Is air-conditioning needed in August?
 

I plan on taking an escorted tour of France in August. Some tour companies offer air conditioning in most of their hotels and others (COSMOS) does not. Is it needed or do the evenings get cool enough that it is not necessary. Thanks in advance.

I was there 2 summers years ago, same month. I can only tell you that it was incredibly hot and our 4+ star hotel was a/c'd, but it still was insufficient! I wouldn't dream of going without a/c in the hotels!!!! There is nothing like US a/c.

That's a hard question to answer. European weather varies a lot from year to year. Also, France is a large country. Normandy is usually cool at night even in the summer, while Provence can get pretty hot. Having said that, I might add that I live in southwest France, don't have AC, and don't know anybody who does. Without AC, you could have a few hot nights, but you're unlikely to get impossible heat, night after night for the whole trip. So it's a matter of how much you're willing to pay for the insurance of always having a comfortable room.

I was in Holland in August and one week was cool and damp and the second week they had a heat wave. I had to buy a fan for my pension room. I was so miserable I threw all the covers off and laid awake each night. In Amsterdam it was worse- the halls of the hotel had doors at either end and the hall was steaming and humid- the room had windows that were small and did no good- my husband slept in our rented VW van to get the cooler night air. Go for the air conditioning!

I spent some time in Bourges, France in the summer of 1996, a particularly hot summer. There were some nights I would had paid anything for a room with A/C! On the other hand, on those nights, I just took a good book downstairs and wait till it cool down a bit.

Spent an incredibly horrible night in a hotel in Montreal one August. No AC, window was on a tiny air shaft (about 4by4). Fortunately we had a shower, so we'd get up every couple of hours, shower and lie back down to let the water evaporate and hopefully cool us off. On the other hand, it was a learning experience that we can now remember fondly.