French Public Holidays

In order to avoid frustration because the Paris tourist attraction you wanted to visit is closed due to a public holiday, check out our list of French public holidays.

Since the French are predominantly catholic, many French public holidays correspond to religious holidays from the Christian calendar.

Date	Public Holidays
1 January	New Year’s Day (Jour de l’an)
1 May	Labour Day (Fete du premier mai)
8 May	WWII Victory Day (Fete de la Victoire 1945)
14 July	French National Day (Fete nationale)
15 August	Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Assomption)
1 November	All Saints Day (La Toussaint)
11 November	Armistice 1918 (Jour d’armistice)
25 December	Christmas Day (Noel)

Date	Movable Public Holidays
Between 21 March and 25 April	Easter (Paques)
Monday after Easter	Easter Monday
Between 1 May and 25 May	Ascension (l’ascencion)
Between 11 May and 31 May	Pentecost (la paentecote)
Monday after Pentecost	Whit Monday

As you can see during the month of May, there is a holiday nearly every week. Many French tend to take an additional day off, when the public holiday falls on a Thursday or Tuesday (they stay at home on Friday and Monday too). Some places are closed then for more days than only on the public holiday. We recommend to call museums and restaurants in advance to make sure they will be open.