If you visit Paris in November you can expect fewer crowds and lower hotel prices than peak summer months, but trust us when we tell you the weather won’t be great. We’ve been to Paris countless times across all four seasons, but our longest stay in the City of Lights was an 8 day trip we took in November 2023.
Honestly, we expected top attractions like the Louvre and Palace of Versailles to be comparatively crowd-free in November, but we should have known better. That said, there were more hotel rooms available than trips we’ve taken in the summer and the city’s lesser known attractions were definitely quieter. Read more about us.
Here we are taking a selfie inside the Louvre with our coats on in November
For us, the crappy weather was by far the biggest downside to being in Paris so late in the year. It was cold and it rained a lot. Mark even had to buy a heavier coat while we were there! Otherwise, there’s a lot to like about visiting in the Autumn.
In this guide we walk you through the 10 most important things you should know about visiting Paris in November based on our experiences. Take a look at our Paris travel guidebook if you’re a serial planner like us, but for now let’s get started!
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1. Crowds
We took this photo not long after entering the Louvre to show the crowds
Paris welcomes around 25 million international tourists each year, on top of millions more domestic visitors. That’s a huge amount of people vying for the same hotel rooms, tickets to attractions and restaurant reservations. But the good news for you is that peak season in Paris is June-August, the shoulder seasons are considered to be April-May and September-October, and that leaves November-March as the low season.
Our Experience: We were in Paris from November 3rd to 10th, and frankly it was much busier than we expected. But that wasn’t always a bad thing because as much as we hate overcrowding at tourist attractions, we also prefer a bit of a buzz in restaurants. It’s not much fun when you’re the only people enjoying the famous Parisian cafe culture.
We do think the middle to end of November would be quieter before picking back up again for the Christmas markets in December, but we were genuinely surprised by the amount of tourists charging around the city in the early part of November, especially considering the weather was pretty awful.
Truthfully, we think the real low season in Paris only lasts for a few months between January and March. So if you’re thinking about November as a time to explore the city with no crowds, you might want to reconsider March as a better option because it will be quieter and the weather should also be a bit better.
Overall, we definitely thought November was quieter than trips we’d taken in July and September, just don’t expect places like the Louvre or the Palace of Versailles to be empty – they won’t be!
2. Weather
Here’s Mark not enjoying the rainy morning we had in the Palace of Versailles grounds (it did clear up eventually!)
How important is the climate when you go on vacation? For a lot of people, it can make or break a trip. Hopefully you’re not one of those people because November really isn’t a good time to go to Paris if you want a good chance at having comfortable conditions. It’s a lot of money to spend for a strong likelihood that you’ll be walking around the city in dreary, grey and drizzly weather.
Paris November Temperatures
November 1st:
- High – 56°F (13°C)
- Low – 44°F (7°C)
November 30th:
- High – 47°F (8°C)
- Low – 38°F (3°C)
Source: Weather Spark
The drop in average high temperature in Paris from October to November is a huge 10°F (5.5°C), which is a more significant change than any other months of the year. And it isn’t trending in the direction you want!
But you also have to consider the 9°F (5°C) decrease in average high temperatures from the start to the end of November. That’s a pretty big change if you visit on November 4th versus November 27th for example.
Another thing to consider is that the second half of November is especially susceptible to being cloudy or overcast. But on a brighter note the chance of rain is fairly steady throughout the year, so you wouldn’t be going at a massively wetter time than usual. Finally, remember that November is just one month away from the winter solstice which means much shorter daylight hours.
Our experience: The chance of us having unfavorable weather conditions during our trip to Paris in November was pretty high, but we definitely had a bit of bad luck thrown in for good measure. It was cloudy, rainy, windy and cold almost the whole time we were there, so we’d say it was about as bad as it could be for the late autumn. Hopefully you’ll be luckier than us!
3. Hotels
Here’s Kristen walking through Montmartre when we stayed at a hotel in the 18th arrondissement
One thing you really can take advantage of if you choose to visit Paris in November is the budget-winning combination of lower occupancy rates and lower average nightly costs for hotel rooms. There are hundreds of hotels in Paris that want to fill their rooms outside of peak season, so they have to offer competitive prices.
We mentioned that the top tourist attractions were busier than we expected, but that’s because there’s a set amount of daily tickets and they sell out most days. Whereas in reality, there are actually fewer people visiting Paris in November than July for instance, and therefore more hotel rooms are available.
But, this is Paris and hotels are expensive no matter when you go, even when they’re offering lower than usual prices because it’s quieter. So technically you will save money versus summer, but you’ll still end up spending a bunch of money on your hotel.
