At a glance
Quietest month: November. Busiest: August, with about 4.9 times as many tourist nights as November. In Paris, July is warmest (average high 25.7 °C) and May wettest (69 mm of rain).
- January: 4.3%, quieter than average
- February: 4.7%, quieter than average
- March: 5.0%, quieter than average
- April: 7.6%, quieter than average
- May: 8.6%, busier than average
- June: 10.1%, busier than average
- July: 16.6%, one of the two busiest months
- August: 19.3%, one of the two busiest months
- September: 8.7%, busier than average
- October: 6.2%, quieter than average
- November: 3.9%, quieter than average
- December: 4.8%, quieter than average
quieter than average busier than average two busiest months · each month's share of France's 2025 tourist nights; an even spread is 8.3% a month
- Weather
- Coldest: January (average low 3.2 °C). Driest: February (42 mm). Month by month
- Prices
- Restaurants and accommodation in France: about 16% above the EU average in 2025. Is France expensive?
- Holidays
- 11 national public holidays in 2026. See the dates · School holidays
- Next
- Most visited museums · Plan a trip with your dates
Measured by its share of the year's tourist nights, November was France's least crowded month in 2025, with 3.9%, and August the busiest, with 19.3%. July and August together carried 36.0% of the year, making France the sixth most seasonal of 35 European countries we measured. September was quieter than June, at 8.7% against 10.1%.
France, month by month
- Two busiest months
- Other months
When is France busiest, and when is it quietest?
August was the busiest month in 2025, with 19.3% of the year's tourist nights. November was the quietest, with 3.9%. That makes August 4.9 times as busy as November.1
Seven months each carried less than an average month's share of 8.3%: January, February, March, April, October, November and December.
Who stays in France: residents or guests from abroad?
In 2025, guests living abroad spent 32.0% of France's tourist nights. Residents of France spent the rest.1
- Highest share from abroad
- Other months
The share from abroad was highest in September, at 36.3% of that month's nights, and lowest in February, at 26.9%.1
Residents of France spent more than half of the nights in every month of the year.
Eurostat counts guests by the country they live in, not by nationality.2
How seasonal is France compared with the rest of Europe?
July and August together carried 36.0% of France's nights. Ranked by that share, France is the sixth most seasonal of the 35 European countries we measured, where 1 is the country most concentrated into its two busiest months.1
For comparison, the most seasonal country on this measure was Croatia at 54.5%, and the least seasonal was Malta at 21.8%. See all 35 countries ranked.
Which regions of France are least seasonal?
Across 27 regions, the share of 2025 tourist nights falling in each region's two busiest months ran from 18.8% in Ile de France to 51.7% in Languedoc-Roussillon.3
In 6 of the 27 regions the busiest month was not August: Guadeloupe (January), Martinique (January), La Réunion (October), Guyane (October), Mayotte (February) and Ile de France (July).3
| Region | Nights in busiest two months | Busiest | Quietest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Languedoc-Roussillon | 51.7% | August | January |
| Aquitaine | 50.1% | August | January |
| Corse | 48.7% | August | January |
| Pays de la Loire | 48.3% | August | January |
| Poitou-Charentes | 47.7% | August | January |
| Bretagne | 47.1% | August | January |
| Limousin | 45.2% | August | January |
| Auvergne | 42.5% | August | November |
| Franche-Comté | 42.5% | August | November |
| Basse-Normandie | 40.0% | August | January |
| Midi-Pyrénées | 38.1% | August | November |
| Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur | 37.1% | August | November |
| Picardie | 33.3% | August | January |
| Centre — Val de Loire | 32.5% | August | January |
| Bourgogne | 31.8% | August | January |
| Rhône-Alpes | 31.1% | August | November |
| Lorraine | 29.9% | August | January |
| Champagne-Ardenne | 29.6% | August | January |
| Haute-Normandie | 29.5% | August | January |
| Nord-Pas de Calais | 25.7% | August | January |
| Alsace | 24.8% | August | January |
| Guadeloupe | 23.7% | January | September |
| Martinique | 22.0% | January | September |
| La Réunion | 20.1% | October | February |
| Guyane | 20.1% | October | September |
| Mayotte | 20.0% | February | January |
| Ile de France | 18.8% | July | February |
Regional figures come from Eurostat's regional dataset, last updated on 2 July 2026, and can differ slightly from the national monthly figures above, which Eurostat updated in September. For France the largest monthly difference is less than 0.1%. See all 123 regions ranked.
