France Weather by Month: 8 Hours of Daylight in Paris in December, 16 in June

Arrive in Paris in December, plan an afternoon of sightseeing, and the sky starts darkening at 4:30. Mid-December daylight is 8.3 hours, over an hour shorter than Seoul's (about 9.6). In June it's 16.2 hours, with sunset close to 10 p.m. Same city, nearly twice the usable daylight.

The other defining number is rain. Paris sees rain on 10–13 days nearly every month, yet monthly totals are 50–76 mm — under a quarter of Seoul's July (313 mm). It rains often and lightly, which is why Parisians make do with a hood. Temperatures swing less than Seoul's: milder winters, cooler summers.

Paris in August averages 25.5°C by day and 15.1°C at night — 4°C below Seoul's 29.4°C, with genuinely cool nights. That's why many Paris hotels and Métro lines have no air-conditioning. In a normal year that's fine; in a heatwave it isn't. On 25 July 2019 Paris hit 42.6°C, its highest temperature on record. For July–August stays, check for air-conditioning before you book.

Nice runs on a different climate from Paris: dry, sunny summers and rain concentrated in October–November (125 mm in November). In winter its 12.7°C January afternoons beat Paris by more than 5°C, and February brings the Nice Carnival, one of the busiest times of the year despite the season.

For swimming, aim for late June to early September. The Mediterranean is warmest in late summer, so late August–early September brings warmer water and thinner crowds than July.

On the German border, Strasbourg drops below freezing on 13.1 December nights on average — and December is its high season. Its Christmas market (the Christkindelsmärik), running since 1570, opens in late November and lasts until Christmas Eve. Rooms book out months ahead and the old town is packed at weekends.

Clothing advice is for Paris. Go one season lighter in Nice, and one step warmer in Strasbourg in winter.

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In Paris a hooded waterproof beats an umbrella: the rain comes often, but rarely hard or for long.

• Period and source: daily values from Open-Meteo's historical weather data (ERA5 reanalysis), 2016–2025, averaged by month at each city-centre coordinate.
• Versus official normals: reanalysis temperatures usually land within 1–2°C of station normals, but downpours get smoothed out, so monthly rain totals come out lower and rainy-day counts slightly higher. Day length is not observed; it is sunrise-to-sunset on the 15th of each month, computed from latitude.
• Rainy day: at least 1 mm of precipitation. Reanalysis picks up even light showers, so counts run high — especially in the tropics, where monthly millimetres are the better guide. Most tropical rain is an hour or two of downpour, not a washed-out day.
• Best months: a first pass from temperature, rainy days and humidity, then adjusted for seasonal factors such as Christmas markets, the Nice Carnival, heatwaves and day length. It is a judgement call.