Easter Travel Upheaval in France Plus Fun Things To Do, See and Enjoy During The Long Holiday Weekend

It’s nearly Easter, which means four days off for most people. However, here in France, Good Friday isn’t a public holiday, which I’ve always found strange given that it’s a catholic country. 

Easter falls on Sunday, April 5 this year, with Easter Monday on April 6 as the official public holiday. That gives you a three-day weekend, and if you take Good Friday off too, it’s four long, glorious days, and plenty of reasons to make the most of it.

But before you start planning your chocolate itinerary, there are a few things worth knowing about getting around France this Easter.

Before You Go: Travel Warning for Easter Weekend 2026

This year’s Easter weekend is shaping up to be one of the more chaotic travel periods France has seen in a while. A few things have collided at once.

The first zone of France’s spring school holidays kicks in over the Easter weekend, which means roads will be significantly busier than usual. Bison Futé, the French roads authority, has issued red alerts for Good Friday, April 3, covering major routes around Paris and in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. 

Easter Monday, April 6, gets red alerts for routes in the northwest. Red means “very difficult” conditions, not just heavy traffic but the kind of gridlock that turns a two-hour drive into five.

On top of that, French hauliers announced protest actions starting March 28, with planned blockades on major routes in response to rising fuel costs tied to the conflict in the Middle East. These actions were expected to last at least a week, potentially longer.

Fuel prices have also risen sharply. Your cheapest option for filling up is almost always a supermarket forecourt, which operates on thin margins to bring in customers. The French government runs a website where you can compare prices at stations near you if you’re mid-journey.

If you’re thinking of taking the train instead, book now. Easter is one of the highest-volume travel periods on the French rail network, and last-minute tickets are hard to come by. There are some disruptions on Intercité services between Paris and Limoges, Toulouse, Rodez, and Aurillac, so check your route on the SNCF website before you travel.

Flying? The good news is there’s no planned strike action at French airports or by French air traffic controllers over Easter. The complication is Spain. Ground handling staff at several Spanish airports, including Barcelona, Palma, Malaga, Alicante, and Madrid, have announced strike action that could cause a cascade of delays affecting passengers connecting through France. If your trip involves a Spanish leg, check the latest before you head to the airport.

Traveling between France and the UK? The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) has been rolling out across the 29 Schengen countries since October 2025, replacing manual passport stamps with digital records. UK travelers should allow extra time at the border. If you hold an EU passport, this won’t affect you directly, but delays from other travelers will.

None of this means you shouldn’t go. It just means you should plan a bit more carefully than usual.

Easter in France

The centerpiece of French Easter folklore is les cloches volantes, the flying bells. Starting on Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, every church bell in France falls silent. If you’ve spent any time in France, you’ll know how unusual that is. There are around 45,000 Catholic church buildings in the country, and their bells mark the hours throughout the day.

The silence dates back to the 7th century. Children are told the bells have sprouted wings and flown to Rome to be blessed by the Pope, carrying with them the grief of the faithful after the death of Christ. On Easter Sunday morning, the bells return, ringing out across the country to announce the resurrection, and dropping chocolate into gardens along the way.

That’s why French children don’t wait for the Easter bunny. They wait for the bells.

In Alsace, the tradition differs slightly. There, it’s an Easter hare that brings the chocolate, and children build small nests in the garden from leaves and grass the night before, hoping to find them filled by morning.

The Easter meal centers on slow-roasted leg of lamb with garlic and herbs, usually served alongside flageolet beans. You’ll also find brioche and a cake shaped like a lamb called the Lamala, particularly in Alsace, where it’s baked in a clay mold and sold by bakers from Easter Saturday onward.

The Best Easter Egg Hunts in France

Egg hunts in France range from free afternoons in public parks to full-day events at historic châteaux. Here are the ones worth planning around.

Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte

Vaux-le-Vicomte, the 17th-century château in Seine-et-Marne that Louis XIV liked so much he had its designer arrested, hosts what it bills as the largest Easter egg hunt in France across its 33-hectare formal gardens.

The 2026 edition runs April 4, 5, and 6, with hunts organized for different age groups throughout the day. This year’s theme is Alice in Wonderland, with actors from the Compagnie des Arlequins playing eccentric characters along the route. 

There’s also a golden squirrel hidden somewhere in the grounds each time the château bell rings, with an extra prize from chocolatier Leonidas for whoever finds it. On Saturday, April 4, a Leonidas master chocolatier will be doing demonstrations and tastings on site.

Advance booking is required. Getting there from Paris: take the RER D to Melun, then a shuttle to the château.

Musée de l’Homme, Paris 16th

The Musée de l’Homme is running a bone hunt from April 4 to 6. Yes, a bone hunt. It’s suitable for children from the age of five and involves hunting for hidden objects throughout the anthropology museum. There’s a €5 surcharge on top of the entry ticket. Book in advance.

