Art Basel Paris 2026: Dates, Satellite Fairs and Where to Stay
From 23 to 25 October, the Grand Palais hosts the fifth edition of Art Basel Paris. Exact dates, opening hours, satellite fairs, and the neighbourhoods that put you within walking distance.
Art Basel Paris is the centre of gravity of that week. Here are the exact dates, what orbits around it, and above all where to base yourself so you can do it all on foot.
Dates and venue
Art Basel Paris 2026 runs at the Grand Palais from Friday 23 to Sunday 25 October 2026, 11 am to 7 pm daily.Two invitation-only preview days precede the opening, on 21 and 22 October, and a vernissage takes place on Thursday 22 October from 2 pm to 8 pm.
The Grand Palais stands on Avenue Winston Churchill in the 8th arrondissement, between the Champs-Élysées and the Pont Alexandre III. The Champs-Élysées Clemenceau metro station, on lines 1 and 13, opens onto the entrance.
Note this calendar nuance, because it has practical consequences: the fair itself runs for only three public days, but Paris art week stretches from 20 to 25 October. Collectors arrive on Monday or Tuesday and leave on Sunday evening. If you are booking accommodation, plan for that wider window rather than the three days at the Grand Palais.
What Art Basel Paris is
This is the fifth edition of the Paris fair, and the first under the direction of Karim Crippa. Art Basel arrived in Paris in 2022 under the name Paris+, before adopting the parent brand.
The 2026 edition brings together 211 exhibitors from 41 countries and territories, around sixty of which have a gallery in France. Roughly thirty are taking part for the first time. The fair is organised into three sectors: Galeries for established houses, Emergence for younger galleries and artists early in their careers, and Premise for freer curatorial propositions.
That three-part structure is worth knowing even as a casual visitor. Galeries occupies the main nave and concentrates the big names, while Emergence and Premise often hold the more interesting discoveries and can be seen at a calmer pace.
Art week is not only the Grand Palais
This is the classic first-visit mistake: coming for Art Basel and leaving without seeing the rest. Several fairs run on exactly the same dates, a few metro stops from one another.
AKAA, 23 to 25 October, Carreau du Temple
AKAA, short for Also Known As Africa, is devoted to contemporary art and design connected to the African continent and its diasporas. It takes place at the Carreau du Temple in the 3rd arrondissement, in the heart of the Marais. It is one of the liveliest fairs of the week, and the surrounding streets lend themselves perfectly to a full day of galleries.
Moderne Art Fair, 22 to 25 October, Place de la Concorde
Under a pavilion on the Place de la Concorde, about ten minutes on foot from the Grand Palais, Moderne Art Fair covers modern art, contemporary art and design. Its proximity makes it the most obvious pairing with Art Basel in a single day.
Outsider Paris, 20 to 25 October, Bastille Design Center
A fourth edition for this fair dedicated to art brut and singular forms of creation. It opens earlier than the others, on 20 October, which makes it a good starting point if you arrive at the beginning of the week.
Add to this the institutional programming, which likes to time its openings to these dates, and the late openings of the Marais and Saint-Germain galleries. The result is a week with a great deal of walking, in which the location of your accommodation decides, very concretely, how much you actually get to see.
Where to stay during Art Basel
The 8th arrondissement, the obvious choice
The Grand Palais is in the 8th. Staying in the Golden Triangle, between Avenue Montaigne, Rue François 1er and Rue La Boétie, puts you five to fifteen minutes on foot from the fair entrance and ten minutes from the Place de la Concorde.
The advantage is not only distance. During art week, taxis thin out at closing time and the streets around the Grand Palais are saturated by late afternoon. Being able to walk home, drop off a catalogue, change and head back out for dinner completely changes the rhythm of a day.
Best for: collectors, market professionals, and anyone making several round trips a day.The 1st arrondissement, between the Tuileries and the Concorde
East of the Concorde, the 1st offers an ideal middle position: ten to twenty minutes on foot from the Grand Palais, on the doorstep of Moderne Art Fair, and a direct line to the Marais for AKAA. It is also the district of the great institutions, from the Louvre to the Jeu de Paume, if you want to alternate fairs and museums.
Best for: those who want to do everything on foot or with one change, and to combine contemporary art with permanent collections.The Marais, for the galleries
The 3rd and 4th hold the highest density of galleries in the city, with the Carreau du Temple in the middle. You will be about twenty minutes from the Grand Palais by metro, but at the heart of the evening openings, which are often the real high point of the week.
Best for: those who come first for the galleries and the life of the quarter, rather than for the fair alone.The 16th, around the Palais de Tokyo
Across the Seine via the Pont de l'Alma, the 16th puts the Palais de Tokyo and the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris at your door, and the Grand Palais a quarter of an hour's walk away. It is the quietest of the four, with generally larger apartments for the same budget.
Best for: family stays or groups, and anyone who prefers to come home to calm.Practical advice
Book early, and wide. The nights of 21 to 25 October are among the most sought after of the Parisian autumn. Collectors and gallerists block their accommodation months ahead, and exhibiting galleries often house their teams for the whole week. Consider the Tuesday and Wednesday. If your schedule allows, arriving before the public opening gives you access to gallery openings, which begin early in the week and are often more rewarding than the fair itself for meeting artists. Do not count on a car. The streets around the Grand Palais are closed or saturated for the duration of the fair. Over these distances the metro, bike share and walking are all faster than any vehicle. Keep one evening free. The temptation is to fill every slot, and art week is exhausting. The best memories of these stays usually come from an improvised dinner after a day at the fair, not from the fourth opening of the evening.An apartment rather than a hotel
During a fair week, an apartment beats a hotel for one simple reason: you are not there only to sleep. You come back between fairs, you drop off catalogues and sometimes works, you host people for a drink before dinner, and you need a proper desk to work between appointments.
Space, quiet and the ability to receive guests are exactly what a hotel room lacks in this context, however beautiful it may be.
Our apartments in the Golden Triangle and the 1st arrondissement place you a few minutes on foot from the Grand Palais and the Place de la Concorde, at the exact centre of art week.
Discover our collection →Our concierge service can arrange your transfers, restaurant reservations and access throughout the week.