France in July, away from Paris

Pleasant in July

Average high closest to 18–26 °C and fewest rain days (1991–2020 normals).

1h21 City · Pays de la Loire Angers The old capital of Anjou: a striped fortress of seventeen towers guarding the greatest medieval tapestry in the world. High 26 °C · Low 14 °C · 6 rain days 2h33 Coast · Nouvelle-Aquitaine La Rochelle An Atlantic port guarded by medieval towers, with arcaded streets, a stubborn Protestant past and a long tradition of doing things by bike. High 25 °C · Low 16 °C · 6 rain days 1h30 Town · Centre–Val de Loire Amboise A royal château over the Loire, the manor where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last three years, and a chapel that holds what may be his bones. High 26 °C · Low 14 °C · 7 rain days ✈ / ⛴ Coast · Corsica Bonifacio A Genoese citadel perched on white limestone cliffs at the southern tip of Corsica, staring across the strait at Sardinia. High 27 °C · Low 21 °C · 1 rain days 6h56 Mountains · Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Briançon France’s highest town, a star-shaped Vauban fortress of bright façades and rushing gutters, ringed by forts on mountain spurs. High 26 °C · Low 9 °C · 7 rain days 2h29 Coast · Brittany Saint-Malo A granite corsair city ringed by ramparts, with island forts you can walk to at low tide and some of the biggest tides in Europe. High 22 °C · Low 14 °C · 8 rain days 4h27 Town · Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Le Puy-en-Velay A cathedral town built on volcanic plugs, where a chapel crowns a ‘needle’ of rock and pilgrims set off for Santiago every morning. High 26 °C · Low 12 °C · 6 rain days 3h02 Town · Brittany Dinan Half-timbered houses, 2.6 km of ramparts and a cobbled street plunging seventy-five metres down to a little port on the Rance. High 25 °C · Low 11 °C · 8 rain days

Signature festivals

• Festival d’Avignon — Avignon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. France’s great theatre festival, founded by Jean Vilar in 1947, takes over Avignon every July, with the courtyard of the Papal Palace as its main stage. Alongside it, the independent ‘Off’ fills hundreds of small venues across the city.
• Jazz in Marciac — Marciac, Occitanie. Since 1978 a village of the Gers has hosted one of Europe’s leading jazz festivals: big names under a marquee, more concerts on the arcaded square. It runs for about three weeks from late July into the first days of August, so most of it falls in July.

Check dates on the official site.

All forty places in July

Hot in July: Corte, Arles (average high ≥ 29 °C).

Wettest in July: Annecy (138 mm), Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (121 mm), Arbois (93 mm), Pérouges (86 mm).