Paris in April: Weather, Events and What to Do
Blossom, long evenings and a sky that changes its mind every hour.
The French have a proverb for this month: en avril, ne te découvre pas d’un fil, roughly “in April, don’t take off a single thread”. It’s good advice. April in Paris can give you a morning of soft sunshine on the quays, a sudden hailstorm at lunchtime and a terrace-warm evening that stays light until nine, all in the same day. The songwriters who made Paris in April a romantic cliché weren’t wrong, exactly: the chestnut trees come into leaf, the parks fill with tulips and blossom, and the city wakes up after winter with real energy. They just left out the umbrella.
This guide covers what the weather is really like, what to pack, how busy and expensive the city gets, the events worth planning around in April 2027, and how to make the most of a month that rewards flexibility. Prices and dates were checked in September and October 2026; treat prices as the right order of magnitude and check event dates nearer the time.
Paris in April at a glance
| April | |
|---|---|
| Average high | 16.6°C |
| Average low | Around 7°C |
| Rainfall | About 49 mm, on 8 or 9 days |
| Daylight | Long evenings: sunset moves from about 8.30pm to after 9pm |
| Crowds | Rising; busy around Easter and the school holidays |
| Hotel prices | Shoulder season, climbing towards high-season rates |
| Key dates in 2027 | Paris Marathon 4 April; Paris school holidays 3–19 April; Foire de Paris from 30 April |
Climate figures are the Météo-France averages for 1991–2020 at Paris-Montsouris. Individual Aprils vary a lot.
The weather, honestly
Temperatures
An average April day in Paris peaks at about 16.6°C and drops to around 7°C at night, which sounds mild until you’re sitting in the shade by the Seine at 10am with a breeze coming off the water. The month warms noticeably as it goes on: the first week can feel like late winter, while the last week often brings days of 20°C or more, when the whole city seems to move outdoors at once. Warm spells are common, and so are cold snaps; the one thing April rarely does is stay the same for long.
Rain and the giboulées
Paris gets about 49 mm of rain in April, spread over eight or nine days, so it’s not especially wet, drier on average than May. What makes April tricky is the kind of rain. The French call them giboulées: short, sharp showers, sometimes with hail, that blow in out of a blue sky and blow out again twenty minutes later. They’re a nuisance rather than a disaster. Carry a small umbrella, know where you’d duck in for a coffee, and don’t cancel plans because the forecast shows a cloud with raindrops; it rarely means a washed-out day.
Daylight
The clocks go forward at the end of March, and in April the evenings suddenly stretch out. Sunset moves from around 8.30pm at the start of the month to after 9pm by the end, so you can sightsee all day and still catch the golden light on the Seine before dinner. That long evening is one of the best things about visiting in April, and the main reason we’d pick it over March.
April, week by week
April changes so much from start to finish that it’s worth thinking of it as three different months.
Early April: blossom and the holiday rush
The first week still has a foot in winter, with cool mornings and highs in the low teens, but the blossom is out, the clocks have gone forward and the evenings are suddenly light. In 2027 the month opens with a busy weekend: the Paris school holidays start on Saturday 3 April and the marathon runs on Sunday 4 April. If you can, arrive a few days after that, or plan the first weekend around parks and neighbourhoods rather than the big museums.
Mid-April: hanami and greening trees
By the middle of the month the horse chestnuts along the boulevards are coming into leaf, the cherries at the Parc de Sceaux are usually at their peak, and the gardens are at their most colourful. The school holidays run until Sunday 18 April in 2027, so the sights stay busy, but this is the sweet spot for blossom and long walks.
Late April: the first warm days
The last ten days are the warmest of the month, and the first 20°C afternoons usually arrive. The holiday crowds thin, the terraces fill, and it starts to feel like late spring. As the month ends, florists and pop-up stalls prepare for 1 May, when Parisians give each other sprigs of lily of the valley for luck, and the Foire de Paris opens on 30 April.
What to pack
Layers, layers and a waterproof. You’ll want to peel things off in the afternoon sun and put them back on when the wind gets up or the sun goes down.
- A light waterproof jacket or trench that you can wear over a jumper, or a compact umbrella.
- A warm layer: a jumper or light fleece for mornings and evenings.
- A scarf, the Parisian answer to every temperature between 5°C and 20°C.
