Paris in May: Weather, Events and the Best Tours
Written and checked by the Best Paris Tours editorial team. .
May has the longest days in this guide, at 15 hours 20 minutes with sunset near 21:25, and everything seasonal is running. It also contains the single worst date of the whole ten months: Saturday 1 May, when the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Orangerie, Sainte-Chapelle and Versailles all close together.
Quick pick: the best Paris tours in May
| # | Tour | Best for | Duration | From | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Versailles Palace and Gardens Full Access Ticket | The full estate with the water running | Varies | £21 | 4.6 (45,986) |
| 2 | Giverny Day Trip with Audio or Live Guide | The peak week of Monet's garden | 5 hours | £54 | 4.2 (2,829) |
| 3 | 1-Hour Seine Cruise from the Eiffel Tower | Fifteen hours of daylight on the water | 1 hour | £15 | 4.4 (88,160) |
| 4 | Eiffel Tower Entry Ticket with Summit Access | Sunset from the summit at 21:25 | 1.5 - 2 hours | £21 | 4.5 (22,116) |
| 5 | Day Trip to Mont-Saint-Michel from Paris | A fourteen-hour day inside a fifteen-hour one | 14 hours | £111 | 4.5 (5,738) |
| 6 | Moulin Rouge Cabaret Show Ticket with Champagne | The one indoor evening worth giving up the light for | 2 hours | £100 | 4.7 (17,909) |
| 7 | Versailles Skip-the-Line Palace and Gardens Tour | Skipping a queue that is back to summer length | 2 hours | £49 | 4.7 (11,551) |
| 8 | Musée d’Orsay Skip-the-Line Tour with Guide | Thirteen wet days of insurance, and the Monet pairing | 1.5 - 2.5 hours | £60 | 4.8 (1,177) |
| 9 | Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off Tour with Optional Cruise | Long days on an open top deck | 1 - 2 days | £33 | 4.4 (15,496) |
| 10 | Mona Lisa & Louvre Masterpieces Tour | A defined three hours in a busy month | 1 - 3.5 hours | £50 | 4.7 (7,461) |
Prices, ratings and review counts verified against live GetYourGuide listings on 28 July 2026 and shown in pounds. Official French admission prices quoted elsewhere on this page are in euros, as published by the sites themselves. Duration varies by the option you choose at checkout.
Is May a good time to visit Paris?
May is the best month for daylight and the worst for a single bad date. You get 15 hours 20 minutes of light, Giverny at its peak and the Versailles fountains running. You also get 1 May, a Saturday in 2027, when five of the biggest sights in Paris are simultaneously shut.
On everything except one day, May is the strongest month in this guide. Sunset near 21:25 gives you the longest usable evenings of the year, 19.1C average highs are warm enough for outdoor dining and cool enough for a full day on foot, and every seasonal attraction, Giverny, the Versailles fountains, the open-top decks, the long day trips, is fully operational.
Then there is 1 May. Labour Day in France is not a partial closure like Christmas or a weekly closing day. On 1 May the Musee du Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Musee de l'Orangerie, Sainte-Chapelle and the Chateau de Versailles are all closed on the same day. In 2027 it falls on a Saturday, which is the worst possible day for it: a short-break visitor arriving Friday night for a weekend loses the whole of their first full day of museums.
The other cost of May is rain, which is not what people expect from the best month. Paris averages 76mm in May, tied with December as the wettest month of the ten, across thirteen wet days. May rain arrives as heavy convective showers rather than winter drizzle and passes quickly, but it is a real amount of water and it is more than April, March or February deliver.
Paris weather in May
May averages 19.1C highs and 9.4C lows with the longest daylight of the ten months at 15 hours 20 minutes and sunset around 21:25. It is also the wettest month by volume, tied with December at 76mm, though that falls across thirteen days as heavy showers rather than settled cloud.
| Measure | May | How that compares |
|---|---|---|
| Average high | 19.1C | Warmest is August at 25.4C, coldest January at 7.3C |
| Average low | 9.4C | From 1.7C in January to 15.2C in August |
| Rainfall | 76mm across the month | Driest is April at 51mm, wettest May and December at 76mm |
| Wet days | 13 days | Fewest is September at 9, most is March at 14 |
| Daylight, mid-month | 15h 20m | From 8h 21m in December to 15h 20m in May |
| Sunset on the 15th | About 21:25 | Local Paris time, summer time included where it applies |
Temperature, rainfall and wet days: Open-Meteo ERA5 reanalysis for Paris, ten-year observed means. Daylight and sunset: day length computed for Paris (48.86N, 2.35E) on the 15th of each month.
