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Yes, March is a great time to visit France if you want quiet sites and the first mild days of spring. It is the beginning of spring: many places reopen, the weather gets better week after week and the days lengthen fast. The month changes a lot, though, from start to finish and from the Channel coast to the Mediterranean, so this guide takes it from early to late March, and region by region.
Table Of Contents
- France in March at a glance
- Weather in France in March
- When to visit France in March: early, mid or late?
- March vs February vs April: which month is best?
- Crowds, prices and what’s open in March
- Where to go in France in March
- The main events in France in March 2027
- 6 tips for visiting France in March
- My 2 best itineraries for France in March
- FAQ: France in March
- Is March worth it? My verdict
France in March at a glance
| Topic | What to expect | My advice |
|---|---|---|
| Weather | Longer and longer days, mild, with sunny spells and the odd spring shower | Pack layers and a light waterproof: nights stay cool everywhere, from 1 to 8°C on average |
| Crowds | Very few tourists overall: in the countryside and on the coasts, hotels sell about half as many nights as in August. Paris, Lyon and the ski resorts stay busy | Enjoy the quiet sites. For skiing, the slopes are calmer after the first week of March |
| Prices | Generally rather low across France | Book early for the ski resorts and the Easter weekend (27 to 29 March in 2027) |
| Countryside | Generally quieter, and waking up: many sites and tours reopen now, or start to. Some stay closed until late March or April (Monet’s garden at Giverny, the Gouffre de Padirac cave near the Dordogne, the boat trips on the Dordogne river), but many are open all year, such as Castelnaud castle and Lascaux IV: plenty remains open | Check each site’s opening days against your dates: we do it for every trip we plan |
| Cities | Lively all month: hotels in the Paris region are almost as full as in summer | Book your Paris hotel as early as in any other season, and keep the museums for a showery day |
Weather in France in March
These are Météo-France averages for 1991 to 2020, from one reference station per region: click a region to open its official climate sheet. Each cell gives the usual sky of the month, then the average temperature in the afternoon (day) and at night. Read them as benchmarks, not as a forecast.
| Region | February | March | April |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paris | ⛅☁️ Day 9°C (48°F) Night 3°C (37°F) | ⛅ Day 13°C (55°F) Night 6°C (43°F) | ⛅ Day 17°C (63°F) Night 8°C (46°F) |
| Loire Valley | ⛅☁️ Day 9°C (48°F) Night 2°C (36°F) | ⛅ Day 13°C (55°F) Night 4°C (39°F) | 🌤️ Day 16°C (61°F) Night 6°C (43°F) |
| Normandy (Mont-Saint-Michel, Bayeux) | ⛅☁️ Day 9°C (48°F) Night 3°C (37°F) | ⛅ Day 12°C (54°F) Night 4°C (39°F) | ⛅ Day 14°C (57°F) Night 6°C (43°F) |
| Alsace (Strasbourg) | ⛅☁️ Day 7°C (45°F) Night 0°C (32°F) | ⛅ Day 12°C (54°F) Night 3°C (37°F) | 🌤️ Day 17°C (63°F) Night 6°C (43°F) |
| Lyon | ⛅ Day 9°C (48°F) Night 1°C (34°F) | 🌤️ Day 14°C (57°F) Night 4°C (39°F) | 🌤️ Day 17°C (63°F) Night 7°C (45°F) |
| French Alps (Bourg-Saint-Maurice) | ⛅ Day 8°C (46°F) Night −3°C (27°F) | 🌤️ Day 13°C (55°F) Night 1°C (34°F) | ⛅ Day 16°C (61°F) Night 4°C (39°F) |
| Basque Country (Biarritz) | 🌦️ Day 13°C (55°F) Night 5°C (41°F) | 🌦️ Day 15°C (59°F) Night 7°C (45°F) | 🌦️ Day 17°C (63°F) Night 9°C (48°F) |
| Toulouse | ⛅ Day 11°C (52°F) Night 3°C (37°F) | 🌤️ Day 15°C (59°F) Night 6°C (43°F) | 🌤️ Day 18°C (64°F) Night 8°C (46°F) |
| Provence (Avignon) | ☀️ Day 12°C (54°F) Night 2°C (36°F) | ☀️ Day 17°C (63°F) Night 5°C (41°F) | ☀️ Day 20°C (68°F) Night 8°C (46°F) |
| French Riviera (Nice) | ☀️ Day 14°C (57°F) Night 6°C (43°F) | ☀️ Day 15°C (59°F) Night 8°C (46°F) | ☀️ Day 17°C (63°F) Night 11°C (52°F) |
☀️ mostly sunny · 🌤️ sunny spells · ⛅ sun and cloud · ⛅☁️ often cloudy · 🌦️ sunshine and showers. Avignon has no sunshine record, so the Provence icon uses Carpentras, nearby.
