Paris is OOO
Why August is Paris’s Best-Kept Secret
Every year, right after le 14 juillet, I watch Paris start to empty out. Estimates vary, but by some counts as much as a third of Parisians pack up and leave for the month, heading to the coast, the countryside to their maison de campagne, or anywhere that isn’t here.
In typical fashion, the French have a word for those taking vacation this month: les aoûtiens (vs. les juillettistes, who choose July instead). This all became possible in 1936, when France passed its first law guaranteeing congés payés (paid vacation). It was just two weeks at first, but eventually grew into the five weeks most employees get today. August became the popular choice over July, and businesses (and the government) followed suit: if your clients and suppliers are all gone, why stay open? A lot of people ask me the same question: how can a business survive closing for an entire month, especially since customers (tourists) are still around? But that’s one of the parts of French culture I’ve come to love most since I moved here in 2022: life isn’t meant to revolve around work, and taking real time off is a basic human right (which, by the way, tends to be confused with an assumption that the French don’t work hard – which is far from the case).
Last August, my curiosity got the best of me and I started counting the handwritten signs taped to shop doors: “fermé pour congés annuels,” “de retour le 1er septembre,” “belles vacances, back at la rentrée”... I lost count somewhere past a dozen on a single street where I live in the Marais. My butcher, my dry cleaner, my physical therapist, the pharmacy down the street: all gone until September.
So yes, August in Paris means closures. But here’s what I won’t gatekeep: the empty city's tranquility is its best-kept secret.
The traffic disappears, enough that you can bike down streets that usually terrify me in April. The background noise of Paris you can’t escape – car horns, sirens, scooters revving through every red light, the buzz of the bar downstairs – finally goes quiet. The only sound left is construction, which apparently never takes a vacation, not even in August. You can get a table at a restaurant that, back in June, would’ve required a reservation made three weeks in advance. You can ride the metro with breathing room. I usually avoid Galeries Lafayette at all costs because of the sheer number of people, but in August, it becomes enjoyable (plus, they have AC!). And the sidewalks, which are so narrow you have to step into the street to pass anyone, are suddenly…walkable.
Of course, not everything is closed – but you have to do a little homework. I’ve also heard that plenty of businesses don’t update their Google listing, so “open” and “actually open” are two different things. And, for the record, the tourist landmarks remain fully operational: the Louvre is still crowded, and the queue for the Eiffel Tower isn’t going anywhere.
The August bonus is that you’ve got more hours of the day to enjoy it all. The sun sets ~10pm, which means long, lazy evenings to walk on Canal Saint-Martin, enjoy an aperitif on a terrasse, or discover a new expo – or at least to finally venture outside if, like me, you’ve spent the day hiding from the heat. France has already logged three heatwaves since May, though a typical August day averages a more manageable 24.5°C (76°F), dropping to ~15°C (59°F) at night.
And here’s how to spend those sunny days and long evenings. Paris Plages turns three spots along the Seine into free public swimming through August 30th: Pont Louis-Philippe, Bercy with its own solarium, and Le Bras de Grenelle (where you can do your morning laps with a view of the Eiffel Tower). Don’t worry, the water is tested daily for E. coli and enterococci before anyone’s allowed in. You can also book a transat (sunbed) by the hour on the rooftop deck at Annette K, the floating gym on the Seine. The neighborhood along Le Bassin de la Villette turns into a free summer program: open-air dancing every evening, plus two nightly open-air film screenings through mid-August. Paris Jazz Festival and Rock en Seine close out the month, with Jazz à la Villette starting days later. Even the Arènes de Lutèce, the old Roman amphitheater hidden in the 5th, hosts the occasional free concert or dance night.
All of my colleagues take off in August, so for years I assumed I had to as well. Now it’s the month I look forward to the most: fewer people, an excuse to slow down, more space to breathe.
There is something special about having this place almost all to yourself.