Paris in August, favorite hotel doesn't have AC
 

Hello

I just figured out that the only months I haven't spent time in Paris are the months of March, August, and November. And that may change soon in regards to August!

Working on rounding out a work-trip to Zurich with some personal time in Paris.

My favorite hotel, in my favorite 'hood to stay in Paris, does not have AC. I looked at the temps for this week and while it's hot during the day the evenings look they get down to the mid 60s. Not sure if August would be similar in that regard.

I was pleasantly surprised at how relatively mild the weather was during various June and July trips, although maybe we were lucky. I know it can get quite hot in summer.

This would be a short visit and while I can certainly find another hotel or just chuck it all and stay in another location entirely, I don't want to choose another neighborhood and I do like this hotel a lot. I figured out my favorite room and usually ask for it. That said, I would like to be able to sleep at night, too.

How humid can it get (the big determiner, really) and would you chance it? Or start looking for a hotel with AC? Incidentally I checked the prices and it's much cheaper in August than any other time I've stayed there.

Thanks for any thoughts. I realize predicting actual weather is a crapshoot even a week out, but I'm curious for anecdotes including if anyone has spent significant amounts of time in summer, there, without AC.

Beth, I am in Paris now. Temps have been between 28-31 degrees. I am very grateful for the air-conditioning in the hotel at night.

I have been in Paris in August on business a few times, and it was hot and humid and unpleasant. I think you should consider air-conditioning.

As you said, difficult to predict what will happen in August, but in general, you should consider why the Parisians escape to the country.

regards Ger

Flygirl: I am not particularly sensitive to 'hot and humid' (WDC/Baltimore area girl) but my own experience of Paris in August - during a hot spell one year - led me to to be certain thereafter to choose a hotel with AC. Last year, in latish July, I wanted to stay in Jeanne d'Arc, but was so glad that I changed to Jules ey Jim with Air Conditioning. So I agree with Ger. Enjoy your stay in Paris.

Beth, I agree with the others. Can you book a hotel with AC that doesn't have a penalty for cancelling and decide
the week before after checking the weather? You've mentioned your trip will be split (weekends in Paris and week spent working in Zurich) Perhaps see how it goes the first weekend. If you are not comfortable, go with AC second weekend.

Why doesn't that hotel have AC or any hotel in Paris without it? What kind of hotel is it - some old building?

August prices for sme hotels at least are off-peak for some reason -maybe few French coming then but heading to seaside. August IME is a great time to be in Paris - car traffic down a lot and air cleaner - Paris at times last year rivalled Beijing in pollution levels- just for a few days but.

I am chiming in from Paris where it was 90 degrees today. I would NEVER book any hotel here that didn't have A/C especially in the summer and it could never BE my favorite, either. Sorry, but there is a reason a lot of hotels here have A/C but to each their own.

Seems like 'canicule' or heat waves I believe are much more common - as said before I spent about 15 Augusts in Paris area in 70s and 80s and rare the temps rose to 80 F - remember one time it got into 90s and all cancdy bars in train station carts were melting.

I need AC. I cannot sleep if it is too hot or humid. I will be exhausted the next day and worthless.... Too much money, energy, and happiness lost for an expensive vacation.

February and August are the two months for the lowest hotel rates in Paris. The business hotels have the very best rates, because there are almost no businessmen then.

Get the air conditioning! We have needed it in Paris in June and September. 90+ Fahrenheit and humid.

When will you be there, flygirl?

We're going for 6 days in August, staying at the Hôtel Alhambra, definitely got AC! Got the 2 for 1 SNCF fares on the TGV from Bordeaux, too. Great time to go to Paris.

Hi everyone

You're convincing me. I will look for AC and I'm also thinking of a new hood, why not? Maybe the other side of the Marais, or Palais Royal or Rue Montorgueil.

I always think future me will be OK with things that today me just would not like at all. lol

Judy that is a good idea, too. Hang on and wait to see if there a cool snap.

I found Turenne le Marais which is near Place des Vosges.

I am thinking of Terrass Hotel which is near Montmartre cemetery.

Finally, Relais des Halles which is near Rue Montorgueil, also an area I like to wander.

I guess I should look into bus or metro connections, especially to the last two. I already know St Paul is a well located metro stop.

Thanks everyone, staying in a new hotel will almost be like visiting a whole new location, I am so used to my normal haunts in my regular place.

We were in Paris several years ago in August and it started out cool but after a few days turned quite hot. You will be glad to not have to worry about being hot in your room at night!

A lot of people claim that the heat in Paris is "humid." I have no idea where they live, because I grew up in the Deep South of the United States, and I know what "humid" is. Paris is not at all humid as far as I'm concerned, although, yes, I can sweat if it gets hot.

Before believing this "humid" statement which is repeated quite blindly by so many people, compare the humidity of Paris (40% at the moment) to the humidity where you live.

>>compare the humidity of Paris (40% at the moment) to the humidity where you live.<<

OK I will -- where I live in northern California, yesterday it was 103F/40C . . . and 18% humidity. So yes, for me Paris is humid (and don't even ask me to go to the SE or east coast USA in summer :) )

I completely accept that -- but I would suppose that 40° is not the normal temperature for northern California either. I know that San Francisco, for example, is not really "northern" California technically, but I see that the average humidity in the summer is 59%.

We liked the Hotel St Jacques in the Latin Quarter. It has A/C.

kerouac, San Francisco has its own climate, much cooler as well than the surrounding area. I live 7 miles away and our climate is totally different, much sunnier and warmer and much less foggy, although we get our share in the evening in the summertime. I wouldn't use San Francisco as a bellwether for Norcal weather.