How full are France's hotels each month?
Hotel rooms were fullest in June, when 72.3% were in use, and emptiest in January, at 51.1%.4
- Fullest month
- Other months
This is Eurostat's net occupancy rate of bedrooms: bedrooms in use divided by bedrooms available. It covers hotels and similar places only, not campsites or holiday lets, so it can peak in a different month from the nights figures above.2
Where do France's visitors from abroad come from?
Among guests living abroad, the largest group came from Germany, with 15.4% of their 2025 nights, followed by the Netherlands (13.2%) and the United Kingdom (12.1%).5
| Country of residence | Share of nights by guests from abroad |
|---|---|
| Germany | 15.4% |
| The Netherlands | 13.2% |
| United Kingdom | 12.1% |
| Belgium | 9.1% |
| United States | 8.7% |
Guests are counted by the country they live in. Eurostat publishes only some countries separately and groups the rest into regions, so smaller countries cannot appear in this list. Switzerland and Liechtenstein are published as one.
How long do guests stay in France?
Guests stayed an average of 2.5 nights each time they checked in at tourist accommodation in France in 2025: 471,645,071 nights across 189,323,103 arrivals.6 Across the 33 countries on this site with complete figures, the average ran from 1.5 nights in Iceland to 4.7 in Cyprus.6
This is our division of Eurostat's two counts. Eurostat counts an arrival each time a guest checks in at a place to stay, so a traveller who moves between places is counted more than once, and a whole trip is longer than the figure suggests.2
Did accommodation in France get more expensive in 2025?
On Eurostat's harmonised index of consumer prices, prices of accommodation services in France were 3.7% higher on average in 2025 than in 2024. Across the EU the rise was 4.1%.7
This measures how prices changed, not what a stay costs, so check the current price when you book. Accommodation services cover hotels, motels and inns; holiday centres, campsites and youth hostels; and other places to stay.
What are France's public holidays in 2026 and 2027?
France's public holidays on one page: every date with its weekday and the ones next to a weekend.
In France, public holidays fall on 11 days in both 2026 and 2027.8 In 2026, 2 of those days are a Saturday or Sunday.8 Dates are for metropolitan France.
| Holiday | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day 1er janvier | Thu 1 January | Fri 1 January |
| Easter Monday Lundi de Pâques | Mon 6 April | Mon 29 March |
| 1 May 1er mai | Fri 1 May | Sat 1 May |
| 8 May 8 mai | Fri 8 May | Sat 8 May |
| Ascension Day Ascension | Thu 14 May | Thu 6 May |
| Whit Monday Lundi de Pentecôte | Mon 25 May | Mon 17 May |
| 14 July 14 juillet | Tue 14 July | Wed 14 July |
| Assumption Assomption | Sat 15 August | Sun 15 August |
| All Saints' Day Toussaint | Sun 1 November | Mon 1 November |
| 11 November 11 novembre | Wed 11 November | Thu 11 November |
| Christmas Day Jour de Noël | Fri 25 December | Sat 25 December |
We took these dates from the official list named in the sources, not from a holiday website. The dates match the European Commission's list of public holidays for 2026.9 Regional and local holidays are not included.
When are France's school holidays in 2026–27?
France staggers its winter and spring school holidays across three zones, so the dates depend on where you are. Autumn, Christmas and summer holidays are the same in every mainland zone.10
| Holiday | Zone A | Zone B | Zone C | Corsica |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn (Toussaint) | 17 Oct – 1 Nov 2026 | 17 Oct – 1 Nov 2026 | 17 Oct – 1 Nov 2026 | 17 Oct – 1 Nov 2026 |
| Christmas | 19 Dec 2026 – 3 Jan 2027 | 19 Dec 2026 – 3 Jan 2027 | 19 Dec 2026 – 3 Jan 2027 | 19 Dec 2026 – 3 Jan 2027 |
| Winter | 13–28 Feb 2027 | 20 Feb – 7 Mar 2027 | 6–21 Feb 2027 | 13–28 Feb 2027 |
| Spring | 10–25 Apr 2027 | 17 Apr – 2 May 2027 | 3–18 Apr 2027 | 10–25 Apr 2027 |
| Ascension bridge | 7 May 2027 | 7 May 2027 | 7 May 2027 | 7–9 May 2027 |
| Summer | 3 Jul – 1 Sep 2027 | 3 Jul – 1 Sep 2027 | 3 Jul – 1 Sep 2027 | — |
Dates are the first and last day off for pupils; classes resume the next morning. Zone A: Besançon, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Limoges, Lyon and Poitiers. Zone B: Aix-Marseille, Amiens, Lille, Nancy-Metz, Nantes, Nice, Normandy, Orléans-Tours, Reims, Rennes and Strasbourg. Zone C: Créteil, Montpellier, Paris, Toulouse and Versailles. These are education authorities (académies), not just cities. The dataset has no pupils' summer date for Corsica yet.10
What is the weather like in Paris each month?
