How warm is Provence in late September? Is finding an a/c apartment important?

This may offer some insight to the weather.

https://weather.com/weather/monthly/l/dd8a44ac1f6c488dbe7a97c6ee70181641e02ae7f5acdd9e72613f939b7caf48

Select 'Sept 2018' for last years temps

I think the important part is the loft under a roof exposed to lots and lots of sun. Provence can be hot at the end of September. and is usually sunny. Of course. this depends on the location as in some places there can be a great deal of rain. Inland or coastal? Mountains or plains? Just as does the weather, the Provence landscape varies greatly. Makes a difference where you are.

We were in Provence last September 20-24. It was miserably hot - in the 90s. It was hot enough we eliminated some of our planned activities which involved climbing up sunny slopes to ruined castles. However, the evenings were lovely for outdoor dining. Inside, our room in a lovely old B and B with thick walls was still sticky hot.

We were there last sept, last 2 weeks. It was unbearably hot.
Definitely need AC and a pool wouldn’t be a bad idea.
We had a pool and never expected to actually use it, we were in it every day

joe, That is a very helpful website, thank you. We’ll be in western Provence in Sept as well - ugh, temps last year were 85-90 for the time period we’ll be there. I detest heat, especially when trying to sightsee. Maybe we’ll go back to Normandy instead... 😂

Susan-
it was an unexpected heat wave last year. We were so unprepared mentally for that- but it was HOT from Normandy to Provence for a good 2 weeks with temps in mid 90s most days. Finally cooled off once we got to Nice but then only down to mid 80s!
Luckily all of our lodgings had AC and 2 had a pool which as I said we never expected to need or use.

Thanks Joe for the helpful website!!

Good to hear some actual data, as I'm interested in same info.

But for me, I look forward to temps in 80s and 90s!

Thank you Christine, Cynthia, 75020 for your testimony. I was going by the average high in September, which is in the mid-high seventies. That it can be much higher than that is really a warning. The person who I am thinking from renting from only said that July was the hottest month. I really can't tolerate hot weather, even with a fan blowing. It is very debilitating for me, and all I can think of is air conditioning. I definitely think, now, that I'm going to have to limit my search to units with A/C. I find it bewildering that more apartments don't have A/C. Perhaps that is why there is a local swimming pool and that many units on the outskirts do have small shared pools for people to cool themselves down in the summer. (In April or in late September in Paris in the Metro, I find it unbearably hot, even though there are many Parisians in the trains with what appear to be padded thermo jackets).

ChristineH, Thank you for that uplifting news. I can only pray it’s not hot in mid-late Sept.

Denny, Yes! It boggles the mind that some Parisians wear jackets even when it’s in the high 80s. Crazy.

I suffer in 80s, 90s and 100s too. Was in Paris in 2003 when it was 103 for a week or more. It was hideous. 12,000 Parisians died from the heat. It’s bad enough when it gets that hot here where i live (106 in SF for a couple days Labor Day weekend in 2017) but being a tourist in that heat is miserable.

rizell, living in Folsom you’re more acclimated to high temps... : )

It is not a good idea to judge by averages. Some of the most easily available weather statistics (on the Wikipedia pages for most major cities) are based on a 20-year period ending in 2010. Weather seems to have gotten more extreme since then, so I think those averages are extremely suspect. You really need to look at actual, day-by-day temperatures for several recent years. I use timeanddate.com; some others use wunderground.com.

I was about ready to make a lodgings reservation at an airbnb with a strict cancellation policy (50% penalty after 3 days; steep airbnb "service" fee gone after 3 days).

Now I'm going to have to rethink where I am going to stay, from the beginning.

The places I wanted to stay at don't have A/C. The places that do have contemporary furnishings and do not please me at all (no character).

So I'm considering Nimes, Arles, even Avignon (the Dennis Callan clips on Youtube make it seem like a very interesting, pleasant even, city.

One landlord on airbnb chastised the person who had stayed at her apartment and left the fan on and had complained about how it was in the summer stated that the man arrived the temperature in the apartment was what it should be--24 degrees centigrade, which is 75 farenheit . There may be a cultural difference in terms of what constitutes a comfortable temperature inside.

I know that the Mistral in Provence can be a mighty wind. I wonder if it makes it way even into the cities as well as towns everywhere, and has a cooling effect, esp. in September onward.

Mistrals are rare in September.

I was at the base of Mt. Ventoux for two weeks in September 2018 and air conditioning never crossed my mind. We, and 100 others in the vacation village where we were staying, slept with our windows open and shutters only hinged, not locked closed. But I'm used to this, having lived in France and spending nearly every summer. So yes, you are correct, it is ENTIRELY CULTURAL. People shift to eating on terraces, balconies, sleeping with windows open, staying inside between 1-3, avoid cities during heat... My mother-in-law had a summer kitchen in the basement of her Burgundy house. Returning to US, we're amazed at the force and low AC temperatures.