The daylight figure is the one that defines the month. Fifteen hours twenty minutes mid-May, with sunset moving from about 21:05 on the 1st to roughly 21:45 by the 31st, gives you a genuinely different day from anything else in this guide. It is nearly seven hours more usable light than December, and it means dinner outdoors before dark is possible for the first time since the previous September.
The rainfall deserves an honest mention because it contradicts May's reputation. Seventy-six millimetres is the joint highest of the ten months, level with December and well above April's 51mm. The difference is character: May rain is convective, arriving as a sharp heavy shower in the afternoon and clearing within the hour, rather than the persistent low cloud of the winter. It interrupts rather than dominates, but it does interrupt.
The temperature suits Paris well. At 19.1C average highs, May is warm enough to sit outside and cool enough to cross the city on foot without suffering, which is the combination August cannot quite offer at 25.4C. Lows of 9.4C mean the evenings still need a layer, and a 21:25 sunset means those evenings are long enough that you will notice.
Crowds, prices and what to book ahead
May is peak season on price. Four public holidays, the longest days of the year and the return of the seasonal attractions put demand at spring highs. Book Versailles and Giverny ahead, and plan around 1 May rather than hoping it works out.
The public holiday calendar is unusually heavy. Saturday 1 May is Labour Day, Thursday 6 May is Ascension, Saturday 8 May is Victory in Europe Day and Monday 17 May is Whit Monday. Two of those fall on Saturdays, which limits the long-weekend effect, but Ascension on a Thursday produces the classic French pont, with many people taking the Friday and travelling. The weekend of 6 to 9 May is the busiest domestic travel period of the month.
Versailles is the specific booking pressure in May. The fountains are running, the gardens are at their best and the estate is at its most photographed, so the queue on the unsheltered forecourt is back to summer lengths. A guided skip-the-line slot is worth materially more in May than it was in February, when you could walk up.
Roland-Garros, the French Open, begins in the second half of May at the Stade Roland-Garros in the 16th arrondissement and runs into June. We are not publishing the 2027 dates because they had not been confirmed when this page was written. Its effect on a general visitor is limited to hotel demand in the west of the city and to the Metro on line 10, but if you are staying near Porte d'Auteuil it is worth checking.
The best tours in Paris in May
Ranked for May: everything seasonal is running and the evenings are the longest of the year, so the outdoor and estate experiences lead. Prices, ratings and review counts were checked against live GetYourGuide listings on 28 July 2026.
1. Versailles Palace and Gardens Full Access Ticket
4.6 out of 5 from 45,986 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £21 • Varies
Ranked first because May is the month this ticket delivers everything it promises: fountains running, gardens at their peak and a 21:25 sunset that lets you stay on the estate until the evening. Do not book it for Saturday 1 May, when the palace is closed. The gardens and park are open every day including Mondays.
Best for in May: The full estate with the water running
2. Giverny Day Trip with Audio or Live Guide
4.2 out of 5 from 2,829 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £54 • 5 hours
Ranked second despite the lowest rating in our Paris list, at 4.2, because May is the month Giverny exists for. The wisteria over the Japanese bridge and the irises around the water garden are what the paintings are of, and they are a May phenomenon. Book ahead; this is the busiest month of its season.
Best for in May: The peak week of Monet's garden
3. 1-Hour Seine Cruise from the Eiffel Tower
4.4 out of 5 from 88,160 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £15 • 1 hour
An hour on the Seine for £15 in the longest daylight of the year. One scheduling point specific to May: with sunset at 21:25 an illuminated cruise means a 22:00 departure, so if the lit version is what you want, book late. Any earlier sailing is a daylight trip, which is no bad thing in May.
