City guideParis · Sat 31 – Sun 1 November
Paris this weekend: the Salon du Chocolat and Shygirl at Gaîté Lyrique
The Salon du Chocolat at Porte de Versailles, Shygirl at the free ARTE Concert Festival, Kurt Schwitters at the Musée Picasso, Nicolas Flamel at Cluny, an exhibition on the Arc de Triomphe at night, light art at the Château de Vincennes and Supergrec, a new Greek tavern.
The weekend at a glance
Choose a pick to find it on the map; scroll down for the full story.
Saturday · 31 October
All weekend · Saturday and Sunday
Saturday
31 October
Sat 19:15–23:15Free, booking required
Concert · Gaîté Lyrique
Shygirl at the ARTE Concert Festival, Gaîté Lyrique
The ARTE Concert Festival, free since it began, ends its two nights at the Gaîté Lyrique with Shygirl, the London singer and producer who has worked with Björk and Charli xcx, after French rapper Uzi Freyja and Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist UCHE YARA.
Saturday from 19:15 to 23:15 in the Grande Salle. Entry is free but must be booked on DICE, while places last; the concerts will also be on arte.tv.
All weekend
Saturday and Sunday
Sat and Sun, 10:00–19:00€20, €10 children, free under 6
Fair · Porte de Versailles
The Salon du Chocolat at Porte de Versailles
The Salon du Chocolat et de la Pâtisserie fills Pavilion 5 at Paris Expo with more than 500 chocolatiers, pastry chefs and cocoa growers: tastings, live recipes on the Pastry Show stage, chocolate sculptures and a musical show with costumes made of chocolate.
Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 to 19:00, are its last two days. Weekend tickets are €20 for adults and €10 for children, or €10 after 17:00; metro line 12.
Sat and Sun, 9:30–18:00€16, free on Sun 1
Exhibition · Musée Picasso
Kurt Schwitters at the Musée Picasso
Le chaos-monde is the first Kurt Schwitters retrospective in France since 1994: more than 300 collages, assemblages, paintings, sculptures and notebooks by the German artist who built art from rubbish, called it Merz and wrote the sound poem Ursonate. It also traces his echoes with Picasso.
Open 9:30 to 18:00 both days. Sunday is the first Sunday of the month, so entry is free for everyone, without booking.
Sat and Sun, 9:30–18:15€14, free on Sun 1
Exhibition · Musée de Cluny
Nicolas Flamel at the Musée de Cluny
Nicolas Flamel, alchimiste de papier looks at the real man behind the alchemist of Harry Potter: a 14th-century Paris scribe and property investor whose legend only began decades after his death. His tombstone and archives lent by the BnF and the Archives nationales tell the story.
Open 9:30 to 18:15, free for everyone on Sunday. For Halloween on Saturday, Fantastic Beasts 2 is screened in the Roman baths at 20:00; booking required.
Sat and Sun, 10:00–22:30€16, free under 26
Exhibition · Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe by night, an exhibition in the monument
Triomphe, la nuit, opened on Wednesday, tells the night history of the Arc de Triomphe through prints, posters, photographs and archives: fireworks since the 19th century, gas and then electric lighting, remembrance ceremonies and Christo’s wrapping in 2021.
It is in the Salle des Palmes and included in the ticket, 10:00 to 22:30 both days. The lift is out of service, so it is 284 steps up.
Sat and Sun, 18:30–23:00From €12
Festival · Château de Vincennes
Nuits de Lumière, a light trail at the Château de Vincennes
Nuits de Lumière turns the Château de Vincennes into an outdoor night walk of 14 light installations by 15 international artists, with projections on the keep and a historical mapping, From d’Artagnan to Joséphine Baker, narrated by the actor Emmanuelle Devos.
Saturday and Sunday from 18:30 to 23:00, with entries every half hour until 21:30; the walk takes about 90 minutes. Metro line 1 to Château de Vincennes.
Sat 11:00–22:00, Sun 11:00–17:00Mezze from €2.50, mains €12–18
Restaurant · Sentier
Supergrec, a new Greek tavern in the 2nd
Delphine and Symeon Kamsizoglou, who run Ypseli, have opened Supergrec on rue Réaumur, a low-priced Greek tavern with checked tablecloths: stuffed vine leaves at €2.50, feta from Lemnos, octopus, courgette fritters, moussaka at €18 and orange or sheep’s milk cake for dessert.
