Viator Paris

Summer in Paris – not as nightmarish as you’d think! In fact, it’s quite the opposite – with the sun not setting until 10 at night and plenty of fun (and free!) events throughout the city, visiting Paris in the summer can give you a unique experience that’s more than simply visiting the museums and sights. Let’s break it down by month, shall we?

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is having a big birthday in 2013, and the church has already started hosting celebrations. Will you be in Paris for the remaining events?

Paris is one of the world’s top 5 favourite places in which to welcome in the new year. Not really surprising – it’s gorgeous, it’s romantic, and it has wonderful champagne. This is a city of hopes and dreams and that’s what New Year’s Eve is all about, right?

Paris is impossibly gorgeous any time of year, but at Christmas it really shines — every shop window is Instagram-worthy, almost every street is adorned with lights, and everywhere you look are events and sites purely for the enjoyment of locals and visitors at this special time of year. Let’s take a look at some of the best Paris holiday markets — and we’ll see you there!

Visiting Paris in autumn is popular for travelers who have the luxury to wait until after the summer – couples without kids, retirees, and those who don’t have to use their vacation time over national holidays. But if you’re looking to see Paris at its best, without the summer crush of humanity that has come to see the world’s most visited destination for themselves, then autumn is where it’s at – even if you have to take the kids out of school!

One thing Paris is famous for is its gardens. For centuries it has excelled at designing and nurturing green places to take refuge from the hectic city. Each year this is celebrated with the Fete Des Jardins, or Garden Festival, which marks the coming of Fall.

Every year Paris ends the summer with a feast of music with the Ile de France Festival. In 2012 it runs from September 8 until October 14.

July 14 is an important day in Paris. Every year the city celebrates La Fete National, or Bastille Day, the day the French Revolution began in 1789 with the storming of the medieval fortress Bastille Prison.

The prison stood where Place de la Bastille is now and was used largely to house prisoners critical of the King and his government. To an increasingly hungry and dissatisfied French population it became symbolic of the unfairness of the system and storming it seemed a powerful way to make their voices finally be heard, even if, to their surprise, only seven prisoners were inside.

Those in Paris are probably having quite the experience right now as millions of citizens and visitors alike have hit the streets to celebrate the election of their new president, François Hollande. He beat out incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy by just a few percent, yet the victory was decisive and sparked the celebrations which speak volumes about France’s continuing pride in their nation.In the ever-historical Bastille Square, people climbed upon the July Column and stood close together with looks of happiness on their faces.

Paris is a city so rich in tradition and history that it can be easy to miss the contemporary cultural scene. Make sure you don’t overlook the emerging and talented young artists whose work is on display at the Slick Contemporary Art Fair, which runs from 20-23rd October in 2011. Located in a 2000-square-metre marquee on the Esplanade between the wonderful Palais de Tokyo and the Museum of Modern Art, Slick will show thousands of new artworks with everything from painting and sculpture to new media and video installations.