Many people prefer not to travel to Paris in the winter, since it’s a cold and rainy season. That’s really a shame, because in the months of January through March you can find hotels and vacation rentals at prices that are dozens of percent cheaper than in spring or fall. Add to that reasonable flight prices, and you’ll find that even though Paris isn’t cheap, your trip suddenly costs a lot less than you thought. So Paris in winter isn’t a bad option at all, especially for a traveler who wants to save money without freezing their tail off.
Speaking of freezing, you’re probably thinking, “But what do we do if it rains on us? Stay in the hotel all day?” With the right partner, that’s not such a bad idea. On the other hand, you can do that at home too. So what do you do if you’re in Paris and the rain just won’t stop?
In this article you’ll find a few good options for rainy days (including what to do with kids in Paris in winter).
What’s the best thing to do in Paris in winter?
Visiting Paris’s museums and churches: maximum culture, minimum rain
Paris has dozens and dozens of museums, palaces and churches. Some are completely free, others cost money, but all of them are a great alternative for a rainy afternoon. Before we continue, I have just one warning for you: no more than one big museum and one small museum a day, otherwise you’ll get art poisoning. As for churches, there’s no limit, since they’re smaller and more spread out, so you have time to get some air and see other things before walking into the next one.
Where can you find information about museums and churches in Paris?
- You can find information about the museums and palaces on the Paris attractions page. My tip: buy all your tickets in advance. You don’t want to stand in a long line, especially when it’s cold and rainy.
- Want to know about the most interesting temporary exhibitions running during your stay in Paris? Just head over to the recommended exhibitions page on the site.
- And finally, since Paris has nearly 40 churches and quite a few other religious buildings, I put together a list of 10 churches in Paris you have to see. Try to check whether any of these churches have concerts while you’re there, so you get not just a visual experience, but a musical one too.
A tour of the covered passages: history meets shopping
The covered passages were built in the late 18th century to protect Parisians from the rain and cold, and they still do a great job of it today. A walk through the passages, most of which are in the 2nd and 9th arrondissements, is a fascinating trip back in time combined with a shopping experience. You won’t find the brands and junk you’d find at Primark or any other mall here.
Instead of the usual, you’ll find tiny shops selling old books, designer clothes, door handles and even umbrellas (which can definitely come in handy in winter). Add to that some pretty good restaurants (for example, the Choiseul passage has a few simply wonderful Asian restaurants) and you’ve got a few hours of indoor entertainment with minimal exposure to rain as you move from one passage to the next.
Two options for a passages tour
- The first option is the “do it yourself” method. For those who want to see the passages at their own pace, I put together a walking route through Paris’s most beautiful passages.
- Another option is to take a guided tour and let a licensed guide not only show you the most beautiful passages in Paris, but also tell you their story.
The Catacombs of Paris
The Catacombs of Paris stay cool year-round, at about 14 degrees Celsius (57°F), but that’s relatively warm for winter, and besides, they make a great shelter from snow and rain. Since there are fewer tourists in winter, the lines are shorter and everything feels more pleasant and spacious.
During the tour, you’ll find information stations with historical details and explanations about the catacombs and the surrounding area. The stations include interactive displays and informational signs.
In addition to the burial chambers, the catacombs also have rooms used for art exhibitions and special displays. Contemporary artists present works inspired by the place, giving the historic site a new, modern interpretation.
The tour ends at an official exit from the catacombs, located in a different spot from where you entered. Once you finish the tour, you can return to street level and keep exploring the city.
Winter in Paris: a great time for shopping
January is when the big sales start at all of Paris’s fashion and cosmetics stores. The result is a price drop of dozens of percent, letting you buy that Louis Vuitton bag you always wanted without selling a kidney, or your flight ticket home. So if a sudden downpour catches you and you duck into a store, not only will you stay dry, you’ll also save a good amount of money.
Articles about shopping in Paris
- First, I recommend reading the article Sales in Paris, where you’ll find the sale dates and important tips on how to make the most of them.
- Second, I highly recommend reading the articles by Nathan Abergrin. Nathan is a stylist who runs shopping tours, and with his tips you’ll find the best boutiques in Paris.
- Third, I recommend checking out the Shopping in Paris category, where you’ll find more articles about shopping that might interest you.
Seeing Paris through a bus window
This option is great not only when it’s raining, but also when your time in Paris is limited, you have mobility difficulties, or you’re just tired of walking. From a tourist bus, you’ll get to watch the other tourists and Parisians rushing around in the rain, splashing through puddles and cursing the world. Meanwhile, you’ll be sitting by the window watching Place de la Concorde, the Opera, or maybe the Eiffel Tower through a window streaked with raindrops like an impressionist painting. Is there anything more romantic than that?