March is the month when France warms up: in Paris, afternoons gain about four degrees from February to March, and as much again by April. Nights stay cool everywhere, so a warm layer for the evening is worth packing. In the Alps, it still snows on a few days in March, even down in the valleys.
What the table cannot show is how much the month changes from start to finish. The days lengthen fast: you end the month with almost two more hours of daylight than you started it with.
When to visit France in March: early, mid or late?
Early March: the last of winter, ski and mimosa
Early March has a touch of winter: the weather can still be cold, the days are a little shorter and some countryside sites have not reopened yet. But there are fewer visitors, and it is a really good time for a trip. On the Riviera, the mimosa is still in flower. In the Alps, it is full ski season, and the slopes get quieter after the first week of the month.
Mid-March: calm sites and the spring equinox
Mid-March is the quiet heart of the month. Easter is still two weeks away, so outside the cities the big sites are calm, and in the Alps the slopes are quieter than at the start of the month. The days keep getting longer, and the spring equinox falls on 20 March. On the Riviera, the mimosa is in its last days. At Mont-Saint-Michel, the biggest tides of the month come just after the equinox (more in the Mont-Saint-Michel section below).
Late March: the start of the spring season
The end of the month opens the spring season. In 2027, Easter falls on Sunday 28 March, and the clocks go forward that same weekend: from then on, the sun sets after 8 p.m. in Paris. Some sites switch to longer spring hours at the end of March, like Chambord, and others reopen after the winter, like the Gouffre de Padirac, a huge cave near the Dordogne valley (at the end of March in 2026). Easter also brings its festivities, from the Easter markets in Alsace to the Easter Feria in Arles and the Easter Festival in Aix-en-Provence (see the March events below). It is a lovely time to travel: just book the Easter weekend early.
March vs February vs April: which month is best?
The weather table above shows the curve from one month to the next; what really sets the three months apart is the calendar.
- February is still winter, and the month of the French ski holidays, so the Alps are at their busiest. On the Riviera, it is the month of the winter festivals, such as the Lemon Festival in Menton, the last French town before Italy. More in France in winter.
- March sits in between: outside Paris, Lyon and the ski resorts, hotels sell about half as many nights as in summer, and prices are a little lower than in April.
- April is when spring settles in: Giverny and the gardens reopen, afternoons reach 16 to 20°C from the Loire Valley to Provence, and the popular places get busier, so they need booking earlier. More in France in spring.
If you want quiet sites and the first mild days, March is the better compromise; if gardens are the point of your trip, April is worth the wait.
Crowds, prices and what’s open in March
March is one of the quietest months of the year for French hotels: in 2026, they sold 15.3 million nights in March, against 24.4 million in August, according to INSEE, France’s national statistics office. The quiet is not the same everywhere, though, and it helps to know where it applies.
- The countryside and the coasts are at their calmest. In Normandy, in Provence and on the Riviera, or in Occitanie, the region of Toulouse and Montpellier, hotels sold half as many nights or fewer in March 2026 as in August, and in the Dordogne barely a quarter.
- The cities are already busy. In Paris, hotel nights in March 2026 were not far below their July level, and Lyon is in the same position. Museums, restaurants and shows run at full speed.
- The Alps are still in high season. In Savoie, home to many of the big ski resorts, hotels sold almost twice as many nights in March as in August.
Prices follow the same pattern: across France, hotel prices were about 16% lower in March 2026 than in July, according to INSEE’s consumer price index for hotels. The exceptions are the ski resorts and the Easter weekend (27 to 29 March in 2027), the first long weekend of spring.
