Day 1999 (Monday) 28th November 2022

What’s happening in France this week

From court rulings to Olympic tickets, strikes to a state visit - here's what is happening in France this week.

Published: 28 November 2022 09:06 CET

The Louvre-Lens museum in Lens in northern France is 10 years old. Photo by Sameer Al-DOUMY / AFP

Monday 

Island hopping – Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin will visit the tiny Pacific island of Nouvelle Calédonie for discussions on the island’s future status. The island has held three referendums in recent years, narrowly voting to remain a part of France’s overseas territories. 

Tuesday

Demo – Industrial action and demonstrations among staff at psychiatric hospitals, protesting under-funding and the “alarming situation of public mental health care”.

Court ruling – a tribunal in Bayonne will rule on the case of a restaurant owner who refused entry to a woman wearing the Muslim headscarf.

Wednesday

Stateside – President Emmanuel Macron will visit the USA for what will be the first official state visit of the Biden administration.

Football – the French team take on Tunisia in the final game of the pool stages of the men’s World Cup in Qatar – France has already qualified for the next stage of the tournament.

Thursday

Olympic tickets – registration opens for the draw to get tickets for the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics. Those interested have until January 31st to register to have their named added to the draw for tickets.

Strike – the union representing medical biologists have called for strike action, which may affect the results time of tests such as blood tests.

Lights out – the rule forbidding light-up advertising boards overnight in Paris comes into effect. A national law came into force at the start of November banning illuminated advertising between the hours of 1am and 6am, with the exception of public transport. However the city of Paris has gone further and banned it between 11.45pm and 6am, with no transport exception. 

Saturday

Nice – the Christmas market opens in Nice, and runs until January 2nd. The north-east tends to be the ‘Christmas capital’ of France, with the biggest and most elaborate markets which are mostly now open and run until early January, but across France most towns will have some kind of festive market or event.

Election – first round of elections for the centre-right party Les Républicains as they choose a new party leader. 

Sunday

Museum fête – the Louvre-Lens museum celebrates 10 years since it opened – the satellite of the Louvre museum in the north-east town of Lens currently has a special exhibition on the history of Egyptology and hieroglyphics. 

What’s the sunniest town in France?

Whether you're planning a holiday or intend to move to France, you need to know where to go to follow the sun.

Because of its geographical location France enjoys a temperate climate – not too hot, not too cold, not too wet, not too dry. But even that is separated into four distinct climatic zones.

Over in the west, the Atlantic ocean brings regular rain all year round, but there’s still plenty of sun and the oceanic climate also guards against large temperature variations. Central and Eastern areas are cold in the winter and hot in the summer. 

The Mediterranean climate in the south brings hot, dry summers, and year-round sun, with rain – mostly – falling between October and April. And the mountain climate at higher altitudes in the Alps and Pyrenees means regular rainfall, and snow for three to six months of the year.

That’s the science. What it means is this: if you want year-round sun, head to the Mediterranean, where – if you get your timing right, at certain times of the year you can go skiing in the morning and swim in the sea in the afternoon. Seriously.

But the Mediterranean coast is a long one, so can we narrow it down further to find the sunniest spot?

According to a study published in March, based on Météo-France data from 1991 to 2010, Marseille is the sunniest city in France, with an average of 2,858 hours of sunshine per year, an average of nearly eight hours a day.

The country’s second city averages 170 full ‘sunny’ days a year, with a further 60 having sunny spells.

It also holds the record for the most hours of sunshine in a year – 3,111, recorded in 2017 – according to the study.

Bear in mind, there are a total 8,766 hours in a year, including the hours of darkness – which means that Marseille basked in the sun for more than 35 percent of the year in 2017; and 32 percent of the year, on average.

Less than 20 hours behind Marseille on the sunshine count is a town less than 70km away, Toulon (2,839 hours); then Ajaccio on the island of Corsica (2,756 hours); followed by Nice (2,724 hours) – where the skiing-swimming trick is very possible.

Making up the top 10 sunniest towns and cities in France: Montpellier (2,668); Bastia (2,579); Perpignan (2,465); Montelimar (2,405); Carcassonne (2,119); and – finally breaking the Mediterranean monopoly – La Rochelle (2,106). 

It doesn’t necessarily follow, however, that because the south is sunnier, the north is wetter. Perhaps a little surprisingly, Aquitaine in the southwest – a hugely popular area with immigrants, particularly Britons – has the most rainfall: an average of 1,020mm per year.

Northwestern France gets 824mm of rain a year, considerably more than most other parts of the country, compared to 750mm in the north east, 638mm in central France and 731mm in the south east.