We are visiting Paris in April and have been trying to ascertain the exact dates of the French Spring Break. I can only come up with mid-April. Anyone with more specifics? And would this mean ALL schools or just University.Obviously we could be looking at longer than usual line-ups.

http://tinyurl.com/2lug4m

This should help you..they go by Zones..........

French universities don't have a "Spring Break" as such. I believe the academic year ends c. May-June.

thanks gracejoan3..but it seems that the Paris Zone C holidays are strangely listed (wouldn't you know it) as Sat 19 April- Monday 5th April 2008. Can we 'assume' they mean Sat 19 - Monday the 28th?????

I googled another site...this is probably what was meant..........



Printemps 19-04-08 to 05-05-08

>Can we 'assume' they mean Sat 19 - Monday the 28th?????

Since it is EASTER holidays and Easter this year was the last weekend, it must have been 19.3 to 5.4.

Easter was very early this year so "Easter holidays" in Zone C are indeed from April 19 to May 5 and not in March/April.

well aware what dates Easter fell on this year altamiro BUT...I quoted the french school holidays website for ALL zones in France and ALL zones indicate the EASTER holidays are in April. Why not look for yourself.(Once again I find SOME Fodorites eager to point out the stupidity of others.)
Thanks again gracejoan3 and Pvoyageuse...looks as if we'll be in those long lines for sure.

Here is the official French Ministry of Education site:

http://www.education.gouv.fr/pid184/...-scolaire.html

Perhaps with the strong Euro, many students and their faimilies will come to the US for holiday during spring break week.

Otherwise, like you, minx, we will be in long lines!

minx -

I'm curious about your view of Paris last week. I expected Paris to be crowded - but with the exception of the Notre Dame area, I thought it was fairly quiet. Didn't seem to me, there were many kids on Spring Break or families visiting because of Spring Break here.

Your take?

Why would you expect Paris fuller when schools are on holiday?

Surely logic says Parisians are more likely to be in the country then? Most provincials have a million better things to do in their spare time than gawp at a city - and there's inevitably a small decline in the business meetings they have to go up to Paris for.

This is the final week of spring break for Parisians, and the city is emptier than usual.

However, there are tons of Italians in town on spring break.

<<Why would you expect Paris fuller when schools are on holiday?<<

I was actually thinking that Europeans, not necessarilly Parisians, would visit such a popular city while on Spring Break.

In NYC, Spring Break is overrun with tourists, not New Yorkers. And, since Spring Break is at different times for many colleges, Spring Break goes on for the whole month of April.

"Spring Break" does not fall the same week throughout Europe. The coming two weeks some schools here in the Netherlands have off, but Universities and the like do not.
3.5 million Dutch people are off on holiday this week, half of them abroad, mostly to the sun - so the Canaries and southern Spain.
Very few Europeans would consider visitng the US for only a week, New York and Las Vegas excluded, no matter how cheap the dollar gets. It still costs a lot to cross the pond and most people wouldn't put up with hours in a plane and jet lag for less than a fortnight.

I forgot to add that normally Dutch schools would have a long break at Easter and only take the public holidays off. Due to the early Easter and subsequent public holidays all falling together (Koninginnedag, Ascension Day, Pentecost) this year they have a longer holiday now.