Best Time to Visit Paris in A Day

In the spring the cherry-blossoms are in explosion along the Seine and the cafes on the sidewalks are full of people who are trying their first coffee in months out of doors. Summer is a busy season, but there are summer evenings, when the Eiffel tower is glowing well after 10 PM. This guide sub-divides the formula on how to most of all enjoy Paris in one day, depending on your time of visit.

Spring (March-May)

The spring of Paris possesses a special magic which no post-card can possibly convey. The city feels like it is sighing in relief when spring is set to come in after the gray, lifeless winter months and then by May, the city is almost vibrating with energy. The chestnuts covering the Seine have thrown open their frothy white flowers, the wisteria hangs down the facades of the limestones in lavender, and it smells of that sweetness which only comes with a season of renewal.

March

It is the indecisive spring in Paris. It is ranging 7-13 degree but the light has already changed and the temperatures are brisk enough to make a jacket essential. Days will become markedly more protracted, and you will see Parisians hanging about at sidewalk cafes in the afternoons, giving their faces to the sun, although it may not be very warm.

The city is not as noisy as summer, but it is significantly more active than winter. The spring season offers a chance to visit a big attraction featuring the Louvre and Notre-Dame without so many people present. The real plus in case you need some space and enjoy viewing masterpieces. The Easter holidays will start off a small influx of visitors towards the end of the month but nothing like June will receive. Local gardens are starting to resuscitate, but not with flowers, but with sprinklings; the Jardin des Plantes has its spots of color, should you know how to find them, and the Luxembourg Gardens is meditative and reflective.

April

It is in spring, in April, that spring really takes possession of Paris. The average temperatures rise to 10-16degC and the gardens in the city appear to come to a general agreement to bloom. It is the best season of wisteria. The purple vines hanging around the doors and walls of the gardens make them look so idyllic that they seem to be false. There are apple and cherry trees covering part of the neighborhoods, and all of the city smells otherwise: much more earthy, more alive.

The proportion of the beauty to the solitude is the special thing of the month of April. You have come out of the winter rut and gray-day depression, but you are yet to meet the shoulder-to-shoulder congestion of high summer. Museums can be visited, restaurants are not crowded three layers thick, and one can even walk through Montmartre without feeling that he/she is walking in a human stream. The parks are crowded with locals and not only tourists and there is a new lightness in the rhythm of the city.

April cannot be resisted by photographers and artists. The lighting of the natural light is amazing. Like gentle, yellow, and immeasurably more pleasant than the blaze of summer. April is incomparable to any month in case you are attracted by the most photogenic places in Paris, or simply enjoy it as people who make their livelihood here do.

May

In May, Paris is in the perfection of her spring. The temperatures stabilize at a comfortable 13-19 degree. Not too hot to be able to eat out without a thick jacket, and not too hot so that spending hours and hours in the streets of the city makes you feel too hot and too tired. This is where the much-publicized outdoor culture of the city really comes to life. Terraces of cafes are swarmed with people, the banks of the Seine teemed with readers and romantics, and the parks were transformed into open air living-rooms.

May also has a number of cultural benefits. The calendar is interspersed with spring festivals and events. In May, there is the Nuit des Musees (Museum Night), which is a chance to have extra long evening hours and special events in the cultural establishments. Concerts in the open air and street performances grow, outdoor markets overflow with spring, and so on. New asparagus, strawberries and herbs that stink up a whole street.

crowds begin to climb perceptibly towards the end of May. Tourism also picks with the advent of the North American and Northern European tourists who take advantage of a better weather cover and school holidays. But Paris in May even in the midst of its traffic has its own grace. The very profusion and lightness of flowers appear to water down frustration; grumbling is more difficult to maintain when you are sitting under the blooming trees when you hold a cafe creme.

Summer

The city is almost violently beautiful. Long, sunlit days run after the daylight past 10 PM, the Seine is shining in the blazing sun, and the warmth is drawing the smell of aged stone, cafe creme, and the indefinable aroma, which appears to be lingering in every arrondissement.