Paris stays busy in March
The quiet of March does not reach the big cities. In the Paris region, hotels were almost as full in March 2026 as in summer. Book your nights there as early as you would in any other season: the calm starts once you head for the countryside and the coast. First time in Paris? See where to stay in Paris on a first visit.
What is open depends on the place. The big sites run all year, from great Loire châteaux such as Chenonceau and Chambord to Castelnaud castle and Lascaux IV, the replica of the famous prehistoric cave, in the Dordogne. Others wait for spring: Monet’s house and garden at Giverny and the Gouffre de Padirac reopen at the end of March or in early April, and the traditional boat trips on the Dordogne river start in April. Some sites also keep shorter winter hours until late March. Checking every site against your dates is part of what we do when we plan your trip, so you never find a closed gate.
Want March planned around what is actually open?
Tell us your dates and what you want to see. We check every site's opening days against your itinerary, plan the trains and the private driver days, and once you approve the quote, we take care of the bookings.
Where to go in France in March
Provence: Luberon villages and the first flowers
Provence is a lovely choice in March. The weather is often sunny, temperatures start to rise (afternoons average 17°C in Avignon) and nature wakes up with the first blossoms, while the mimosa is still in flower in early March along the Mimosa Route, between Bormes-les-Mimosas and Grasse. Spend a few days among the small hilltop villages of the Luberon, east of Avignon, on a Provence itinerary built around your dates, or carry on to the French Riviera.
Mont-Saint-Michel and Normandy: equinox tides and quiet D-Day beaches
Mont-Saint-Michel and Normandy see very few crowds in March: hotels in the Manche, the part of Normandy around the Mont, sold fewer than half as many nights in March 2026 as in August, and the D-Day beaches are at their most peaceful. The sky changes fast over the bay, and that changing light is part of the charm of the place.
March is also the month of the equinox tides. In 2027, the big tides fall on 22 to 24 March, just before the Easter weekend, with a coefficient (the French measure of how strong a tide is) above 100. Arrive about two hours before high tide to watch the sea race across the sand of the bay, sometimes behind a small tidal wave, and close in around the foot of the Mont. The best viewpoints are the footbridge, the ramparts and the west terrace of the abbey. According to Normandy’s tourist board, the Mont is only fully cut off from the mainland when the coefficient reaches about 110, which these March tides should not quite do: the water comes right up, but the Mont stays reachable on foot. Whatever the tide, never walk out into the bay without a guide, because the sea comes in fast. On a Mont-Saint-Michel trip built around your dates, we time the visit to the tides.
Loire Valley châteaux: the great castles in peace
The Loire Valley works well in March, because its great châteaux do not close for the winter. Chenonceau, the château that spans the river Cher, is open every day of the year, and Chambord, the largest of them, almost every day. The days at the châteaux are a little shorter, though: Chambord, for one, keeps its shorter winter hours until late March.
What March gives you in return is space. Hotels in the Centre-Val de Loire region sold about half as many nights in March 2026 as in August, so you can take your time in the rooms and the gardens. Afternoons average 13°C in Tours, mild enough to pair a château visit with a walk in its park, and a private driver can link two or three châteaux in a day.
Toulouse: Airbus, the pink city and cassoulet
Toulouse makes a lovely city break in March. Afternoons average 15°C, and the old town, built of the pink brick that gives Toulouse its nickname of la ville rose (the pink city), is a pleasure to explore on foot.
Toulouse is also where Airbus assembles its planes, and that is the visit I would not miss. Aeroscopia, the aviation museum in Blagnac, on the north-west edge of Toulouse, next to the hangars where the A380 was built, is open every day and lets you step aboard a Concorde and an A380. From the same place, the Let’s Visit Airbus tours take you to a viewing platform over the A350 or the A321 final assembly line. They run on only a few days a week, so they are worth planning a few weeks ahead. On the other side of town, the Cité de l’espace, a space park with a full-size Ariane 5 rocket and life-size test modules of the Mir space station, twins of the ones that flew, is open in March too. We book these visits for you.
It is a food city too. The Victor Hugo covered market has more than 80 stalls and, upstairs, restaurants that cook what is sold below: the place to try cassoulet, the slow-cooked bean and meat dish of the region. Look out too for the violet, the city’s flower, picked from October to March and sold crystallised or as a liqueur. And with a private driver, two day trips are about an hour away: Albi, to the north-east, whose old bishops’ town of brick, around the Gothic cathedral of Sainte-Cécile, is listed by UNESCO, and Carcassonne, whose medieval city is listed too.
