Getting around Paris during the Olympics

Despite a recent agreement preventing an airport strike in Paris on 17 July, one union is still threatening to walk out in the lead up to the Olympic Games.

The Skift Travel Podcast is continuing its series on the Paris Olympics. This episode features a discussion with Patrick Mendes, Accor’s CEO for Europe and North Africa. Accor is an official partner for this year’s Games, as well as Europe’s largest hotel group.

Games wide open! The Paris 2024 Summer Olympics are here—so, expect to hear the roar of that slogan in the weeks again. There’s simply no way to quantify, or perhaps, prepare for, the already-electrifying energy infiltrating the host city and the largest Olympic ceremony ever. Despite the Games’ 300,000 spectator capacity, Paris is expected to receive around 15 million visitors, including 2 million from abroad, in the coming weeks.

With just hours to go until the Opening Ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympics, chaos has hit the country’s transport network. On the night of Thursday, July 25, a series of fires spread across France’s high-speed rail lines, causing delays, cancelations, and disruptions to the rail system.

The Olympic Games cast an enormous spotlight on host cities, but that attention doesn’t always result in large numbers of overseas visitors.

France's rail network has been thrown into chaos today following a series of arson attacks, just hours before the nation officially opens the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Paris is expected to welcome 11.3 million visitors during the Olympic Games, significantly increasing its population density. This surge in visitors is spurring travel demand to international destinations, such as Italy and the United States, that harness this desire to leave crowds behind, also benefiting United Kingdom, Spain, and Greece, as well as farther destinations, such as Thailand or Japan.

Recently, I walked through Paris to meet a friend on the Rive Gauche. On the hour-long route from my home in Montmartre, I popped in for a croissant at a favorite boulangerie, skirted around the Palais Royal, passed the pyramid of the Louvre, crossed the Seine. Post-coffee, the walk home unfolded in reverse. I ran a few errands as I got closer to my apartment: greens and radishes at our neighborhood épicerie, a crusty and warm baguette at another boulangerie, a bottle of sparkling wine at the caviste. Pausing briefly to adjust my grip on the bags at the base of the stairs leading up to the Sacre-Cœur, I made the inevitable climb up.

This story about surfing in Tahiti is part of How Paris Moves, a series of dispatches about communities and social change in France through the lens of the 2024 Summer Olympics. Read more here.

Step 1: Board the train. Step 2: Climb into bed. Step 3: Wake up at your destination.

This story about swimming in Paris is part of How Paris Moves, a series of dispatches about communities and social change in France through the lens of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

This story about breakdancing in Paris is part of How Paris Moves, a series of dispatches about communities and social change in France through the lens of the 2024 Summer Olympics.