Open Saturday 11:00 to 22:00 and Sunday 11:00 to 17:00. It takes no bookings, so go early; house wine is €20 a jug.
Saturday
Sat 19:15–23:15
Shygirl at the ARTE Concert Festival, Gaîté Lyrique
The ARTE Concert Festival, free since it began, ends its two nights at the Gaîté Lyrique with Shygirl, the London singer and producer who has worked with Björk and Charli xcx, after French rapper Uzi Freyja and Berlin-based multi-instrumentalist UCHE YARA.
Saturday from 19:15 to 23:15 in the Grande Salle. Entry is free but must be booked on DICE, while places last; the concerts will also be on arte.tv.
La Gaîté Lyrique All weekend
Sat and Sun, 10:00–19:00
The Salon du Chocolat at Porte de Versailles
The Salon du Chocolat et de la Pâtisserie fills Pavilion 5 at Paris Expo with more than 500 chocolatiers, pastry chefs and cocoa growers: tastings, live recipes on the Pastry Show stage, chocolate sculptures and a musical show with costumes made of chocolate.
Saturday and Sunday, 10:00 to 19:00, are its last two days. Weekend tickets are €20 for adults and €10 for children, or €10 after 17:00; metro line 12.
Paris Expo Porte de Versailles Sat and Sun, 9:30–18:00
Kurt Schwitters at the Musée Picasso
Le chaos-monde is the first Kurt Schwitters retrospective in France since 1994: more than 300 collages, assemblages, paintings, sculptures and notebooks by the German artist who built art from rubbish, called it Merz and wrote the sound poem Ursonate. It also traces his echoes with Picasso.
Open 9:30 to 18:00 both days. Sunday is the first Sunday of the month, so entry is free for everyone, without booking.
Musée National Picasso-Paris Sat and Sun, 9:30–18:15
Nicolas Flamel at the Musée de Cluny
Nicolas Flamel, alchimiste de papier looks at the real man behind the alchemist of Harry Potter: a 14th-century Paris scribe and property investor whose legend only began decades after his death. His tombstone and archives lent by the BnF and the Archives nationales tell the story.
Open 9:30 to 18:15, free for everyone on Sunday. For Halloween on Saturday, Fantastic Beasts 2 is screened in the Roman baths at 20:00; booking required.
Musée de Cluny Sat and Sun, 10:00–22:30
The Arc de Triomphe by night, an exhibition in the monument
Triomphe, la nuit, opened on Wednesday, tells the night history of the Arc de Triomphe through prints, posters, photographs and archives: fireworks since the 19th century, gas and then electric lighting, remembrance ceremonies and Christo’s wrapping in 2021.
It is in the Salle des Palmes and included in the ticket, 10:00 to 22:30 both days. The lift is out of service, so it is 284 steps up.
Arc de Triomphe Sat and Sun, 18:30–23:00
Nuits de Lumière, a light trail at the Château de Vincennes
Nuits de Lumière turns the Château de Vincennes into an outdoor night walk of 14 light installations by 15 international artists, with projections on the keep and a historical mapping, From d’Artagnan to Joséphine Baker, narrated by the actor Emmanuelle Devos.
Saturday and Sunday from 18:30 to 23:00, with entries every half hour until 21:30; the walk takes about 90 minutes. Metro line 1 to Château de Vincennes.
Château de Vincennes Sat 11:00–22:00, Sun 11:00–17:00
Supergrec, a new Greek tavern in the 2nd
Delphine and Symeon Kamsizoglou, who run Ypseli, have opened Supergrec on rue Réaumur, a low-priced Greek tavern with checked tablecloths: stuffed vine leaves at €2.50, feta from Lemnos, octopus, courgette fritters, moussaka at €18 and orange or sheep’s milk cake for dessert.
Open Saturday 11:00 to 22:00 and Sunday 11:00 to 17:00. It takes no bookings, so go early; house wine is €20 a jug.