Fans from around the world gathered by the River Seine in Paris on Friday for the first-ever Olympics opening ceremony outside a stadium.

Dozens of boats were to take athletes on a 6-kilometre journey along the river, past major landmarks including the Notre Dame and the Louvre.

More than 300,000 spectators, including VIPs and celebrities from around the world, were expected to enjoy the show from the river banks – a big difference compared to the last Olympics in Tokyo, when the Covid pandemic meant the Games opened in an empty stadium.

A little rain in Paris didn't stop spectators from waiting along the river banks hours before the opening ceremony.

Rebecca, a tourist from the United States, said going to the Games was on her bucket list.

“That's why we came, when we found out that four years ago… they were going to have their opening ceremony going down the Seine, we decided that we have to be here,” she said.

“It’s amazing, just because you have such a beautiful city and then the Olympics, which is number one on my bucket list to go to an Olympics in what other place to be than Paris.”

Tight security measures were put in place to ensure safety, including restricting most of the River Seine, and requiring visitors to present a QR code.

Hours before the ceremony, France’s high-speed network was hit by arson attacks, forcing many services to be cancelled.

Ed Settle from North Carolina said he was looking forward to the ceremony in spite of the trouble getting to the Seine.

“It will be interesting to see because it’s the first [ceremony] without the stadium, so I guess how the city can handle it but also how spectators will also be able to handle it,” he said.

“We just were able to find this opening here. We've been walking a little bit. Definitely can make it a little bit easier to navigate.”

The opening ceremony, from 1.30am Hong Kong time, is expected to last around four hours.

Olympic fencing champion Edgar Cheung and swimming star Siobhan Haughey are the flag bearers for the Hong Kong, China delegation.