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Business district in Île-de-France, France
Photo: Vincevinss, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
La Défense is a collection of modern high-rise office and residential buildings built according to an evolving central plan on the western outskirts of Paris, beyond the last Parisian loop of the river Seine. La Défense is the site of the Grande Arche, one of Paris' most modern and imposing landmarks, situated at the western end of the grand axis formed by the Champs-Elysées, the Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe.
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A high-rise building that looks more like a hollow cube than an actual arch. The viewing platform on its top closed due to a 2010 elevator incident, reopened in May 2017, and is open as of October 2025 after another closure..
CNIT
The largest unsupported concrete span enclosed space in the world. Houses shops and offices, ESSEC Business School campus and a Hilton hotel.
The museum presents the history of the development of La Défense, with many plans and scale models.
This unusual church building was erected in 2001 and designed by Franck Hammoutène.
A domed stadium near the Grande Arche. It opened in October 2017, and its main tenant is the rugby union club Racing 92. The facility can host everything from court sports to concerts, with configurations ranging from 10,000 for court sports, 32,000 for rugby, and 40,000 for concerts. It hosted gymnastics events during the 2024 Summer Olympics
South-west from the Grande Arche you can find these tall cylindrical concrete residential towers, painted in various colours. Representing a 1970s urbanistic experiment, the 18 towers remain controversial and unique, and continue to house thousands of inhabitants in over 1600 apartments.
The expansive, calm park around a lake extends westwards behind the Tours Aillaud, and is to La Défense what Central Park is to Downtown Manhattan. You can take spectacular pictures of the skyline juxtaposed against the park's greenery from there.
Église Notre Dame de Pitié
Built in the 1920s, it is no match for the Notre Dame de Paris in either historical importance or architectural detailing, but it can be an interesting destination for those interested in sacral architecture.
The wooden Indian pavilion was moved from Paris to Courbevoie following the Universal Exhibition of 1878, and remains a curiosity amidst the much more modern architecture of the commune.
A 19th-century theatre building.
Park with fountains and large children's playground.
Hôtel Hilton
Pullman La Défense
Under the direction of chef Jean-Paul Corbillet, the Quinte & Sens offers modern cuisine, including two-course "power lunches" for €29.
Apogé is a dynamic, all-in-one stop for French wine. Part bar, part merchant, part oenology school, its passionate, friendly founders are happy to share their expert advice. Not only are over 100 wines available by the glass, but every bottle for sale can be tasted before purchase. A beautiful terrace and frequent tastings with producers.
Accor's mid-range aparthotel is right off the Esplanade, next door to Sofitel .
Aparthotel within walking distance of Esplanade de la Défense metro station
A rather generic, modern Novotel, with "executive rooms" providing global standards, and the regular rooms the standard French Novotel fare with toothpaste-inspired bathroom fit-outs. Some rooms (available at a small extra) provide views over the river Seine.
A higher-end apart-hotel close to the Esplanade de la Défense metro station
The Hilton is part of the CNIT convention centre.
Renovated in 2013 as a part of Accor's initiative to refurbish all five Pullmans in Paris. Less expensive rooms retain much of the 1990s-style furniture, while the more expensive ones conform better to the current Pullman corporate standards.
There is nothing truly exceptional about the Sofitel La Défense, and the views out of the windows are downright unspectacular compared to other La Défense hotels, but this hotel garners good reviews by providing solid standards and reliable service for a fraction of the prices of downtown Sofitels. The hotel was renovated after 2010, with all but the cheapest Classic rooms getting new furnishings and bathrooms (with showers rather than bathtubs, a Paris rarity).
Accor's no frills aparthotel.
Citéa La Défense Place Charras
It hosts foreign students from the Alliance Française in Paris.
Close to Adagio Access Leonard Da Vinci, an aparthotel of higher standard.
A more upmarket neighbour of Adagio Access Place Charras
Despite the name, this cheap hotel is actually very far away northeast from La Défense (and Paris as well), although still within the administrative boundaries of Nanterre
The Quatre Temps shopping mall, which when constructed was the largest shopping centre in Europe, has numerous big name and small stores, several cinemas (showing French and subtitled foreign movies) as well as a large supermarket and grocery store. It is accessible from an entrance to the left of the "Grande Arche" or via the metro station. 230 stores (Auchan, C&A, Darty, Virgin, Zara, Go Sport, H&M, Uniqlo, Toys’R’Us), 16 movie theater screens, 40 restaurants.
By métro
By train and tram
La Défense can be reached on RER A and E, Transilien L, Transilien U, Tramway T2, which all stop at the eponymous La Défense station.
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Paris (Orly, Val-de-Marne) · International · ORY
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