Paris weather by month on one page, with golden hour, sea temperature where there is one, and how busy each month was.
Other cities in France, month by month: Nice, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Nantes, Rennes, Lille, Dijon, Perpignan, Tours, Ajaccio, Bastia, Avignon, Biarritz, Brest, Carcassonne, Cannes.
Averaged over 1991–2020, the PARIS MONTSOURIS weather station, which we use for Paris, is warmest in July, with an average high of 25.7 °C, and coldest in January, with an average low of 3.2 °C. Its wettest month is May (69 mm of rain on average) and its driest February (42 mm).11
In November, France's quietest month, the station's average high is 11.1 °C and its average low 6.2 °C, with 54 mm of rain. In August, the busiest, the average high is 25.6 °C.11
In November the station averages 10.4 days with at least 1 mm of rain and 69 hours of sunshine.11 On 15 November the sun is up for about 9 h 10 min there, against 14 h 25 min on 15 August.12
| Month | Average high | Average low | Rain | Rainy days | Sunshine | Daylight on the 15th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7.6 °C | 3.2 °C | 48 mm | 9.9 days | 59 h | 8 h 45 min |
| February | 8.8 °C | 3.3 °C | 42 mm | 9.1 days | 83 h | 10 h 10 min |
| March | 12.8 °C | 5.6 °C | 45 mm | 9.5 days | 134 h | 11 h 50 min |
| April | 16.6 °C | 7.9 °C | 46 mm | 8.6 days | 177 h | 13 h 40 min |
| May | 20.2 °C | 11.1 °C | 69 mm | 9.2 days | 201 h | 15 h 15 min |
| June | 23.4 °C | 14.2 °C | 51 mm | 8.3 days | 203 h | 16 h 10 min |
| July | 25.7 °C | 16.2 °C | 59 mm | 7.4 days | 222 h | 15 h 45 min |
| August | 25.6 °C | 16.0 °C | 58 mm | 8.1 days | 215 h | 14 h 25 min |
| September | 21.5 °C | 13.0 °C | 45 mm | 7.5 days | 174 h | 12 h 35 min |
| October | 16.5 °C | 9.9 °C | 55 mm | 9.5 days | 118 h | 10 h 50 min |
| November | 11.1 °C | 6.2 °C | 54 mm | 10.4 days | 69 h | 9 h 10 min |
| December | 8.0 °C | 3.8 °C | 62 mm | 11.4 days | 56 h | 8 h 15 min |
Thirty-year averages from one weather station, PARIS MONTSOURIS, which we use for Paris. They describe a typical year at that station, not a forecast, and weather varies across France. A rainy day is one with at least 1 mm of rain. Daylight is not measured: it is our calculation of the time from sunrise to sunset.
June or September? May or October?
September was quieter than June, at 8.7% against 10.1%.
October was quieter than May, at 6.2% against 8.6%.
These compare months at similar distances from the summer peak. For typical weather in Paris, see the weather section.
Similar weather, quieter: ideas for August
August was France's busiest month in 2025 (19.3% of its tourist nights). These places had an average high within 2 °C and rainy days within 3 of Paris's in August, in a different country, and August took a smaller share of its 2025 tourist nights than August did of France's:
- Wrocław, Poland: average high 25.4 °C, 7.9 rainy days; August was 13.9% of Poland's year.
- Frankfurt, Germany: average high 25.7 °C, 8.8 rainy days; August was 12.4% of Germany's year.
- Vienna, Austria: average high 26.1 °C, 7.9 rainy days; August was 13.3% of Austria's year.
