Start With the Lights on the Façades
You step off the Champs-Elysées at dusk, and the avenue has gone gold. From the Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde, the trees are strung with lights from November 2025 through January 2026, switched on by Tony Estanguet. This is Paris in December: the façades of Place Vendôme wrapped in fairy-light garlands and set with Christmas trees, the alleyway at Bercy Village lit candy-cane style with musical parades, the balloon garlands of "Rue des Bulles" on Rue des Martyrs near Montmartre, strung in white and gold with the Nicolas Feuillatte champagne house. The Printemps Haussmann Christmas windows are the anchor of the season — animated scenes built into the department store windows, with handmade, eco-friendly characters and a playful narrative that changes each year. In 2025 the theme was a transatlantic Christmas in New York, with scenes of an ice rink, a Times Square flash mob and a basketball game, guided by a band of mischievous dogs, celebrating the opening of Printemps in Manhattan. The displays run from 7 November to 31 December 2025, free to view along the storefront.
Walk the Windows, Then Walk the Lights
The window displays are free to view and are best seen on foot, slowly, in the early evening when the lights are on and the crowds are still thin. From Printemps Haussmann, the other department store windows are within walking distance or a short ride. You can also take them in from a Citroën 2CV or sidecar tour with 4 roues sous 1 parapluie, or from a Tootbus Paris open-top double-decker hop-on hop-off bus. Go on a weeknight to avoid the weekend crush, and bring cash for the smaller stalls.
- Printemps Haussmann window displays — animated scenes, 7 November – 31 December 2025, free to view, along the storefront
- Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann — 12 November – 4 January 2026; illustrator Jeanne Detallante; animated windows with elves, gift machines and fantastical creatures; a 25-metre Christmas tree under the dome; rooftop ice rink; Lunii sound journey story "Suzanne and Gaston"
- La Samaritaine — 5 November 2025 – 6 January 2026; theme "Ribbon"; artist Elsa Tomkowiak installations; peacock fresco motif; Gift Wrapping Studio; daily Giant Advent Calendar under the glass roof
- Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche — from 7 November until 31 December 2025; Christmas village windows on Rue de Sèvres; around 100 cuddly rabbits; chocolate factory, carrot factory and hatter scenes; children's viewing platforms
Illuminations Across the City
Paris reliably stages its illuminations across several districts through the season. Beyond the Champs-Elysées, Place Vendôme sets Christmas trees among fairy-light garlands on the façades, Bercy Village runs its candy-cane alleyway with lit trees and musical parades on a theme of Christmas treats, and Rue des Martyrs near Montmartre becomes "Rue des Bulles" with Nicolas Feuillatte. Check the official programme for the year — the specific line-up changes, but the format does not: golden lights along the avenues, decorated squares and lit shopping streets from November into January.
- Champs-Elysées — golden lights from Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde, November 2025 – January 2026
- Place Vendôme — Christmas trees and fairy-light garlands on façades
- Bercy Village — candy-cane alleyway, lit trees, musical parades
- Rue des Martyrs, near Montmartre — "Rue des Bulles" with Nicolas Feuillatte, white and gold balloon garlands
What to Eat While You Wander
Paris's Christmas food is the city's everyday food, eaten in the cold. You want a paper cup of something hot from a stall while you walk the windows, and you want to eat standing up, at the market, between one lit street and the next. That is the point.
Where to Stay and What to Do Nearby
Base yourself near the department stores on the Right Bank or along the Champs-Elysées — both put you within walking distance of the windows and the lights. From there, the city is compact: the Métro and the open-top Tootbus connect the store windows, the avenue illuminations and the lit streets of Montmartre and Bercy. Give yourself three nights: one for the windows, one for the illuminations on foot, one for a long lunch and an evening tour by 2CV or sidecar.
- Right Bank near the department stores — walkable to Printemps, Galeries Lafayette, La Samaritaine
- Champs-Elysées — avenue lights, hotels, Métro connections
- Montmartre and Rue des Martyrs — "Rue des Bulles", lit streets
- Bercy Village — candy-cane alleyway, musical parades
Start with the dates. Book your accommodation for early December, before the Christmas crowds arrive, and check the official programme for the year's switch-on and window schedule. The windows, the lights and the lit streets will be there when you arrive — all you have to do is walk out into them.