Christmas Markets have become quite popular in the past few years – it seems that every town, city, etc. has one (or ten) available for your pleasure – whether that is in the form of mulled wine, food, dessert, music, entertainment, shopping or a combination of all of the above.  My first visit to the Paris Christmas markets along the Champs-Elysses was marked with such a bitter cold years ago that I did a drive by (or walk by) from metro station to metro station, not stopping for much along the way, just window shopping. I didn’t quite get into the holiday spirit at the time.

Spending Thanksgiving this year in Paris gave me the opportunity to revisit the Christmas market along the Champs-Elysees and visit the Christmas market at La Defense for the first time.  For me, I enjoy the local foods and artisan crafts, my friend enjoys the whole market experience as we visited each and every stall looking for gifts (thankfully he spoke French which made the visit a bit easier when trying to figure out pricing).

Paris Christmas Markets on the Champs-Elysees

The Champs-Elysees is lit up with festive blue lights stretching up and down the avenue, bringing new meaning to “City of Lights”.  If that wasn’t enough to get you in a festive mood, the roundabouts are decorated with blue and white lights and the street is lined with market stalls with Christmas music that fills the air (ironically in English).  The largest collection of market stalls in the city of Paris awaits you.

 

While I found a very small section of artisan craft vendors (meaning the artist is selling his/her creations and usually at the stall to talk to about their art), for the most part, the stalls are selling items not made in France but lovely and affordable nonetheless. There are lots of great gifts for everyone on your list.  There are multiple food vendors with mulled wine, beer, crepes, and TONS of Nutella – you won’t go hungry as you wander.  There are tents for larger restaurants as well as a beer garden and small ice skating rink.  A few rides/attractions for the kids and Santa is here too – but in his own snowglobe!  You can join him for 15 Euro or do like I did – wave and take a photo for free (now how do I photoshop myself inside?).

Just like the Champs-Elysees, this market is meant to be strolled at a leisurely pace (well, that and the fact that there are many people walking and stopping in front of you).  With both sides of the Avenue filled with stalls, a visit will likely take about two hours or more.

Paris Christmas Markets at La Defense

We were lucky that the La Defense markets with more than 300 stalls opened the day after Thanksgiving (my last day in the city) .  La Defense is a very interesting part of Paris – far from the tourists, this is the business center filled with high rise buildings and a mall.  For those with a “Midnight in Paris” expectation, La Defense is just the opposite. That said, there it felt like there were more Parisians/locals here.  With its own Christmas display and red carpet entrance, it already felt a world away from the Champs-Elysees.

The wooden stalls are closer together in a classic square formation with aisles on either side and in front of you.  With a red carpet on the ground and a chandelier this first section of the market was more intimate.  There were items that I even considered buying but remembered I didn’t have any room in my bags for souvenirs.  The foods were tempting all of my senses especially my “eyes are bigger than my stomach” so my only souvenirs would be quickly consumed, leaving no evidence.

When the red carpet ended we crossed over to the next set of stalls and found a contrast – not as intimate, very few (if at all) artisans as evidenced by a “shown on TV” stall.  The crowds were lining up at one of the food stalls for nougat (who knew so expensive!?) and also at the fresh made soap stall. With a vast array of smells – this was definitely an interactive and popular stall – you could pick up and smell every scent noted on the bars – everyone was buying soap. This side of the market also had a large tent for the Christmas shop filled with decorations, trees, ornaments and everything you need for your holiday.

We spent about two hours at La Defense on the opening Friday night. As the holidays grow closer, a visit will take much longer with crowds.

Which Paris Christmas Market to visit?

Given that the Champs-Elysees and La Defense are both on the Line 1 Metro, you can easily visit both in a day – for me, the only question is where do you want to see the lights?  At Place de la Concorde, you have stunning view of the Avenue with Tour Eiffel in the distance.  In La Defense, you have the lights of the office buildings all around you.  Both night views are stunning as they present Paris in a tradional and non-traditional way.

Paris has about ten different Christmas markets ongoing throughout the holidays, I was lucky to visit the two largest ones during my visit (the others hadn’t opened yet).  Visiting the markets in Paris was a great way to get into the Christmas spirit, everyone was happy, the music was festive and the wine flowing – what else do you need? Oh right, you need cookies! or macrons – they are here too!