The Autumn Festival held throughout Paris each year from September to December caters to fans of cinema, opera, dance, the performing arts and contemporary theater. First held in 1972, the accent is on challenging work from around the globe with a program of events that run for four action-packed months at many of the city's favorite art venues, galleries, theaters and museums.
Festival d'Automne
16 rue de Rivoli
Paris 75001, France
011 (+33) 1 5345 1700
festival-automne.com
Put on your dancing shoes for a wild parade down the boulevards of Paris when the Techno Parade signals the start of the annual electronic music festival Rendez-vous Electroniques. Held each September before the kids head back to college, the festival is actually serious business with concerts, exhibitions and conferences held by and for the industry's most powerful producers and biggest DJs and musicians. Since its birth in 1998 the Techno Parade has attracted an audience of several hundred thousand revellers each year.
Techno Parade
Technopol
c/o Ars Longa (Gallery), 67 avenue Parmentier
Paris 75011, France
001 (+33) 1 5336 0419
technopol.net
Sample and buy the produce of some of the best artisan food producers in France at the Pari Fermier food market. Held at rotating locations throughout Paris six times a year, you'll be able to taste the best of September's fare under one convenient roof at the Places des Vins de France. And with over 200 farmers and producers displaying their wares, you should prepare for a long and filling lunch.
Pari Fermier
21 rue Beranger
Paris 75003, France
001 (+33) 1 4454 9006
parifermier.com
Make the most of Paris and her parks before the fall sets in. The weather in Paris in September can be clement with mild days averaging a high of 73 degrees. Head to one of the lesser-known gardens in the bohemian Latin Quarter, the Jardin des Plantes, close to the University. On weekends you can pick up a picnic at the food market on Rue Mouffetard, but, with an average September rainfall of 21 inches, if the heavens do open then dive into an old-fashioned bistro on Rue des Fossés-St-Bernard. The gardens contain a lovely maze, winter garden, zoo and the Natural History Museum with its beautifully renovated Grande Galerie de l'Evolution. End the afternoon with a refreshing mint tea in the café of the ornate Paris Mosque.
Jardin des Plantes
36 rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Paris 75005, France
001 (+33) 1 4079 5601
Built in 1889 by Gustave Eiffel as part of the World Fair, the Eiffel Tower is the best-known and most iconic Paris attraction. Standing 1063 feet tall it was the highest building in the world until the Empire State Building eclipsed it in the 1930s, but it was never meant to be a permanent fixture. It proved--and continues to prove--so popular that the Tower remains and the queues are legendary, but they are worth it. Climb--or take the elevator--to the top in the morning to see the daylight spread over Paris at its most resplendent, then return in the evening for a magical display from the ground as, until the year 2013, every hour on the hour, 20,000 lights illuminate the structure against September's brooding skies.
Eiffel Tower
Champ de Mars
Paris 75007, France
001 (+33) 1 4411 2323
