10 things to see and do in Paris in springtime

Spring in Paris is undoubtedly one of the best times of the year to visit the French city. This is thanks to a very pleasant climate with mild temperatures and a great variety of events and activities typical of these months. If you want to or are going to travel to the historic city in spring, in this post I share with you a list of the best things to do during this time and all the useful information about it.

As the good weather arrives in Paris , Parisians take the opportunity to take to the streets and enjoy the pleasures they can't experience for most of the year. I'm talking about something as simple as having a coffee on a nice terrace. A luxury only reserved for spring and summer, as the rest of the year the temperatures are not suitable.

One of the best places to enjoy it is the Montmartre district. Its steep streets are lined with dozens of typical Parisian cafés with their small terraces and pretty façades. One example is the café des Deux Moulins, near the Moulin Rouge, which was the setting for the famous film Amelie.

But there are many more that I invite you to discover, and to make sure you don't miss anything, the best option is to book a guided tour of the Montmartre neighbourhood, which, I assure you, will not leave you indifferent.

In mid-May, almost to say goodbye to spring and welcome summer, one of the most magical nights of the year takes place in Paris. The Night of the Museums is celebrated all over the country, but it is in the capital that it is most enjoyed.

The major museums also take part in this event, opening their doors for the night, and the activity is complemented by concerts and artistic and cultural events all over the city, in a perfect itinerary for enjoying culture on a magical night in the Parisian spring.

Many Parisian museums, such as the Louvre, usually take part in the Night of the Museums, but if you're not in Paris on that date or don't like to stay up late, you can always visit them during their regular opening hours:

• Book skip-the-line tickets for the Louvre: the largest museum in the world, with 35,000 objects and works of art such as the Mona Lisa or the Venus de Milo.

• Book tickets for the Musée d'Orsay: which houses hundreds of works by the most important artists of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, such as Van Gogh or Matisse.

• Book tickets for the Picasso Museum in Paris: which houses 5,000 of Picasso's masterpieces, as well as his own personal collection.

If you choose to travel to Paris during the Easter holidays, you can make the most of the opportunity to experience these festivities in Parisian style. There are two ways to enjoy it:

From a more religious point of view, it is an ideal time to visit the city's churches, of which there are many and very beautiful:

• The Basilica of the Sacré-Coeur.
• The Sainte Chapelle, whose tickets I recommend you book online.
• The Madeleine church.
• Notre Dame, whose exteriors you can admire by booking a tour of the Ile de la Cité, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle and La Conciergerie prison where you will receive explanations about its architecture. Unfortunately, the Cathedral has been closed to visitors since the fires of 2019.

On the other hand, the typical alternative to enjoy Easter has more to do with the sense of taste than the sense of sight. I'm talking about the famous chocolate eggs and bunnies typical of this festive season. Paris is a city of pastries and its streets are lined with hundreds of patisseries offering these chocolate delicacies. If you have a sweet tooth, booking a tour of Paris's patisseries can be a great idea too, can't it?

When the trees are in bloom, the temperatures are warmer and the days are sunnier, walking around Paris is a real pleasure. Walking is always a good idea, but it does restrict the distance you can cover. That's why in spring , one of the best things to do is to rent a bike and ride around Paris taking advantage of the good weather. You have several options for this:

• Book the Paris Pass tourist card, with which you can take public bicycles and cycle around the centre or even discover the outskirts of the capital with places as interesting as the Vincennes forest. There are so many advantages of the Paris Pass that I recommend you read this post to find out all about it.
• Book a 4-hourguided bike tour of Paris, accompanied by an expert guide, to visit the most important monuments of the French capital.

It is always advisable to get to know Paris from different perspectives. And one of the most beautiful is to do it with one of the best Seine river cruises. In fact, the weather is so nice in spring that you can even cruise the Seine aboard a night cruise on the Seine River.

Along the way, you'll see monuments such as the Invalides, the Musée d'Orsay, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, the Grand Palais and the Eiffel Tower.

