10 Favorite Things to Do in Paris in Summer (From Someone Who Goes Every Year)
There is no version of Paris more alive than Paris in summer. The golden light stretches past 10 p.m., the café terraces overflow onto cobblestone streets, and the city takes on a kind of easy, unhurried magic that is impossible to replicate anywhere else in the world. If you are planning a trip and wondering what the best things to do in Paris in summer actually are, not the tourist checklist version, but the real, lived-in version, this is the list I come back to every year.
I have been visiting Paris for years, and summer is my season. These are the ten things I do without fail, the moments I plan entire trips around, and the small rituals that make Paris feel like a second home.
1. Picnic in one of the magnificent gardens a quintessential Paris summer activity
One of my absolute favorite activities during the summer, is a Parisian picnic. Paris has some of the most beautiful public gardens in the world, and summer is when they are at their absolute best. The Jardin du Luxembourg draws in students, locals, and sun-seekers who pull the iconic green chairs into perfect little circles and settle in for hours. This is my favorite Jardin in the city and one I frequent every weekend.
The Tuileries Garden offers a more formal grandeur, with its long central allée framed by clipped trees and seasonal blooms.
My ritual: stop at a boulangerie for a baguette, a cheese shop for whatever looks good, grab a cold bottle of rosé, and find a patch of shade. This is not a tourist activity. This is what Parisians actually do, and it is one of the most genuinely pleasurable things to do in Paris in summer.
2. The Musée d’Orsay rooftop: one of the best things to do in Paris in summer
Most visitors to the Musée d’Orsay come for the Impressionists the Monets, the Renoirs, the Degas. But the secret of the building is its rooftop, where the iconic clock face frames one of the most stunning panoramic views of Paris you will find anywhere in the city.
The Seine stretches below you, the Tuileries spread out to one side, and Montmartre rises in the distance. It is quieter up here than at the Eiffel Tower and far more beautiful than any paid observation deck. Summer is the ideal time to linger the light is extraordinary in the long afternoon hours. Do not skip this.
3. Sit along the Seine with the locals which is the most Parisian thing to do in summer
The quais along the Seine are Paris’s living room in summer. Once the sun begins to dip, locals appear with bottles of wine, baguettes, and friends, and settle onto the stone banks for hours. It is one of the most convivial, unhurried, and quietly beautiful scenes I have ever witnessed in any city.
Find a stretch near the Île Saint-Louis or along the Left Bank and simply sit. Let the boats pass. Watch the light change on the water. Order nothing. Spend nothing. This costs you zero euros and gives you everything.
4. Visit a farmers market for cherries
French farmers markets in summer are a sensory experience I genuinely look forward to every trip. The summer produce is exceptional, but the cherries are the reason I go. Deep, dark, perfectly ripe cherries that taste nothing like what you find at home. At markets like the Marché Monge or the Marché Raspail, the vendors pile them high and you buy them by the bag.
Walk the stalls slowly. Let yourself be drawn to whatever looks beautiful. Bring home tomatoes, a wedge of cheese, a handful of herbs. The market is not an errand in Paris it is an entire morning.
5. Watch the Sunday dancers along the Seine in Paris in Summer
This is one of my very favorite Paris discoveries; the Sunday afternoon tango and swing dancers who gather along the Seine; near the Pont de Sully or the banks near Notre Dame. Older couples, serious dancers, curious onlookers, a speaker playing French jazz or Argentine tango it is utterly enchanting and completely free.
Arrive around 3 or 4 p.m. on a Sunday and follow the music. You might just find yourself in the middle of one of the most romantic scenes Paris has to offer, with absolutely no planning required.
6. Go for an early morning run before the city wakes up
Running in Paris is not a chore, it’s one of the best ways to start the morning for me. The city before 7 a.m. belongs to you in a way it simply does not at any other hour. The light is pink and soft, the streets are quiet, and the gardens are just beginning to open their gates.
Running along the Seine or through the Tuileries at dawn is one of those Paris experiences that feels like a private gift, the city in its most peaceful, undone state. It is also one of the best ways to photograph Paris without a tourist in sight.
7. Sit at a café and people watch with a glass of rosé
There is a particular art to the Parisian café sit. You do not rush. You do not feel guilty about taking a table for two hours. You order your rosé, you tip your sunglasses down, and you watch the world move past you on the sidewalk.
Choose a terrace on a busy street, the Boulevard Saint-Germain, the Place de la Bastille, or anywhere in the Marais, and practice the French art of doing nothing in the most elegant possible way. This is not laziness. This is a cultural practice, and you should lean into it completely.
8. Take a day trip to Fontainebleau the most underrated thing near Paris in summer
Fontainebleau is one of the most underrated day trips from Paris, and in summer, it is absolutely worth the 40-minute train ride from Gare de Lyon. The château is magnificent, but so is the forest. The Forêt de Fontainebleau is ancient, dense, and peaceful, with hiking trails, sandstone boulders, and a quiet grandeur that feels a world away from the city.
Pack a full picnic. Bring a blanket. Spend the afternoon under the trees or at the château. It is one of those days that will feel, in retrospect, like the best day of your trip.
9. Eat Lebanese ice cream with pistachios on top
This is non-negotiable. If you do not eat Lebanese ice cream with pistachios during your summer visit to Paris, you have missed something essential. Lebanese ice cream is a bit more “stretchy” than the ice cream we are used to in the states.
And, on hot summer days it lasts a bit longer as well. They top it with crushed pistachios and it is, without exaggeration, one of the most perfect things I have ever eaten in Paris. There are several places throughout the city like Bachir and Bältis, where you can find this ice cream. Be prepared for a line.
10. Rent an apartment and live like a local
This is the piece of advice I give every person planning a trip to Paris: skip the hotel and rent an apartment. It changes the entire character of your stay. You shop at the market for your breakfast. You have morning coffee at your own little table. You return home in the evening and decide whether to cook or find a bistro around the corner.
Saint-Germain and Île-Saint-Louis are my personal favorites for a genuinely local feel. Living in Paris, even for a week, is different from visiting Paris. Choose to live.
The part no one tells you about Paris in summer
The long days are the gift. Dinner at 8:30 p.m. with the sun still warm overhead. An after-dinner stroll along the Seine at 10 p.m. in soft blue twilight. Paris in summer rewards those who slow down, stay late, and resist the urge to fill every hour.
If you are ready to plan your trip, Your Essential Guide to Paris covers everything from neighborhoods to what to wear to exactly how to spend your days, and my Paris Packing Guide will make sure you arrive ready for all of it.
The city is waiting. Go.
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