When to Go to France
By Rick Steves and Steve Smith
Spring and fall are best, with generally good weather and fewer crowds, though summer brings festivals, livelier villages, reliable weather, and long hours at sights.
Weekends in May — with its many holidays — can be busy anywhere, but June is generally quiet outside of Paris. In July and August, vacationing Europeans jam the Riviera, the Dordogne, and the Alps. And although many businesses close in August, you'll hardly notice.
Winter travel is fine for Paris, Nice, Avignon, and Lyon, but small cities are buttoned up tight. The weather is gray, milder in the south (unless the wind is blowing), and colder and wetter in the north. Sights keep shorter hours and some tourist activities (such as English-language tours) disappear, though hotels and restaurants are much calmer.
What's Blooming When
Thanks to France's relatively mild climate, fields of flowers greet the traveler much of the year:
Mid-April–May: Crops of brilliant yellow colza bloom, mostly in the north (best in Burgundy). Wild red poppies (coquelicots) begin sprouting in the south.
June: Red poppies pop up throughout the country. Late in June, lavender blooms begin covering the hills of Provence.
July: Lavender is in full swing in Provence, and sunflowers are awakening. Cities, towns, and villages everywhere overflow with carefully tended flowers.
August–September: Sunflowers flourish north and south.
October: In the latter half of the month, the countryside glistens with fall colors, as most trees are deciduous. Vineyards go for the gold.
Steve Smith is the co-author of the Rick Steves France guidebook.