As 2026 will signify the beginning of my 7th decade on the planet I’m planning on a bucket list trip to Longchamp next October. I’d be grateful to hear travel/Accom/best race tickets advice from anyone who has been previously. I’ve already looked at flying out of Luton on the Sunday morning and coming back Monday afternoon which is around £90 return. However my mate would rather go by Eurostar. I’m happy to go by train but Eurostar dont seem to offer tickets until 6 months before. Any info gratefully received. Thanks
Arc 2026
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Fly and make the full weekend of it would be my suggestion. I must go back to the Arc at some point, been a while!
I can tell you a very nice hotel and restaurant very close to the course. As it is a special event it is well worth the extra cost to have the freedom of the place when you get to the course. Also the Gold car park which is so convenient and they park your car for you (and collect it for your return)
Edit. Sorry, sounds like you won't be taking a car
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Spend time in Paris. Awesome city. Montmartre, Louvre, Les Invalides, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur and on and on and on. Great food, easy to get around on the metro.
I once stayed in La Defense and went for a run, crossed the Seine, along the Bois Du Bologne, right round Longchamp racecourse. It was a wet afternoon in November but still very cool.
I once stayed in La Defense and went for a run, crossed the Seine, along the Bois Du Bologne, right round Longchamp racecourse. It was a wet afternoon in November but still very cool.
And I’d suggest if anyone visits Paris and wants a view, to go up Mortparnasse Tower. We preferred staying around Jardin Du Luxembourg and as Oddy says the food is great.
I went to the Arc (or other meetings at Longchamp) on a number of occasions and made a weekend of it several times.
I cannot tell you what to expect of the new course as I have not been since it was demolished, rebuilt and re-opened with a load of expensive enclosures. You used to be able to get a two-day pass for the weekend and it allowed access to everywhere (there were only two enclosures and I was obviously not interested in the owners/trainers area). Now it seems that the Socialists have decided that charging the foreigners more to stand near the winning post is okay so it will be well north of €25.
Almost every time that I went I took the Eurostar. If you are just going on the Sunday then get an early one. I would not recommend trying to get a taxi to the track unless your French is very good as you will get fleeced! I had an unfortunate experience one year with getting a taxi when the late John McCririck got in the cab immediately after me and starting barking at the taxi driver in English. When we got to Longchamp he shoved €40 in my hand and rushed off leaving me to pay the driver! If you have got loads of time then you could walk to Longchamp but it is about 40 minutes if you walk quickly (seems unlikely in your seventh decade) and I would suggest taking a map (print one off the internet, you will go down the Allée de Longchamp).
If you are flying then Charles de Gaulle airport is miles outside the city and you will end up getting the RER into the city itself. If you get off at Gare Du Nord you can follow the suggestions in the next paragraph or you can get off at Châtelet des Halles and follow that route in the next paragraph.
The way that I would suggest to get to the track is using public transport and a bit of knowledge. The tickets are dirt cheap (compared to rip-off London/Blighty). Take the underground from Gare Du Nord to La Défense (in the business district). The quickest is RER line ‘E’ (fewer stops) but also you could take Metropolitan line 4 south to Châtelet des Halles and switch to line 1 westbound. From La Défense take the T2 TRAM south (direction Suzanne Lenglen) and get off at Suresnes (only about 3 stops). Suresnes is literally the other side of the River Seine from the Bois de Bologne (the large park area that hosts both Longchamp and Auteuil racecourses – but do not go this way for Auteil as there is an underground station across the street from that racecourse by a different route). From Suresnes, walk towards the River Seine and cross the Pont de Suresnes bridge. Follow the path next to the road until you come across a path that heads into a park area to the right and follow that through the park and you will be at Longchamp racecourse.
When I was doing a weekend, the hotels on the ‘other’ side of the Seine in Suresnes and walking up to the neighbouring arrondissement were quite cheap. The hotel chains in Suresnes are not cheap anymore as they realised they were missing out so the room rates now go up on Arc weekend but there are other places to go if you take a walk (e.g. Puteaux). Obviously this is not central Paris so if you want to spend your evening doing touristy things you will have to use the transport. I had been to Paris so many times that I had already seen all the tourist traps and was quite happy to just stay in the hotel or go for a walk down the street to find something to eat as the French have no shortage of eateries if you can cobble together enough French words to order something other than raw escargot!
I cannot tell you what to expect of the new course as I have not been since it was demolished, rebuilt and re-opened with a load of expensive enclosures. You used to be able to get a two-day pass for the weekend and it allowed access to everywhere (there were only two enclosures and I was obviously not interested in the owners/trainers area). Now it seems that the Socialists have decided that charging the foreigners more to stand near the winning post is okay so it will be well north of €25.
Almost every time that I went I took the Eurostar. If you are just going on the Sunday then get an early one. I would not recommend trying to get a taxi to the track unless your French is very good as you will get fleeced! I had an unfortunate experience one year with getting a taxi when the late John McCririck got in the cab immediately after me and starting barking at the taxi driver in English. When we got to Longchamp he shoved €40 in my hand and rushed off leaving me to pay the driver! If you have got loads of time then you could walk to Longchamp but it is about 40 minutes if you walk quickly (seems unlikely in your seventh decade) and I would suggest taking a map (print one off the internet, you will go down the Allée de Longchamp).
If you are flying then Charles de Gaulle airport is miles outside the city and you will end up getting the RER into the city itself. If you get off at Gare Du Nord you can follow the suggestions in the next paragraph or you can get off at Châtelet des Halles and follow that route in the next paragraph.
The way that I would suggest to get to the track is using public transport and a bit of knowledge. The tickets are dirt cheap (compared to rip-off London/Blighty). Take the underground from Gare Du Nord to La Défense (in the business district). The quickest is RER line ‘E’ (fewer stops) but also you could take Metropolitan line 4 south to Châtelet des Halles and switch to line 1 westbound. From La Défense take the T2 TRAM south (direction Suzanne Lenglen) and get off at Suresnes (only about 3 stops). Suresnes is literally the other side of the River Seine from the Bois de Bologne (the large park area that hosts both Longchamp and Auteuil racecourses – but do not go this way for Auteil as there is an underground station across the street from that racecourse by a different route). From Suresnes, walk towards the River Seine and cross the Pont de Suresnes bridge. Follow the path next to the road until you come across a path that heads into a park area to the right and follow that through the park and you will be at Longchamp racecourse.
When I was doing a weekend, the hotels on the ‘other’ side of the Seine in Suresnes and walking up to the neighbouring arrondissement were quite cheap. The hotel chains in Suresnes are not cheap anymore as they realised they were missing out so the room rates now go up on Arc weekend but there are other places to go if you take a walk (e.g. Puteaux). Obviously this is not central Paris so if you want to spend your evening doing touristy things you will have to use the transport. I had been to Paris so many times that I had already seen all the tourist traps and was quite happy to just stay in the hotel or go for a walk down the street to find something to eat as the French have no shortage of eateries if you can cobble together enough French words to order something other than raw escargot!