June

June is an energetic finale of spring and the promising overture of summer. The temperatures are set at 16-22degC, neither too hot nor too cold, and there is no need to wear jackets. Day is prolonged tremendously. The sun sets only after 9 PM and rises earlier than 6 AM and, therefore, you have almost 16 hours of natural sunlight to cover.

It is the month when the Parisian outdoor culture is brought to its peak. Cafe terraces are not empty, but vibrating with the vitality of people who come to be seen and feel good. The Marais district, Latin quarter and the left bank of secteur (Seine) are all transformed into large outdoor salons where the locals and visitors dance with each other almost in choreographed steps. The parks are turned into full-fledged socializing places: the Champs de Mars is turned into a picnic ground, the Luxembourg Gardens have been turned into card-players, readers and couples who apparently have a bench of their own.

Cultural abundance is brought by June. The Fete de la Musique (June 21) converts the city to an open air concert hall of enormous dimensions. Street musicians play at every corner, in the metro stations and bridges and corners of the neighborhood and the air is full of infectious spontaneity. The open air movie seasons open, and they show movies on the walls of the buildings along the banks of the Seine, and in the squares of the neighborhoods. The rooftop bars and terraces become a real estate and currently offer that intoxicating mix of the sunset, the cool drinks and the uncomplicated Parisian glamour.

Crowds become significantly bigger, although they are not yet as big as July and August will be. It is still possible to navigate in large museums, but the queue is built earlier in the day. Hotels and restaurants kick off their summer pricing boom, although there is still some space to be had with a reservation. June has an ensnarement of summer without its full results.

July

Paris has the most complicated month in July. At the same time, its most magnificent and its most tiring. The weather becomes 17- 25degC and on some days the heat can be so intense that sitting in cafe can be seen as a survival tactic but not a leisure activity.

This is the time too when Paris is emptied of half the number of people. Beginning in mid July, Parisians leave the metropolis by the dozens to the coast, countryside, or anyplace that is not sweltering and overcrowded. The arrondissements with residential areas become practically ghostly as the number of visitors in such neighborhoods as Marais and Saint-Germain-des-Pres approaches.

Numerous bistros, boutiques and galleries shut down during the summer vacation. This is not so much a planned tourism strategy as much as it is an indication of the extent to which the French vacation is cultural. In front of a neighborhood restaurant there may be a hand-written notice on the door: Closed until August 15.

With that said, July has true benefits to some visitors. Clubs of beach spring up on the Seine. Paris-Plage turns the stretches of the riverside into oases of sand and lounge chairs, umbrellas and a decidedly vacationary atmosphere. The height of open-air cinema is in July, and bigger venues are used to watch movies under stars.

August

The temperatures during August are just like those of July 17-24degC. This is a slight variation of energy. As early as August the Parisian exodus has reached its highest point and the city is left to tourists and a small group of locals who attend to businesses on behalf of visitors. Avenues and sights may be too busy; queues to see such places as Sacre-Coeur or Eiffel Tower may take hours. It is no longer about exploration and more of a must-visit list.

August is definitely the season when Paris is the city at full visual power. The light is theatrical. The sunset is occurring in the evening at approximately 9 PM, and thus evening visits are taking place in a long golden hour. The stonework, the elaborate ironwork, the gurgoyles at the Notre-Dame, the architecture of the city is hewn and hacked to invoke refraction of light and shadow and photographs find this quite difficult to convey. When you come to Paris because you are attracted by its aesthetic beauty, August teaches it to you in no time.

July and August are the seasons when the accommodation and restaurant prices are the highest and can be 30-50 percent more than the spring or fall. Hot restaurants can also need to book many weeks ahead. Museums have extended hours and also enjoy record crowds. Summer is the most costly season in Paris in case budget is considered.

Autumn

The light becomes softened and it acquires a copper tone that is hunted by photographers and written about by poets. The air is cooled so that it is enjoyable to walk rather than to struggle, and the city breathes with one big sigh as citizens take the summer invasion of tourists out of their precincts.

