French National and Public Holidays

Public holidays in France correspond to major Christian holidays and national holidays:

• 1 January: New Year’s Day
• Easter and Easter Monday
• 1 May: Workers’ Day
• 8 May: end of the Second World War
• Ascension Day: the 40th day after Easter
• Whitsun and Whit Monday: seventh Sunday after Easter
• 14 July: French national holiday, corresponding to the storming of the Bastille
• 15 August: the Assumption
• 1 November: All Saints’ Day
• 11 November: commemoration of fallen soldiers in the First World War
• 25 December: Christmas

On these days, all shops and offices remain closed, but cinemas and most restaurants, boulangeries and shopping centres remain open. Museums and major tourist attractions, on the other hand, remain closed only on 1° January, 1° May and 25 December, remaining open on the remaining holidays.

Finally, we would like to remind you to be careful when travelling during the French school holidays, when families flock to seaside resorts, clogging up roads and motorways. These are usually:

• 20 December to 4 January
• 7 February to 5 March
• Easter week
• Late June to early September