Best for in May: Fifteen hours of daylight on the water
4. Eiffel Tower Entry Ticket with Summit Access
4.5 out of 5 from 22,116 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £21 • 1.5 - 2 hours
The summit upgrade is worth the money in May. Spring air gives long clear views, the winter maintenance window is well behind you, and a 20:30 slot puts you at 276 metres for a 21:25 sunset over the whole city. That is the single best hour our Paris list can offer in this month.
Best for in May: Sunset from the summit at 21:25
5. Day Trip to Mont-Saint-Michel from Paris
4.5 out of 5 from 5,738 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £111 • 14 hours
The only month in this guide where a fourteen-hour coach day fits comfortably inside the daylight. You leave and return in the light, and the abbey in long May evening light is a completely different proposition from the same trip in October dusk.
Best for in May: A fourteen-hour day inside a fifteen-hour one
6. Moulin Rouge Cabaret Show Ticket with Champagne
4.7 out of 5 from 17,909 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £100 • 2 hours
Ranked lower than in the winter months and deliberately so: giving up a 21:25 sunset for a two-hour indoor show is a real trade in May in a way it never is in January. It earns its place because it is rated 4.7 and because a long May trip has enough evenings to spare one.
Best for in May: The one indoor evening worth giving up the light for
7. Versailles Skip-the-Line Palace and Gardens Tour
4.7 out of 5 from 11,551 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £49 • 2 hours
The Versailles forecourt queue in May is back to its warm-season length and it is completely unsheltered. A guided skip-the-line slot is worth considerably more this month than in the winter, when you could walk up. Closed Mondays: the 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th and 31st, five of them this month.
Best for in May: Skipping a queue that is back to summer length
8. Musée d’Orsay Skip-the-Line Tour with Guide
4.8 out of 5 from 1,177 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £60 • 1.5 - 2.5 hours
The highest-rated tour we sell at 4.8, and worth booking for two May reasons: thirteen wet days means you will want an indoor afternoon, and pairing the Orsay with a Giverny day in the same trip is the best thing our list offers. Closed Mondays, and closed all day on Saturday 1 May.
Best for in May: Thirteen wet days of insurance, and the Monet pairing
9. Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off Tour with Optional Cruise
4.4 out of 5 from 15,496 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £33 • 1 - 2 days
Fifteen hours of daylight means a 24-hour ticket genuinely covers a full day rather than half of one. The caution is the rain: 76mm makes May the wettest month by volume in this guide, so take the 48-hour option if the forecast is mixed and use the better of the two days.
Best for in May: Long days on an open top deck
10. Mona Lisa & Louvre Masterpieces Tour
4.7 out of 5 from 7,461 verified GetYourGuide reviews • from £50 • 1 - 3.5 hours
Ranked lower than in winter because May gives you every reason to be outside, but a reserved-access guided route is still the efficient way to do the Louvre when it is competing with a 21:25 sunset. Closed Tuesdays and closed all day on Saturday 1 May.
Best for in May: A defined three hours in a busy month
Dropped for May: the two Seine dinner cruises, the Bateaux-Mouches evening lights cruise and the Crazy Horse show. All four sell an evening, and in a month where the sun does not set until 21:25 an evening is the most valuable thing you have. They are all excellent in December and none of them is the right call in May. The single most important thing on this page is not a tour at all: do not plan Saturday 1 May around a museum, because the Louvre, the Orsay, the Orangerie, Sainte-Chapelle and Versailles are all shut. Inventory gap: we do not sell Roland-Garros tickets or anything tied to the Nuit Blanche arts festival, which now takes place in June rather than October.
Events and festivals in May 2027
May 2027 has four public holidays, and the first of them is the problem: Saturday 1 May, Labour Day, closes the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Orangerie, Sainte-Chapelle and Versailles simultaneously. Ascension on Thursday 6 May produces the month's busiest travel weekend.
| Event | Dates | Where | Free? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Day, and the worst closure date of the year | Saturday 1 May | Nationwide | Public holiday |
| Ascension, a national public holiday | Thursday 6 May | Nationwide | Public holiday |
| Victory in Europe Day, a national public holiday | Saturday 8 May | Ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe | Public holiday |
| Whit Monday, a national public holiday | Monday 17 May | Nationwide | Public holiday |
| Roland-Garros, the French Open | Second half of May into June; 2027 dates not yet confirmed | Stade Roland-Garros, 16th arrondissement | Ticketed |
Labour Day on 1 May is the most consequential single date in this entire guide and it deserves to be planned around rather than discovered. It closes the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Musee de l'Orangerie, Sainte-Chapelle and the Chateau de Versailles all at once. In 2027 it falls on a Saturday, which makes it worse than usual, because a Friday-night-to-Sunday city break loses its only full museum day. Public transport runs a reduced service and many shops close as well.
