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Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

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Original poster

Paris in the summer. Will it be dead as a dodo?

14 replies

TheRealMaryMillington · 26/04/2014 14:10

We want to go to Paris for a few days at the beginning of school summer holidays - end July/beginning of August. Not Disneyland. Prob stay Monmartre. Will it be all shut up and nothing nice and local going on? And will it be scorching?

Any advise, hive mind?

OP posts:

revolutionarytoad · 29/04/2014 11:51

When I've been in Paris in August it's been heaving with tourists (and swelteringly hot)......think the earliest in July you can would be better.

Original poster

TheRealMaryMillington · 29/04/2014 14:14

Thanks revolutionary - the earliest we could go would be last week July - same problem do you think? Are we better off in October?

OP posts:

Bonsoir · 29/04/2014 14:16

Quiet, but not dead, at end of July. There'll be plenty of tourists still. It could be very hot but if so the pools will be empty (tourists don't go swimming).

Original poster

TheRealMaryMillington · 29/04/2014 14:48

Good news on the pools Bonsoir! Cheers!
We wanted to go at May half term really but have relatives visiting from the US. I'm just wondering if we'd have a better time in October. None of us are great in the heat.
We don't want to try to do too much, mainly have a mooch about, eat nice food and I want to go to Palais de Tokyo…..

OP posts:

Bonsoir · 29/04/2014 15:17

PM me nearer the time when you have your accommodation sorted and I'll point you in the direction of the nearest nice pool!

Hairylegs47 · 29/04/2014 15:26

We went the end if July about 4 years ago and we had a great time! Still a lot of folk around - 4 queuing at the catacombs, it was DS4 14th birthday so we sucked it up.
Get tickets online for the Eiffel Tower, it'll save a long long wait. If you're going to the Louvre, go in at the side entrance not the pyramid entrance as the queues are awful there too.

PourquoiTuGachesTaVie · 29/04/2014 15:40

I went for he last week of July last year. Boiling hot and everything was open. Wasn't dead at all. Plus they had the "Paris Plage" going on as a bonus.

lazypepper · 01/05/2014 07:24

We went Mid August one year - it was packed. We still had to queue.

revolutionarytoad · 01/05/2014 20:38

Paris will never be dead! I would just budget more for more cafe pit stops and plan not to carry as much round with me, that's all- no heavy backpacks. And perhaps make a point of not being too ambitious, esp with- don't try and do the temp exhibition plus the permanent exhibition in the Musee d'Orsay for example, and go for the smaller ones (Musee Carnavalet, Musee Marmottan) rather than the Louvre.

The van Gogh/Artaud and the Paris 1900 exhibitions are good btw, if they're still there when you're there, they're well worth it.

I think October would be better really, though. I know what you mean- I hate the heat, just don't get on with it. Because there's so much to do in Paris and it's one of those cities where it's compact enough to walk around and it's so pretty, you're better off being comfortable really.

juneau · 05/05/2014 09:30

We went in August last year and yes, it was quiet, but the French take their holidays from the first weekend in August to the last weekend in August, so during that time you can expect it to be.

However, if you're travelling with small DC its fab! You can cross the streets more safely, the metro isn't packed and everything is open and not crowded. We sometimes had small playgrounds to ourselves and we hopped on and off the Batobus and always got eight seats together (we were there with another family of four). We even drove there in our own car, right through the centre of Paris on a Saturday, and the roads were quiet! I'd been dreading it (I always do the driving in strange European cities as DH is American and gets very flustered when driving British car on Euro roads), but it was actually great.

juneau · 05/05/2014 09:31

P.S. The weather in Paris is similar to London, so if there's a heatwave here, there will probably be one there. Yes, it can be hot, but it will be similar to the south of England. London and Paris are only 300 miles apart.

EatSleepRaveRepeat · 05/05/2014 21:01

We went first week on school holiday last year so around July 22-25th ish.. It was hell about 35+ degrees ,massive ques . Never again for me as I went in October one year and it was bliss

EatSleepRaveRepeat · 05/05/2014 21:02

*queues

wigglesrock · 06/05/2014 19:04

We go in October & it's gorgeous. We don't take the kids, so maybe that adds to it . The weather has been lovely for us, it's not freezing, you can sit out. To be honest we seem to spend most of our time sitting in the Luxembourg Gardens doing not very much at all.

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