Alsace: the Easter and spring markets
Easter falls early in 2027, so the Alsace Easter markets open in March. Colmar, a town of half-timbered houses south of Strasbourg, celebrates spring from 19 March to 11 April 2027, with two markets in the old town, farm animals in the streets, free concerts and visits to local winemakers. From Good Friday to Easter Monday (26 to 29 March), the Koïfhus, the town’s old customs house, also shows the work of artists who decorate eggs in miniature. In Strasbourg, a smaller Easter village, free to enter, sets up for about ten days on Place Saint-Thomas, between Petite France, the old quarter of canals and half-timbered houses, and the cathedral; its 2027 dates are not out yet.
The main events in France in March 2027
The main events in France in March 2027
Where and when the main March events take place
- The Paris International Agricultural Show (27 February to 7 March 2027): for nine days, France’s farmers come to Paris. Livestock from every region and food producers from France and abroad fill the halls of Paris Expo, at Porte de Versailles, in the south-west of the city: a fun way to taste the whole country in one place.
- Paris-Nice (7 to 14 March 2027): the professional cycling stage race nicknamed “the race to the sun”, because it rides from the Paris region to the Riviera. The 2027 edition starts in the Yvelines, just west of Paris; the full route is not out yet.
- The Hospices de Nuits wine auction (14 March 2027): a charity auction of the wines of the Hospices de Nuits-Saint-Georges estate, held in the cellar of the Château du Clos de Vougeot, in the Burgundy vineyards south of Dijon. The same weekend, the winemakers of Nuits-Saint-Georges hold a tasting fair in the town’s market hall.
- The Easter markets in Alsace (from 19 March 2027 in Colmar): see the Alsace section above.
- The Aix-en-Provence Easter Festival (20 March to 4 April 2027): a classical music festival in Aix-en-Provence, near Marseille. The 2027 edition is dedicated to Beethoven, 200 years after his death, with the pianists Martha Argerich and Hélène Grimaud among the guests; tickets are already on sale.
- The equinox tides at Mont-Saint-Michel (22 to 24 March 2027): see the Mont-Saint-Michel section above.
- The Arles Easter Feria (26 to 29 March 2027): over the Easter weekend, Arles, a Roman city in Provence, throws a four-day street festival, with open-air bars (bodegas) and bulls running through closed-off streets. The feria also stages bullfights in the Roman arena.
- Easter at Vaux-le-Vicomte (Easter weekend): Vaux-le-Vicomte, a 17th-century château south-east of Paris (about an hour away), turns its gardens into what it calls the biggest egg hunt in France (from the Saturday to Easter Monday in 2026); the 2027 dates are not out yet.
Not every 2027 date is out yet
The Vaux-le-Vicomte egg hunt has not announced its 2027 dates, and Paris-Nice has only revealed its start, in the Yvelines. Wait for the official date before you build a day around one of them: when we plan your trip, we confirm every event date before we book anything around it.
6 tips for visiting France in March
- Pack for every kind of day. March mixes mild, sunny afternoons with the odd spring shower, and the nights stay cool everywhere. Layers, a warm jumper for the evenings and a light waterproof jacket cover the whole country, from Paris to the Riviera.
- Check the opening days. Some countryside sites only reopen at Easter or on 1 April, and others keep shorter winter hours until late March. In the countryside and on the coast, some hotels and restaurants also close for the winter. We check every one of them against your itinerary.
- Make the most of the light. Once the clocks go forward on the night of 27 to 28 March, evenings suddenly stretch past 8 p.m. Keep the walks, the viewpoints and the café terraces for the end of the day, and the museums for the morning or a showery afternoon.
- Book the Easter weekend first. From Saturday 27 to Easter Monday 29 March 2027, the first long weekend of spring fills the hotels in the popular places. If your dates touch it, book those nights before anything else, and build the rest of the trip around them.