Our experience: We’ve stayed at hotels in six different arrondissements in Paris (1st, 3rd, 7th, 10th, 11th, 18th) over the years. But during our 8 day trip in November we actually booked 3 hotels so we could try out new parts of the city every few days. It was a lot of faffing around, but we loved exploring each area more thoroughly. Here’s our detailed guide on where to stay in Paris by arrondissement if you want to learn more.
Hotel Recommendations
Is this going to be your first time in Paris? We recommend booking a hotel in the 1st (Louvre) if you want a central location for attractions and transport links (including airports), or the 4th if you want an authentic old-world feel with lots of great places to eat out.
Here’s three excellent hotels to consider in the 1st:
Hotel Le Relais des Halles (cheap)
Hotel Ducs de Bourgogne (mid range)
Chateau Voltaire (luxury)
And here’s three excellent hotels to consider in the 4th:
La Chambre du Marais (cheap)
Hôtel Le Presbytère (mid range)
Le Pavillon de la Reine (luxury)
Our favorite hotel so far though was Hotel des Arts in Montmartre (18th). It was affordable, lovely inside and the best part was the breakfast which was lightyears better than any other we’ve had in Paris so far. They go out and pick up fresh pastries from a nearby local boulangerie each morning, which makes all the difference.
4. Eating Out
We took this photo at one of the many French restaurants we ate at during our trip (how good is beef bourguignon?!)
November is a mixed bag when it comes to eating out in Paris. Why? Because the weather is so changeable and unpredictable, which makes sitting on those tiny tables outside cafes and bars a bit risky. You never know when the heavens are going to open. Plus, despite those little outdoor heaters it’s far too cold in the evening to enjoy dinner outside, which you can do in the summer.
So you’re kind of stuck with eating inside. And here’s the second issue, a lot of places in Paris have a kind of middle seating area that goes between full outdoor seating and full indoor seating – and it’s basically like a greenhouse filled with cigarette smoke. You might not be bothered by that, but the relentless smoking at restaurants is one of our least favorite things about visiting Paris.
What about the positives? Well, you stand a much better chance of being able to walk into any restaurant without a reservation. And this is the same year round, but remember you pay the price of the meal and no more. No tax, and no tip (which is so refreshing when you live in the US).
Our experience: In the summer months we’ve had a few waits for breakfast restaurants, at which point we would always just go to a low key boulangerie for delicious croissants and coffee. And at dinner time we’ve had a few evenings where we genuinely had to walk from place to place until we could get in somewhere. But we never had any problems getting in for any meal time during our full 8 days in November. So this is a clear benefit.
Restaurant Recommendations
Okay, this is Paris we’re talking about. There’s hundreds of cheap, expensive, unique, fun, hidden or exclusive places you can eat, so you’d have to live in the city for a good few years before being able to profess that you’re an expert on where to go.
But we can offer you the following suggestions based on our experiences so far:
Cafes/Brunch:
Lunch/Dinner:
Rooftop Bars:
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5. Expenses
Here’s Kristen looking over Paris from the Eiffel Tower
We traveled the world almost non-stop from 2018-2024, visiting hundreds of cities and towns across many continents. And honestly, we think places like Paris, Rome and New York are more affordable to visit than what they’re made out to be.
Sure, you could make a trip to Paris cost a fortune if you stay in a ritzy 5 star hotel, eat in fine dining restaurants and take private tours of attractions. But you can also visit Paris on the cheap if you have a tight budget. Eating out can be super affordable, it’s a walkable city so you don’t have to take public transport and most attractions have fairly cheap entry tickets.
Now, we already explained that hotels are cheaper than usual in November, but they’re still comparatively expensive to other places you might visit. But don’t forget about cheaper flights too – it’s the off season and airlines are eager to fill empty seats, so there’s discounts and deals to be had.
Our experience: When we did our 8 day trip in November, we paid around US $35 each to take a train from Bayeux in Normandy to Paris, before spending US $582 on a 2 night hotel, US $707 on a 3 night hotel and another $821 on a 3 night hotel. We didn’t track our food and drink costs but we kept them super reasonable by mostly eating at low key places, and afterwards we took a cheap flight to Lisbon. We also spent money on attractions, but we’ll talk about that next (number 6).
How Much Spending Money Do You Need?
Everyone visiting Paris arrives with a different budget, goals and itinerary ideas. There’s no one size fits all budget calculator because you might want to eat and drink your way through the city, you might want to just visit attractions and museums, or you might want to keep costs down.
