A.C. in Paris

We'll still get questions about this, about 9 months from now, I predict.

42.7 centigrade or thereabouts.

109F

was it a dry heat? ;)

It was thick as soupe aux pois.

many restaurants including some of our favorites don't have AC and when they do, it is often a lame single over the door unit that is not up to the challenge. Most apartments do not have AC and in many areas there are restrictions on running them at night due to noise bothering other residents. The portable 'penquino' units are fairly useless even if not moldy which they have been in our experience. Any choice to travel to Paris in Summer (or elsewhere in Europe) should be made very carefully with AC in mind IMHO.

I did notice from pictures posted by friends that the usual restrictions on jumping in fountains seem to have been relaxed during the worst of the heat wave; saw lots of pictures of people in the fountains at Trocadero.

I'm glad you posted this. We are going to Paris next May and my husband insisted on a room with AC (he can't sleep if it's too warm). I thought this was going to limit the choice of accommodation (and it did), and RS says you don't need one. But I too hate the heat, so when I searched Air BNB I eliminated all of the ones without an air conditioner, which was most of them. I could have gotten a lower-priced apartment without AC, but I feel better now about reserving the slightly more expensive one. The way I see it, if you're physically miserable because of the heat, you won't have as much fun in Paris!

To dcpurves: I often use Accor hotels, specifically the Ibis chain, for the sake of the a.c. and good Wifi. True on this recent trip for both Paris and London and, in Paris, astonishingly cheap (but specifically for July.) Ibis rooms can be very small but they are efficiently maintained. Pretty fair breakfasts included (no hot dishes). The chain has made a virtue of bland, which means no bad surprises.

The days of AC not needed in Europe is over!

You are unlikely to need AC in May but I would never be there in June without if I could help it. The worst night we ever spent in a hotel was the Hotel des Grande Ecoles on the top floor in a room with zero cross draft that we measured at 100F in the afternoon. It actually cooled down outside a bit at night but we couldn't get the room cool because of the lack of cross draft. If they installed one of the ceiling vent fans at the top of the staircase as is done in every midwestern farmhouse, it would have cooled right down. This was in early June a few years ago and the temperatures were in the high 80s outside.

Air conditioning is our friend in most places we travel during the summer. Think of it as an insurance policy.

We always find a place with a/c in cities as it reduces outdoor noise. The problem we found with the heat in Paris was that restaurants who claim to have a/c, have weak, or insufficient units, and often have their front doors wide open.