Paris in December 2026: weather and what to do

Is December a good time for Paris? Yes, if you come for the lights, the museums, the cafés and the food rather than for picnics by the Seine. Daytime highs average 8.8 °C, nights 3.4 °C, and December is one of the wetter months, with 76 mm of rain. You get about 8 hours 15 minutes of daylight around the solstice. In return, the Champs-Élysées and the big department stores are lit up, the queues at the major museums are often shorter than in spring, and a café terrace with a heater still works on a dry afternoon.

Weather in Paris in December

Averages 2015–2024 from the ERA5 reanalysis (via Open-Meteo), rounded. Daylight: astronomical day length on 21 December at Paris's latitude, about 8 h 15 min (sunrise to sunset).

In practice: expect grey skies, drizzle and the odd cold, clear day. Frost happens on some nights, snow only rarely. It gets dark in the late afternoon, which is the time to walk along the lit-up boulevards. Keep the open-air classics – the Eiffel Tower area, Montmartre, the Seine embankments – for the brightest hours of the day.

What's on in December

The Christmas lights on the Champs-Élysées are switched on in late November and stay up into early January; the City of Paris and the Champs-Élysées committee announce the exact dates each year. The window displays and the giant Christmas tree under the dome of the Galeries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann are another Paris tradition – go on a weekday morning if you can, as weekends are crowded.

Paris also has several Christmas markets and ice rinks in December, but their 2026 dates had not been confirmed by the organisers when we checked, so we do not list them here. If a classic Christmas market is the main reason for your trip, the Strasbourg Christmas market 2026 – one of the oldest in Europe – is about two hours from Paris by high-speed train.

What to do on a rainy day

• The Louvre: the biggest museum in Paris; book a timed ticket, and remember it is closed on Tuesdays.
• Musée d'Orsay: Impressionism in a former railway station, with the view through the great clock.
• Musée de l'Orangerie: Monet's Water Lilies in two oval rooms – an hour well spent.
• Sainte-Chapelle: the stained glass is impressive even on a grey day, when the light is soft.
• The covered passages: the 19th-century shopping arcades around the Grands Boulevards – Galerie Vivienne, Passage des Panoramas – are made for rain.
• Food: a long lunch in a bistro, a cheese shop, a pâtisserie; December is the season of oysters, foie gras and the bûche de Noël.

Tickets for the Louvre, Orsay and the Eiffel Tower^* are on Tiqets. With many sights on your list, compare the Go City Paris Pass^* with single tickets.

Christmas and New Year: what is open

In France, 25 December and 1 January are public holidays; 26 December is a normal working day in most of the country. Christmas Eve, the réveillon, is the big family dinner. On 25 December and 1 January most shops are closed, and many restaurants are either closed or serving a set holiday menu that needs a reservation.

The Louvre is closed on 25 December and 1 January, according to its official website. Other museums and monuments set their own holiday hours, often with early closing on 24 and 31 December; we do not list times because they change every year, so check each official website a few days before you go. For the metro, RER and buses on the holidays, check the RATP and Île-de-France Mobilités websites. For a New Year's Eve dinner, book well in advance.

What to pack

• A waterproof coat or a good umbrella – rain is the main nuisance in December.
• Comfortable shoes that stay dry; Paris is a city you discover on foot.
• A warm scarf and gloves for evenings on the boulevards and by the river.
• Something a little smarter for a restaurant dinner, especially on 24 or 31 December.

YesTrip shows the forecast for your actual travel days and suggests matching clothes in the packing list.

How many days, and getting there

Three to four days are a good December length: the Louvre and the islands on one day, Orsay and Saint-Germain on another, Montmartre and the department stores on a third, and the evenings for the lights. Our article on how many days in Paris has plans for one to five days, and our Paris trip plan has the route with a map. With an extra day, the best day trips from Paris include Versailles and Giverny.

From Charles de Gaulle airport, the RER B and buses run into the city – our guide Paris CDG airport to the city centre compares all options. A transfer from the airport to your hotel^* can be booked with Welcome Pickups. Travelling from outside the EU, a travel eSIM for France^* (Airalo) is usually cheaper than roaming; our eSIM price index compares prices.

With YesTrip you copy our Paris plan into the app with one tap, add your hotel and a museum for each rainy afternoon, and get the weather for your travel days and an offline map. YesTrip is free.

Paris trip planDay by day, with map and tips

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