September

September takes a strange place in the season of Paris. It is technically autumn, yet warm like summer. The temperatures are 14-20degC, neither too hot nor too cold, but cool enough to be able to wear multiple layers, yet warm enough so that summer clothes can be used. Days become a little bit shorter; sunset starts to be at 9 PM but towards the end of the month, it will fall to 8 PM, and you will have a more traditional rhythm than the long summer afternoon.

It is at this moment that Paris recovers itself. Schools are re-opening, businesses are re-opening, Parisians are returning to their holidays in August, almost physically relieved. The city recovers its standards of living. Conversations in cafes are less performative, the queue at bakery involve regulars who order their regular croissants, and the neighborhoods go back to their normal pace. The July and August tourist aggressiveness have not been completely eradicated but are becoming significantly lower and the museums and attractions are literally easy to manoeuvre.

The climate in September is the best one to explore. You may wander hours in the neighbourhood between the Canal Saint-Martin and the Montmartre back streets to the less busy parts of the Marais without that summer tiring of the drainage which leaves you gasping. In late afternoon the light is magical; it impregnates the Seine with angles which cause it to appear of polished copper, and old facades are pleasant, and not glaring in the sunlight.

September is a turning point in terms of culture. Fashion Week is in early month and it has attracted designers, photographers and obsessive of styles to come to the city. New exhibitions open in galleries and museums, where the opening part of it generates a hype that spreads throughout the neighborhoods.

Accommodations and dining will be reasonably priced when compared to the summer season, but the rates have not yet fallen to the fall levels. It is a time to enjoy good weather, less traffic, affordable prices, an eventful cultural season.

October

It is in October that autumn makes its presence felt and Paris turns into the place between the romantic and the depressive. The temperatures are lowered to 10-15degC and the light really needs to be layered but the quality of the light is almost supernatural. Leaves on the city chestnut-tree in the streets, the plane trees in Luxembourg Gardens toss the colours of golds, russets, deep crimsons.

This is peak foliage season. The Tuileries Garden, Luxembourg Gardens and Bois de Boulogne are transformed into open air art galleries as nature provides its ultimate concert. October makes those idealizations that you have fantasized about Paris come true, should you have romanticized it through film and literature. Mornings and evenings spent in the squares, with the leaves drifting over them, afternoons with the sunlight passing through the gold branches, and the scent of autumn drifting on the cold breeze.

It rains in October, but it is the typically Parisian rain. Energetic downpours instead of gray depressions, which are usually passing as soon as they come. A lot of tourists fear the Paris rain; people in Paris are very aware that it is not dry. The post-pouring night with wet pavements and lamp-reflecting stone, and cafe awnings aglow with the wet night, is a beautiful effect peculiar to the season.

By mid-October, the tourist groups have significantly reduced. Tier 1 attractions do not have too many waits. The museums do not seem overwhelming but residential. Neighborhoods are all back in the hands of locals.

It is in October when pricing is at a really nice level. Hotel prices reduce significantly in the fall but restaurants change their menu to include fall foods such as root vegetables, game, mushrooms, and preserved fruits that are cheaper than the higher summer rates. October presents the most favorable balance between cost, weather, and crowds and authentic experience, which is why it is likely the best month to travel.

November

The beginning of November takes Paris into deeper contemplation. The temperatures drop to 7-12degC and the daylight contracts drastically. Towards the end of the month, sunset comes at around 5 PM. This is not a month to spend on terraces; it is a month to duck in museums, sit in cafes with hot chocolates, and enjoy Paris like the way residents as opposed to tourists see the city.

The mobs are considerably reduced. By mid November all the tourist masses in summer are gone. Museums are literally quiet. You are able to take stand before great works of art minus crowds, navigate on big sites without plan and have the Louvre or Musee d’Orsay as Parisians do as real places.

Most of the leaves have fallen, gardens are buried, the city acquires the monochrome of grays, blacks, deep brows. This may appear cold but it is this restraint that brings out the architectural skeleton in Paris.

