blue and white decor, a one-bed apartment overlooks the old port – and a hub for public transit heading south to the marina and stadium, from $155 a night.
No tickets? The Prado Beaches are open and free for anyone who wants to watch boarding or sailing from a distance. From here, make your way to the modernist Cité Radieuse, a UNESCO World Heritage site built in the 1950s by Le Corbusier. Tours lead through the original apartments and café to the rooftop pool and sculpture garden with views over the city. Then wander over to AM on Rue François Rocca, where three-Michelin-star chef Alexandre Mazzia serves a 23-plate lunch menu in artful trompe l’oeil (if you don’t have $300 to spare, he also runs a food truck out front serving high-concept croques, soups and arancini). Mazzia was named an official chef at the Olympic athlete’s village, and will be a torch-bearer when the Olympic Torch Relay arrives at Marseille’s Old Port on May 8.
Travel to: Lille
For: Basketball and handball
Canadian athlete to look out for: Toronto-born NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, in men’s basketball.
Get there: Just over an hour train ride from Gare du Nord, from $51, or five-hour TGV from Marseille, from $132.
Stay: Four can share a two-bedroom duplex on a cobbled street near the Citadel and Esplanade, from $382 a night.
No tickets? Come on July 2 to watch the Olympic Torch Relay cross the city. If you arrive during the Games, explore the 17th-century five-pointed Citadel from the walking trail that traces the old moat – organizers will set up a “fan zone” with outdoor screens along the nearby Esplanade du Champ-de-Mars. Some of the city’s top food and drink are nearby, such as Bloempot, where you can sample Flemish fine-dining in an ancient mews house (the lunchtime prix-fixe costs less than $60). The Clos Champenois is probably the best bar in town – it floats on a steel platform beneath the vaulted glass roof of the historic Couvent des Minimes.
Editor’s note: (April 8, 2024): A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the trip from Gare Montparnasse to Bordeaux is a seven-hour train journey. It is about three hours. This version has been updated.
The writer was a guest of Atout France/French Tourism. It did not review or approve the story before publication.