Simon Calder reveals there will be Paris travel bargains during the Olympics

On Friday 26 July, the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics will begin – with all the airports serving the French capital closed during the event.

Yet once the competitions get under way, Paris could feel like a ghost town – with expected visitor numbers way down on a normal summer. That spells bargains for British tourists during the Games.

Almost half the rooms in the French capital are still unsold during the Olympics, which run to 11 August. Rates for double rooms in mainstream budget hotels are now starting to fall below £100 per night.

Air France says it is “experiencing pressure on projected unit revenues for the summer season due to the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris, with traffic to and from the French capital lagging behind other major European cities”.

The French national carrier says: “International markets show a significant avoidance of Paris.”

From a tourist perspective, the city is likely to be empty. There will be challenges getting around, but the reward will be enjoying the attractions of one of Europe’s most beautiful cities in splendid isolation.

These are the key questions and answers.

Won’t Paris be brim-full with athletes, organisers, media and spectators?

All of those cohorts will certainly be there in large numbers – but many of the millions who normally holiday in Paris in July and August will stay away. This is the same pattern as we saw 12 years ago at London 2012, with large tour groups staying away en masse.

The big difference is that the tourism authorities are being open about the scale of the slump. Corinne Menegaux, who’s director-general of Paris Region Tourism, told me she expects at most seven out of 10 hotel rooms to be filled – compared with 91 per cent in July last year.

While there will be many spectators, most of them will be from around Paris or coming in for the day on high-speed trains from cities such as Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Lyon – with no need to stay overnight.

What does that mean for hotel rates?

Many hotels have been pricing their rooms extremely high, believing the Olympics will prove the best get-rich-quick scheme ever. Some will do very well, having sold large numbers of rooms to delegations, the media or specialist sports tour companies.

But in the past couple of weeks some of the hotels that I am watching and which were showing as “sold out” have now reopened to bookings during the Games – presumably because companies were holding them on option.

Rates are still pretty solid at more upmarket properties – typically €300-€400 for a double room in a stylish four-star property.

But many of the mid-to-low-budget hotels are now cutting their rates below €100 a night, which for peak summer is very good value. That was happening mostly in the suburbs, but in the past few days hotels in the centre have also started cutting prices.

How can I reach Paris?

Aside from Friday 26 July during the Opening Ceremony, when a swathe of northern France the size of Belgium will become a no-fly zone and the Paris airports will be closed, it’s easy and affordable.

On Eurostar, trains from London St Pancras, which always commands a premium, the cheapest one-way fares to Paris are around £110 on Saturday 27, July but lower on every day thereafter for the duration of the Games. Coming back, the average Paris-London lowest fare each day is £64, with a bit of a surge on the final day, 11 August.

Air fares are much cheaper than going by train. On Saturday 27 July you can fly from Manchester to Beauvais (Ryanair’s version of Paris) for £25 – and later in the Games the typical fare on that route is closer to £15.

From Bristol to the closer-in Paris CDG, easyJet has just cut its 27 July fare by £10 to £87.

How normal will the city be, though?

Expect a very high security presence and a lot of roads closed – but mainly ahead of and including the opening ceremony.

A few Metro stations will be closed during the Games:

Because of the slump in visitor numbers, though, probably the oddest phenomenon will be the ability to enjoy great museums such as the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay without the usual summer crowds.

I heard they are charging extra for the Metro …

Yes. The price of Metro tickets is almost doubling from 20 July to 8 September 2024, from €2.10 to €4. But you can get around that by buying them online now and storing them on your smartphone.

Owners of the iPhone should open the Apple Wallet and click on the + symbol at the top right. This reveals options including Travel Card. Select this, then wade through a list of Chinese transit cards until you reach France/Navigo/Paris. You are offered options from one €2.15 “t+” ticket (valid for a single journey) to a one-day, all-zones pass for €20.60.

For Android phones, first download the Ile-de-France Mobilités app. The transport authority says: “The service is available on the majority of NFC phones from Android 8 version.”

When you use them, hold your phone against the Navigo smartcard reader on the ticket gates and they will open.

Can I still get tickets for events?

The big athletics tickets have all gone – though you can find tickets for football, and events such as the marathon and cycling are going to be on the city streets.

For more travel news and advice listen to Simon Calder’s podcast.