What month for Paris?
 

For many years now we have been going to Paris in September. Now we would like to see the charms od Paris at a different time of year.

What is your favorite month in Paris and why?

May. Weather is great, not too many tourists yet, still hotel deals to be had, long days and pretty gardens. Just avoid Labor Day (May 1) since everythng is closed.

April in Paris? Flowers abloom but can also be rather rainy. But spring is in the air and folks are getting out in the parks again, etc.

Though August is just a month before September August is so very very different - mainly since many Parisians are out of town on holiday - at the seaside or down in Provence, etc.

This means that the city's normally obnoxious vehicular traffic is at bay - some thoroughfares are even turned into pedestrian ways or even to make the Paris Plage - or beach next to the Seine, covering up the busy Seine-side Right Bank highway. the skies are much clearer and the air cleaner - heck you may even be able to see those 40 miles around or so they hype from the Tour Eiffel in August.

Yup there are loads of tourists so lines are longer at museums but hotel-wise August is not peak season so hotels are more available and some can really have special deals - the hotels that normally cater to a business or convention clientele - a clientele that is not there during August. And you can easily drive into the city, etc.

We like March April, and Sept, Oct, November

May - it is nearly legendary that you cannot beat Paris in May,

Here's another vote for May. You'll find less expensive airfares (generally) earlier in the month. EJ

Purely anecdotal info: I had better weather this past April than I have had in May in the past. And I believe that average rainfall in April is lower than May.

May has many, many holidays. People 'bridge' them and a lot of closings, along with many 'manifestations', it seems.

I think the only months that I have not been in Paris are Jan. and March, and I will soon take care of that. That is excluding the summer months. I do not travel in June, July, August. I leave those months to the families who do not have the choice of months.

Paris is great whenever!

Joan

As a Paris resident, I can honestly say that I enjoy all the months, each for different reasons. However, I most enjoy the summer months, when the town empties and they set up Paris Plage along the Seine and free outdoor movies in various places and spontaneous musicians play for the city. I get drunk on the lazy warm nights, when the inhabitants leisurely loiter outside in each and every quartier, whether on cafe terraces or for quiet midnight picnics. I get happy past noon in shady corners of my favorite gardens, laying on the grass with a book, shoes and socks shed. I get energized by opening my windows at the start and end of those very long days, when the rosy dawn is up well before the town wakes and the merles are singing on the rooftops, and when the evening light valiantly holds off the night for impossible hours on end, and we trade glimpses with anonymous neighbors and catch half phrases from the politely quiet hubbub of Parisian life. Voila.