Recovering from their holiday excess, Parisians flood the streets and well-heated terraces to reunite with friends– and, of course, to hit the winter soldes (sales), a Parisian ritual that borders on religious. For shopping aficionados, January is definitely a great time to be in the city of light.

Since this is low season in Paris, you should be able to get a good deal on flights in January, especially if you reserve one to two months ahead of your trip.

And because tourism is in low-tide mode compared to the spring or summer, visiting January in Paris also provides great opportunities for really lingering in some of the city’s best spots for art and culture, such as the Musee d’Orsay or the Centre Pompidou. You’ll finally be able to take as much time as you want contemplating your favorite paintings or monuments.

Finally, January is a great time to spend time in the warmth and charm of Paris’ many cafes, so be sure to pack plenty of books and magazines for your trip. For those interested in Paris intellectual history, cafe-hopping in the city’s historical Latin Quarter or in Saint-Germain-des-Prés would be a great way to spend part of a day.

Main events in Paris in January

1 / Winter Sales

Sales are state-regulated in France and are preset at two periods of the year: once in summer, just before the massive exodus toward the sea and sun, and once in the winter, shortly following Christmas. Department stores, boutiques, designer outlets, and even hardware shops clear out items from the previous season, gradually slashing prices over the course of the sales period.

Tips and Tricks

How do locals “do” the Paris sales? Well, to begin, while everything from shoes to shower curtains are on offer at a discount during the traditional “soldes” in Paris, most Parisians set out to make a steal from clothing racks. If you’ve wondered how so many Parisians manage such seemingly impeccable style, now you know: even price tags on designer items can be slashed down by up to 80%. Use these tips to navigate the labyrinth like a pro:

• Catch the worm by arriving early. As anywhere else in the world, the best deals are procured at Paris sales shortly after the floodgates open. But in truth, most Parisians get ready for the sales the day before, perusing around the capital for hot items and occupying fitting rooms, trying on one, two, or ten things for size ahead of the race.
• Avoid the frenzy. Braving the sales in Paris requires strategy, patience, and lots of energy! To avoid getting pushed out of the way by impatient fellow shoppers, the best time to hit the soldes is during the week, in the early morning or during lunch hours. One caveat, though: many Parisians take a day off of work to look for deals, so you may be surprised at how full stores are even during the work week.
• Dress lightly and comfortably. During both summer and winter sales, Parisians often dress as simply as possible to save time in the fitting room. Avoid endless laces or buttons, and wear comfortable shoes. Remember that you may have to be prepared to run around for several miles to find your dream item, so you may as well put on a good pair of walking shoes for this mini-marathon.
• Know when to splurge. Parisians are apt to say that the true magic in soldes is being able to spoil oneself a bit, to indulge in clothes, beauty products, home items, or even rare books that are normally too pricey to consider. This is why the savviest locals have made a science of the sales: it’s all in knowing where the best values can be found, and when to zone in on them. These hotspots for deals range from classic department stores like Galeries Lafayette or Le Bon Marché, to small, up-and-coming boutiques or discount designer shops around Les Halles or the Marais district.

Look for an hotel near the Champs-Elysées

2 / Pierre Soulages at the Centre Pompidou

With this major retrospective, the Centre Pompidou celebrates the work of Pierre Soulages, indisputably the greatest living French painter. The exhibition will bring together more than a hundred major pieces produced between 1946 and the present, from the tremendous walnut-stain works of 1947-1949 to the paintings of the recent years – many of the latter here exhibited for the first time – testimony to the dynamism and diversity of a body of work characterised by ceaseless development.

look for an hotel near the Centre Pompidou

3 / “Matisse & Rodin” at the Musée Rodin

In January, the Rodin Museum in Paris will be staging a face-to-face encounter between two outstanding creative artists who were only a generation apart, Henri Matisse et Auguste Rodin. Rodin was the dominant figure in the sculpture of the period while Matisse, Rodin’s contemporary for the first seventeen years of the 20th century, introduced revolutionary changes in its painting. The story of the encounters and relations between these two major artists is one that has remained unexplored until now.

“Matisse & Rodin” will put forward some fresh thinking on what Matisse, the master of Fauvism, made of Rodin, on what his works can tell us about the affinities, correspondences or differences between the two artists. On show to the public will be a wide-ranging selection of Matisse’s sculpture, an aspect of his work to which no specific exhibition has been devoted since 1975.

As well as those of the Musée Rodin, the exhibition is based on the collections of the Musée Matisse in Nice, while also drawing widely on public and private collections from France and abroad. Between 20th June and 27th September, a slightly different version will be on show at the Musée Matisse in Nice.

When the two artists met for the first time, in 1899, Matisse was thirty years old and Rodin sixty. At a much later date, Matisse, who had come to show the sculptor his drawings, was to give an account of this meeting and of his disappointment at Rodin’s reaction and the sculptor’s advice to him to produce more polished drawings.
The painter, however, was to refer frequently to the sculptor in his observations; he acquired one of his works in plaster at an early date and, like the older man, had as his favourite subjects female nudes in non-academic poses, caught in the intimate setting of the studio. Like Rodin, Matisse as a sculptor preferred modelling, using particularly malleable materials, to handling the hardness of stone.
Likewise, in the field of the graphic arts, there is an authentic thematic and stylistic affinity to be observed between the two artists. Matisse began his discovery of Rodin’s drawings and working methods from the year 1900. Here at the turn of the century, the liberating energy revealed in Rodin’s drawings and his free treatment of the figure had a considerable effect on younger artists that has remained largely unknown.

Look for an hotel near the Musée Rodin

January Must do’s in Paris

1 / Town Hall Ice Rink

Every year, a large temporary ice rink is installed in front of City Hall of Paris. It is an open arena, which offers Parisians and tourists some great skating time on ice amid sumptuous decor and more romantic. This attraction is open to all from 7 to 77 regardless of your ice skating skills. Year after year, this attraction is getting more and more  successful, depending on when you’re planning to give it a try, be prepared to be patient before putting your ice skates on ! You won’t queue for too long but a good piece of advice would be to stop by in the morning or in the late afternoon.

Look for an hotel near the Town Hall

2 / Ferris Wheel

From December to January, the great wheel of Paris settled on the place de la Concorde.

Day or night, from its height of 60m, the big wheel us to discover an exceptional view of beauty and wealth of the capital.

Located at the end of the Tuileries Gardens, just steps from the Champs-Elysees and one cable from the Opera and Place Vendome, the great wheel of Paris awaits you every day until midnight for ten euros.

Look for an hotel near the place de la Concorde

Weather forecasts for Paris in January

Happy Holidays

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