Time difference France

France has adopted a one hour difference between summer and winter time. With daylight saving time, France is at +02h00 on the Greenwich meridian (GMT). Winter time is one hour earlier.

Opening hours France

To see / To do France

In France, stores generally open from 9:30 or 10 am to 7 or 7:30 pm. Food stores in large cities sometimes stay open until 8:00 pm or even 9:00 pm. Tourist areas such as the Champs-Elysées have adopted night-time hours. In about twenty international tourist zones, some stores open on Sundays. The same applies to brand villages. Many museums close on Mondays. Saturday afternoons in shops and Sundays in parks and gardens are the busiest

Enjoying yourself France

For restaurants you will have to wait until 12:00 for lunch and 19:00 for dinner. Many restaurants are open all week at noon. It is more difficult to find a restaurant that is open on weekends, except for the more gourmet restaurants, in which case it is better to plan ahead and make a reservation, especially on holidays.

Take a break France

In the villages the bars sometimes open very early in the morning, as early as 6am. Some bakeries also open their doors for an early breakfast. Bars are generally open non-stop from 9am to 8pm in the provinces, until midnight or later in the busiest areas of the big cities. Happy hours are practiced in cocktail bars, beer bars and some other bars from 6pm to 8pm, or even 9pm, during which the prices are reduced: 4 € for half a beer instead of 6 €, for example. The most popular bars are crowded at the opening and around 2pm for coffee, around noon and around 7pm for aperitifs.

(To) please yourself France

In the provinces the stores are often closed on Sunday and Monday. In the city, stores often remain closed on Sunday and Monday morning only, or even just on Sunday. The stores of the biggest brand villages remain open on Sundays, as well as the big brands like FNAC or Uniqlo in Paris and the stores on the Champs-Elysées. Stores generally open from 9am to 7pm with a break between 12pm and 2pm, in the provinces, from 10am to 7pm or 8pm, or even longer in Paris.

Get out France

Weekends are the busiest, although in Paris you can always find an address for an evening out. Happy hours from 6pm to 8pm are often practiced in urban brasseries.