France in March, away from Paris

Pleasant in March

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

3h36 Town · Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Arles A Roman city on the Rhône where Van Gogh painted his brightest year, with an arena still in use and the Camargue at its gates. High 16 °C · Low 6 °C · 4 rain days 6h18 Coast · Occitanie Collioure A Catalan fishing port where the Pyrenees meet the Mediterranean, with a sea-washed church tower and the light that gave birth to Fauvism. High 16 °C · Low 7 °C · 4 rain days 6h39 Coast · Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Menton The last town on the Riviera before Italy: a Baroque old quarter in ochre and pink, lemon groves, subtropical gardens and Cocteau. High 15 °C · Low 8 °C · 5 rain days ✈ / ⛴ Mountains · Corsica Corte The mountain capital of Corsica’s short-lived independent republic: an eagle’s-nest citadel, a student town, and wild gorges at its door. High 16 °C · Low 3 °C · 7 rain days 6h02 City · Occitanie Albi A red-brick episcopal city on the Tarn: a fortress-cathedral painted inside from floor to vault, and the world’s largest Toulouse-Lautrec collection. High 15 °C · Low 4 °C · 9 rain days 5h24 Town · Occitanie Carcassonne A medieval fortress city with two rings of walls and dozens of towers on a hill above the Aude, rescued from demolition in the 1850s. High 15 °C · Low 6 °C · 8 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 14 °C · Low 9 °C · 7 rain days 2h44 Village · Nouvelle-Aquitaine Saint-Émilion A honey-stone wine town tumbling into a hollow of the limestone, with a church carved out of the rock beneath its steep lanes. High 15 °C · Low 5 °C · 11 rain days

Signature festivals

• Séries Mania — Lille, Hauts-de-France. A festival devoted entirely to television series, with world premieres, a competition and screenings open to the public, held in Lille every March. It began in Paris in 2010 and moved to Lille in 2018.
• Festival international de films de femmes de Créteil — Créteil, Île-de-France (beyond Paris). One of the oldest festivals in the world devoted to films directed by women, founded in 1979 and based at the Maison des Arts in Créteil, just south-east of Paris. It usually takes place in March, occasionally running into early April.

Check dates on the official site.

All forty places in March

Wettest in March: Annecy (142 mm), Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (123 mm), Arbois (87 mm), Quimper (84 mm).