France itinerary advice - May or September?

Ellen - The last 2 weeks of May is fine. The weather will be mild and not too hot. September is very busy month in Paris with Fashion week plus other conventions happening around town. Hotel prices might be very high in September. What's your two week itinerary look like since you plan to start in Paris and how many days will you allocate to each city?

September is the best month IMHO with October a close and May a close third. The weather may be hot in September. It is likely to be rainy in May -- very unpredictable. October has been great when we have visited then -- jacket cool but not terribly cold or rainy.

September is also the busiest month for hotels and lodging. June is more crowded than May.

I would check actual, day-by-day, historical weather statistics for your destinations on timeanddate.com before assuming you will not need (or at least wish for) air conditioning in late May. Real weather data for recent years is a lot more useful than averages--some of which are based on periods ending back in 2000 or 2010. I'd check the historical weather for least 2017-2019, and going back five years would be better.

I've linked to the May 2019 data for Nice because Menton's stats didn't seem to be available. Note than Menton is the warmest place on the Riviera in the winter and might be a few degrees warmer than Nice (or not) in May. And don't assume that Annecy has mountain weather. It was very hot there during my summer 2017 visit, though May might well be safe.

I would go with May because of Spring and especially because you only have to wait four months to take your exciting trip rather than eight.

The Monaco Grand Prix is May 24th, the whole coast around Nice and Monaco will be a zoo. Hotel prices will be inflated as well.

Both are lovely — there is also a French holiday towards the end of May that means that some French people will also be traveling.

Edit: Thursday May 21 is Ascension
June 1 is Pentecost.

Both are holidays in France.

Ellen - To avoid conflict with the Monaco Grand Prix on May 24th, your two weeks can be last week of May and first week of June. Since you will be starting your journey in Paris, you wouldn't be in the French Riviera until the first week of June after the Grand Prix is over to fly home. Work around the holidays or events.

You guys are so awesome! Seriously this whole planning process is a learning experience. At some point I just need to just stop planning and start booking.

RJean - My itinerary as of today is 4 nights in Paris, train to Annecy and 4 nights in Annecy, then I'm getting creative and renting a car and driving the Route Napolean, taking a look at the Verdon Gorge .. so far I'm thinking 2 nights on this road trip .. then ending somewhere on the Cote d'Azure for 3 nights (arr 5/29, leave 6/1). Per your second note - I could shift my dates , but I found what looks like a great rental in Paris that is only available up to 5/23 ... So I'm thinking I would be OK?

Janettravels44 -- I was avoiding October because I think an earlier reply said that was the rainy season -- so wetter than May was what I understood? I wish I could predict the weather but I realize that I cannot and will just deal with it. But if I can improve my chances slightly ... and to acraven's point I will take a look at weather history.

KevinK --- Exactly!

Allan - yes I was planning around Monaco GP. I'm an F1 fan so would love to see it in Monaco -- but I'm also crowd averse, and not a millionaire, so that's not happening. What I've seen is that rentals seem to be available with rates that seem affordable during that time.

As Kim pointed out the holidays ... Ascention day in Paris - would that present any particular problems other than shops and museums would be closed -- maybe some (or alot?) of restaurants closed? I can deal with that. For Pentacost, that would be the day I would need to take a train to the Nice airport - would that be doable?

I LOVE traveling in Europe in September and highly recommend it. I make my first stop north and work my way south to follow the preferential weather. I can not tolerate the heat beyond about 8i5 degrees during the day. Nights in September also start to cool off so sleeping is easier in southern places and around the Mediterranean.
I think it is the most beautiful time of year and there are less crowds especially second week of September onwards when the worlds schools are back in session. Have a great time!

Those two holidays are not a terribly big deal — it would be different advice if May 1 were among your dates. Just as long as you are aware that public transport will be on a holiday schedule and some (but not nearly all) things will be closed, you will be fine.

P.s. my parents came to visit me here several times over the years, and May was their absolute favorite time to visit.

I have no reference to traveling to France in May, but we enjoyed the month of September on our trip from Paris to the south of France several years ago. The temperature was comfortable, and fortunately no rain. From reading previous threads, checking weather history is helpful.

I would reverse your itinerary.

I think the last two weeks of September and the first week of October, give or take, are my sweet spots in Paris. The fashion show crowd drives up some hotel prices for part of that, but I don’t think they really impact crowds at tourist spots. Finish the trip in Paris to experience La Nuit Blanche festivities.

In this case I would not make a choice based on expected weather conditions. Weather's unpredictable in most of Europe at any time and in the past 2-3 years, there have been extreme conditions. You can get an idea by looking at the timeanddate.com site for "past weather" where you can see actual daily conditions for a city for any month for the past 10 years.

I suspect that the likelihood of rain is low on the Mediterranean in May and in September. Paris can be drizzly or sizzly in May and in September. Much more important are the crowds. May sounds much better to me since early September is still summer. I don't think there's much drop off in tourism before mid-Sept. But that's based more on gut feeling than any actual data I've seen.

We have stayed entire Mays and entire Octobers several times and May was always rainier and colder. We had pretty good weather the last two Mays we stayed -- last year and the year before. But it is all somewhat unpredictable and with climate change even more so. Here is October 31 a few years back -- this is pretty much what October has been like for us in the several months we have stayed in October:
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/stroll-on-a-sunny-oct-31-parc-citroen-to-the-eiffel-tower/
The year we did the Eiffel Tower in October, the Oct 5 we had tickets was literally the only day it rained during the day that entire month; there were a few night time showers.

I prefer the long days of the of May and into June.

To simply dispel the idea that it doesn’t rain on the Riviera in May: several years in a row there have been major rains, flash flooding, mudslides, seaside restaurants destroyed and even the drowning deaths of four people in Cannes in a subterranean garage. So it can rain on the coast in May. Personally, it’s a coin toss.

Seconding Bets but this time for September. Mountains, warm Med makes for possibly very bad September weather along the coast, really serious stuff with landslides, flooding and more. Read past weather info. carefully

The point about the length of the days is important, at least to me. Weather is highly variable; sunrise and sunset times are not. You will absolutely have a lot more daylight hours in May than in September. That's important to some of us, but by no means to all.

I spent May 2017 along the Riviera and in Provence. My first stop was Nice. I arrived on a sunny day (May 1), exhausted after the overnight flight and ready for a nice long nap. The hotel manager practically forced me to go right out and walk around. I didn't understand why, but I complied. Later I realized that arrival day had been the best day of my 2 weeks in Nice from the weather standpoint. The manager knew how unusual it was at that time of year. I later talked to him about how unsettled/overcast it had been. He said I was experiencing a typical May, that the weather was often more reliable in April. Except for one chilly day when I got soaked to the skin, the temperatures were quite pleasant. I'd be happy to return to southern France in May. I'd have to do some research on timeanddate.com to see how early I'd want to go to Paris.

I arrived in Nice last year in late May. I had wonderful weather for an entire week, but a few people told me it was the first nice weather they'd had, and that it had been cool and rainy for a while before my arrival.

About the Monaco Grand Prix - I visited Monaco less than a week after the race ended, and some of the grandstands and markers were still in place. That was kind of fun to see.