- Prague, Czechia: average high 25.7 °C, 8.9 rainy days; August was 13.9% of Czechia's year.
- Geneva, Switzerland: average high 26.2 °C, 7.8 rainy days; August was 12.8% of Switzerland's year.
Weather: 1991–2020 averages at each city's weather station (World Meteorological Organization normals in Europe, Japan Meteorological Agency in Japan); a rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. “Quieter” compares a month with the rest of that place's own year. Try another month or place. All quieter alternatives to France in August.
What these figures cannot tell you
These figures are good at one thing: showing when a country's registered tourist accommodation fills up. Four things they cannot do.
They miss some small places. The counts cover hotels, holiday and short-stay accommodation and campsites, but countries may exclude establishments with fewer than ten bed places, so small guesthouses can be missing.2
Nights are not queues. A national monthly total cannot see how busy one old town, beach or museum is on a given day.
Tourist nights say nothing about weather or prices. The weather section uses 30-year averages from one station, not a forecast. The price section shows how accommodation prices changed, not what a stay costs.
They are one year. These are 2025 figures. Patterns shift from year to year, and Eurostat revises its data as countries update their returns.
The full year
| Month | Share of year | Nights | From abroad |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.3% | 20,490,211 | 31.6% |
| February | 4.7% | 22,198,333 | 26.9% |
| March | 5.0% | 23,774,050 | 31.6% |
| April | 7.6% | 35,904,037 | 30.7% |
| May | 8.6% | 40,427,362 | 30.0% |
| June | 10.1% | 47,579,872 | 35.6% |
| July (one of the two busiest months) | 16.6% | 78,519,328 | 33.8% |
| August (one of the two busiest months) | 19.3% | 91,232,100 | 29.0% |
| September | 8.7% | 41,254,854 | 36.3% |
| October | 6.2% | 29,057,152 | 32.8% |
| November | 3.9% | 18,497,668 | 29.4% |
| December | 4.8% | 22,710,104 | 34.2% |
Total for 2025: 471,645,071 nights, 32.0% of them by guests living abroad. The two busiest months are marked. "From abroad" is the share of that month's nights spent by guests living outside France.
More about France
- Public holidays in France 2026 and 2027
- When to visit Paris
- When to visit Nice
- When to visit Marseille
- When to visit Lyon
- When to visit Bordeaux
- When to visit Toulouse
- When to visit Strasbourg
- When to visit Montpellier
- When to visit Nantes
- When to visit Rennes
- When to visit Lille
- When to visit Dijon
- When to visit Perpignan
- When to visit Tours
- When to visit Ajaccio
- When to visit Bastia
- When to visit Avignon
- When to visit Biarritz
- When to visit Brest
- When to visit Carcassonne
- When to visit Cannes
- France or Belgium? When each is busy and quiet
- France or Germany? When each is busy and quiet
- France or Italy? When each is busy and quiet
- France or Luxembourg? When each is busy and quiet
- France or Portugal? When each is busy and quiet
- France or Spain? When each is busy and quiet
- France or Switzerland? When each is busy and quiet
- National parks of France
- How many days do visitors spend in each European country?
- Is it expensive? Price levels in Europe and Japan, 2025
- Which months is accommodation dearest? Europe by country
- Bathing water quality in Europe by country, 2025
- Is France expensive? Official price levels, 2025
- School holidays in France 2026–2027
- Most visited museums in France
- Long weekends 2026 and 2027
- Austria's motorway vignette and France's Crit'Air sticker
Officially recognised in France
- European Capital of Culture: Paris (1989), Avignon (2000), Lille (2004), Marseille-Provence (2013), Bourges (2028).
- European Green Capital: Nantes (2013), Grenoble (2022).
- European Heritage Label: 6 sites.
Show the 6 sites
- Abbey of Cluny, France (2014)
- Robert Schuman's House, Scy-Chazelles, France (2014)
- European District of Strasbourg, France (2015)
- Memorial of the Natzweiler-Struthof Concentration Camp (2017) – shared with Germany
- Lieu de Mémoire du Chambon-sur-Lignon (France) (2019)
- Rashi of Troyes – Places of Remembrance (France) (2025)
- European Capital of Smart Tourism: Lyon (2019), Bordeaux (2022).
