Run the streets of Paris in a marathon of great spectacle? Hold your breath or watch from the stands of a race track? Discover France's most beautiful landscapes at the wheel of a racing cyclist? On horseback, by bike or on board a giant of the sea, with a racket or a golf club, France hosts a host of major sporting events every year. Interested? Ready, set, go ....
Paris Marathon
13th April 2025
How would you like to discover Paris in short strides during the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris, one of the most famous events of its kind? Every year, some 60,000 runners, most of them amateurs, take to the cobbles of the French capital in an attempt to cover the legendary distance of 42.195 km. Not everyone makes it to the finish, but this crossing of Paris, from the Champs-Elysées to the Place de la Concorde, with views of the Opéra Garnier, Notre Dame de Paris and the Eiffel Tower, and passing through the Bois de Vincennes and Bois de Boulogne, offers a dream setting. Along the way, entertainment and wonderful discoveries punctuate the efforts of the peloton and the anticipation of spectators before an emotional finish.
Paris
French Open tennis tournament at Roland-Garros, Paris
Roland Garros Stadium, Avenue Gordon Bennett, Paris, France
From 25 May to 8 June 2025
Every year in mid-May, just a stone's throw from Porte d'Auteuil in Paris, the clamour never stops from the Roland-Garros stadium and its famous clay tennis courts. The French Open tennis tournament, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, is played there with an electrifying collective fervour. Ordinary fans, stars and celebrities all share a passion for the little yellow ball, cheering on the rallies, forehands and backhands of the best players on the planet. The tournament can also be enjoyed in the Village, on the terraces and around the dressing rooms of the recently renovated stadium. For a well-deserved break between often breathless matches.
Paris
Prix Diane Longines, in Paris
15th June 2025
This is undoubtedly the most glamorous event of the equestrian season. Every year in June, at the Chantilly racecourse in the Hauts-de-France region, at the foot of the magnificent château and Grandes Ecuries des Princes de Condé, elegant ladies in their extraordinary hats rub shoulders with experts and lovers of gallop racing. The Prix de Diane Longines, one of the 9 races of the day, crowns the best European filly over the 2,100 m distance. A lunch on the grass in the Jardin de Diane in the heart of the racecourse, a Prix d'Elegance, entertainment and concerts punctuate this day in the green, less than an hour from Paris.
Tour de France
From 5 to 27 July 2025 (and from 26 July to 3 August for the Tour Femmes)
The world's greatest cycle race is a national monument that France cherishes almost as much as its Eiffel Tower! Every July, the Tour de France takes to the roads of France. 3,500 kilometres, twenty or so stages... In the wake of the peloton, we discover the most beautiful landscapes of the French regions, the volcanoes of Auvergne, the peaks of the Alps, the passes of the Pyrenees or the lavender fields of Provence, with a route that changes every year. Each year, the Tour starts from a different town in France or in a neighbouring country. Since 1975, however, the triumphant arrival of the yellow jersey and the riders has taken place on the Champs Elysées - the most beautiful avenue in the world - for an unforgettable final sprint!
The 2025 edition of the men's Tour de France will set off from Lille on 5 July and finish on the Champs-Elysées in Paris on 27 July. The women's Tour de France will run from Brittany to the Alps between 26 July and 3 August.
5-minute guides
The Amundi Evian Championship
From 10 to 13 July 2025
Evian-les-Bains, at the foot of the Alps, hosts the annual 4-day Amundi Evian Championship, a Grand Slam women's golf tournament created in 1994 on the French side of the magnificent Lake Geneva. The competition, which is open to the public, is played on the renowned century-old Evian Resort Golf Club course. Fans of the green can take advantage of the unique experience of a major tournament, before taking to the waters, embarking on a cruise on the lake or putting in some green on the nearby Alpine slopes.
French Open Golf Tournament, at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, near Paris
From 18 to 21 September 2025
The biggest event of the golfing season in France, the Open de France is also one of the most important stops on the European Tour. Organised for the first time in 1906, every year it brings together the world's top male players on the prestigious green of the Golf National* in Saint-Quentin en Yvelines, just a few kilometres from Paris. On the fearsome 18-hole Albatros course, putts, lobs and swings are played with elegance and excellence. And what suspense! As for relaxation, the Open village welcomes spectators with shops, a restaurant and live broadcasts of the tournament on a giant screen. Practice and putting greens are available for beginners or advanced players.
*Due to construction work, the 2025 edition of the Open de France has been moved to the Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche Golf Club in the Yvelines, near Paris.
Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, in Paris
From 4 to 5 October 2025
Which horse will be crowned the best thoroughbred in the world? Which international jockey will win the world's most prestigious horse race with his mount? Run on the first Sunday in October at the Longchamp racecourse in Paris since 1920, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe brings together the best horses in the world every year. The 2,400m race is reserved for thoroughbred English horses aged three and over, both colts and fillies. In an overexcited and festive atmosphere, this sporting event is one of those that must be experienced at least once in a lifetime, during a weekend at full gallop.
Transat Jacques Vabre
26 October 2025 (Grand Start)
For 30 years, this transatlantic duo race has been exploring a historic route: the coffee route. Every two years, the skippers set off from the port of Le Havre, in Normandy, where a village gives the public the chance to take part in this formidable human and maritime adventure. More than 80 boats and 160 sailors are expected to line up at the starting line. Since 2021, the sailors have been exploring a new coffee route to Martinique, finishing in the bay of Fort-de-France.
Route du Rhum-Destination Guadeloupe
November 2026 (dates to be confirmed)
Every 4 years, the quays of Saint-Malo start to rock. It is from Brittany and its famous corsair town that the giants of the seas set off for Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. Created in 1978, the legendary Route du Rhum is a non-stop, non-assisted, single-handed transatlantic sailing race that brings together the most seasoned skippers for an increasingly sporting and exciting crossing: less than 8 days for the fastest! They are cheered on before the start from the pontoons and in the aisles of the Village. At the finish, on the other side of the Atlantic, the festivities are guaranteed, with an enthusiastic Guadeloupean public and flamboyantly exotic landscapes.
Vendée Globe
November 2028
This is the greatest single-handed, non-stop, unassisted round-the-world yacht race, an Everest of the seas that is never short on suspense or plot twists. The Vendée Globe sets sail every 4 years from Les Sables d'Olonne in the Vendée, returning to the same place 3 or 4 months later. On the quayside, there's always a great atmosphere, with the Race Village opening three weeks before the start. Evenings, conferences, meetings, visits, boat charters to experience the start live... It's a thrilling experience! After 64 days of racing, skipper Charlie Dalin won the tenth edition of the Vendée Globe on 14 January 2025.
By Pascale Filliâtre
Journalist-traveller. I often voyage to the end of the world to explore what France offers... just next door. filliatre.pascale@orange.fr
