Mature Flâneur
Paris’ Christmas Markets Get an Early Start
50 days of Christmas
Without American Thanksgiving to act as a buffer holiday, Paris dives headlong into Christmas in early November while the tattered remnants of Halloween decorations still flutter in the chilly autumn wind. Around our little neighborhood in the 11th Arrondissement, Christmas lights had already been strung overhead when we returned to the city we love on Nov. 13, and many shop windows were already covered in glitter and tinsel.
But, for me and my beloved spouse Teresa, the real beginning of Christmas in Paris comes with the opening of the Christmas markets! Paris has roughly twenty of these seasonal holiday markets staged throughout the city. Our favorite is the Tuileries Christmas Market, which stretches for almost half a mile along the north side of the Tuileries Garden between Place des Pyramides (at the Louvre Museum) and Place de la Concorde (at the base of the Champs Élysées). It’s the longest market in Paris — both in size and duration. In 2024, it opened Nov.16 — forty days before Dec 25th — and runs till Jan 5. That’s 50 days of Christmas!
