French School Holidays 2026 - 2027: Dates by Zone

Planning a family holiday in France?

The French school calendar shapes everything: prices, crowds and availability. Here are all the official dates for 2026-2027, zone by zone, and how to use them to pick the right week, whether you want to join the buzz of the French holidays or enjoy France at its quietest.

France staggers its school holidays across three zones, each covering a group of regions. Summer, the autumn break and Christmas are shared by the whole country; the winter and spring holidays are spread over three overlapping fortnights, so that ski resorts and roads are never hit by every French family at once.

Zone A: Besançon, Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, Dijon, Grenoble, Limoges, Lyon, Poitiers

Zone B: Aix-Marseille, Amiens, Lille, Nancy-Metz, Nantes, Nice, Normandy, Orléans-Tours, Reims, Rennes, Strasbourg, Corsica

Zone C: Créteil, Montpellier, Paris, Toulouse, Versailles (greater Paris falls in zone C)

French school holiday dates 2026 - 2027

• Summer 2026:

  • All zones: 4 July to 31 August 2026

• Autumn break (Toussaint) 2026:

  • All zones: 17 October to 1 November 2026

• Christmas 2026:

  • All zones: 19 December 2026 to 3 January 2027

• Winter 2027:

  • Zone A: 13 to 28 February 2027

  • Zone B: 20 February to 7 March 2027

  • Zone C: 6 to 21 February 2027

• Spring 2027:

  • Zone A: 10 to 25 April 2027

  • Zone B: 17 April to 2 May 2027

  • Zone C: 3 to 18 April 2027

Dates are set nationally by the French Ministry of Education. You can check the official calendar on education.gouv.fr.

Picking the quietest weeks

Skiing. French families fill the Alps from 6 February to 7 March 2027, with the busiest crossover in mid-February when two zones overlap. If your half-term allows it, the weeks just before 6 February or just after 7 March offer quieter slopes and gentler prices; if it falls inside the French window, book early and favour the weeks when only one zone is on holiday.

Summer. July and August are lively everywhere in France, with villages in full swing, activities and kids' clubs at their peak. For calmer beaches at the seaside, late June and September are the insiders' choice; for the full family atmosphere, the French summer is exactly what you come for.

Autumn and spring. The French breaks are short and the country between them is wonderfully quiet: late September, early October, May and June are ideal months for touring Normandy, Brittany or Provence with pre-school children.

What is a village vacances?

A village vacances is a French institution with no exact British equivalent: a family holiday village where accommodation, full-board dining, daytime and evening entertainment and supervised kids' clubs are bundled together. VTF has been running them since 1956 as a non-profit social tourism association: some thirty villages across France, by the sea, in the mountains and in the countryside, with prices adjusted to family income.

For British families, the west-coast villages are the most accessible: our Normandy village at Blainville-sur-Mer sits on the Cotentin coast within easy reach of the Cherbourg ferry, and our Brittany villages at Saint-Cast-le-Guildo and Riec-sur-Bélon are a short drive from Saint-Malo and Roscoff. All three are drive-friendly, with sandy beaches, big tides and proper French dining.

You can browse all our destinations, discover our villages in Normandy and in Brittany, or see what the all-inclusive family package covers.

Booking from abroad

Our reservation team welcomes English-speaking families. Call us on +32 2 546 14 10, and we will guide you through villages, dates and prices. Children are welcomed in supervised clubs from a very young age, depending on the village and the season, so parents get a real holiday too.