In November, the rainfall is greatly enhanced and the city is truly wet. This is the time when correct Parisian style comes up. Dark wool coats, made to fit, plain elegance intended not so much to be beautiful, as to serve a purpose. The color scheme is completely changed; the locals are dressed in charcoals, navy, blacks, and deep earths.

The month of November is the most unpredictable in weather. You may have beautiful days of autumn, then have some really cold and wet spells. There is still a richness in culture programming. This month has several festivals and events around the city, but are not as popular as those events during summer.

The month of November is the month when the Christmas markets start. This does not grow fully till December but early preparations start in November. Champs-Elysees and Tuileries Gardens start celebratory arrangements.

Autumn Practicalities

Layer strategically. In September, it is possible to use summer clothes, but then in October, you need real outerwear. Wool blazers, cardigans and jackets that can be used in response to temperature change and also in keeping the appearance standard of Paris. November requires no jokes about the serious work of cold-weather preparations: it becomes impossible to use waterproof coats, boots, scarves, and gloves as non-essential items.

Autumn rain is assured; a rainy season will miss your whole experience in wet shoes. Assimilate internal cultural inclinations. The shorter days and erratic weather of autumn make museums, galleries, theaters, and libraries an attractive source, as opposed to an alternative.

Book ahead early in the October month in case you want to make sure of certain things otherwise November is less demanding and can be planned in a rush. It is not necessary to make a reservation in restaurants before October.

Winter

Winter in Paris is a contrast work. The air bites with a certain cold peculiarly Parisian which almost cuts even the clothes which are well insulated and the city becomes leaner, more honest, closer to itself.

December

The month of December comes when Paris is already half way devoted to the winter, yet Christmas makes the city change the emotional world completely. The temperatures drop to 4-8degC and snow is rarely deposited, maybe a dusting within every few years. The chilly is chill and unabating. Christmas stalls come up on Champs-Elysees, around Notre-Dame, and the neighbourhoods in general. The Tuileries Garden turns into an ice-cream wonderland with an ice-rink, carousel and sales-stalls where they sell mulled wine, roasted chestnuts and holiday snacks.

December crowds are the contrary. There is an increment in the number of tourists especially around the time of Christmas, where people want to be in a holiday mood. But the experience is quite distinct to those of summer crowds. Individuals are also less in a rush and they are deliberate.

December is a month that the Parisians, culturally, have shown their high-technology style of celebration. Classical concerts and ballet are spread. Holiday programming is presented on the Opera Garnier and Opera Bastille.

January

January comes with the Christmas pageantry past and Paris falling into authentic winter. The lowest temperature is 2-7degC which is the coldest in a year. They get more rain and even frost than snow. The maritime climate of Paris seldom results in any serious snow, and the dampness reaches in another way than in autumn rain. It is a severe cold, that kind which numbs up the exposed flesh and shows the breath in the air.

The city becomes vacant considerably. At the end of the holiday, the tourists leave, Parisians go back to the routine, and the city is taken back to the residents. This produces a change in the mood that is less dramatic, more natural, less theatrical. Big cities are truly tranquilized. It is an entirely different experience to come to the Louvre in January, as compared to summer ones; you can spend hours with pieces of art without a crowd. Smaller museums and galleries unexpectedly get the attention of traveling people who want to escape the cold.

The light is also sparse and daylight does not take much time; it does not exceed eight hours. The morning light (9 AM-11 AM) is the most appropriate in terms of visibility and warmth of the day.

The sales in January (les soldes) provide real prices in the boutiques and department stores, and to shop during this period is very attractive in comparison to the other months.

February

The month of February is the last one of winter, and usually it is brought in with some faint signs of a coming spring. The temperatures are comparable to January 2-7degC. But there is an extension of daylight. At the end of the month, the sunset is moved to a time after 5 PM to around 6 PM which provides an additional hour.

February also includes the Valentines day and Paris takes this with a lot of romanticism. Restaurants offer special menus, flower sellers are full of arrangements, and the city itself is filled with the atmosphere of romanticism which is given the direct cultural thrust. When you are alone, it may seem like you are being locked out.