Seine swimming to return to heart of Paris after century of bans
After much ado and a €1.4 billion cleanup, Paris is set to bring swimming back to the River Seine. Following the Olympics triumph, where athletes turned the river into a sporting arena, the city plans to open three central sites next year. This bold move will allow experienced swimmers to dive into a tradition that’s been off-limits for a century. RFI quizzed some punters on whether they’d be tempted to make a splash in Paris's historically polluted waterway.
In the 17th century, Parisians frequently swam in the Seine, often in the nude, until authorities banned the practice. By 1923, all urban swimming in the Seine was prohibited for health and safety reasons due to increased river traffic in Paris.
A century later, in the summer of 2025, three sites in the heart of Paris will open for free to experienced swimmers.
These locations will be at Bras Marie, between the Sully and Marie bridges near the Marais on the right bank; at Bras de Grenelle, near the Eiffel Tower on the left bank, between the Grenelle port and the Île aux Cygnes; and upstream at Bercy, around the Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir between the Tolbiac and Bercy bridges.
“I really like the idea of swimming in the Seine, having heard about the recent work to clean it,” said Henry Gibbs, a set designer from Bristol, in the UK, who moved to Paris six months ago.
“I’d love it if I was able to swim here,” added his friend James Griffiths, lounging on a deck chair at Bras Marie. in black boxer shorts and a book
Griffiths, a photographer from Bristol now settled in Paris, said: “The most annoying thing in summer is having to travel outside the city, down to the river at Fontainebleau, to go swimming.”
Read more on RFI English
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