You can choose to accompany your cruise with a dinner on board or choose from various options and combinations.

As the spring is progressing it is becoming more and more common to have clear days and skies, one of the best options to take advantage of this fact is to see Paris from the heights from the best viewpoints in Paris.

The most famous of these is, of course, the one at the Eiffel Tower. It is also the highest, but there are other alternatives:

• The viewpoint of the Sacré-Coeur Basilica.
• The Montparnasse skyscraper, the second tallest building of its kind in France, and for which I recommend you book your tickets in advance.
• The top terrace of the Arc de Triomphe, for which you can also book tickets online.

Paris is even more beautiful from above.

The Palace of Versailles is one of the must-do excursions if you travel to Paris. The charm of the place lies not only in the palace, but also in its gardens. Considered one of the most beautiful in Europe and the world, the royal gardens of Versailles look especially beautiful in spring.

The floral decoration is tremendously beautiful at this time of year and the gardeners take special care to make them look spectacular. During these months you can also enjoy the show they put on with the palace fountains, playing with lights and music.

Booking tickets for the Palace of Versailles, the gardens and Marie-Antoinette's estate is a springtime must.

Paris is a city full of beautiful parks and gardens that are cared for with special care. It is in spring when these places are at their most beautiful, mainly because of the blossom, which gives strollers a very colourful and beautiful postcard.

There are dozens of parks and gardens that are perfect for a pleasant springtime stroll:

• The Tuileries garden, between the Louvre and the Place Concorde.
• Montsouris Park in the south of the city.
• The Parc de Belleville, on the hill of the same name and with one of the best views of the capital.
• The Parc des Buttes Chaumont, located in a former quarry in the east of Paris.

If you ask a Parisian what their favourite springtime activity is, there's a very good chance that their answer will be a picnic. It's a typical Parisian postcard at this time of year in places like the Champ de Mars under the Eiffel Tower.

But of all the options in this sense that we can visit in the French city, the favourite for Parisians, and my personal recommendation, are the Luxembourg Gardens, which have a very neat floral decoration and large lawns where you can have the typical spring picnics when the weather is nice. A must-do activity in the Parisian spring.

Spring is also a time for big sporting events, and two of the biggest take place at this time of year:

• The Paris Marathon takes place in early April and brings together more than 60,000 runners and many more spectators around the race route, which passes iconic landmarks such as Notre Dame, the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower.
• The French Open Tennis Championships, or Roland Garros, is the most important tournament on clay, and always brings together the best tennis players in the world. It is held in late May and early June at the Stade Roland Garros complex in Paris.

The weather is one of the key factors in deciding when to visit Paris or any other city. In this respect, spring has plenty of arguments to convince you.

In the months of March, April and May, the hours of sunshine gradually increase and with them the temperature. From a high of just over 10°C in March, the average temperature rises to 20°C in May. In general, it is a very pleasant climate with very mild temperatures.

The only downside to spring, and this is a common issue in almost every month of the year, is the rainfall. May is one of the wettest months of the year and in general it is almost impossible to avoid rain in spring.

In general, during the spring months , the number of tourists is not massive, considering that Paris is one of the most visited cities in the world, and there are not too many problems to find accommodation.

The exception is Easter, when many people take the opportunity to visit Paris during this holiday period and the demand and the number of tourists increases considerably.

The prices of accommodation and tourist attractions such as Paris are particularly dependent on demand. Since spring is not yet the high season, demand is not as high and therefore prices remain reasonable.

The exception is Easter, because in many places it is a holiday and the demand for accommodation rises considerably. And with demand comes higher prices.

In spring you can experience everything from sunny and pleasant days to rainy and windy days. That's why you should pack your luggage thoroughly and be prepared for various scenarios. What you shouldn't leave out of your suitcase:

• Light and comfortableclothes for the sunny and more spring-like days.
• Extra warm clothes for cloudy days and evenings.
• Comfortableshoes for the long walks through the streets of Paris.
• An umbrella or mackintosh in case you get caught in the rain.