My 13 year old son and I will be traveling to Paris for the New Year's holiday. I am trying to plan activities for New Year's Day, Jan. 1st. I assume a lot of things will be closed, so i am trying to find interesting things to do that day. Are retailers typically open on New Year's day? Are restaurants typically open? So far, my thought is to do the Champs-Elysees walking tour and the Seine river cruise. Any other thoughts?
Posted by
Chicago
555 posts
I arrived in Paris on New Year's Day 2012 at 6 a.m. Though I spent most of the day recuperating from the trans-Atlantic flight, there were street parties along the Champs-Elysees and other areas of Paris. The walking tour and Seine river cruise sound like good bets. The English Time Out Paris should prove helpful: https://www.timeout.com/paris/en
I remember that many things were open Jan. 2, including the Eifel Tower, Notre Dame and Saint-Chapelle. As I recall, those are the first things I went to see. Would those interest your son?
If you go to the Eifel, order your entry tickets in advance. The line was about a mile long the day I was there. My wait? It was about 5 minutes. They waved me through because I had an advanced ticket. Order all tickets of places you want to see in advance.
Notre Dame might not allow visitors since it's recent fire. Check the website.
Some hours of sites were limited when I was there in early January. The crowds were lighter than those in summer, but keep in mind that Paris attracts a lot of Americans and Europeans for the Christmas holidays. There are still plenty of visitors.
Posted by
Tennessee
51 posts
We were in Paris for New Years eve 2019 and New Years Day 2020 (two days) on our way to other cities. New Year's eve we had a wonderful dinner at Ferdi on Rue du Mont Thabor (we were staying in the Place de la Concorde area). As I recall you could not get reservations until a few days before, but I did arrange to do so by email. New Years Eve was crazy crowded as we were trying to get anywhere close to the Champs-Elysee. Only made it to the area around Place de la Concorde as they closed any further access. Could barely see the fireworks. Still a lot of fun - but absolutely huge crowds!
A fun thing to do since it is still around Christmas is to visit Galeries Lafayette and take in all the Christmas decorations and especially the upside down Christmas tree in the center of the store. Was open on New Years Eve.
Eating on New Years Day can be a bit more challenging - we did our walk on the Champs that day and ended up eating at Leon de Bruxelles - they have several locations in Europe - the original in Bruxelles. If you like mussels and seafood in general it will probably do.
Have fun - it will be a night to remember!
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14736 posts
Re: the above recommendation for Notre Dame...it is closed and has been closed since April 15 2019 fire.
https://www.notredamedeparis.fr/en/
Parks will be open, Pere Lachaise Cemetery will be open if that's an interest (download the Rick Steves Audio Europe app and get the map and tour of the cemetery). If you want a museum, Musee Jacquemart-Andre is open every day of the year.
Musee d'Orsay does not list Jan 1 as a closure day on the website but when you go to ticketing Sunday Jan 1 2023 is grayed out.
Eiffel Tower is open and your cruise will be running. I'd not book a ticket ahead for the cruise. Wait to see what kind of weather you have.