Best time to travel to Paris and the South of France

We've been to France 3 times, once in the spring (April) and 2 times at the end of September. We liked September better.

Days will be longer in the spring.

I've been to France in May, July, and August, never in September. I had lovely weather in May but I've heard that September is nice also. I wouldn't worry too much about the holidays in May if you're on a tour unless you know for sure a particular place you have your heart set on seeing is closed the day the tour is there, that would be the only reason I would use holidays as a criteria for determining which month to go in. Tours will work around any holidays and adjust their itineraries accordingly.

EDIT Acraven is right, you'll have an additional hour or so of daylight in May, if that's important.

We've been in Paris in spring and fall, weather is OK generally speaking, but late September gets into a higher risk of rainy days, also less daylight as noted by others. I wouldn't worry about national holidays if you're on a tour, in fact they might add to the experience. I'd say on balance go for early May, but you'll probably find September fine too.

If you'll stay longer on the south coast with a beach day in mind, then I believe the Med will be warmer and more swimmable in mid-October (when I'm most often there) than in May.

September hands down. We used to travel to these places in May because our work made that possible but weather is much consistently better in September and we now always book in Sept/Oct for trips like these.

It is true that May has many holidays - May 1 is the biggest one, like Labour Day - and some businesses (like restaurants, shops) will take advantage to stretch that out a day or two and close. Banks will be open, transportation will run normally - unless there are organized peaceful demonstrations blocking some streets.

If you don't mind a little light rain, I'd go in mid to late September. Just make sure to wear a water-proof jacket with a hood or rain hat - umbrellas will be useless if it's windy. It won't be very cold in late September.

We've only ever gone in mid Sept to mid Oct. Generally the weather has been perfect (well, I like autumn weather, so...heat wise). On the flip side, when we were in the south of France in 2014 in early-mid-Oct, we hit the torrential rain that caused flooding and destruction in Cannes area. Luckily, we weren't in the worst hit spot, we were in Provence - but did end up seeing and experiencing some flooding on the roads. A few days later, we were in Nice and the weather was hot and perfect (it felt like what August does at home).

Like anything, weather is a crap shoot.

We will be visiting Paris next year in late April for a few days - hoping to see the cherry/almond trees in bloom! I still prefer autumn travel, but if I want to see the tulips in the Netherlands, April it's gotta be!

We've been to France in every month of the year except July and August. While there are no guarantees, early May and late September are among the nicest times. May has the advantage of being light later (when we spent a week in Burgundy in late May we'd be sitting outside on our terrace drinking wine in the evening, then eventually one of us would say that it's probably time to think about getting dinner together, and when I looked at my watch it was something like 9:30.), while September has the advantage of lots of fresh vegetable and mushrooms available, and plenty of flowers and foliage still.

Hi Nancy, another vote for September. In my experience (7 vacations in France - 4 in May, 3 in September), the weather was more moderate in September.

May can be rainy and cold. During 2 trips in May, it rained almost every day (in 2009 it rained 10 out of 12 days)...

I've found September to be warmer and sunnier, with less days of rain.

PS - I've done both of the wonderful tours you mentioned, love France!

The past three years we have traveled in several parts of France by car during the latter part of September and the early part of October. Apart from an occasional rainy day, weather has been no problem, and nothing is closed at times other than as shown in the Michelin green guides. Be prepared to layer your clothes. As a man I always have a cashmere sweater, blazer and windbreaker, and they have been adequate.

All my visits to Paris have been in Paris in May, June, July, and August. Between the two choices, I vote for May over the end of Sept.

For Paris, I would go for less daylight. Paris is so beautiful after dark. In early May, sunset's not till after 9 pm, so you have to stay up pretty late to enjoy the lights. By the mid-September, sunset's before 8 pm.