You’ll Soon Be Able To Walk Down A Car-Free Champs-Élysées

Paris is the city of light, love and ridiculously confusing roundabouts. One such roundabout is located around the iconic Arc de Triomphe, located on the western end of the Champs-Élysées boulevard in central Paris. On any given day, huge numbers of cars will circle the Arc, clogging the streets, producing pollution and beeping their way down the Champs-Élysées, and Parisians have officially had enough.

Starting this May, the most famous boulevard in Paris will be pedestrian only –well, on the first Sunday of every month, at least.

The new policy is coming into effect to cut the city’s increasing smog build up. Like the city of Milan which recently began paying its citizens to bike to work instead of drive, Paris is hoping that banishing cars might result in decreased air pollution across the city.

Paris trialled their first car-free day back in September of last year, where corners of the city were shut off to vehicles, encouraging pedestrians and cyclists to take over.

Kicking off on Sunday May 8, Parisians will be able to stroll right down the middle of the city’s most famous street, taking in the sights, doing a spot of high-end shopping and, inevitably, taking a bunch of photos of the infamous tree-lined boulevard overrun by pedestrians only.

The best part? These car-free days just so happen to coincide with Paris’ free-to-the-public museum days, so there’s never been a better time to get out and explore Par-ee, right?

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