Paris · December

Paris in December with kids

By Ramya ChinnaduraiPublished 14 October 2026Updated 14 October 2026

December in Paris is short days and a garden that shuts at 19:30. The Paris with kids page already covers Cité des enfants prices, RATP child fares and free under-18 national museums. This page is the winter clock, the one Christmas market with a 2026 city listing, and the days the science museum is actually closed.

Paris je t'aime, Ville de Paris, the Louvre, MNHN and Cité des sciences were opened on 14 October 2026. Markets that still sat on a 2025 list, or only on a call for stallholders, are not dated here.

Cold, rain, eight hours of light

The climate page gives December as 3.8°C to 8.0°C and 62.0 mm of rain. The December 2026 guide repeats 4°C to 8°C, about 8 rain days, about 3 days of possible snow, and 8 hours of daylight. That last number is the planning fact. An outdoor morning and an indoor afternoon is a full day. A late river walk after 17:00 is dark.

Christmas school holidays start Saturday 19 December 2026 and end when school restarts Monday 4 January 2027, the same dates across France. After the 19th, Cité des enfants adds a fifth daily session in both age rooms on the days the building is open. Book that fifth slot. Do not assume a walk-up.

One market with a city date

Ville de Paris lists the Notre-Dame Christmas market at Square René Viviani, 2 rue du Fouarre, from Thursday 26 November to Sunday 27 December 2026. Friday and Saturday 10:00 to 21:00. Other days 10:00 to 20:00. Free. About 40 French exhibitors. Updated 22 September 2026.

That is the market this page will name. Saint-Germain, La Défense, Gare de l'Est, Tuileries and Hôtel de Ville still appeared on a 2025 list or as "dates prévisionnelles" on calls for proposals. Those are not confirmed visitor listings. Walk past chalets if you see them. Do not build the day on a date we could not confirm.

Champs-Élysées illuminations, on the same December guide, run from mid-November 2026 to early January 2027, 17:00 to midnight, until 01:00 Friday and Saturday. Lights are a look from a pavement, not a ticket.

Gardens that close earlier

Tuileries in November and December: 07:30 to 19:30, free, leave 30 minutes before closing. The Louvre itself is closed on 25 December (and 1 January and 1 May). A 25 December palace morning does not exist.

Jardin des Plantes is free every day. From 25 October 2026 to 28 February 2027 it is 08:00 to 17:30, last entry 15 minutes before close. That is the winter botanic walk, not the long April evening.

Cité des sciences stays Tuesday to Saturday 09:15 to 18:00, Sunday 09:15 to 19:00, and then it is closed on 25 December, 1 January and 1 May, and every Monday. The year-round page tells you how to book a 90-minute room. This page tells you not to book 25 December.

Paris je t'aime adds that many museums close on 25 December and 1 January, and often shut earlier on 24 and 31 December. Check the house. Do not assume a late Christmas Eve slot.

A December day that holds: Notre-Dame market at René Viviani in daylight, Tuileries before 19:00, Cité des enfants on a day the building is open, especially after 19 December when a fifth session appears. On 25 December, walk the Jardin des Plantes until 17:30 and skip the ticket desks. For April light and cherry trees, use Paris in April. For the year-round booking rules, stay on Paris with kids.

After 19 December the rooms fill

Once French school holidays start, both Cité des enfants age rooms add a fifth session. That is more capacity and more demand. Book as soon as the calendar opens. A walk-up on 23 December is a poor plan. Adults without a child in the right band still cannot enter. That rule does not relax for Christmas.

RATP child fares (under 4 free if they do not take a seat, half fare from 4 to under 10) stay on the year-round page. What changes is how much you want to ride. Eight hours of daylight means fewer hops. A bus in the rain may be kinder than a long RER tunnel.

Petit Palais permanent collections remain free, including on days the Louvre is shut, unless the house itself posts a holiday close. Check. It is the indoor garden when 25 December has closed the big ticket desks.

Do not treat the Champs-Élysées lights as a destination with a playground. They are a pavement look on the way to supper. The Notre-Dame market at René Viviani is the stall field you can actually date.

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