Nuit Blanche – Paris

Last updated: 25 June 2023

Nuit Blanche, also known as White Night is a free carnival of arts and culture that runs from dusk until dawn.  It’s an event that runs one night per year where museums and galleries alike open their doors all night for free.

My spontaneous trip trip to Paris coincided with Nuit Blanche. Excited by the idea of it I thought what a great opportunity to visit galleries at random hours of the night, surely with less crowds than usual.

Surprisingly, Twitter didn’t have much on the topic. Time Out Paris had a feature on it, but there was a distinct lack of Paris map with events listed visually.  Listing just place after place without giving a stranger to the city any context is just as confusing as Cyrillic script.

As Time Out was my only point of reference I followed its’ advice; to wander the streets of Paris and zig-zag across the Seine river as there was featured barges scattered across the River.  Simple enough?

Rugged up and camera in hand I set off to explore.  Eiffel Tower night shots were mandatory so once I finished that I headed for Palais de Tokyo.  It was shut.  I was pretty surprised by this. No signage, nothing pertaining to Nuit Blanche, I thought I had the wrong venue!

Feeling a bit miffed I set off to find the next one. Musée du Quai Branly or Quai Branly Museum was just across the Seine.  Plenty of signage featuring the Nuit Blanche I thought I was onto a winner.   I was told repeatedly in French by the burly security man that it was closed. A blank from the Aussie with basic school-girl French, resulted in him simply pointing to an outside photograph exhibition along the River as a way to get rid of me.  I wandered off to check out the exhibition regardless.

The exhibition was a featuring on photographers from around the world.  Some shots were moving, others were just amusing and bizarre.

About now the weather turned a little chillier than I’d anticipated and feeling a little jaded about the whole experience I bailed.  I could have given it more of a go, but after a while it all felt like so much effort with little to no reward or benefit.  

In theory the concept is a great one.   Nuit Blanche has so much potential, I could see it doing brilliantly in London. Imagine the Natural History Museum or the Globe at 3am! However, in typical Parisian fashion, the attitude of people involved was unwelcoming and the lack of English information on the web made the event accessible to non-French speakers.

The Essentials

• Walking shoes and a very warm coat. It’s October in Paris after all!
• Make yourself familiar with the layout of events and exhibitions (grab a program if you can find one)
• As Nuit Blanche is one night annually, you’ll need to be prepared! Very unlikely you’ll fall into my situation and just have it coincide with your trip.
• If you’re in Paris for a week or more, get yourself a ‘Navigo’ pass to use the Metro.  Navigo only allows you to buy weekly or monthly passes it’s no good if you’re only there for a few days. If you’re only in town for a day or two just buy single tickets.