when to go

There are certain periods that are better or worse depending on what part of France you’re visiting, what you want to do and in some cases what you want to avoid.

·         Do you want to avoid crowds in Paris? Stay away from Paris from mid-July to August, the busiest time of the year.

·         Want to pay less for airline tickets? Fly to France from September to November.

·         Do you want to avoid a bunch of back-to-back French holidays that affect public transportation, tourist attractions and other services? Avoid the month of May.

·         Not interested in cycling? Check out the route of the Tour de France, which is always held in July, and can book up many hotels along the route.

Following the New Year’s holiday, things tend to go quiet during January, especially if the weather is not good.

February is the ski vacation, so unless you ski, stay away from the ski resorts.

March can be a good time for a holiday, but April is the spring school vacation.

May has improving weather, but is filled with several holidays which means heavy traffic on the roads especially over the multiple long weekends.

·         Labour Day (1st May): The eight-hour working day was officially introduced in France on April 23, 1919, and May 1 became a public holiday called Fête internationale des Travailleurs (International Worker's Day). During World War II, the Vichy regime renamed the holiday to Fête du Travail et de la Concorde sociale (Work and Social Unity Day). Between 1944 and 1947, there was no holiday on May 1. It officially became known as La Fête du Travail (Labour Day) on April 29, 1948. Since then, it has been an occasion to campaign for and celebrate workers' rights.
·         WWII Victory Day (la fête de la victoire, le jour de la libération) is a holiday to celebrate the end of World War II and the French people’s freedom. It is the anniversary of when Charles de Gaulle announced the end of World War II in France on 8th May 1945.
·         Ascension Day is always on a Thursday, exactly 40 days after Easter. Since Easter is a moveable feast (i.e. the exact date of Easter changes from year to year), so does the exact date of Ascension day. Although Ascension day usually occurs in the month of May, it occasionally occurs in June. The last time this occurred was in 2011 and the next time it will occur in June is 2038, 2079 and 2095. In 2019, Ascension day is 30th May, and in 2020, the 21st May.
·         Whit Monday (or Pentecost Day). The word Pentecost is descended from the Ancient Greek word pentếkosta which means ‘the fiftieth day’. True to its namesake, Pentecost occurs exactly 50 Days after Easter Sunday and officially ends the 7-week Easter celebrations.

Mother’s Day is also held in May, and that can mean that many restaurants are fully booked, especially for lunch, as families take their mothers out for lunch.

There is no major vacation in June, but it is the beginning of summer. For this reason, it’s a popular time with Brits who are not tied to school holidays in the UK.

July and August are the grandes vacances when work life comes to a crawl. Ironically, it’s not unknown for some of the smaller tourist information offices, for example, to be closed during this period, although this is nothing like so bad as it used to be. Even so, many facilities and lesser attractions can be closed.

September is la rentrée, or ‘the return’, a time that coincides with a burst of activity after the summer.

The end of October into November is the vacation of Toussaint (All Saints), and finally December and the Christmas holiday season, which is as hectic in France as it is anywhere in the Christian world.