Three events have confirmed dates for December 2026 in Paris: the Salon du Cheval de Paris and the Salon des Vins des Vignerons Indépendants, both at Porte de Versailles, and the Paris La Défense Christmas market. The rest of the year-end programme, the Tuileries, the Champs-Élysées and Carreau du Temple, remains to be confirmed at the time of writing. Here is the agenda as it currently stands, with what is confirmed on one side and what remains pending on the other.
Salon du Cheval de Paris: Three Days of Competition and Shows
The Salon du Cheval de Paris runs from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 December 2026 in Halls 4 and 6 of Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. It is open from 9am to 9pm on Friday and Saturday and from 9am to 6pm on Sunday, with the Nuits du Cheval evening shows from 9pm to 11pm on Friday and Saturday. The organiser announces the return of international show jumping competitions, around 500 horses and ponies and 180 exhibitors. Prices vary by day and profile: booking online is recommended as places are limited, and entry is free for visitors with disabilities on presentation of documentation.
Four Days of Tasting at Porte de Versailles
The Salon des Vins des Vignerons Indépendants holds its 48th edition from Thursday 10 to Sunday 13 December 2026, in Hall 7.2 of Paris Expo Porte de Versailles (place de la Porte de Versailles, 15th arrondissement).
The fair is open from 10am to 8pm on 10, 11 and 12 December, then from 10am to 7pm on Sunday 13. The winegrowers sell their own production on site: it is as much a tasting event as a pre-Christmas shopping trip, so it is worth arriving with something to carry your bottles in. The entry fee was not published on the fair's official page at the time of writing; it is worth checking with the organiser before going. Visitors in Paris for a business trip will find the December trade fair agenda useful.
La Défense: The Big Free Christmas Market of the Year-End Season
From 12 November to 31 December 2026, the Paris La Défense Christmas market spreads across the esplanade, between Puteaux and Courbevoie, with around 300 chalets. Its organiser presents it as the largest Christmas market in Île-de-France, and it is the best-established date of the month: entry and entertainment are free, and the festive area "Le Sommet" stays open until 3 January 2027.
Opening hours vary by zone: Monday to Thursday from 11am to 9pm, Friday from 11am to 11pm, Saturday from 10am to 11pm, and Sunday from 11am to 9.30pm. The site is entirely outdoors, on an open esplanade: bring something warm if you plan to spend the evening there.
Tuileries, Champs-Élysées, Carreau du Temple: What Remains to Be Confirmed
The Christmas market at the Tuileries Garden, with its Magie de Noël bringing together an ice rink, funfair and chalets, is the most central of the season's major events (113 rue de Rivoli, 1st arrondissement). Entry to the market is free, the attractions are paid. Listings sites give diverging dates (a start on 6, 12 or 14 November 2026, an end on 3 or 8 January 2027) and no official source confirmed them as of this writing; the previous edition ran from 15 November 2025 to 4 January 2026. Checking the site before crossing Paris is worthwhile.
On the Champs-Élysées, the City of Paris has launched a call for applications to reinstall a Christmas market on the lower part of the avenue (8th arrondissement), from 22 November 2026 to 4 January 2027. Applications closed on 10 August 2026. The press reports that the award went to 2A Organisation, with the Comité des Champs-Élysées, for chalets between the Obelisk and the Champs-Élysées roundabout, from about 22 November 2026 to 4 January 2027, but the City of Paris page still listed the operator as not yet designated at the time of writing. Until the City confirms it, this market is best treated as announced by the press, to be confirmed, rather than an outing to pencil into the programme.
Finally, the Carrousel des Métiers d'Art et de Création is announced for December 2026 at Carreau du Temple (4 rue Eugène Spuller, 3rd arrondissement). This biennial event, organised by the chamber of trades and crafts, usually brings together 120 to 150 artisans and designers, in a covered market in the 3rd arrondissement well suited to year-end shopping. Its precise dates had not been published as of this writing: worth watching the venue's website.
Getting Between the Venues from the 9th Arrondissement
These addresses are spread out, from the 15th arrondissement to the esplanade of La Défense. A central base therefore makes a real difference: the Hôtel R de Paris is located at 41 rue de Clichy, in the 9th arrondissement, a few steps from Place de Clichy (lines 2 and 13), Liège (13) and Trinité-d'Estienne d'Orves (12) stations, and 7 minutes on foot from Gare Saint-Lazare. A position close to Parisian transport that avoids long connections at the end of the day.
Line 12 serves Porte de Versailles from Trinité-d'Estienne d'Orves; the Tuileries are reached via Concorde or Pyramides; Carreau du Temple via line 3 from Saint-Lazare. For La Défense, allow for one more connection: the esplanade lies outside central Paris, between Puteaux and Courbevoie. Check the day's route on the Île-de-France Mobilités app, as engineering works and station closures are common at year-end. For a late return from La Défense or the 15th, laden with bottles and packages, our guide to taxis and ride-hailing apps gives you the fallback options.
December packs everything into four weeks, and part of the agenda will only become clear in autumn: the events flagged here as unconfirmed deserve a final check before crossing Paris. Once the programme is set, the neighbourhood takes over in the evening: the Casino de Paris is right opposite the hotel and the Théâtre Mogador just a few streets away.
