What's new in France? | Connecting Travel

This Olympic player has won a place on Mabrian's top 10 outbound destinations for GCC travellers

From the adventurous snow-peaked Alps and star-studded French Riviera to the romance of Paris and the country-wide, world-class cuisine, the allure of France is vast and enduring.

According to Mabrian, France’s most-tagged attractions on social media are centred around the capital and include the iconic Eiffel Tower; the Louvre, where tourists queue for a look at the Mona Lisa; the charming river Seine; Disneyland Paris theme park and the district that gave birth to Impressionism, Montmartre.

The number of visitors to the French capital reached 36.9 million in 2023, an increase of 6.8% compared to the previous year, according to the Paris je t’aime tourist office. And the trend points decidedly upwards for 2024, With the upcoming Olympics in 2024, this upward trend looks set to continue with 15 million visitors expected.

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New Attractions
The 2024 Summer Olympics will take place from 26 July to 11 August, and besides actually seeing athletes compete, visitors can gather in one of 26 fan zones with screens broadcasting the games across the city. The Louvre will host an exhibition about the origins of the Olympics, while SPOT24, near the Eiffel Tower, will showcase the Games’ latest disciplines, such as breakdancing – a new event for 2024 – and their links to urban life.

The Games have also accelerated infrastructure projects, such as the expansion of the Paris Metro. Notably, Line 14 will stretch from Paris-Orly airport in the south to Saint-Denis Pleyel in the north. As well as directly connecting Paris’s secondary airport with the city centre, this will make it possible to reach the Olympic district in Saint-Denis – which will be transformed into a new neighbourhood after the Games – in just 40 minutes.

The addition of cycle lanes also continues apace. A new 60-mile network will connect many of the Olympic competition sites and the current city-wide figure stands at almost 650 miles.

The coming year, 2025, will also be important in other ways. It’s the 150th anniversary of the Impressionism movement, with a major exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay featuring works by artists such as Monet. The year will end on a high with the much-anticipated reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral on 8 December, following restoration work in the wake of the 2019 fire.

The former home of late singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg opened as an attraction in September 2023. As well as its own museum, there is also a much-hyped café-cum-piano-bar. Culture lovers will also enjoy Quai de la Photo, a new floating art gallery on the Seine dedicated to contemporary photography. Naturally, sport will be in the spotlight as well.

The Seine is set to be swimmable, with three public bathing spots opening by 2025

New Hotels
A raft of hotel openings is planned ahead of the Olympics. According to Paris je t’aime, the number of hotels in the city has increased by 6% since 2019 to 2,184.

Located in Saint-Denis, in the heart of the Olympic district, the H4 Wyndham, a 40-storey tower with almost 700 rooms, opened on 1 April 2024. Its indoor pool on the top floor will be the highest in France.

Villa-des-Prés is the hot new address in leafy Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Imagined by interior designer Bruno Borrione as a stylish set of Parisian apartments, it offers 34 elegant rooms and suites, some with private terraces or balconies.

Another desirable opening is the five-star Hôtel Hana, by the UAE’s Address Hotels & Resorts group. Situated close to the Opéra Garnier, this boutique hotel fuses French and Japanese culture.

And, if the magic of the medieval Marais district calls, Le Grand Mazarin is a luxurious haven that opened in September 2023. Set within a 14th-century building, this five-star hotel was inspired by the great houses of the aristocratic era.

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