I am not a big fan of beaches, and I don't love Paris in mid-summer, when it's hot, humid, crowded, and most people I know go out of town. So I don't go to Paris-Plages, the sandy "beach" that the Paris city hall, or Hôtel de Ville, has constructed along the Seine each summer since 2002. (This year, there will also be sand at the Hôtel de Ville so you can play beach volleyball there.) Paris-Plage also brings traffic in central Paris even closer to a dead halt than it already is as the main west-to-east thoroughfare across the city is blocked.
The original Paris-Plages was a project of former Paris Parti socialiste mayor Bertrand Delanoë, a non-driver who had the double goal of helping the many Parisians who can't afford to go away on holiday, and loosening the grip of the automobile on the banks of the Seine, which were lined with major thoroughfares built under fanatical "modernizer" French president Pompidou. The truth is, although Delanoë made many decisions I don't agree with, nowadays anyone who tried to build a new highway on either side of a beautiful river through the center of Paris would be laughed out of town.
You can find out more about Paris-Plages here.
