Quick Tip: The Right Time to Visit Paris

Paris on a Typical Day

I recently read that Emily in Paris has started filming. It shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise as Paris has very small windows of great weather. You can’t trick people into believing Paris is really that beautiful when it is at it’s normal. 

Winter of 2017? Freeze to death. Summer of 2019? Burn to death. Spring of 2016? Drown to death. 

Most people don’t realize this but the weather in Paris is dreadful. In one 12 hour period you will experience different weather every hour. It will be rainy, then sunny, then cloudy, then sunny, mixed in with more intermittent rain. Paris is by far the most bi-polar city on the planet.  

Oh and let’s not forget the constant humidity. Plus it’s always wet. Even if you don’t see any rain, it’s perpetually damp. I have no idea why. I personally don't mind it because I've spent a quarter of my life living in 360 days of sunshine, but it can cause some year round seasonal depression.

For whatever reason parts of 2019-2020 (the winter) were actually a banner year for Paris. It was sunny a lot. The sun was out more than it would be at that time of year. The temperature that winter was also more mild. That humidity? You usually have that to thank for Paris’ mild winters. But one year does not good weather make so just be mindful.

For instance I always laugh that Americans choose to visit in the summer. Okay, yes, our school/summer vacations are end of May to middle of August so when else, but Paris in the summer? Hell on earth. Literally. Do you like roasting alive in an oven? Because that’s Paris in the summer. And there isn’t any air conditioning. A/C has been widely used since the 1950's, it makes no sense. It’s like living in the stone ages. It's oppressive heat, even at night because the sun isn't gone until 11pm, which in itself is bizarre. It's so bad that you can’t sleep. 

Don’t even get me started on the summer of 2019 where it was 108 degrees, and I took a shower every 5 minutes to stay cool. You might think I’m being hyperbolic. I’m not. You might think I’m being a baby. I’m not. I’m from Texas. The temperature constantly hovers in the 90’s. I know heat. This period was such a horrific memory my brain has blocked out most of it. 

But it happened. My boyfriend  at the time refused to see me all summer, and between being with such a selfish human being, and the heat, I’m not even sure how I survived it. I really wish I could write into words how truly horrifically hopeless, and unpleasant that summer was; boiling alive in my shitty little chambre de bonne (Paris’ roofs are metal), feeling like Cillian Murphy in 28 Days Later because everyone leaves the city, being stuck in a shoebox staring at the walls with nothing to do because everything is closed and it's too hot to go outside. There are not enough words in the English language to vividly paint that experience. Hopeless, lonely, sleep deprived, and being cooked to death are but a few. 

Really the only good months in Paris are maybe April (but it can still be cold), and October. October is actually a flawless month to be in Paris. Climate change has meant that it's still pretty warm. You want that beautiful Paris of “Before Sunset”? October is it. 

But I get it. Paris is reopening in a month (June 9th), and you’re still planning on being one of the first through the border. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.