France in October, away from Paris

Pleasant in October

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

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 21 °C · Low 12 °C · 5 rain days 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 21 °C · Low 12 °C · 6 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 20 °C · Low 11 °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 21 °C · Low 16 °C · 7 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 21 °C · Low 14 °C · 8 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 22 °C · Low 9 °C · 8 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 20 °C · Low 10 °C · 9 rain days 5h15 Mountains · Nouvelle-Aquitaine Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port A walled Basque town of red sandstone on the river Nive, where pilgrims to Santiago set off over the Pyrenees. High 21 °C · Low 10 °C · 10 rain days

Signature festivals

• Les Rendez-vous de l’histoire — Blois, Centre–Val de Loire. For five days each October, historians, teachers, writers and the curious meet in Blois for lectures, debates, films and a large book fair around a different theme every year. The festival was founded in 1998.
• Fête du piment d’Espelette — Espelette, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. On the last weekend of October, the Basque village whose house fronts are hung with drying red peppers celebrates the harvest with a mass, a procession of the pepper brotherhood, music and a market. It dates from the late 1960s; sources give 1967 or 1968.

Check dates on the official site.

All forty places in October

Wettest in October: Annecy (150 mm), Menton (128 mm), Quimper (123 mm), Pérouges (118 mm).