Shopping on Sundays in Paris Region

Department stores

This is a historic moment for Galeries Lafayette, Printemps, and the Bon Marché Rive Gauche, temples of retail in the Opéra and Left Bank neighbourhoods. Till now restricted to the end of the year holiday period, Sunday opening hours have become the norm in these emblematic department stores. As a result, on any given day of the week, it is possible to browse through a wide range of fashion for men, women and children, including collections by star designers.

As a special bonus for night owls, several stores offer late-night opening: Thursdays until 8.45pm for Le Printemps, Thursdays and Fridays until 8.45pm for Le Bon Marché, and the Galeries Lafayettes stays open until 8.30pm from Monday through Saturday!

Every Sunday, the Galeries Lafayette also hosts gourmet brunches, workshops for children, and exercise classes.

Shopping in central Paris

In the heart of the city's trendy and dynamic central neighbourhoods, shopping centres have also made the leap to Sunday opening. After four years of renovations, the Forum des Halles now offers a new shopping experience in the heart of Paris, under its emblematic canopy.

The reward for the wait includes a host of new places, terraces, café-brasseries and of course, the best shopping has to offer. The Carrousel du Louvre and its Printemps satellite under the Louvre pyramid, as well as the BHV/Marais, have also joined the Sunday opening hour bandwagon. Each of these destinations is ideal for youthful, urban fashion, design objects and the latest trends in beauty products.

At the BHV, treat yourself to a brunch buffet before returning to your afternoon of Sunday shopping in search of the Marais' signature "French Touch" labels, like Maje, Sandro, The Kooples and more. These shops are also open all weekend in the quintess ential Parisian neighbourhoods of Abbesses in Montmartre, or along the Canal Saint-Martin – a paradise for Parisian bohemia – as well as the chic Saint-Germain-des-Prés district. For a family outing, Bercy Village, with its pedestrian walkway lined with shops and restaurants open on Sundays until 9pm, is a perfect way to extend an earlier walk in the nearby Parc de Bercy.

Culture and fashion

Near Paris' major monuments, you can make a stopover at the shops on the Champs-Elysées and the Avenue Montaigne, right by the Arc de Triomphe, or at the Beaugrenelle Centre, a few steps away from the Eiffel Tower. Under the René-Dumont elevated walkway (coulee verte), artisanal French art and craft is sold in the art galleries and boutiques inside the Viaduc des Arts, located under the arches of a former railway near Bastille.

And to fully appreciate all of Paris' essential fashion hot-spots, there's nothing quite like a ride aboard a 2CV, driven by your friendly chauffeur from 4 Roues Sous 1 Parapluie. A driver-guide will come pick you up right at your hotel or apartment to give you an original tour of the famous Triangle d'Or, or the jewellery shops on the Place Vendôme, for example.

On the outskirts of Paris, great deals can be found on Sundays in outlets, including One Nation, which is accessible via shuttle from Versailles or Place de l'Opéra in Paris, and the La Vallée Village outlet, for which the shuttle, Shopping Express by ParisCityVision, departs from the Place des Pyramides twice daily.