What is open on 1 May is worth knowing, because the day is not lost. The Eiffel Tower runs, the Seine cruises run, the catacombs run, the cabarets run and the Versailles gardens and park are open even though the palace is not. It is also traditional to buy and give lily of the valley on 1 May, sold on street corners all over Paris, which is a genuinely charming thing to be around.
Ascension on Thursday 6 May is the month's other significant date, because a Thursday public holiday in France produces a pont: a great many people take the Friday off and make a four-day weekend of it. That weekend, 6 to 9 May, is the busiest domestic travel period of the month and it runs straight into Victory in Europe Day on Saturday 8 May, which brings a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe.
What is closed in May
Saturday 1 May 2027 is the worst closure date in this guide. The Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Musee de l'Orangerie, Sainte-Chapelle and the Chateau de Versailles are all closed on the same day. May also has five Mondays, so Orsay and Versailles lose six days in total.
| Site | Closed | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Musee du Louvre | Saturday 1 May, plus Tuesdays 4, 11, 18 and 25 May | Labour Day is one of the Louvre's few fixed annual closures alongside 1 January and 25 December. |
| Musee d'Orsay | Saturday 1 May, plus Mondays 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 May | The Orsay's three fixed annual closures are every Monday, 1 May and 25 December. Six lost days in May 2027. |
| Musee de l'Orangerie | Saturday 1 May | Which matters more than usual: the Orangerie holds Monet's Water Lilies, and it closes on the same day as the Orsay and the Louvre. |
| Sainte-Chapelle | Saturday 1 May | Closed for Labour Day along with the four other major sites. Sainte-Chapelle sells its own timed entry; we do not stock it. |
| Chateau de Versailles | Saturday 1 May, plus Mondays 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 May | Five Mondays this month, including Whit Monday on the 17th. The gardens and park stay open every day, including 1 May. |
| Nothing seasonal | No seasonal closures in May | Giverny and the Versailles fountains are both running. May and August are the only two months in this guide with the full estate available. |
Weekly closing days and fixed holiday closures read directly from the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay and Chateau de Versailles official sites on 29 July 2026. Seasonal opening dates for 2027 are set by each site and can move, so confirm before you book a non-refundable trip around one.
This is the section to read before you book anything in May. Saturday 1 May 2027 closes five of the biggest sights in Paris at once: the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Musee de l'Orangerie, Sainte-Chapelle and the Chateau de Versailles. That is not a partial closure or an early finish, it is a full day with all five shut, and because it lands on a Saturday in 2027 it will take out the main day of a great many short breaks.
The fix is straightforward once you know. Put the Eiffel Tower, a Seine cruise, the catacombs, Montmartre or the Versailles park on 1 May, and put the museums on any other day. All of those run normally. Public transport runs a reduced service and a good share of shops close, so it is not a day for errands, but it is a perfectly good day for the outdoor city, particularly with a 21:05 sunset.
Beyond 1 May, the weekly pattern in May 2027 is unhelpful: the month begins on a Saturday and runs thirty-one days, giving five Mondays. Combined with 1 May that is six days on which the Musee d'Orsay and the Chateau de Versailles are closed. The compensation is that nothing is shut for the season: Giverny and the Versailles fountains are both running, which makes May and August the only two months in this guide with the whole estate available.
What to wear and pack for Paris in May
Pack for 19.1C afternoons, 9.4C evenings and the wettest month by volume in this guide at 76mm. May rain is heavy and brief rather than persistent, so a packable shell beats an umbrella, and the 21:25 sunset means you will still be out when it cools.
