I see Ascension is a public holiday in France. It will occur during our trip there. How might this affect our travel plans? Ditto Pentecost Sunday.

And I think of France as so - governmentally - anticlerical....

It will be just like another Sunday - minimal impact for tourists. Museums open, transports running frequently, etc.

For a country so anticlerical the French State indeed I believe owns all the churches and pays for upkeep on monumental ones - little division between church and state there at least.

But since about 5% of the populace now go to Mass and about 50% are either atheists or agnostics yes clerics are dying out - having to import ones from places like Africa in some dying parishes.

You can catch nice services on these Catholic holidays in main cathedrals however - nice music, pageantry with bishops all decked out in their finest threads, etc.

Ascension Day is a public holiday so is like a Sunday, with public transport reduced and shops closed. People will be going out with their families to enjoy themselves. It's always a Thursday so some people take the Friday off work to give themselves a long weekend break, but the Friday and Saturday are normal working days for schools so few families have that option. French public holidays are fairly low-key in my experience: it's just a day off work for most people.

cension Day is a public holiday so is like a Sunday, with public transport reduced and shops closed>

some shops are closed - the big stores by law but there will be many many food stores open, including large grocery stores all over Paris and France until about 12:30am and markets as well. so do not think all shops will be closed.

About the only things closed on Ascension these days are offices, schools, banks and post offices.

Hyprmarches or the grandes surfaces as I believe they are called they are allowed to be open on Ascension - my local Carrefour in Saran will be open - good news IMO - I thought only supermarkets of a certain size were allowed to open on Sundays or holidays (tourist seasonal areas excepted)?

Hyprmarches or the grandes surfaces as I believe they are called they are allowed to be open on Ascension - my local Carrefour in Saran will be open - good news IMO - I thought only supermarkets of a certain size were allowed to open on Sundays or holidays (tourist seasonal areas excepted)?

Holidays that occur during the week are no longer respected by the big stores, and the Sunday closings will probably be finished in another few years.

I want to follow up on this query of mine. It turns out most people in France and Belgium get a day off for both Ascension and Pentecost. And they take advantage of these long weekends for get-aways, or maybe combine them for a vacation. So Dinan was very busy on Ascension Day and the following weekend. The hotels had signs that they were full. Our hostess in Bruges told me that this two-week period was the busiest time of year for her.

So, fair warning, if you plan to travel in France or Belgium during the Ascension-Pentecost period (especially when it's later as it was this year), book well ahead. And expect popular places to be crowded.

Paris however has very little impact in this regard IME - in fact Parisians may head to the seaside in droves as well.

I think it depends when you are there - we were in Limoges (quite a large town in the Limousin) and EVERYTHING was closed with the exception of 1 restaurant. So if you are in Paris thats one thing, in the country it will likely be shut-up like a typical Sunday.

I think you are talking about two different things here - whether things are closed up, and whether it's taken as a holiday.

Usually both Ascension and Pentecost are taken as long weekends. That means that tourist places will be busy - but offices, banks, etc. will be closed. We had people staying with us who wanted to drive over to St Emilion, and couldn't understand why they were having difficulty finding a hotel - did I think they should just take a chance on finding one? No, not unless you would try something like that on a holiday weekend in a tourist place where you live.

Also, because Pentecost is only 10 days after Acension, some places, like our local supermarket, which had been open for the first holiday, were closed for the second