- Comfortable, water-resistant shoes. You’ll walk a lot, and wet cobbles are slippery.
- Sunglasses, because when the sun does come out, it’s bright.
Our Paris packing list has a full checklist for every season.
Crowds and prices
April is the start of the busy season. It’s quieter than June or July, but the popular sights are far from empty, and two things in particular decide how crowded your trip will be.
Easter moves around. In 2027 Easter Sunday falls on 28 March, so April 2027 escapes the Easter weekend crush; in 2028 Easter is in mid-April. When Easter does fall in April, the long weekend brings big crowds and high hotel prices, and many visitors from abroad arrive for their own Easter holidays.
School holidays matter more than most visitors realise. French schools take two weeks off in spring, staggered across three zones; for Paris (zone C) the 2027 holidays run from 3 to 19 April. Families from all over France head for the capital, and families from Paris head out, so the museums, Disneyland and the big sights get noticeably busier, while some neighbourhood restaurants close for a week. Visitors from the UK, the US and elsewhere add their own Easter and spring breaks.
Hotel prices follow the crowds: April is officially shoulder season, but rates climb towards high-season levels, especially around the Paris Marathon weekend and any holiday weekend. Book early for April, and book the big sights early too: a timed slot for the Louvre (€22 for EEA residents, €32 for everyone else since January 2026) and a time for the Eiffel Tower. Our guide to where to stay in Paris helps you choose an area, and our Paris trip cost guide sets out a realistic budget.
Events in April 2027
The Paris Marathon, 4 April
The 50th Paris Marathon takes place on Sunday 4 April 2027, with tens of thousands of runners and a new route announced for the anniversary edition. Even if you’re not running, it affects your weekend: roads across the city close on Sunday morning, buses are diverted, Metro stations near the start and finish are packed, and hotel prices rise. If you want a quiet Sunday, avoid the route; if you want atmosphere, find a spot along it and cheer.
Poisson d’avril, 1 April
April Fool’s Day in France is poisson d’avril, April fish. Children try to stick paper fish on the backs of unsuspecting adults, newspapers run spoof stories, and chocolatiers and bakeries fill their windows with chocolate fish. It’s a charming small thing to look out for, and an excuse to buy chocolate.
The spring school holidays, 3 to 19 April
Not an event, but worth planning around. Expect families at the Cité des Sciences, the Jardin d’Acclimatation, the Louvre and Disneyland Paris, and longer queues everywhere children go. If you’re travelling with your own, our guide to Paris with kids has ideas that avoid the worst of the crowds.
Cherry blossom season
Paris has no single cherry blossom festival, but from late March to mid-April the city’s ornamental cherries, magnolias and crab apples flower in waves. The pink cherries of the Parc de Sceaux, just south of the city on the RER B, are the most famous, and Parisians picnic under them in the Japanese hanami tradition, usually around mid-April. Inside the city, look for blossom in the Jardin des Plantes, around the Champ de Mars near the Eiffel Tower, and in the Square Jean XXIII behind Notre-Dame. The timing varies with the weather, so check social media for what’s flowering that week.
The Foire de Paris, from 30 April
France’s biggest consumer fair fills the Paris Expo exhibition centre at Porte de Versailles from 30 April to 10 May 2027, with everything from kitchens to wine to food from around the world. It’s aimed at locals rather than tourists, but if you enjoy a slice of everyday French life, it’s an entertaining few hours, and it’s worth knowing that hotels near Porte de Versailles fill up.
For the full year’s festivals and holidays, see our Paris events calendar.
What April is best for
The things that make April special are the ones that depend on the season. For a broader list of spring ideas, see our guide to Paris in spring; here’s what’s particular to April.
The gardens waking up
April is when the city’s gardens look their freshest. The Jardin des Plantes puts on its spring bedding and its glasshouses are at their best on a cool day; the Tuileries, open from 7am to 9pm in April, fills with tulips and its first sunbathers; and the Jardin du Luxembourg, which stays open until around 8pm in April, brings its famous green chairs back out around the Grand Bassin. The Parc Floral in the Bois de Vincennes switches to its paid season on 1 April (€2.80, still a bargain). Our guides to the Jardin des Plantes, the Tuileries and the Luxembourg Gardens cover each in detail, and our Paris parks and gardens guide covers the rest.
