Is Paris in May right for you?

Do you like sunshine? Blue skies? Gentle breezes along the Seine? The stirring of the high-season crowds — but not, yet, their full-on appearance? 

There’s loads to love about Paris in May, as shoulder season turns to high, and summer weather hasn’t yet translated into summer crowds and ultra-high prices.

Here, everything you need to know about traveling to Paris in May:

Paris in May: Quick Reference

Paris in May: Weather breakdown

Rain! Sun! Showers! Clouds! You never know what you’ll get in April, though some trends are clear: Temperatures are rising. Winds are calming. And the days are getting longer.

The average high temperature in April is 59, up from March’s 55. This chart, from WeatherSpark, shows the upward trend:

Don’t let the warming trend fool you: Mornings and evenings will be chilly. As famous as the lyrics of “April in Paris” are in the anglosphere, this saying is in France: “En avril, ne te découvre pas d’un fil”: Don’t take off a thread [of clothing] in April. Because you will be cold!

On the plus side: more and more sunshine. Or at least daylight: By the end of the month, we have a whopping 14.5 hours of daylight per day: 

Sunrise moves from 7:28 AM on April 1 to 6:31 AM on April 30, while sunset starts at 8:21 PM on April 1 and 30 days later isn’t until 9:04 PM. That’s tremendous.

So what to pack? The classic April outerwear is a trench coat, though a performance-minded rain jacket might perform just as well, if less stylishly. Rain-protective footwear will be nice, and you’ll definitely want to think about layers: tees, tops, and sweaters. The scarf-sexual French will still be wrapping yards of fabric around their upper bodies, but you can probably get away without additional winter accessories.

Crowds, Prices, and Travel Atmosphere

April in Paris is beautiful — the height of the spring shoulder season. We have events galore (Easter, the Book Fair, the marathon, etc.) and while they certainly help bump up hotel rates, they’re all fun. It’s a trade we have to make sometimes.

Usually at this point in the calendar, after being cooped up all winter, I’m dying to get into the countryside, and the many hikes around Paris can offer incredible sights and low degrees of difficulty. The fields will start turning brilliant colors — particularly the shocking yellow of the rape fields — and forests might come carpeted in bluebells.

It is, in a word, fantastic. (If rainy.)

12 Reasons to Visit Paris in May

1. La Nuit des Musées
April is the time to see the city’s flowering trees: cherries, magnolias, and more. You’ll find them in small parks all over town, in the Jardin des plantes, beneath the Eiffel Tower, and perhaps most spectacularly in the Parc de Sceaux, just outside the city and accessible via the RER. Keep your camera handy, and follow this walking tour to see one beautiful tree after another. 

2. The French Open
This iconic clay-court tennis tournament takes place in late May at Stade Roland Garros, in the 16th arrondissement, on the southern border of the Bois de Boulogne — it’s easy to reach by metro. For tennis lovers, it’s an essential visit — for everyone else, a fascinating snapshot of French sports culture. Many seats are highly exposed to the weather, so bring a hat/jacket/sunscreen.

3. La Fête du Travail and all the holidays
May offers French workers no fewer than four holidays: la Fête du Travail (Labor Day, May 1), Victory in Europe Day (May 8), Ascension (40 days after Easter), and Whit Monday (50 days after Easter). If one of these holidays occurs on a Tuesday or Thursday, expect the French to faire le pont — to make the bridge — by skipping work that Monday or Friday, as well. (Shockingly, should May 1 or May 8 fall on a Sunday, they don’t take off the following Monday —

4. La Fête du Pain (pictured above)
After the Semi de Paris half marathon in March, the full version takes place during the first half of April. Runners head east from the Champs Élysées to the Bois de Vincennes, then toward back toward the Eiffel Tower to finish on avenue Foch after a tour of the Bois de Boulogne. Flat, fast, and hugely well attended — it’s usually one of the five biggest marathons in the world.

5. Taste of Paris
The Paris Book Fair is a sweet fair for book lovers — even better if they read French. The three-day festival welcomes over 100,000 visitors to the Grand Palais, to celebrate books, authors, and reading.

6. Richelieu garden/library
Flea market season properly begins, with vide greniers (more like garage sales) popping up across Paris, and large, annual flea markets in the countryside. One of the oldest, biggest, and best is the biannual Grand Rederie d’Amiens, with over 80,000 visitors converging on the university city in northern France. It’s easy to reach by train — about an hour from the Gare du Nord — and well worth the hassle for the prices, selection, and opportunity to explore Amiens. 

7. Terrasse dining on ile Saint Louis
You’ll need a jacket, but rooftop bars reopen for business — check Le Perchoir, Créatures, ROOF, and more for jaw-dropping views (and startling bills). 

8. Arles
Beautiful walks through the countryside immediately outside Paris offer a chance to literally touch grass (and stones, and fields, and meadows). You can find many of them on All Trails, or just head for the GR1 — the Grande Randonnnée 1, a long-distance walking path that traces a 500-kilometer path around Paris, through forests, past castles, and between villages with easy train access back to Paris. 

9. Versailles
Also know as “European Artistic Crafts Days,” this weeklong series of events, exhibitions, talks, and more in early April celebrates the work of artisanal practices: ceramics, 3D printing, glassware, carpentry, silkscreen printing, papercutting, and more.

10. https://festivaljazzsaintgermainparis.com/en/
April means strawberries, asparagus, rhubarb, and peas. Look for all of these early-spring favorites to show up in fruit and vegetable shops as well as on menus, in creative ways.

10. Sardine season
Though they certainly span the yearlong calendar taken in aggregate, Paris museums generally observe a slate of major spring and fall shows. By April, the spring shows will be well and truly underway, and you’ll see catalogues from these exhibitions at bookstores all over town, not only in museum shops. Pick the ones important to you and ideally spend a whole day at the venue, à la française — taking in the show, eating lunch in the inevitably beautifully designed restaurant, closing out with a coffee and cake, etc.

11. Versailles etc
Before their summer skyward swing. Remember: You can always save money by booking early or looking outside city limits.

12. Normandy/D-Day!
It’s a good time for indoor-outdoor museums — like the Musée Rodin, with its seven-acre sculpture garden.

Downsides of Visiting in May

The downsides of visiting in May include:

• rising crowds
• higher prices, less availability for hotels and airfares
• lots of vacation days? I’m struggling here

May is a first-rate time to visit Paris, so as noted above I struggle a bit to list the downsides. Crowds are rising — but they’re not yet terrible. Airfares are getting higher, but they’re not as bad as they’ll be come June 1. And hotel occupancy is high, but not yet at June’s peaks — it’s about the same as September and October. The weather can still occasionally be blustery, but I’d rather risk bluster than the oppressive heat that will come in late July and August. And there really are many vacation days: Great news for the French, but it can be service interruptions. 

In short: the downsides to visiting in May are limited. It’s a terrific time to come.

Verdict: Is May Right for You?