- Use the free first Sunday, with a booking. On Sunday 7 March 2027, many Paris museums are free, such as the Musée d’Orsay and the Orangerie, home of Monet’s Water Lilies (time slot to book), and so are Versailles, the Arc de Triomphe, the Panthéon and the Sainte-Chapelle, free on first Sundays in winter only. The Louvre is not part of it. Expect crowds.
- Ski after 7 March. The French winter school holidays end that day in 2027, and the slopes are quieter afterwards. The season is far from over: Les Arcs, for example, stays open until 24 April 2027.
My 2 best itineraries for France in March
Route 1: Paris, Normandy and Mont-Saint-Michel in 7 days, timed to the big tides
- Paris (3 nights)
- Bayeux and the D-Day beaches (2)
- Mont-Saint-Michel and Saint-Malo (1)
This is the March version of the classic Normandy trip, with the quietest beaches and the biggest tides. After three nights in Paris (the length of the 4-day Paris trip), a direct train takes you to Bayeux in a little over two hours on the fastest services. Two nights there give you a full day on the D-Day beaches with a private driver or a guide, who then takes you on to Mont-Saint-Michel, about an hour and a half away. The Mont comes last so that your visit can fall on the big tides: in 2027, they come on 22, 23 and 24 March, so I would go on one of those days to watch the sea come in, then sleep in Saint-Malo, the walled city on the sea, less than an hour away. On the last day, your private driver takes you back to Paris, about four hours by motorway, and a stop on the way can easily be arranged.
Route 2: Paris, Lyon and the Riviera in 10 days, early March for the mimosa or late March
- Paris (3 nights)
- Lyon (2)
- Nice (4)
This route follows spring south. After three nights in Paris, the TGV takes you to Lyon in under two hours on the fastest trains, for two nights among the city’s bouchons, its small traditional bistros, and the lanes of the old town. From Lyon, a direct train reaches Nice in about four and a half hours at best, and Nice becomes your home for four nights: it is usually the best base on the Riviera without a car. Which end of March you choose changes the trip. In early March, the mimosa is still in flower: with a private driver, the Tanneron hills, inland from Cannes, at the heart of the Mimosa Route, are under an hour from Nice. In late March, the mimosa is over, but the evenings are long once the clocks go forward, and the Easter weekend falls at the end of the month: book it early if your stay covers it.
End Route 2 with a flight home from Nice
Route 2 finishes in Nice and never heads back north. Rather than a return ticket, fly into Paris and home from Nice (an open-jaw ticket): your last day stays on the coast, not on a train back to Paris.
FAQ: France in March
Is March a good time to visit France?
Yes, if you prefer quiet sites and mild days to summer heat. Outside Paris, Lyon and the ski resorts, hotels sell about half as many nights as in summer, and hotel prices are lower too. The days lengthen fast, and afternoons already reach 15 to 17°C in Provence and on the Riviera. The busiest moment of March 2027 is the Easter weekend, from 27 to 29 March.
How cold is France in March, and what should I pack?
Afternoons average 12 to 17°C across the country, from Normandy and Strasbourg to Provence, and nights stay cool everywhere, from 1 to 8°C. Pack layers, a warm jumper for the evenings and a light waterproof jacket for the spring showers.
When is Easter 2027, and what does it change?
Easter Sunday falls on 28 March 2027, so the long weekend runs from Saturday 27 to Easter Monday 29 March. It is the first busy weekend of spring, so book your hotels early. It also opens the season: several countryside sites reopen around Easter or on 1 April, and the clocks go forward on the night of 27 to 28 March.
Can you still ski in France in March?
Yes. March is one of the busiest months in the Alps, and the season runs on into April: Les Arcs, for example, stays open until 24 April 2027. The slopes are busiest in the first week, still in the French school holidays, and calmer after that.
Is March worth it? My verdict
March can be a really good time to visit France, as long as you pick your end of the month. Early March still has the mimosa on the Riviera and the snow in the Alps; late March brings long evenings, the first spring reopenings and, in 2027, Easter. Either way, away from the big cities, you get the sites in peace. Still choosing your month? Compare them all in the best time to visit France.
Want one of these March routes built around your dates?
Tell us when you are travelling, how long you have and what matters to you, from the big tides to the Easter markets or simply quiet châteaux. We turn it into a realistic day-by-day plan, with the right bases and a private driver where it makes the day easier.
