When is the best season to make a Paris tour?

The best time for a Paris vacation is largely a question of personal taste. The city has a more reliable climate than its British neighbor, London, with uninterrupted stretches of sun and rain, year-round. However, while Paris maintains a vaguely southern feel for anyone crossing the English Channel, Mediterranean it is not. The winter temperatures drop below freezing, with sometimes biting winds. Spring and fall are usually mild and sunny. In summer temperature can reach the 30°C (80°F). See Weather in Paris for more information.

Major season

The major tourist season in France stretches from Easter to mid-September, but Paris has much to offer in every season. Travel when you have time, when your kids have holidays (Paris has much to offer for kids! See Kids’ Paris), there is always something special Paris can offer to you.

Spring and Fall

The best seasons for traveling are spring and fall. Though Paris in the early spring can be disappointingly damp, it’s relatively tourist free, which can be the decisive factor to choose this season.

September is ideal. Cultural life revives after the summer break, and sunny weather often continues through the first half of October. Many places that are great vacation spots in the summer are even better in September: drop the price and thin out the crowds. The ballet and theater are in full swing in November, but the weather is part wet and cold, part bright and sunny.

April offers the most wonderful scene. While Paris is magical at any time of the year, it is especially appealing in April: the weather is lovely, there are no crowds and prices are much lower than at other times of the year. There is time to relax in a little cafe or restaurant in Montmarte or shop for bargains at Galleries Lafayette. Even the finest restaurants are easy to get into and the antique stores in the Marais and on the Ile St. Louis are even more welcoming.

A jacket or coat is advisable during these seasons.

Summer

May and June are delightful for your Paris holidays, with good weather and plenty of cultural attractions. July and August can be sultry. One of the quietest time of year in Paris is during the French summer holydays from July 15 to the end of August. Moreover, many theaters and some of the smaller restaurants and shops close for the entire month of August. If you’re undeterred by hot weather and pollution, you’ll notice a fairly relaxed atmosphere around the city, as this is the month when most Parisians are on vacation and Paris may seem unusually deserted.

Paris events and festivals is a short guide to major summer events in Paris.

A special note about the most famous French national holiday – Bastille Day, which is worth celebrating in Paris. 14 July, commemorates the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison. The event marked the beginning of the French Revolution and is celebrated annually with parties, festivals, and a massive fireworks display over the city.

Another famous event taking place in July is Tour de France – the most famous bicycle race in the world. The annual tour follows an ever-changing route through the French countryside (and often ducks briefly into neighboring countries) but always ends in Paris. Only about half of the 150 competitors who enter the race complete it.

The famous annual Paris airshow is also held in June. Officially called International Paris Airshow, it is world’s premier airspace event.

Winter

December is dominated by the fjtes de fin d’annee (end-of-year festivities); a busy theater, ballet, and opera season goes well into January.

Decision to spend Christmas week in Paris may become one of the best spur-of-the-moment travel. On Christmas Day the square is alive with people with happy faces, boasting a multitude of languages and accents that can make you realize the worldwide breadth of French colonization.

In terms of pure aesthetics, winter sun is the city’s most flattering light, when the pale shades of the older buildings become luminescent and long shadows criss-cross the parks.

In winter, Paris’ beauty is a secret that French people are far more likely to enjoy than foreigners. If you join the crowds to Paris in the spring, you will have to put up with the crowded streets, crowded Paris museums, crowded restaurants, and just plain crowds. Off-season might be the time to go.

Commercial calendar

Speculating on when to make a Paris tour, there is, too, the commercial calendar to consider – fashion shows, trade fairs and the like. Paris hoteliers warn against visiting during the months of September and October as finding a room in a hotel even at the best times can be problematic. Early spring, fall if you book ahead, or the midwinter months will be the most rewarding months to travel. Besides if you are looking for cheap flights to Paris, off-season is the right time for you.