But generally speaking, let’s say the average couple spends the following in USD (excluding flights):
- $250/night on a hotel
- $100/day on food
- $100/day on attractions
- $50/day on miscellaneous things
So we think the average couple planning a 3-night and 4-day trip to Paris would spend somewhere around US $1,750. But remember, you absolutely can do it much cheaper or spend a lot more than that.
Here’s a few easy ways you can save money:
- Go to a boulangerie instead of paying $20 for petit dejeuner
- Don’t splurge on dinner, keep it simple instead
- Book a cheaper than average hotel (they do exist!)
- Walk instead of using the metro
- Some museums offer free entry first Sunday of the month
6. Things To Do
Mark took this photo from our Seine cruise in November
One of the great things about taking a trip to Paris in an off season month like November is sharing most of the well known museums and attractions with just a fraction of the crowds compared to summer.
We’re talking about places like the Rodin Museum, Sainte-Chapelle and the Sacre-Coeur – all of which were busy enough when we visited in November by the way – but at least we could get in, which is a struggle in the busier summer months.
We’d also include the Eiffel Tower and the Musee d’Orsay into this category because they were totally reasonable when we visited in November. And there’s dozens more great museums that you’ll be able to walk straight into because there are fewer people in town.
However, and we’ve alluded to this already, the most popular museums with limited daily tickets like the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles are always busy, so you’ll have to put up with outrageous crowds inside both places, even if you go in November.
Our experience: We honestly found it hard to enjoy the Palace of Versailles because we were packed in like sardines, and the Louvre was also rammed when we went in at 9:30am. But the Eiffel Tower was super quiet when we went up for sunset, and we had no problems getting into any other museum or attraction in Paris the whole time.
We actually used Go City Paris passes and a Tiqets pass to bundle attractions and save money during our November trip. It’s the only time we’ve used passes in the city and they worked really well. Here’s our comparison of the Paris attraction passes if you want to learn more.
Top Attractions
There’s tons of amazing experiences you can’t miss in Paris, but here are the things we would prioritize on a first visit:
- Go up the Eiffel Tower
- Visit the Louvre
- Day trip to the Palace of Versailles
- Walk around St Germain
- Explore Le Marais
- Walk around Montmartre
Special Events
Okay, but is there anything specific going on? Well, we’re glad you asked! Here are some events that take place in Paris in November each year:
- Christmas – Decorations, lights and markets start up around mid-November.
- Armistice Day – Head over to the Arc de Triomphe on November 11th.
7. The Eiffel Tower
Here’s a fun photo Mark took of Kristen looking up at the Eiffel Tower at night
Okay, let’s take a closer look at the Eiffel Tower because it’s arguably the most popular tourist attraction in Paris, and the chances are pretty high you’ll be going. Is it worth it? A resounding yes. And November is an excellent month to do it if you want to escape the crowds. Just make sure you wrap up against the elements!
Our experience: We’ve been up the Eiffel Tower on 4 or 5 different trips to the city at various times of day. It is cool, and we think it’s definitely worth paying for if you’ve never been up. In November we went up for sunset on a super cloudy and windy afternoon, and it was the quietest time we did it by far.
We walked up the first portion on metal steps and barely saw another person, the shops and restaurants were near empty, and the lines for the lift going up and down were non-existent. Compare those things to other times we’ve been up on hot days in the summer and it’s quite literally the polar opposite – crowded, full restaurants and ridiculously long lines for the elevator.
We recommend booking your tickets in advance at the official site – we don’t think it’s especially worth paying for a guided tour of the Eiffel Tower unless you really want someone knowledgable to explain things to you. Here’s our guide on how to visit the Eiffel Tower with tips to learn more.
8. The Louvre
This is a fun photo Mark took of the crowds taking photos of Mona Lisa
The Louvre Museum is one of those famous places with such a huge hype that it runs a risk of failing to live up to it – but don’t worry it’s awesome and you should definitely do it. And this time we do recommend booking a guided tour. Why? Because we’ve done the generic self guided audio tour ourselves and it’s average at best.
There’s plenty of tours you can choose between, but this popular guided tour has a 5/5 rating with almost 5,000 reviews which is the best we’ve ever seen on Viator. Or you can do this late entry guided tour with Take Walks that also looks superb. We did a fantastic tour with Take Walks at the Vatican so they’re legit.
Otherwise, head over to this official website to buy basic entry tickets. No matter how you decide to visit the Louvre, you’ll have a better chance of getting tickets for your dates and the time slot you want if you go to Paris in November when fewer others are vying for those same tickets.
Our experience: We’d already done the Louvre once before but we wanted to go again and take longer to get around so we could see more on all four floors. So we booked regular entry tickets and started on the top floor, before working our way down to the ground floor. And it was a better way of doing the museum by ourselves because we at least avoided some of the crowds. Here’s our guide on how to visit the Louvre to learn more.
