French Holidays

French holidays are something to look forward to as France has the most wonderful culture, language and cuisine.

France has eleven holiday periods, eight of which have fixed dates and three are moveable dates.

The Eight Fixed Holidays

• Le Jour de L'An (New Year's Day)

• Fête du Travail (Labour Day, May 1st)

• Victoire 1945 (Victory in Europe Day, May 8th)

• Fete Nationale (Bastille Day, July 14th)

• Assomption de Marie (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15th)

• Toussaint (All Saints Day, November 1st)

• Armistice (Armistice Day, November 11th)

• Noël (Christmas Day, December 25th)

Three Moveable Dates

• Lundi de Pâques (Easter Monday, day after Easter)

• Ascention (Ascension Day, the Thursday 40 days after Easter)

• Lundi de Pentecôte (Whit Monday, the day after Pentecost, observed on the Sunday, 50 days after Easter)

Easter Day itself ( Pâques) and Pentecost (Pentecôte), of course, fall on a Sunday and therefore are non-working days.

In addition to the above holidays, France also has lengthy school holidays.

• Toussaint Break (12 day break from the end of the 3rd week in October. All Saints Day falls in this period.

• Noel Le Jour de L'An (15 days Christmas and New Year break from December 20th - January 4th)

• Hiver Break (15 day break beginning in February)

• Printemps (15 day Spring break usually from Good Friday)

• Lete Holidays (2 month Summer holiday period from beginning July through September).

The French take their holidays seriously and almost everything comes to a halt. For example, many businesses, shops, museums, post offices and banks all close during the holiday periods.

So it is a good idea to be aware of these French holidays if you are planning to go to France during any of these periods. In order to avoid any unexpected difficulties it is wise to check with the hotels, restaurants, museums etc to find out whether they will be open or not.

Of course, all the major train stations and roads become very busy during the French holidays. This can also be compounded if there are any strikes at the time!

French law allows every citizen to have a five week holiday period and of course, most people use the summer vacation for this. So if you are planning a visit to France the months of July and August are not generally recommended for this reason.