Watch independent films from Greece, Ireland, Hungary, Spain, Italy... well, you get the idea: there is a huge variety of over 100 film offerings from Europe and beyond each year at the European Independent Film Festival. The goal of [more...]

Only in France does this literary art form receive so much public attention – and for two weeks! For over a decade, poetry is celebrated each spring in France with its own festival, Le Printemps es Poètes. Paris is host to many [more...]

You know the French take food and their provincial roots seriously, but did you know that each year thousands of farm animals and local food products from throughout France travel to Paris for a giant exposition? For just a few euros, [more...]

Four times a year the cinema house Le Balzac hosts screenings of contemporary short films that starts out at 10am with a free brunch sponsored by Starbucks (so the coffee should be flowing!) The filmmakers are present and following the [more...]

Every October Montmartre holds its wine harvest festival. It's a weekend-long event with music, celebrities, village traditions, a parade, food, and fireworks. You can try regional specialities as well as the Montmartre cuvées. It's [more...]

Every year, France pairs up with another country to celebrate that country’s culture through all sorts of events. Last year was Brazil; this year, from October 2006 to June 2007, it’s Armenia. You and your date probably have this [more...]

If you and your date are both science or math types, you can go hear some of the top researchers give free lectures at the Cité des Sciences on topics like… “How to detect exoplanets,” “The fabulous destiny of the square root [more...]

The international festival of short films (“court métrages”), Paris Tout Court, takes place every year in March. Good idea if your date has a short attention span, and it’s more fun than going to just one movie, which all seem to [more...]

Movies are generally expensive in Paris, but you can get around this quite a few times during the year during different movie fests that go on at practically all theatres. Prices are extremely reduced for about a week each time during [more...]

Technically, it’s been disproved after hundreds of years of this belief that the Nicolas Flamel house is the oldest in Paris, but with 1407 as its birthdate, nobody’s really counting. Not only that, but it was the home of the famous [more...]

Every February, a huge Tet (Vietnamese new year) parade and related festivities are held in the 13eme, which has a large Vietnamese population. Streamers, dancing, music, etc. – it’s a huge party rivaling Chinese New Year in Paris. [more...]

Take your date to an abandoned movie theatre that’s been revived – as a movie theatre. But this artists’ collective's take on the movies is much more experimental. The Barbizon (located in the 13eme, metro Tolbiac) screens old and [more...]

Fans of the great outdoors trapped in the city can get their fix by having a date at La Geode, an IMAX cinema with a humongous hemispherical screen located inside a giant silver sphere. This makes documentaries with sweeping scenery and [more...]

It might sound like a weird idea, but the Paris metro is worth at least one date. There are lots of interesting stations to look at (check out the stairs in the metro Abbesses -- a beautiful mural covers the entire wall). The line 14 [more...]

If you need to see something modern after living amongst the century-old buildings of Paris, take a trip to La Defense for a whole new feel. Everything in this business district looks and feels modern -- the sparkling skyscrapers, the [more...]

If you like cemeteries and calm spots for some peace and quiet, come to the Cimetiere de Montmartre, Paris's spookiest cemetery. Your date will be clinging to you as you make your way through the overgrown brush, run into black cats, [more...]

If you're going to the movies, you might as well take your date to Paris's biggest, most modern, and most comfortable movie complex. The MK2 Bibliotheque has 14 theatres, lots of restaurants and shops nearby, and, best of all, love [more...]

For a truly silly evening, take your date to see La Cantatrice Chauve by Ionesco, theatre de l'absurbe playwright par excellence. The theatre is tiny and intimate, the show is performed every night except Sunday, and it has been [more...]

Move going to the Theatre de Verre to the top of your date venue priorities, because it may not exist much longer. This very friendly artists’ collective in the 10eme, which puts on many avant-garde shows in their squat, is likely [more...]

Take your date for a picnic on the “parvis de Notre Dame” (that is, the large plaza in front of the cathedral, where benches abound) and show off your knowledge of Paris by showing them the “point zéro.” The zero point is the [more...]