Paris , end of December & first of January

Paris does not shut down in the Winter, any more than Toronto does. Christmas Day itself is likely to be quiet, but the lead-up and aftermath (New Years Eve) is going to be pretty busy.

Paris is a major international city. Most of its cafes and culture are there serving locals. Winter is actually the time when everything is up and running such as the Opera, symphonies, plays etc etc. Small towns are sometimes tourist driven and many amenities may close off season -- but that is not true even slightly of Paris. And Christmas time is high season for Paris tourism anyway; you will find hotels and apartments at their highest prices then.

Thank you , looking forward to our 4th trip to Paris

You will have fun at that time of year. I have been in early December and in early January and the weather was much milder than in Montreal. The windows of Printemps and Galeries Lafayette are a wonder to behold and it’s fun to see how the children react to them. Christmas themed decorations and lights are everywhere. Along the Champs Elysees a Market is set up, lots of food and hot wine available.

Usually there is an ice skating rink installed just outside of Hotel de Ville. It’s fun to watch the skaters, or even skate if you want to. As for cafes, of course they are open, as is everything else but not on Christmas Day. Parisians will be going about their daily lives during the Christmas Season and the first week of January, using the metro and buses, going to cafes and bars and doing things with their children.

Shouldn’t have any trouble finding things to do then , went to the opera a few years ago , didn’t understand the language but they had an electronic board above the stage translated to English to make it easier to understand the play

A few years ago I took the Best of Paris tour over Christmas till New Years Eve. With the exception of late afternoon on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, everything was open and the holiday ambience was wonderful. And as a special treat, it snowed! Only hang up was on NY Eve flying home from CDG, weather was foul, plane was delayed 7 hours and then we had to wait in line for an additional 2 1/2 hours to get the jet deiced. Still wouldn’t have traded the trip for its unique memories.

There was no Christmas Market on the Champs Elysees in 2017. The City is supposedly taking applications for a 2018 market which would be different than past markets . The dispute with the prior management was over the quality of offerings.
Hopefully , there will be a 2018 market.

Thank you for that info, Baxter. I believe the Christmas Market at La Defense has been re-instated. It is enormous and worth the metro or bus trip.

That would be great if there is a Christmas market at the La Defence district
We’ve stayed at the Hilton there a few times , very easy to hop on the subway or the Rer
and get around Paris

dave, it is not just at "the La Defense district", it is right on the huge esplanade in front of the Grande Arche. So you could go to the top of the Arche, too, if you like.

Thanks Norma , sounds like a great way to spend sometime wandering around .

I was in Paris with my daughters mid January, 2017. We ate our dinners at the outdoor cafes and had hot chocolate outdoors at Les Deux magots. Most places had heaters. The only difficulty we had was that high on our list of things to do was, go to the top of the Notre Dame. It was closed most of the time, because it was felt that it was too cold. We had to smile because it was high 30s (F) and for us that was quite pleasant especially when the sun was shining.