Source: European Commission (Capitals of Culture, Green Capital and Green Leaf, Heritage Label, Smart Tourism), checked 1 Oct 2026. © European Union, CC BY 4.0; lists reformatted by Traveloffsy. Not endorsed by the Commission. See all officially recognised places.
Key takeaways
- November was France's quietest month in 2025, with 3.9% of the year's tourist nights.
- July and August were the busiest, carrying 36.0% of the year between them.
- France ranks 6 of 35 European countries for seasonal concentration, where 1 is the most concentrated.
- Guests living abroad spent 32.0% of France's 2025 tourist nights; residents spent the rest.
- Hotel rooms were fullest in June (72.3% in use) and emptiest in January (51.1%).
- Public holidays in France fall on 11 days in both 2026 and 2027.
- France's winter and spring school holidays are staggered across three zones; summer 2027 runs from 3 July to 1 September for pupils.
- September was quieter than June, at 8.7% against 10.1%.
- What we would skip: assuming every shoulder month is equally quiet. In France, June carried 10.1% of the year's nights against September's 8.7%.
Sources
The tourism and hotel figures on this page come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, which receives them from each country's national statistical authority. The weather averages come from the World Meteorological Organization's 1991–2020 climate normals, published by the US National Centers for Environmental Information. We downloaded the data directly and calculated the shares, rankings and comparisons ourselves. See how we research.
- Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NIM, accessed 25 September 2026. Dataset last updated by Eurostat on 22 September 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests and split by guests resident in the country and abroad, January–December 2025.
- Eurostat, Tourist accommodation reference metadata, on collection by national authorities under Regulation (EU) 692/2011, the definition of a night spent, country of residence, and the ten-bed-place threshold. Read it. Checked 17 September 2026.
- Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments by month and NUTS 2 region, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NIN2M, accessed 22 September 2026. Dataset last updated by Eurostat on 2 July 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests, 2025, by month. Region names are Eurostat's.
- Source: Eurostat, Net occupancy rate of bed-places and bedrooms in hotels and similar accommodation – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_MNOR, accessed 22 September 2026. Extract: bedrooms, percentage, January–December 2025.
- Source: Eurostat, Nights spent at tourist accommodation establishments by country of origin of the tourist, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_NINRAW, accessed 22 September 2026. Extract: number of nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, 2025.
- Source: Eurostat, Arrivals at tourist accommodation establishments – monthly data, doi:10.2908/TOUR_OCC_ARM, with the nights data (tour_occ_nim), accessed 25 September 2026. Extract: number of arrivals and nights, NACE codes I55.1–I55.3, all guests, January–December 2025. Average stay is our calculation: nights divided by arrivals.
- Source: Eurostat, HICP – annual data (average index and rate of change), doi:10.2908/PRC_HICP_AIND, accessed 22 September 2026. Extract: accommodation services (COICOP CP112), annual average rate of change, 2025.
- Public holidays: data.gouv.fr, Jours fériés en France (Licence Ouverte 2.0). Read it. Accessed 23 September 2026.
- European Commission, Public holidays 2026, Official Journal of the European Union C/2025/6771, ELI. Used only as a cross-check. Accessed 23 September 2026.
- School holidays: Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, Le calendrier scolaire, data.education.gouv.fr, last updated 18 September 2026. Licensed under Licence Ouverte 2.0. Read it. Accessed 23 September 2026.
- Weather: WMO Member Nations (2023). WMO Climatological Standard Normals for 1991-2020 (NCEI Accession 0253808), station PARIS_MONTSOURIS (station ID 00007156), mean daily maximum and minimum temperature, precipitation and number of days with at least 1 mm of precipitation, and total hours of sunshine, normals computed from at least 24 years. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. doi:10.25921/800j-vn07. Accessed 22 September 2026. Released by NOAA under CC0.
- Daylight: our calculation of the time from sunrise to sunset on the 15th of each month of 2026 at the weather station's location, by the method of the NOAA Solar Calculator (NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, “Solar Calculation Details”, based on Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms, allowing 0.833° for refraction and the size of the sun). Read it. Checked 22 September 2026. NOAA notes that calculated times can differ from what is observed.
Modified data. The monthly shares, residence shares, rankings and comparisons are our own calculations from Eurostat's counts. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place, so they may not add exactly. Eurostat bears no responsibility for these calculations or for how the figures are presented here. Rainfall is rounded to the nearest millimetre; temperatures are shown as published.