Has anyone been in Paris for Bastille Day (July 14th)?

Question

I will be in Paris for Bastille Day (July 14th) in 2007. Unfortunatly, I am only in Paris for 2 days and Bastille Day greatly impacts my tourist opportunities as this is a National Holiday and I hear that everything is closed.

Where should I stay away from on this day? I hear there may be fireworks at the Eifel Tower ? (I guess I'll have to go here the night before).

I want to see as much as possible in the short time I am there. My only entire day in Paris is unfortunatly on Bastille Day. I am a little upset by it.

Does anyone have any advice to offer or have ideas? Are all the stores really closed?

THANKS.

Answer 1

The night of the 13th is a blast!  there are parties everywhere.  Be careful though, there is a lot of confusion around the city and ot can be a little scary.  The morning of the 14th, there is a parade or at least was when I was there.  It is pretty cool, but a little early more if you partied the night before.  The night of the 14th, there are fireworks at the eiffel tower.  They were teh best ones I have ever seen in my life.  Having the fireworks in the background of the Eiffel tower with french music playing is an awsome experience.  Unfortunately though, I think youwill find a lot of places closed, but it is a fun time to be there for.

Answer 2

You're right orf course that this huge celebration makes standard tourist itineraries difficult. But that's mainly because so mainly people will be in the streets. On the other hand its an opportunity to join a party that comes, after all, only once a year.

If you're getting there on the 13th then you can join in the Bals des Sapeurs-Pompiers at every fire station in every arrondissement. Probably the niftiest is at the barge on the moored on the Left bank of the Seine which is the HQ for the fireboats of Paris.

On the day itself there is a huge military parade down the Champs Elysee in the morning with units from every regiment in the French Army. Catch the members of the Legion Etranger as they literally  march to a different drummer (they use a different cadence than the rest of the armed forces). The Horse Platoons of the Guard Mobile in dress uniform look little different than they did in the 19th century.

In the evening there are fireworks at the Trocadero across the river from the Tour Eiffel.

Its  national holiday so yes, many commercial establishments are closed. However, the museums are open (I can only vouch for the Louvre but I believe they all are) and the cafes and bars will be going full blast.

Answer 3

I was there in 2000 on Bastille Day and watched the parade down the main street. It was fun but everything was closed and streets were closed to traffic so people could celebrate (i.e. eating and drinking). The other negative was that I missed my Air France bus since it could not make its usual stop at the Opera Garnier.

Answer 4

Personally I think that most of the major tourist attractions will still be running, just because it is in the middle of the summer and it's when there are many, many tourists.

However, I was not in Paris, I was in a smaller town in the north that day. So there were some things closed, but there was still a few side walks sales open and things like that.