We went sightseeing in Orange, Vaison, and villages, morning hikes in the mountains, so we weren't just hanging at the pool.

So choose your lodging carefully b/c AC isn't the norm in homes but more likely found in hotels. Watch for placement of the bedroom off the street and look for a quiet courtyard. Better yet, avoid city center during heat. Try small towns--or use a hotel with AC if you are sensitive to hear b/c resting well is important.

Bets,
Thank you for that message. This may be a hard one to call. I've been to France 5 times within the past 3-1/2 years but always in February, April or mid-late September. I used A/C once or twice, in Nice, in the winter because the hotel rooms got stuffy and warm in the afternoon on the warmer (70 degrees) days. I just like the idea of A/C in case it gets and stays warm, especially in at night. Having a balcony or terrace during the daytime, if I just wish to stay in, would be nice, too, as I find that just being outside, provided it there isn't the direct harsh sunlight of 12 noon, is better than staying indoors when it is warm, temperatures outside and inside being about equal.

I'm wondering how I would fare for 2 weeks in village Provence as opposed to Aix, Avignon, or even Nimes or Arles. Are warm temperatures in the countryside/semi-rural/villages easier for North Americans to deal with??

Some people find San Francisco on the cold side. I find it exhilarating: usually cool with just the right hint of warmth as the sun comes out as it usually does except during the summer.

I see where someone said the heat wave hit the second half of September. We were in Provence and the Riviera the first 3 weeks, so may not have gotten the worse.

My point is that how it's dealt with is cultural. AC is new in France, not nearly as cold or powerful as in the States, so people aren't used to it. In fact, all the French people I know who have come to the States dislike US air conditioning. There are all kinds of beliefs about catching colds, being unhealthy, etc. People just carry on--and it gives people something to gripe about. My sister-in-law installed AC in her great room after the 2003 heat wave, but I've seen it used only once in 15 years.

Sorry I can't give you more info. I just tried to give you more elements to weigh in your decision. Since you, and other coastal dwellers such as Susan, have a hard time tolerating heat, you need to decide if modern style of furnishings in the Airbnb with AC is really a deal breaker. Charm has its limits if you are drained from temperature.

I lived in San Francisco and Berkeley and loved the weather, even on The Great Highway. The problems arise when a tourist comes out of the Central Valley without a sweater, coat, warm shoes and socks in July. Kind of like going to Normandy.

Bets, that’s why you see so many tourists at the Golden Gate Bridge in tourist sweatshirts, which they had to buy, shivering in the fog... 😂

We’re staying in St Rémy at a nice hotel, Hotel du Soleil, with very good AC, per reviews on Booking.com. It’s got some charm and nice grounds, including a pool.

I don’t like AC at all, i’m an outdoor / fresh air girl, but when it’s miserably hot, i appreciate having AC.

Born and raised in SF- our favorite summer activity was to laugh at the tourists in their shorts, tank tops and flip flops while we were cozy warm in our down jackets.

"The coldest winter I ever saw was the summer I spent in San Francisco."

Anyway- we stayed here- in St-Remy- a "hotel" but has self service cottages, beautiful private grounds, pool, parking. Very very nice and that pool was so refreshing. Had it to ourselves
https://lamaisondeline.fr/home/

Thank you for sharing the link, Christine. It does look nice, "even for a hotel" (Excuse me, the last one I stayed at in Paris I hated).

ChristineH, SF has been getting warmer and warmer in the last 10+ years. Not at all unusual to get 80* temps now, depending on where in SF (there’s 30+ micro-climates in SF). Had an 80* day last week. And 106* for a few days in Sept 2017. Global warming and all that.

Oh I know!
My family is still all there- Marin county, Sonoma county, Alameda, Berkeley etc
We visit at least once a year
Actually cancelled our March trip this year cuz weather was so lousy
We’ll be there in August instead when we can count on sunny days!

ChristineH, oh that’s great you have lots of family here so you’re still connected to “home”. March, yes very dreary here with historical rain - that was a challenge. Good call to postpone. August should be sunny for sure, a good month to visit!

Thank you for the weather website. I am planning a trip to Paris in October, and was wondering the same thing. I had a look, and last October they had everything from 43-80. And here I thought October would be blissfully cool.

I think AC in France is hard to find, but if you search there are some places. Even if it is just in the bedroom, and a fan in the living room I think I would be OK. I might even bring a small travel fan to blow on my face.

I believe it is best to have A/C. Because if you don’t you will need it. And if you do have it, maybe you will get lucky and not have to use it. We will be in Provence starting June 17 for nine days and both places we are staying have air conditioning.

Thank you.

I totally agree and looked up the average temperatures for Avignon last year in September. At the end of the month I recall there were highs of in the 80's. I turn on my A/C in my apartment when it gets to 78 degrees indoors, which would mean that outside it might have gotten up to the low-mid 70's.

Really, I'm so glad I looked at this matter before booking. It would have horrible to arrive there and find that it was just too warm for me to feel comfortable.