Description
The Champs-Élysées is Paris's grandest avenue: 1.9 kilometers, 70 meters wide, running straight from the obelisk of Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. It is the stage of the city's parades and one of the most famous streets in the world.
It has two faces. The lower half, from the Concorde to the Rond-Point, is a park, the Jardin des Champs-Élysées, with gardens, the Théâtre Marigny and two great exhibition halls: the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, left behind by the 1900 World's Fair.
The upper half, from the Rond-Point up to the Arc de Triomphe, is the shopping avenue: luxury boutiques, fashion stores, cafés and restaurants, and a stream of people at any hour. Nearby, the Élysée Palace, once a noble mansion, is the home of the presidents.
Twice a year the avenue changes mood. Every 14 July the Bastille Day parade, Europe's largest military parade, comes down it, reviewed by the president. From late November to early January, the Christmas lights turn it into a glittering ribbon. From 1975 to 2023 the Tour de France also finished its last stage here.
Until Louis XIV there were only fields and kitchen gardens here. Then, in 1667, André Le Nôtre, the gardener of Versailles, laid out a wide promenade lined with elms, as an extension of the Tuileries. Only in 1709 did it take the name of the Elysian Fields, the paradise of heroes in Greek myth.
Over the next century it stretched to the hill where Napoleon would raise the Arc de Triomphe. And soon the armies came marching. In 1815 the Russian, British and Prussian occupiers camped in its gardens and burned the trees for firewood.
Under Louis Philippe the lower end became an open-air playground, with summer cafés and a circus. In 1855 Napoleon III held the first Paris World's Fair here.
Armies have paraded down it in victory and in defeat: the Germans in 1871 and 1940, the Allies in 1919, the Free French in August 1944.
Don't miss
• The Christmas lights.
• The Grand Palais and the Petit Palais.
• The view of the avenue from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
Did you know?
• In 2007 the city tried to keep H&M off the avenue. Two years later a large H&M opened at number 88.
• Since 2016 the avenue has been closed to cars on the first Sunday of each month.
• Its name comes from the Elysian Fields, where Greek heroes went after death.
It has two faces. The lower half, from the Concorde to the Rond-Point, is a park, the Jardin des Champs-Élysées, with gardens, the Théâtre Marigny and two great exhibition halls: the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, left behind by the 1900 World's Fair.
The upper half, from the Rond-Point up to the Arc de Triomphe, is the shopping avenue: luxury boutiques, fashion stores, cafés and restaurants, and a stream of people at any hour. Nearby, the Élysée Palace, once a noble mansion, is the home of the presidents.
Twice a year the avenue changes mood. Every 14 July the Bastille Day parade, Europe's largest military parade, comes down it, reviewed by the president. From late November to early January, the Christmas lights turn it into a glittering ribbon. From 1975 to 2023 the Tour de France also finished its last stage here.
Until Louis XIV there were only fields and kitchen gardens here. Then, in 1667, André Le Nôtre, the gardener of Versailles, laid out a wide promenade lined with elms, as an extension of the Tuileries. Only in 1709 did it take the name of the Elysian Fields, the paradise of heroes in Greek myth.
Over the next century it stretched to the hill where Napoleon would raise the Arc de Triomphe. And soon the armies came marching. In 1815 the Russian, British and Prussian occupiers camped in its gardens and burned the trees for firewood.
Under Louis Philippe the lower end became an open-air playground, with summer cafés and a circus. In 1855 Napoleon III held the first Paris World's Fair here.
Armies have paraded down it in victory and in defeat: the Germans in 1871 and 1940, the Allies in 1919, the Free French in August 1944.
Don't miss
• The Christmas lights.
• The Grand Palais and the Petit Palais.
• The view of the avenue from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
Did you know?
• In 2007 the city tried to keep H&M off the avenue. Two years later a large H&M opened at number 88.
• Since 2016 the avenue has been closed to cars on the first Sunday of each month.
• Its name comes from the Elysian Fields, where Greek heroes went after death.