The May rain pattern is the same as August's: sharp convective showers, often with wind, that dump a lot of water quickly and clear inside the hour. That makes an umbrella a poor choice and a packable waterproof a good one, and it means the right response to a May shower is usually to step into a cafe for twenty minutes rather than to change the plan.
The evening drop catches people out because the afternoons feel like summer. A 19.1C day becomes a 9.4C night, and with sunset at 21:25 you will be outside for a great deal more of that cooling than you would be in November. Anyone planning a late dinner on a terrace or an evening at Versailles needs a proper layer in the bag, not just an optimistic one.
- A packable waterproof shell; May is the wettest month by volume at 76mm
- A warm layer for 9.4C evenings that now run past 21:25
- Sunglasses and sun cream; May sun in the Versailles parterres is stronger than it feels
- Comfortable shoes for the longest sightseeing days of the year
- Your itinerary checked so that Saturday 1 May is not a museum day
How we chose these tours
We rank on seasonal fit first and verified GetYourGuide rating second, so the experiences that actually work in May's daylight, rainfall and opening calendar sit highest. Every price, rating and review count on this page was checked against the live listing on 28 July 2026.
- Seasonal fit first. Each of the 26 tours we stock is scored against May on daylight hours, sunset time, wet days, temperature and whether the thing it visits is actually open. A tour that cannot deliver its own selling point this month drops out, and we say which ones and why.
- Then rating, then review volume. Where two tours fit the month equally well, the higher verified GetYourGuide rating wins, and review count breaks any remaining tie. Both numbers are public and you can check them against the listing.
- Nothing is invented. Prices, star ratings and review counts come from the live product page. We do not publish an opening date, closure or festival date we could not confirm from the venue itself, and where a 2027 date has not been published yet we say so instead of guessing.
- We say what we do not sell. Where the obvious thing to do in May is not something we can book you onto, it goes in the text as advice rather than being quietly left out or replaced with a product that does not fit.
- We earn a commission. Booking links go to GetYourGuide and pay us if you book. That does not change the ranking, and it is why the reasoning on every entry is written out rather than left implied.
FAQs about Paris in May
What is closed on 1 May in Paris?
The Musee du Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, the Musee de l'Orangerie, Sainte-Chapelle and the Chateau de Versailles are all closed on 1 May for Labour Day. In 2027 that falls on a Saturday. Public transport runs a reduced service and many shops close. The Eiffel Tower, the Seine cruises, the catacombs, the cabarets and the Versailles gardens and park all stay open.
Is May a good time to visit Paris?
It is the best month for daylight and the worst for a single date. May gives 15 hours 20 minutes of light with sunset around 21:25, 19.1C highs, and every seasonal attraction running including Giverny and the Versailles fountains. Against that, it is the wettest month by volume at 76mm, it carries four public holidays, and 1 May closes five major sights at once.
Is Giverny at its best in May?
Yes. May is the wisteria and iris phase at the Fondation Claude Monet, when the flowers over the Japanese bridge and around the water garden look most like the paintings they inspired. It is also the busiest month of the Giverny season for exactly that reason, so book ahead and prefer a weekday over a weekend if you can choose.
How many public holidays are there in Paris in May?
Four in 2027: Labour Day on Saturday 1 May, Ascension on Thursday 6 May, Victory in Europe Day on Saturday 8 May and Whit Monday on Monday 17 May. Ascension falling on a Thursday produces the classic French pont, with many people taking the Friday off, which makes 6 to 9 May the busiest domestic travel period of the month.
Does it rain a lot in Paris in May?
More than most people expect. May averages 76mm across thirteen wet days, which ties it with December as the wettest month in this guide and puts it well above April's 51mm. The difference is character: May rain comes as heavy convective showers that clear within the hour rather than the persistent low cloud of the winter, so it interrupts a day rather than defining it.
When does it get dark in Paris in May?
Sunset moves from about 21:05 on 1 May to roughly 21:45 by the 31st, with 15 hours 20 minutes of daylight mid-month. That is the longest of the ten months covered here and nearly seven hours more than December. One practical consequence: an illuminated Seine cruise needs a departure around 22:00 in May, whereas in December a 17:30 sailing does the same job.