The opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris promises to be spectacular: on the sparkling waters of the Seine, a flotilla of barges will carry around 10,000 athletes to the foot of the Eiffel Tower, while almost half a million spectators line the four-mile route to cheer on the event of the century.
Good luck getting one of the 100,000 entry spots to be at the front of the party. Most of them are sold out – and the few that are left cost a hefty 2,700 euros, about $2,930 each. Tickets for another popular Olympic event, the men's 10-meter platform diving, start at €875. Women's artistic gymnastics final, a perennial favorite: around €1,799.
Organizers of the Paris Olympics have set a lofty goal for the so-called “People’s Games,” promising to make the world’s most famous sporting event equitable and accessible.
But get ready to pay.
Seven months before the Olympic torch lights up the City of Light this summer, the cost of attending the most sought-after sports competitions, not to mention the prices of accommodation and transportation, have risen – sometimes to Olympic proportions.
Many hotels and rental apartments have doubled or tripled their typical summer prices (think an average of €1,000 per night instead of €300), some have even increased them fivefold. Flight prices are rising rapidly. The price of a Paris metro ticket has temporarily doubled. Even the Louvre Museum and the Palace of Versailles have increased admission prices.
Are you still dreaming of the Olympic rendezvous? Don't be too discouraged if you haven't booked yet. There are still some ticket offers for major events such as football and basketball for the games taking place from July 26th to August 11th. There are still places available for the Paralympics from August 28th to September 8th. And some prices could drop closer to the games.
Paris will be its own extraordinary attraction, transformed into a huge outdoor arena with competitions such as breakdancing at the Place de la Concorde and beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower. And President Emmanuel Macron will make cultural performances of all kinds available free of charge for two months this summer to celebrate the Olympic spirit.
However, exactly how you experience the games depends on your budget. Here are some tips on what to expect.
Find a place to stay
Paris is like a jewelry box: dazzling but compact. With around 15 million expected visitors and almost 85,000 guest rooms, hoteliers are taking full advantage of the high demand. This also applies to Parisians: many are planning to flee the city and are renting out their apartments at top prices. Average Airbnb prices for Olympic dates are over €500 per night.
At a typical Ibis hotel, a chain similar to Holiday Inn, you can expect to pay 400 to 700 euros per night for a relatively basic double room with Wi-Fi and breakfast, compared to 90 to 200 euros in the normal case. A double room at the more upscale Hotel Ducs de Bourgogne near the Pont Neuf costs €1,500 a night on Booking.com, compared with €300 normally in the summer.
Consumer groups including UFC-Que Choisir, a French advocacy group, have denounced price increases that they say could make the Olympics unaffordable for some.
The French government has announced that it will not regulate prices but will increase controls on hotels and apartment rentals. “It is important that French and international tourists get their money’s worth,” said Olivia Grégoire, the minister in charge of tourism.
With the Games still months away, travelers can find cheaper accommodation, averaging about 450 to 550 euros a night, mostly on the outskirts of Paris or outside the city limits, said Christie Hudson, travel expert at Expedia.com.
But even there, the average cost of an overnight stay in the Île-de-France region surrounding Paris during the Olympics is about 700 euros, compared with 169 euros last summer, according to the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau.
That trend could be reversing: Some hotels haven't released all of their room inventory, and prices could drop as they try to fill their calendars. The downside to waiting is the risk of running out of stock at the last minute – not ideal if you've already got your hands on event tickets or booked a flight.
Airbnb prices have already dropped slightly for Olympic dates, according to AirDNA, which tracks Airbnb booking trends. According to AirDNA, which tracks Airbnb booking trends, prices for all accommodation, including private and shared rooms, now average around 542 euros per night, after rising to 746 euros in December. Tens of thousands of new listings have gone online across France, and more supply is expected in the Paris region, a factor that should keep prices “affordable,” said Emmanuel Marill, regional director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Airbnb.
If money is no object, the hospitality offers from Paris Games official partner, On Location, guarantee booking through all-inclusive packages that include tickets to selected sporting events and accommodation in three, four and five star hotels . Options include €8,660 per person in a three-star hotel for eight nights and tickets for climbing competitions only, or €21,105 for a luxury five-day package at the Waldorf Astoria in Versailles that includes the opening ceremony and equestrian events.
Travelers may also need to be aware of sudden price jumps by hotels and rental companies even after a booking has been confirmed. Booking.com said it would compensate consumers for the difference in costs in such cases. Airbnb said hosts who attempted to increase prices or cancel reservations after booking would face fees and penalties, and that the company would provide most guests with an instant credit for an immediate rebooking if their stay was completed within March 30 days after arrival would be canceled.
Purchase of tickets for events
If you've already gotten cheap tickets, consider yourself lucky. Around seven million copies have been purchased since sales began almost a year ago on the official Paris 2024 ticketing website. However, you can still take part in a wide range of events, particularly team sports at venues outside Paris, including football at the 80,700-seat stadium in St-Denis.
Tickets in the price range of 90 to 250 euros also remain for volleyball, handball, archery, badminton and weightlifting, mostly for competitions without winning a medal.
But blockbuster sports have become almost unattainable unless you're willing to spend money. Tickets for events such as gymnastics and diving are currently not available on the official website. Prices were over €600 before the blocks made available sold out.
Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, has defended the prices, saying the tickets are cheaper than those for the London 2012 Olympics.
Packs of new tickets are released from time to time and organizers encourage visitors to regularly check the website or sign up for notifications. Additional seats will become available on April 17 when the official and only authorized resale platform for ticket holders goes live.
However, at this point, access to high-demand events is largely only available through On Location's pricey “hospitality packages,” with options such as men's springboard diving tickets starting at €695 and opening ceremony access ranging from €5,000 to €9,500 per person.
On Location offers a “wide variety” of packages, said Will Whiston, the company's executive vice president for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, adding that prices are “in line with, and in some cases even lower than, previous Games.” .
Arrival to and in Paris
Prices for return flights to Paris are already starting to rise. Nonstop flights on Expedia.com from New York to Paris start at about $1,300 the weekend before the Olympics, compared to an average of $1,000 last summer. In general, travelers can get the best airfare by booking 60 days in advance. But “prices are expected to increase as travel dates get closer, so it's smart to book sooner rather than later,” said Ms. Hudson, a travel expert at Expedia.
If you're willing to travel light, consider a low-cost airline like French Bee, which offers a round-trip flight from New York to Paris-Orly Airport for $975 without checked baggage, or Icelandair, which a stopover in Reykjavik starting at 7:00 p.m. requires approximately $800 round trip, even without checked luggage. Another option is to fly to another airport, either in France or a nearby country such as Belgium, the UK or Germany, and take a train.
Once you're in Paris, prepare to get around. Olympic organizers want to reduce the games' carbon footprint and large parts of the city will be closed to cars. The organizers place great emphasis on pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.
While subway prices rise to 4 euros per trip, tourists can buy a Paris 2024 pass for 16 euros per day or 70 euros per week and use it to travel the entire Île-de-France region, including to and from Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports.
Paris has added about 55 miles of new bike paths to the more than 270 miles already created in the city and is encouraging visitors to use them. The Velib rental program is expanding to add 3,000 more bikes to the current 22,000-employee fleet.
Despite all the potential problems, Mr. Estanguet, the head of the organizing committee, has promised that the Games will be worth the trip. “Let me convince you to come because this moment is unique,” he said. “You won’t see it again and you won’t be disappointed.”