This month, Art Basel Paris is debuting with a snappy new name and a lavish venue upgrade – the Grand Palais. Compared to the clinical exhibition hall that hosted Paris+ par Art Basel in 2023, the Grand Palais will add grandeur to proceedings. It will also become bigger, allowing an impressive 195 galleries to be present – an increase on last year’s 154. 

The Grand Palais opened for the Universal Exhibition in 1900 but you hope what’s inside at this year’s fair doesn’t feel too, well, universal. I will, no doubt, enjoy gazing at the world’s greatest contemporary art under its high, vaulted ceiling. But will the event really be all that different to Art Basel’s June iteration in its Swiss hometown? It’s hard to put a Parisian spin on navigating your way to booth D24 or J11 (let alone remember where you saw that amazing Rauschenberg or Baselitz).

The cooler little sisters of large-scale art events – the satellite fairs – often make more of a lasting impression. Paris Internationale and Liste in Basel are the places where you can have a genuine moment of discovery. I have also started to feel drawn to city-specific events such as September’s Vienna Contemporary. “It’s possible for regional, smaller-scale fairs to be more experimental and show work from exciting, lesser-known artists and galleries,” says Vienna Contemporary director Francesca Gavin.

Contemporary Istanbul in late October also allows you to discover the talents of up-and-coming creatives. “In a more intimate setting, participants can receive more attention, which fosters deeper connections and more meaningful conversations,” founder Ali Gureli tells monocle. “There are plenty of what I like to call ‘generalist’ art fairs in the world. I’m more interested in leveraging the unique geographical and cultural landscape of Istanbul.”

Though I’m not going to abandon big-name fairs – and the chance to have a glass of something chilled overlooking the Seine – any time soon, I will certainly be adding a few lesser-known stops to my autumn art agenda this year.