The first terraces
On the first warm afternoon of April, every café terrace in Paris fills within minutes, and joining them is one of the great small pleasures of the city. Be aware that outdoor terrace heaters have been banned in France since 2022, so once the sun drops behind the buildings, the terrace is for the hardy; take that extra layer. Our guide to the best cafés in Paris has the terraces worth seeking out.
Day trips that open for the season
Several of the best day trips come into their own in April. Claude Monet’s house and garden at Giverny reopen for the season at the start of the month, when the tulips and fruit trees are at their peak and the water lilies are still to come; see our Giverny day trip guide. At Versailles, the musical fountain shows in the gardens return at weekends in spring, which brings the gardens to life but also raises the ticket price on those days, and the château is closed on Mondays; our Versailles guide explains the tickets. For more ideas, see our list of day trips from Paris.
Spring food
April brings the first proper spring produce to the markets: white asparagus, morels, new-season lamb, radishes and, by the end of the month, the first small, fragrant Gariguette strawberries. Look for them at the street markets, and on the menus of bistros that change with the season. Our guide to Paris food markets lists the best.
When it rains
April showers are usually brief, but you’ll want a plan for a properly wet day. The museums are the obvious answer, but they’re also where everyone else goes, so pick the smaller ones or time your visit for opening. Remember the closing days: the Louvre shuts on Tuesdays, and the Musée d’Orsay and Versailles on Mondays. Paris’s 19th-century covered passages, such as the Galerie Vivienne and the Passage des Panoramas, are made for a rainy afternoon, with their glass roofs, old shops and tearooms. Our guide to rainy-day activities in Paris has many more ideas.
Opening hours, holidays and closures
A few practical details catch visitors out in April.
- Museum closing days don’t change with the seasons: the Louvre closes on Tuesdays; the Musée d’Orsay, Versailles, the Musée Rodin and the Catacombs on Mondays. Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower are open daily.
- Public holidays: when Easter falls in April, Easter Monday is a public holiday, with banks and many shops closed but most sights open. In 2027 it falls on 29 March instead. The next holiday is 1 May, when most museums close.
- Sunday shopping: most shops in Paris close on Sundays, but those in the designated international tourist zones, which include the Champs-Élysées, Le Marais, Saint-Germain and the big department stores around Opéra, can open. Food markets and bakeries are busy on Sunday mornings.
- Garden hours lengthen as the days do. Parks that closed at dusk in winter stay open into the evening; check the gate before you settle in for a long sunset picnic.
- Restaurant closures: some family-run bistros close for a week during the school holidays. If you have your heart set on one, check before you go.
Is April a good time to visit Paris?
Yes, with a caveat. April gives you longer evenings, gardens at their freshest, blossom, the first terrace weather and prices that haven’t yet hit their summer peak. What it doesn’t give you is reliable weather: you might get a week of sunshine or a week of showers, and you need to be happy either way. Easter (when it falls in April) and the school holidays make the first half of the month busier than you might expect.
Our verdict: April suits travellers who like to walk, who enjoy parks and gardens, and who don’t mind building a day around the weather. If you want more warmth and can live with more crowds, May is the safer bet; if you want lower prices and don’t mind the cold, March is quieter. Our month-by-month guide to visiting Paris compares them all, and our guide to the best time to visit Paris looks at the year as a whole.
An April day: the sun plan and the rain plan
The trick in April is to keep two plans in your pocket and switch between them as the sky dictates. Here’s how a flexible day might look.
| If it’s sunny | If it’s raining | |
|---|---|---|
| Morning | Walk through the Jardin des Plantes or the Luxembourg Gardens while they’re quiet, then on to the Latin Quarter | A museum at opening time: the Musée d’Orsay (not Mondays) or the Louvre (not Tuesdays), with a timed ticket |
| Lunch | A picnic from a street market, or the first terrace lunch of the year | A long bistro lunch, which is what the French do anyway |
| Afternoon | Montmartre, the Seine quays from Notre-Dame to the Eiffel Tower, or the Tuileries | The covered passages around the Palais-Royal, or a smaller museum such as the Musée de l’Orangerie |
| Evening | Sunset on the Seine; the light lasts until after 8.30pm | Drinks in a wine bar, then dinner nearby |
Our guides to things to do in Paris and the best photo spots have plenty more for the sunny version.
