Founded in 2004, the International Tournament of Paris (in French, Le Tournoi International de Paris or TIP) is a multi-sport LGBTQ+ competition that welcomes athletes from around the world, though it typically draws participants from around France and its European neighbours.
Happening this year from May 26 to 28, the tournament hosts many mainstream Olympic-type sports like swimming, volleyball, badminton and tennis, along with some queerer ones, like roller derby and artistic swimming. The handbag-throwing competition is more social than competitive.
TIP is very focused on inclusion, particularly on making women feel welcome. Some sports have mixed and women’s categories; athletes are free to register in the category of their choice, including non-binary. Registration closes May 15. There’s also a service to match up participants who might struggle to pay for Parisian accommodations with local hosts. The Sunday closing party, which ends at 6 a.m., will feature three women DJs.
“We want everyone to feel comfortable, and we want it to be fun,” says Arnaud Lovella, co-president of the tournament and a badminton player. He played in college and competed at Paris’s Gay Games in 2018.
But enough about sports! This is Paris. We asked Lovella and his co-president, Kévin Blunt, for their top three things to do or see in the City of Light this spring. We told them to skip the usual suspects, so no Eiffel Tower or Arc de Triomphe—we can find them, as well as the bars of Le Marais, on our own. Here are their three suggestions.
Quartier Saint-Germain-des-Prés
You’ll, of course, want to visit the gaybourhood of Le Marais, though upscale boutiques and restaurants have been slowly pushing LGBTQ+-oriented businesses out to the 11th arrondissement, says Lovella. That’s all on the Right Bank. But cross the Seine to the Left Bank for a wander through the maze of streets of Quartier Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The area is famous for some of the city’s oldest architecture. One of the city’s classic discos, dating back to its heydays in the 1960s, Rive Gauche, hosts regular women-and-friends parties here.
Galeries Lafayette Paris-Haussmann
One of the best views of Paris is from the rooftop of the luxe department store Galeries Lafayette Paris-Haussmann, says Blunt. You just have to make your way up through all that fashion. Chef Julien Sebbag, known for his theatrical flair and flirty Instagram posts, runs the vegetarian restaurant Créatures here; part of its offer is a delicious bakery serving up ideal snacks for teatime. And yes, Créatures also has a cocktail bar, which uses herbs and plants from local urban kitchen gardens.
The covered passages of the Baron Haussmann era
People idolize the Parisian streetscapes, but equally beautiful are the city’s interiors. Mostly built in the Restoration period from 1800 to 1850, these glass-ceilinged wonders lured the wealthy into private-owned shopping arcades. Department stores like Galeries Lafayette Paris-Haussmann eventually ate into their business, but they remain inspiring places to visit. Today there are 21 open to the public. It might be hard to see them all, but Lovella and Blunt suggest checking out a few of them. Start with Galerie Véro-Dodat (19 rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau /2 rue du Bouloi), Le Passage des Panoramas (10 rue Saint-Marc/11 boulevard Montmartre /38 rue Vivienne/151 rue Montmartre) and Galerie Vivienne (4 rue des Petits-Champs/6 rue Vivienne/5 rue de la Banque).
