Day 3219 (Wednesday) 1st April 2026

This is the aquarium in Monaco

and this is the citadel here in Villefranche.

It was another lovely sunny day but that chilly wind is still blowing. We went for lunch with Suzanne who has been in the UK for quite a while and it was great to see little Isla again (her dog). Our original choice of restaurant was closed so we went to the Tosca in the square instead. It was warm enough to take our jackets off to eat.

 

The seafront and the square were very busy with lot of people enjoying their lunch in the sunshine.

 

This is the Tosca restaurant and Huw had a sea bass, Suzanne had the plat du jour Tagliata de Boeuf and I had the Caesar salad and it was all very good.

As usual on the first of the month here’s Everything that changes in France in April 2026. The Local France.

People sitting on a terrace on the Ile Saint Louis in Paris. (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP)

From the start of French tax season to practical jokes and culinary festivals - here's what is happening in France in April.

Poisson d'avril

April 1st is the day of 'April fish' - when France goes crazy for practical jokes. Basically, France's version of April Fool's Day. (More of this later.)

Easter

This year, Easter Sunday (Pâques) will fall on Sunday, April 5th. As such, Easter Monday, will fall on April 6th. Easter Monday is a bank holiday (jour férié), meaning workers across the country will enjoy a day off, although Good Friday is only a holiday in one part of France. Here are some ways French people enjoy the festival.  

Increase in prime d'activité (activity bonus)

The prime d'activité will be increased starting April 1st as part of the 2026 Finance Act. This income supplement may be paid, under certain conditions, to workers with the lowest incomes. It will be increased by an average of €50 per month per beneficiary. 

Students and apprentices can also benefit from it if they receive a monthly net social income exceeding €1,117.26 or if they are solely responsible for one or more children. 

Tax declaration

Tax declaration season in France takes place in the spring, with declarations opening on April 9th this year. The deadline for declarations is either May or June, depending on where you live, and then bills arrive in July or August.

End of the winter truce

During the winter months, tenants who stop paying their rent cannot be evicted in France due to the trêve hivernale (winter truce). However, this ends on March 31st, meaning on April 1st, evictions in France can begin again.

Culinary festivals

There are a few culinary festivals in France throughout the month of April.

April 23rd to April 26th - Let's start with the famous Foire au jambon (ham festival) in Bayonne, located in the Basque Country. 

April 25th to April 26th - If you're feeling more fish than ham, the Fête de la Coquille Saint-Jacques (Scallop festival) in Erquy (Côtes-d’Armor, Brittany) offers seafood stalls, tastings and a lively port setting.

April 25th to May 9th - The Printemps de la Sardine (spring of sardines) in the town Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie (Vendée), celebrates the return of the sardine season - with food stalls offering grilled sardines, visits and themed activities.

Passover

The Jewish festival of Passover will begin Wednesday, April 1st, 2026, and end on April 9th, 2026.

Spring holidays for schools

Schools also get a two-week break during the spring, but the exact dates vary between the different school holiday zones.

Zone A, which includes both Lyon and Bordeaux, has holidays from April 4th to April 20th. Zone B, which includes Aix-Marseille, Nice, and Strasbourg, runs from April 11th to April 27th . Meanwhile, Zone C, which includes Paris, Toulouse and Montpellier, has holidays from April 18th to May 4th. Finally, Corsica's schools are off from April 11th to April 27th.

Extended terraces in Paris

The city of Paris allows bars and restaurants to extend their outdoor 'terraces' between April 1st and October 31st. The extended terraces can stay open until 10 pm every night. 

Marathons across France 

Several marathons are happening across France in April. The Paris one will be held on the 12th of April, the Lac d'Annecy marathon and the Montpellier Run Festival on the 19th of April, and the Nantes marathon on the 26th of April. 

Spring dog-walking law

Between April 15th and June 30th every year, it is illegal for dogs to be off the lead in forests, meadow, riverbanks, unless they are on a designated path. This is to prevent dogs from disturbing animals. If not respected, owners can be fined up to €750. 

France's poisson d’avril tradition explained

Photo: Jean-Pierre Muller / AFP)

We can explain this. But you might think we’re joking…

Question: What do the French mean when they talk about a 'poisson d'avril'? Why do we have fish in April?

Hear poisson d'avril, think April Fool - in short, it’s the French version of the practice of playing jokes on April 1st.

On the years that April 1st does not fall on the same day as Easter Monday, French school children spend the day creating fish out of paper and sticking them to their classmates' backs, while French media outlets may well indulge in a terrible joke story on April 1st (and yes, The Local has been known to do this too).

You’ll also see some shops selling chocolate fish, celebrating poisson d’avril, to give as gifts - maybe to any child who has successfully stuck a paper one to your back.

Common consensus for the origin of this day of practical jokes in France links it to the Edict of Roussillon, signed by Charles IX in 1564, to change the date of the new year from March 25th to January 1st, bringing the French calendar in line with that of the Holy Roman Empire. The rest of Christian Europe had to wait until Pope Grégoire XV in 1622 to catch up.

However, giving gifts between March 25th and April 1st was an established tradition in France - inherited from a Roman custom in honour of the goddess Strena. 

This was maintained despite the change in calendar - traditions are hard to break - but the gifts were now given as a joke. Over the centuries, that joke gift to mark the now fake new year has turned into a practical joke.

The poisson bit of the tradition in France is harder to pin down. There are lots of theories as to how this expression originated. 

One says it comes from April being a bad month for fishing, so claiming to eat one that month had to be a joke. Another ties it to the Dunkerque Carnival tradition, which starts with dried herrings being thrown from the City Hall to a crowd gathered below. 

Whatever its origin, April Fool’s Day in France today is inextricably linked to fish, notably the paper one your children might try to sneakily stick to your back so they can later shout poisson d’avril at you. But at least there are those chocolate ones…

As an April fool’s day prank the midday cannon in Nice went off at 11am today.