I am just saying that the average humidity should be compared to the average Paris humidity at the same time of year to get a more reliable idea. I am not at all contesting what janisj wrote, but I do doubt that the current 18% humidity wherever she is is the normal humidity for her city unless the normal temperature all year is 40°.

Relative humidity drops as temperatures increase as warmer air can hold more moisture. You’d be better to compare dew points. The dew points in Paris and Northern California today are very similar.

Back to the World Cup.

I am having trouble choosing between Croatia and Denmark. I wonder what the humidity is.

kerouac: You just don't know California very well. >>but I would suppose that 40° is not the normal temperature for northern California either.<<

40F is TOTALLY normal (as is the 19 or 20 % humidity). In an average summer we will have many many days over 100F and the average is about 93F. That is for the majority of of northern CA. Not for San Francisco or Santa Cruz or Monterey . . . but that is just a small slice along the Pacific coast. It can be 63F and 59% humidity in SF and less than 40 miles away as the crow flies it will be 110F/43C and 20% humidity. That is very typical -- all summer long.

To me air conditioning in a busy city is more about noise control, then it is about keeping cool. How noisy is your "favorite hotel" in location? Can you sleep with the windows open there?

I also use dew point. For me 60 is about the dividing line - the more below that the better, but above that starts to not feel great to me - especially as the temps rise.

Thanks everyone

Suze, the car traffic isn't much but it can get very bustle-y with people. Although it does seem to quiet down around 11 PM or so - just the occasional yelps here and there. lol

I have lived in Iowa and visit my in-laws on Kauai (home of the rainiest spot on earth) so I'm a pretty good judge of humidity. It was humid in Paris when I visited last summer.

Flygirl that’s exactly what these people say under Humidity and the chart Humidity Comfort Levels:

https://weatherspark.com/y/47913/Ave...nce-Year-Round

Here is the chart for August. Pretty good odds on each day of it being dry or comfortable but if you hit the wrong days ... (hope this works):

https://weatherspark.com/m/47913/8/A...n-Paris-France

Thank you, Xcountry, for those links. There are some really interesting graphs on there. I will bookmark that Weatherspark site.

kerouac, I agree with you. At least whenever someone asks if Paris is "humid" and people say yes, I always think, huh??? I've been there many times in the summer when it was pretty hot and never once did I think of it as being particularly humid that it even crossed my mind. I grew up in the Midwest of USA which is pretty hot/humid in summer, and now live in Wash DC area which is pretty humid, so Paris just doesn't strike me as unusual at all in terms of humidity. I get that it may be for people who live in really dry US areas but I don't think most people do (live in those areas). So whenver someone asks that, I guess you need to ask, compared to what?

today DC is 51% humidity. Indianapolis IN is 58%, Atlanta is 65%, Los Angeles where I lived a long time is 59%. Same source (weather.com) says Paris is 52%, though. But that's still nothing unusual to a lot of US cities.

I've been in humid places on vacation, also, like parts of coastal Mexico and Florida, and Paris is nothing like that.

DC had a dew point of 77 earlier today. Won't even bother to go outside, at that.

Christina . . . LA is on the coast, of COURSE it will be more humid then most of California. Today it was 27% where I live, and that is very humid here in he summer.

I don’t know for comparisons but all I can tell you is that 88 here feels like way hotter than it does in the SF Bay Area, and on the bus it feels like a freaking sauna!

Parisians are big on saying it’s not hot enough often enough to require air conditioning and so many cafes and restaurants are all open to the outside anyway. I would choose a hotel with aircon. You already know my recommendation.

Today is the first muggy day of this hot period, even though temperatures are lower than the previous days.

fly girl--Take a look at the Britannique in the 1st. We loved that we could control the ac in our room vs the hotel having it set at a particular temperature. It is a beautiful hotel and centrally located.

I would have to have a very, very good reason to go to the Deep South in the summer. Same for Washington, DC. Way too hot and humid. Even here in Massachusetts I need air conditioning in the summer, not every day but enough. People who live in the South might be more heat and humidity tolerant, but it is my understanding that people there spend most of their time in the summer in air conditioning.

I haven’t been to Paris in the summer since I was in college, so I can’t speak from personal experience. But going by the comments here, I think I would be much happier with air conditioning.

Nikki - I look for reasons to go any where outside of Atlanta during the summer. We pay for not having winter snow/ice with the humidity in the summer (and I had to go to a conference in New Orleans last week...not ideal). I have lived in the South my entire life...I don't enjoy the humidity and god help you if your A/C dies during summer. I would say I am not more tolerant of our heat and humidity (I have accepted it). I just pray for Labor Day when we finally start to lose the humidity.

After spending summers in Chicago and Paris where heat saturated buildings and pavements radiate heat, there is no AC on public transport and the days are long and sun soaked, I prefer to spend my summers, of all places, in Florida where there is AC everywhere, a pool in my building, breezes off the ocean and the delightful cool that comes after rainstorms which are numerous in this rainy season.

This will not make me any friends since there are a lot of people who feel that Parisians should grovel to the tourists, but I am quite happy every time somebody decides not to visit because they are uncomfortable. There are so many other people who don't worry about that, so it's nice to see people who are not complaining all the time.

83% of the tourists who come to Paris are French or from Europe, so frankly they are not at all shocked by the weather or the temperature conditions of their accommodations. Soon, the Chinese will be the largest foreign group, and they are not big complainers either.

My freind arrived in Paris today, no ac but being a Floridian she said the humidity is not bad so will be ok. We know humid in Florida.

Having said all of that I can't sleep if it is hot so want my ac and love a fan blowing on me winter or summer. Last Feb the guy in apartment below us came up and knocked on our door and said the whirring noise was bothering him. God help the people staying there this week with no ac.

I think the humidity noted in charts in San Francisco is due to the fog. It is a cold humidity much of the summer, not warm.