Paris Weekend Break

Bastille Day

Bastille Day is France's most important national holiday and these days it is celebrated with a festival that includes all kinds of entertainment.

Bastille Day commemorates the storming and over-running of the former prison (14 July 1789) which proved to be the catalyst that resulted in the beginning of the French Revolution. The event has huge social, cultural and political significance to the French and they see this day as symbolising the start of a free and constitutional France. Nothing of the original prison remains today.

The event takes place annually on the 13 and 14 July with parades starting at 10.00am in the morning and a massive fireworks display scheduled for 10.30pm at night. The main spectacle of the day is a huge military parade which happens on the Champs Elysees from 10.00am, but further events and celebrations take place throughout the day and across the city.

The evening before the main Bastille Day celebration sees dancing in the Bastille square and at numerous events scheduled around Paris. Included in these pre-big day festivities are a popular outdoor Gay Ball and one of the largest picnics in the world.

On Bastille Day the Champs-Elysées is over-run with people, all there to see the military parade which is headed by the President. Visual treats include a fly-pasts by the national air formation team and military marches from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde. The fire brigade also play a big part in this event (and pre- Bastille Day parties on the previous evening) and they always receive a rapturous ovation as they bring up the rear of the parade.

After the main processions, other events continue during the day and into the evening, the highlight of which is a massive fireworks display at the Champ-de-Mars. Aside from these formal civic events, every bar, club and hospitality business in Paris has some kind of party going on, so you will never be short of somewhere to go, or something to see.