Information about tourist buses in Paris
- Don’t worry, there’s no need to dig through a long list of booking sites online. That’s why I wrote the article Paris on the Move, where you’ll find information not just about regular tourist buses, but also a culinary bus and even a private helicopter flight over Paris.
Walk the streets of Paris in winter, because you’re not made of sugar
So far I’ve given you a few tips to help you avoid sticking your nose outside. Now here’s the opposite tip: go out and walk around, even in the rain! You’re a human being, not some macaron fresh out of Pierre Hermé’s pâtisserie!
Buy yourself some boots or waterproof shoes, wear thermal clothing and a coat. Add an elegant umbrella to that, and no French winter will scare you. Trust me, even if it rains a bit (or even a lot), you’ll still enjoy every moment, because Paris is Paris is Paris.
So where should you walk (rain or no rain)?
- That’s exactly why I put together a whole series of walking routes in Paris. Some cover a specific geographic area, like the Marais walking route, and others follow places connected to a particular person, like the walking route in the footsteps of Beni Amdursky or the walking route in the footsteps of Coco Chanel (1883-1971).
- And if you get hungry during your walk (or the rain becomes unbearable), feel free to check my recommended restaurants page to see which good restaurant is nearby.
Paris in winter with kids
Written by Michal Richter, a certified guide, a true Paris lover who lives in the city, and mother of two young Parisiennes.
Traveling with kids is always more challenging, and when it’s cold and rainy, you can’t always do the “usual” things in Paris. If you find yourself in Paris in winter with kids, here are a few ideas for fun, warm activities.
Le 104
In the 19th arrondissement, far from Paris’s tourist center, you’ll find Le 104, an urban multidisciplinary arts center. It was founded in 2008 inside a building that was 130 years old at the time, which had been Paris’s municipal funeral home: a bustling operation that at its peak employed over 1,000 workers and organized 150 funeral ceremonies a day. The place closed in 1997, and the building was converted into today’s cultural complex.
Le 104 is a meeting place for dance, circus and theater artists who come to rehearse, and you can sit in beach chairs and watch them create and sweat in organized chaos in the main hall. The complex hosts exhibitions, performances, concerts, dance parties, lectures and art installations. You can eat there (the restaurants are relatively kid-friendly by Paris standards) and wander through the shops, including a bookstore, a design shop, and a clothing store run by Emmaüs (a large charity organization that sells secondhand goods). One of the halls has a special play area for children up to age 5, carefully designed to stimulate little ones’ imagination and senses.
Jazz & Goûter
The jazz club Sunset-Sunside offers Jazz & Goûter: a combination of the “goûter,” the sweet afternoon snack French kids love, and a light jazz concert suited for young audiences, lasting about 50 minutes. Every Sunday during the cold months, at 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., little ones (from age 3) are invited to nibble on cake and listen to jazz adaptations of classics: Disney, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Miles Davis and others. The explanations in between are in French, of course.
Older kids and music lovers can enjoy a “real” jazz performance, held every day at 7:00 p.m. On Mondays there’s a free show (just buy a drink) with a jam session starting at 7:30 p.m. A stone’s throw from Sunset-Sunside, there are two more excellent jazz clubs: Le Baiser Salé and Le Duc Des Lombards.
The Philharmonie for kids
Another musical option for little ones is a classical concert. The grand Philharmonie building, designed by Jean Nouvel (b. 1945), opened in 2015, and is part of the La Villette music complex, which also includes the Museum of Music. The main hall, the Pierre Boulez Hall, is a masterpiece of acoustics.
The Philharmonie offers a children’s program that includes short concerts (about an hour) in the main hall, films accompanied by live music, and other musical activities in the main building or the Museum of Music. On the ground floor of the Philharmonie building, you can visit a rotating exhibition exploring themes that link music to the arts and other fields.
Climbing walls for kids
The French love to climb! Climbing is a sport that combines excellent physical fitness with mental skills like focus and strategic thinking. Its popularity has grown since it became an Olympic sport in 2021, and today around a million French people climb for fun. Artificial climbing walls, which started out as indoor training spaces for mountain climbers, have become popular sports clubs, and several clubs in Paris offer open climbing sessions.
Alpine climbing (secured with a harness and rope) is available in suburbs accessible by metro. At the clubs, you can rent climbing shoes, sign up for a lesson with a professional instructor, and enjoy a pleasant restaurant or bar; they’re open until late in the evening. The excellent Climbing District club offers three open climbing locations on the Right Bank; the newest hall to open, near Saint-Lazare, is in a 160-year-old building that was built as a church, became a library, and ended up as a climbing wall! More options: Vertical’Art, Arkose and Climb Up, which offers the largest indoor climbing complex in the world, 7,000 square meters with 200 different climbing routes (free climbing or alpine), north of Paris on metro line 12.
