The Time to Plan Your Paris Olympics Trip Is Right Now — Here's All the Intel on Tickets, Events, and Where to Stay

The Paris Olympics don’t kick off until July 2024, but smart travelers should start making plans now.

In less than a year, millions of spectators will descend on the French capital for what is poised to be the event of the decade: the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. How big will these games be? They’re so major that the final stage of the Tour de France will be moved, for the first time ever, from the Champs-Élysées all the way to Nice, on the Côte d’Azur.

Of course, the city is no stranger to massive crowds: last year, more than 44 million people visited Paris and the surrounding Île-de-France region, a figure about 10 percent shy of the city’s pre-COVID numbers. Still, with what is sure to be heavy security and packed roads, trains, and bike lanes, navigating the arrondissements next summer will take some serious finesse.

If you’re planning to attend, one challenge to tackle ASAP is accommodation. Rooms in many of the best hotels have already been snapped up by Olympic partners and other VIPs. Even mid-tier properties have seen their inventory dwindle: the funky 25Hours Hotel Paris Terminus Nord, for example, has been booked solid since early 2023 because it’s directly across from the Gare du Nord, the train station that visitors, organizers, and the media will use to reach the Olympic and Paralympic Villages, just outside the city.

Many hotels do still have space — though often with minimum-stay requirements and eye-watering prices. Shopping around is easy with Accor — whose brands include MGallery, Sofitel, and Swissôtel — because the group has 410 hotels in the Paris metro area. Airbnb, which many travelers think of as a value option, may prove as costly as hotels next summer: a 2023 study by Deloitte forecasts an 85 percent spike in rates on the platform across greater Paris during the Olympics. It may pay to consider apartment-rental firms such as Le Collectionist, HighStay, Onefinestay (another Accor brand), and Sonder.

If you’d rather leave the logistics to someone else, the official hospitality partner for the Olympics is On Location, a sports and events company owned by Endeavor, the entertainment firm. On Location is offering an array of travel packages, including some that bundle not only event tickets and accommodations but also perks like VIP access to the opening ceremony. That kind of five-star experience doesn’t come cheap: at press time, the most affordable option was a three-night package for $19,865 per person.

A version of this story appeared in the November 2023 issue of Travel + Leisure under the headline "On Your Marks."

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