Paris in April with children
If you’re travelling during the school holidays, you’ll share the city with a lot of French families, so book anything bookable. The Jardin du Luxembourg is a good bet: the toy sailboats on the Grand Bassin run daily during the spring school holidays (€6 for half an hour), and the playground, the only one in the gardens, costs €2.50 for children and €1.50 for adults. The garden’s puppet theatre has been closed for renovation and was due to reopen in autumn 2026, so check it’s running before you promise anyone a show. The Parc Floral and the Jardin d’Acclimatation are other holiday favourites. Our guides to parks for children in Paris and kid-friendly museums have more ideas for rainy and sunny days alike.
Getting around in April
April is perfect walking weather, and walking is the best way to see the city: most of central Paris is less than an hour on foot from end to end. On a dry day, the Vélib’ bike-share is another good option, with cycle lanes now running along both banks of the Seine and across much of the centre; see our guide to cycling in Paris. When the showers come, the Metro is never far away. If you’re staying for a week and arriving early in the week, the Navigo Découverte weekly pass covers all your journeys, including the airports, and our Paris Metro guide explains the tickets.
Where to stay in April
For an April trip, it’s worth staying somewhere that makes the parks and the evening walks easy. Saint-Germain and the Latin Quarter put you near the Luxembourg Gardens and the Jardin des Plantes; Le Marais is close to the Seine and the Place des Vosges, whose lime trees come into leaf this month; and the 7th arrondissement puts the Champ de Mars and its blossom on your doorstep. Book early for the school holidays and the marathon weekend. Our guide to the best arrondissement to stay in compares the areas.
Practical tips for April
- Book the big sights ahead, especially during the school holidays and around Easter when it falls in April.
- Check the marathon date before planning a Sunday: on 4 April 2027, roads and some Metro stations around the route will be disrupted.
- Know the closing days: Louvre on Tuesdays; Musée d’Orsay, Versailles, the Musée Rodin and the Catacombs on Mondays.
- Use the long evenings for walks along the Seine, Montmartre at sunset or a picnic in the Champ de Mars.
- Carry a small umbrella and expect showers to pass quickly.
- Consider a Navigo Découverte weekly pass (€32.40 plus €5 for the card, Monday to Sunday) if you’re staying a week and using the Metro a lot.
- Keep an eye on 1 May if you’re staying into early May: it’s a public holiday, and most museums close.
Frequently asked questions
Is April a good time to visit Paris?
Yes. April brings mild days, long evenings, blossom and gardens in flower, and prices below the summer peak. The weather is changeable, though, and the school holidays and Easter, when it falls in April, make parts of the month busy.
What is the weather like in Paris in April?
Mild and changeable. The average high is 16.6°C and the average low around 7°C. Expect a mix of sunshine and short showers, with warmer days towards the end of the month.
Does it rain a lot in Paris in April?
Not especially. Paris averages about 49 mm of rain in April, on eight or nine days, less than in May. The showers tend to be short, so a small umbrella is usually enough.
What should I wear in Paris in April?
Layers: a light waterproof jacket or trench over a jumper, a scarf, and comfortable, water-resistant shoes. Mornings and evenings are cool, afternoons can be warm in the sun.
Is Paris crowded in April?
Moderately. It’s quieter than summer, but Easter, when it falls in April, and the French spring school holidays (3 to 19 April 2027 for Paris) bring big crowds to the main sights. Book tickets in advance.
What events are on in Paris in April 2027?
The 50th Paris Marathon on 4 April, the spring blossom season, poisson d’avril on 1 April, and the Foire de Paris consumer fair from 30 April to 10 May.
When do the cherry blossoms bloom in Paris?
Usually from late March to mid-April, depending on the weather. The Parc de Sceaux, just south of Paris, is the most famous spot; in the city, try the Jardin des Plantes, the Champ de Mars and the Square Jean XXIII behind Notre-Dame.
When is Easter in 2027?
Easter Sunday falls on 28 March 2027, so Easter Monday, a public holiday in France, is on 29 March. April 2027 is therefore free of the Easter weekend, though the school holidays still make it busy.
Staying on into the next month? May is warmer and greener, with longer evenings, but it’s busier, wetter on average, and its public holidays close most museums on 1 May. Our guide to Paris in May has the full picture.