Tip: If you buy a basic cheap entry ticket with no tour to keep costs down, book your time slot for the afternoon instead of the morning. Why? Because everyone in Paris goes for the 9:00am-11:00am time slots, so it’s always jam-packed in the morning.
9. Palace Of Versailles
This was how crowded it was in the Hall of Mirrors when we visited the Palace of Versailles
The final individual attraction we have to cover in this guide is the Palace of Versailles because it’s another incredibly popular thing to do for first timers. And of all three major tourist sites, this was the one that surprised us the most in terms of heavy crowds when we did it in November.
Our experience: We really did think that it being so late in the season combined with terrible weather (the wind was so bad it blew our umbrella inside out and broke it in line to get into the palace!) would keep people away. But we were badly mistaken. Even with a pre-booked time slot, we still waited ages in line to get in, and it was unbearably busy for at least the first 20 minutes. Eventually the crowds did thin out because the palace and grounds are huge, but that first part of the visit wasn’t much fun.
We took the RER Line C from Paris to Versailles Château Rive Gauche train station and walked 10 minutes in the rain to get to the palace entry area. It took us around 8 hours in total roundtrip back into Paris, so it was a long day. Here’s our guide on taking a day trip from Paris to the Palace of Versailles if you want to learn more about our experience.
To buy basic entry tickets, head over to this official website. Another option is to book this highly rated guided tour which includes guided transport from Paris to the palace and back, along with skip the line entry. Or finally, you could also book this unique tour that includes the same perks, but this one is a biking tour that gets you to more places in the palace grounds.
We have to admit that walking around the palace grounds in the rain and wind wasn’t ideal. But the weather did clear around lunchtime and we did manage to explore further out parts of the grounds with the sun shining which made a huge difference. You don’t have control over the weather, but it could be worth doing your day trip when there’s a better weather forecast.
10. Packing
Here’s Kristen so very nearly getting the pinch right!
Okay, let’s finish with packing for your trip to Paris in November, which is going to be trickier than your usual vacation. Not just because the weather is so changeable, but also because it’s Paris, and you’re probably going to want to look good. This is the fashion capital of the world, after all.
Start with the basics, you’ll be walking a lot so comfortable shoes are essential. You’re also going to get sun, rain, wind, cloud, warmth and cold during your trip. So think about the basic things you’ll need for those weather conditions, and pack things that can be used interchangeably.
Our experience: We usually don’t care what we look like when we travel. For us it’s all about practicality, but in Paris even we give our suitcase an extra once over to make sure we’ve got some half decent gear packed. That said, the one thing we always do in big cities is walk as much as we can, so running shoes with lots of spring and bounce are the first thing in our bags.
We ended up packing tons of multi-purpose layers that could be dressed up or down, but we spent most of our time in the same coats and jeans because the weather stayed crappy for most of our 8 days. And like we mentioned way back at the beginning, we even had to buy a heavier coat for Mark because it was way colder than we’d anticipated. (Mark grew up in England so this wasn’t us planning badly, it was just unusually cold!).
After you’ve packed the essentials, you then need to ask yourself important questions like how much do you plan to go out drinking or partying? How many classy restaurants do you plan to eat at? And will you be staying out late at night often?
Basic Packing List
- Underwear and socks
- Pants, leggings, dresses and jeans
- Moisture wicking t-shirts
- Multi-purpose medium layers
- Heavy coat (maybe two for options)
- Smart casual gear for dinner and drinks
- Even smarter clothes for upscale restaurants
- Sunglasses and hats
- Pair of shoes each for walking and evenings
- Camera, lenses, tripod and plenty of data storage
Next Steps
We hope our guide answers your questions about whether November is a good time to visit Paris or not, but please let us know if you have any other questions in the comments box a little further below.
Still figuring out your plans?
Finally, if you’ll be visiting more places on the same trip, we recommend reading our France travel planning guide for helpful tips and advice.
Happy Travels,
Mark and Kristen
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Mark and Kristen spent 6 years traveling the world, visiting over 40 countries across 4 continents and more than 30 US states. They created Where Are Those Morgans in 2018 to help others plan the best possible vacations by writing authentic travel and hiking guides based on their real experiences.
Since the arrival of baby Maya in late 2024, Mark and Kristen’s extensive travels have slowed down but they still take plenty of trips. Where Are Those Morgans now helps millions of travelers each year to visit new places and hike new trails through information-packed blog posts and expert travel guidebooks. Read more about Mark and Kristen.
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