Region: Ile-de-France
Population: 2.25 million (12.29 million in the urban conglomeration)
Area: 105 km²

Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. Situated on the Seine River, in the north of the country, it is in the centre of the Lle-de-France region.

Modern Paris is one of the most beautiful cities on earth. There can be few cities on the planet that can claim to have been at the centre of history as Paris has. Roman, English, Prussian and German armies have all laid siege, while kings, queens, communes and emperors have reigned and toppled as history played out within its walls.

What to See

The Arc de Triomphe stands at the center of Place de l'Etoile, the hub from which 12 grand avenues — including the idyllic pedestrian mall, the Champs Elysees. Climb to the Arc's panoramic viewing terrace and gaze down each avenue into the city. It's the best place to admire the taut geometry of Paris's urban plan, devised by Napoleon III's prefect Baron Georges-Eugene Hausmann. You can also see the Eiffel Tower in its entirety from here — it's close enough for you to marvel at its construction.

•  Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. The tower is the tallest structure in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world: 6.98 million people ascended it in 2011. The tower received its 250 millionth visitor in 2010.

Transport

Locally, Paris' most-frequented public transportation is the Metro: across 16 lines, its closely-spaced stations allow a connection between any capital quarter to any other, and a few lines extend quite far into the suburbs. Paris is also the hub of the Reseau Express Regional (RER), a higher-speed and wider-spaced-station above- and under- ground train network that connects the capital to more distant suburban regions.

Paris' transportation tarification is dictated by zones, with zones 1-2 covering the capital and its immediate periphery, and zones 3, 4 and 5 covering increasingly distant destinations in the Lle-de-France.

Distances to other UEFA EURO 2016 venues
Saint-Denis – 15km
Lens – 200km
Lille – 225km
Lyon – 465km
Saint-Etienne – 525km
Bordeaux – 590km
Toulouse – 680km
Marseille – 780km
Nice – 945km

Football

Paris is home to the association football club Paris Saint-Germain, commonly referred to as PSG. Domestically, PSG have won five Ligue 1 titles, nine Coupe de France, a record five Coupe de la Ligue, five Trophee des Champions and the Ligue 2 title once. In international club football, the Parisian side has won one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and one UEFA Intertoto Cup. PSG is the joint-most successful club in France and one of only two French clubs (with Olympique de Marseille) to win a major European club competition.

The 80,000-seat Stade de France, the national stadium of France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the commune of Saint-Denis. Paris played host to the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics, the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups.

In addition to Paris Saint-Germain FC, the city has a number of other amateur football clubs: Paris FC, Red Star, RCF Paris and Stade Francais Paris.

Paris also has an excellent women's team: French league runners-up in 2011, 2013 and 2014, they have become regular UEFA Women's Champions League participants.

UEFA capacity: 45,000
Tenants: Paris Saint-Germain
Opened: May 1972

The Parc des Princes is the fourth largest football stadium in France. It was built to provide the city of Paris with a modern venue for important rugby and football matches.

Parc des Princes was officially opened on 4 June 1972 by French president Georges Pompidou. The first match was the Coupe de France final between Marseille and Bastia (2-1).

In the following decades, Parc des Princes regularly hosted matches of the French national team, Coupe de France finals, and it was the playing venue of several European Cup finals.

It has hosted six European club football finals, including the first ever European Champion Clubs' Cup showpiece in 1956 when Real Madrid CF beat Stade de Reims Champagne 4-3.

In addition to staging games at the 1938 and 1998 FIFA World Cups, the stadium was the venue for the 1960 and 1984 UEFA European Championships finals.

The first part of the renovation work being carried out was completed in summer 2014, with two new rows of seats added closer to the pitch, as well as new substitutes' benches and brand new executive boxes and lounges.

The renovation of the Parc des Princes, which improved services for the general public while also boosting the capacity to 45,000, was completed in 2015.

UEFA EURO 2016 matches

Group stage
12/06/16, 15.00: Turkey v Croatia
15/06/16, 18.00: Romania v Switzerland
18/06/16, 21.00: Portugal v Austria
21/06/16, 18.00: Northern Ireland v Germany

Round of 16
25/06/16, 18.00: WB v 3A/C/D