Board games
Parisians also love to play, not just on the field or on a computer, but board games, like in the old days. The city is dotted with restaurant-café-game spots, where people come to eat, drink and play one of hundreds of possible board games: Monopoly, Taki, strategy games and more. The staff are enthusiastic experts who can give you advice. These aren’t kids’ play areas but adult hangouts that happily welcome children too, of course. Payment is for drinks/food or per person per hour.
A few suggestions: Les Mauvais Joueurs (literally: the players who don’t like to lose), and Au Bonheur des Jeux in the 11th arrondissement; Le Nid, cocon ludique in the 3rd arrondissement; Meisia in the 10th arrondissement; Loufoque in the 5th arrondissement.
Disneyland Paris
Why visit Disneyland Paris in winter? Honestly, there are plenty of good reasons! December, January and February offer a unique, magical experience in the park that you simply can’t find in any other season.
First of all, it’s worth knowing that Disneyland Paris is open in winter (yes, even when it’s cold!). Except for Christmas Day itself, the park operates year-round, and during the cold months it closes at 7:00 p.m. on weekdays and 10:00 p.m. on weekends. There are also “Extra Magic Hours,” which allow early access to the park as early as 8:30-9:30 a.m., before the official 10:00 a.m. opening. If you’re staying at one of the hotels on the park grounds, you can take advantage of these extra hours and experience the magic in relative quiet.
Want to know more? If you’re considering a winter visit, November is a great time to go, since that’s when Christmas season kicks off at Disneyland Paris! A festive atmosphere wraps the whole park in dazzling holiday lights, festive parades and Disney characters dressed for Christmas. And if you’re already planning ahead, it’s a very good idea to get your tickets in advance to guarantee entry and avoid any surprises.
Yossi Drori’s experiences of a Parisian winter
Yossi Drori is a huge Francophile who lived in Paris for a long stretch and is in love with the city. Unlike the vast majority of tourists, Yossi actually prefers to visit Paris in winter, when temperatures drop to around 0-5 degrees Celsius (32-41°F). And it’s precisely in that cold that Yossi finds so much magic, which he’s happy to share with us.
So if you’d like to read about Yossi’s wintertime experiences, go ahead and check out the article Paris in Winter.
Christmas in Paris
Visiting Paris at Christmas is a special experience that every traveler should have at least once in their life. The city is lit up with thousands of festive lights that give it a unique, celebratory atmosphere. The main streets, like the Champs-Élysées and the Marais, are decked out with illuminated fir trees, and even the Eiffel Tower dresses up for the holiday. But the real highlight of Christmas in Paris is the Christmas markets.
At these markets you’ll find beautifully designed stalls with local products, special handmade crafts, and of course plenty of traditional treats like roasted chestnuts, mulled wine and macarons in every color. The markets offer an authentic, magical experience, with musical performances, carousels for kids, and gift stalls that make the visit especially memorable.
Weather in Paris in winter
Paris in winter can be quite chilly, with average temperatures of around 7°C (45°F) during the day and 2°C (36°F) at night. While it doesn’t snow often, Paris does get its fair share of gray, rainy days during the winter months.
Winter in Paris lasts from late November to early March, with January generally considered the coldest month. It’s a good idea to pack warm layers like sweaters, thick socks, scarves, gloves and a heavy coat to get around Paris in winter. Waterproof shoes are also a good idea. Since rain is common, it’s worth bringing an umbrella, or checking whether your hotel offers umbrellas for guests to use.
Although summer draws bigger crowds, winter lets you enjoy Paris’s museums, monuments and neighborhoods with fewer people around. As you’ve probably guessed, it’s the quieter season in Paris. That said, be ready for short, cold days and wintry weather. That winter melancholy is part of what makes Paris so distinctive this time of year.
The energy crisis in Paris
During 2022-2023, France (and large parts of Europe) suffered an energy crisis, caused by various problems producing electricity from its nuclear reactors. To deal with the crisis, the government announced an efficiency program. In principle, the crisis is over, but some of the measures the government put in place may still be in effect.
- Some hotels in Paris may cut back on heating and turn it off relatively early in the day. I don’t know which ones will and which won’t, but the rule of thumb is that the more stars a hotel has, the less likely it is to cut back on heating, so keep that in mind when booking.
- The temperature in public buildings won’t go above 19°C (66°F), and if there’s heavy demand on the power grid, the limit drops to 18°C (64°F). That’s about as cold as an air-conditioned mall in summer, so take note if you’re sensitive to the cold.
- Some public restrooms might not have hot water.
- Some office buildings in France will turn off lights when not in use, and will limit the use of heating and air conditioning.
- Supermarket chains, including Carrefour, will dim their lighting by 40 to 70 percent, and lower the temperature in stores by 2°C.
- Unlike previous winters, business owners are no longer allowed to heat outdoor terraces with gas heaters or electric heating, so at many restaurants and cafés you won’t be able to sit in a makeshift enclosed terrace the way you could in past winters.
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