September or October?

While I'd like to travel someday in the dead of winter or other "off season", it happens to work best for us, like most folks, to go in the summer or September. If it were a little less busy (?) in France in general in October vs September, that would be appealing. You do have shorter daylight hours to consider.

I've been to France in both September and October and the weather in September has usually been fine. But, I was in Paris for two weeks last September and it rained most days. It was much cooler when we were there in October. It does get dark early, especially when they switch off daylight savings time. I always say that the weather is one variable I have no control over, so I just go prepared for whatever happens.

You'll never know with any certainty, at this point, what the weather will be--but you can look at averages for each of the 2 months, at some of the weather sites.

One thing you can know for sure is the difference in the amount of daylight you'll have to see things outdoors, comparing the 2 months. Several websites give times, focus on the time of "civil twilight" as well as the time of technical sunset.

In 2011 I was in Paris the 2nd week of October. We got one day of off and on light rain. The rest of the time it was cool but nice. I didn't feel that it got dark too early, as I like Paris at night. My first visit was in early August and it was light until around 10:00 p.m. I also spent almost 2 weeks in late December-early January once and it got dark really early and it was very cold that year. We will be back this October and I can't wait!

You must be planning Paris. September is likelier to have good weather more of the time, plus longer days. The flip side is more crowds and higher hotel prices, which might or might not be true of apartment rents. We went last October and it rained more than we liked, but this year could be entirely different. All else equal I'd pick September for weather.

The old saying applies though: There's no bad weather, only wrong clothing. ; )

Thank you...we have booked for Sept.

Thank you...we have booked for Sept.

If you are in Paris, be sure not to miss Les Journees du Patrimoine. It's usually the 3rd weekend in September. It's an opportunity to see many public buildings (i.e. palaces) that are closed to the public the rest of the year. It's well worth standing in line to see the National Assembly, the Hotel de Ville, the Luxembourg Palace and other buildings. Many foreign embassies also open their doors and put on special exhibitions.