Bercy Village, Paris 12th

Free Easter egg hunt on Easter Sunday, April 5. Children search for Easter figurines hidden around the village and win chocolate eggs when they find them. No booking required.

Provins Day Trip

The medieval walled town of Provins, just under an hour from Paris by train, runs a free egg hunt on both April 5 and 6, with children searching through the streets of the old town. It’s a good excuse to visit one of the most well-preserved medieval towns in the Île-de-France.

Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris 6th

The Luxembourg Gardens hosts a family egg hunt over the Easter weekend. It’s one of the more relaxed options, set against one of Paris’s prettiest backdrops.

Easter Concerts and Church Services in Paris

Sainte-Chapelle

On Good Friday, April 3, Sainte-Chapelle on the Île de la Cité hosts an evening concert of sacred music featuring Pergolesi and Vivaldi, performed by mezzo-sopranos and sopranos from the Académie de l’Opéra National de Paris alongside the Barok Ensemble on period instruments. The concert starts at 8 pm.

Easter Sunday, April 5, sees a similar program at 8 pm with a different cast from the same opera academy.

Hearing baroque sacred music performed inside Sainte-Chapelle, beneath 1,113 panels of 13th-century stained glass, is one of those Paris experiences that’s hard to forget. Book tickets in advance through Theatre in Paris or Classictic. Security screening is required to enter, so allow extra time.

Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame is holding its Gregorian Mass at 10 am on Easter Sunday, April 5. This is the first Easter since the cathedral fully reopened after the 2019 fire. Entry to attend Mass is free, though a free reservation ticket is now required to visit the cathedral outside of services.

Église Saint-Eustache

The organ at Saint-Eustache in the 1st arrondissement is the largest in France, with 8,000 pipes. Every Sunday at 5:30 pm, there’s a free organ concert, a tradition that has run for centuries. Easter Sunday is no exception. It’s free, no booking required, and the church itself dates back to the 16th century.

Easter Chocolate in Paris

The French take Easter chocolate extremely seriously, and Paris chocolatiers treat it as a showcase event. What you’ll find in shop windows from mid-March onward is not bags of foil-wrapped eggs. It’s a sculpture.

In 2026, Maxime Frédéric at his Pleincœur bakery in the Batignolles neighborhood of the 17th arrondissement unveiled a collection of milk and dark chocolate farm animals, filled eggs, and confectionery gift sets. 

Marc Chinchole at L’Instant Cacao near Palais-Royal in the 2nd is presenting a collection of balloon fish in chocolate. Burgundy Paris pastry chef Léandre Vivier has created a chocolate egg inspired by the Parisian ritual of coffee and croissant, with contrasting textures.

Even neighborhood bakeries get involved. Don’t overlook the boulangerie on your corner. 

Practical Tips for Easter Weekend in Paris

Most of Paris stays open over Easter. Shops, cafés, restaurants, and major attractions, including the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and the Catacombs, all run on normal schedules.

The main exception is Monday. Some museums are always closed on Mondays regardless of the holiday calendar. The Musée d’Orsay is the most notable example. Check opening days for any specific museum before you plan your visit.

The metro and city buses will run on a reduced holiday schedule, particularly on Easter Sunday and Monday.

Hotel rooms are harder to find and more expensive the closer you get to the weekend. If you haven’t booked yet, do it now.

Paris will also be busier than a regular spring weekend. Visitors come in from across Europe and the UK for the long weekend, and many French families travel into the city from other regions. The main tourist areas around Notre Dame, the Marais, and Montmartre will feel it.

Beyond Paris: Easter Worth Traveling For

Bessières, Near Toulouse: The Giant Omelette

Every Easter Monday, the town of Bessières in Haute-Garonne cooks a giant omelette in the town square using more than 15,000 eggs. The Fête de l’Omelette Géante has been running since 1973, which makes 2026 its 53rd edition. The omelette feeds the entire town and visiting crowds for free. It’s completely absurd and completely wonderful.

Alsace: Easter Markets

The Alsace region hosts the best Easter markets in France, and they’re a fraction of the size and chaos of the famous Christmas versions.

In Colmar, the spring market runs from April 2 to 26 across Place des Dominicains and Place de l’Ancienne Douane. Free entry. Expect artisan chocolatiers, local wine producers, hand-painted decorations, and flower stalls set against Colmar’s half-timbered streets.

Strasbourg’s Easter village at Place Saint-Thomas is more intimate still, with independent artisan creators, Alsatian food producers, and live folk music.

Aix-en-Provence

For a southern version, the Aix-en-Provence Easter market has hand-crafted goods, lavender-infused produce, and traditional Provençal specialties. Spring in Provence starts earlier than in the north, so there’s a reasonable chance of genuinely warm weather too.