Two weeks in France from Canada lands $5,200–$7,400 CAD per person all-in. Toronto-Paris nonstops on Air Canada, Air France, and seasonal Air Transat run $700–$1,100 CAD return in shoulder season. Visa-free for 90 days. Best months are May, June, and September.
Photo by Anthony Delanoix on Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License.
Book the TGV to Provence the day you book the flight. First-class seats book up faster than you'd think.
Quick Facts: France at a Glance
| Capital | Paris |
| Currency | Euro (EUR). Typical 2026 range: 1 CAD ≈ €0.65–€0.72 |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1). 6 hours ahead of Toronto, 9 ahead of Vancouver |
| Visa for Canadians | No visa for stays under 90 days (Schengen). ETIAS pre-registration required from 2026 (about €7) |
| Best months | May, June, September, early October |
| Flight from YYZ (return CAD) | $700–$1,100 typical; $550–$700 in flash sales |
| Flight from YVR (return CAD) | $900–$1,400 typical (usually one connection) |
| Flight from YUL (return CAD) | $650–$1,000 typical (Air France and Air Canada nonstops) |
| Flight from YYC (return CAD) | $1,000–$1,500 typical (one connection) |
| Avg daily budget per person | $200–$300 CAD (mid-range, including hotel and food) |
| Power outlets | Type C/E, 230V. Bring an adapter |
Getting There from Canada: Flights, Airlines, and Costs
YYZ-CDG is the easiest France route from Canada. Air Canada and Air France both fly nonstop year-round (about 7h30m eastbound, 8h30m westbound). Air Transat adds seasonal nonstops from May through October, usually $150–$250 CAD cheaper than Air Canada for the same dates.
Montreal to Paris is the cheapest entry from Canada. Air Canada, Air France, and Air Transat all fly YUL-CDG nonstop, and Air France runs daily from Montreal to Orly (ORY). Fares from YUL routinely undercut YYZ by $100–$200.
From Vancouver, expect a connection. Air France via Toronto or Montreal is the cleanest path. KLM via Amsterdam and Lufthansa via Frankfurt are the value picks, usually $150–$300 less than Air Canada's nonstop YVR-CDG (which only runs seasonally and prices like a luxury). Plan on 13–17 hours of total travel time.
From Calgary, KLM via Amsterdam or Air Canada via Toronto are your two real options. WestJet's seasonal YYC-CDG nonstop is an underrated pick if your dates align. It's usually 10–20% cheaper than Air Canada and a real direct flight.
Find the best YYZ→CDG fares on Expedia.
The catch: Paris is not just CDG. Charles de Gaulle is huge, slow, and 35 km from central Paris (40 minutes by RER B for €11.80, or 50–70 minutes by taxi for €56 flat fare to right bank, €65 to left bank). Orly is closer, smaller, and better, but Air Canada and Air Transat don't fly there. If you book Air France from Montreal, take the Orly flight when you can.
Best Time to Visit France for Canadians
Three windows actually work.
May and early June: 16–24°C, gardens at peak, the lavender starts flowering in Provence in mid-June, restaurant terraces are open, school groups haven't shown up yet, and prices haven't spiked. This is when France looks like the postcards.
September and early October: same temperatures, fewer tourists, the harvest is on in Bordeaux and Burgundy, light is gold and slow. The single best month for the south is September. The Riviera is still warm enough to swim, hotel prices drop 20–30% from August, and the August crowds are gone.
Late February through early March: cold, off-season, and the only time you'll find Air Canada nonstops to Paris under $600 from Toronto. Museum lines disappear. Provence is dead but Paris is itself again: quiet, walkable, lit up at 5 PM. Book a hotel with a real bathtub.
July and August are the months everyone thinks they want to go and then regrets. We're talking 30–37°C in Paris with no air conditioning in older buildings, locals on holiday, the best restaurants closed for the entire month of August, and Provence so packed that Aix and Avignon stop being charming. Hotel prices double. You can do it. Go in May instead.
The catch: France slows down on Sundays and through August. Smaller restaurants in Paris close Sundays and Mondays. Half the village bakeries in Provence shut for the entire month of August. Plan around it or you'll spend a Tuesday lunch eating gas-station sandwiches.
Where to Stay: Three Tiers Across the Country
The price of a hotel in France varies more by region than by star rating. A 4-star in Lyon runs what a 3-star in Paris does. A boutique inn in the Dordogne runs what a basic chain hotel in Nice does. Pick the region first, then the price tier.
Paris
Budget. $140–$220 CAD/night. Hôtel Jeanne d'Arc in the Marais, Hôtel des Marronniers in Saint-Germain, generation hostels (Generator Paris in the 10th has private doubles around $130). Clean, central enough, no view.
Mid-range. $250–$420 CAD/night. Where Carol should look. Hôtel des Grands Boulevards (boutique in the 2nd, rooftop bar, walkable to everything), Hôtel Providence (Pigalle), Hôtel Bachaumont in Montorgueil, or Le Pavillon de la Reine if you want to splurge slightly into the Marais. Each has 30–60 rooms, real personality, and dinner reservations the front desk can actually get you.
Splurge. $600–$1,800 CAD/night. Le Bristol, Hôtel de Crillon, Le Meurice, the Ritz, or the smaller and more interesting Hôtel Particulier Montmartre. These are the "we are spending real money on this" hotels.
Provence and the Riviera
Budget. $120–$200 CAD/night. Family-run B&Bs (chambres d'hôtes) inland, two-star hotels in towns like Apt or Salon-de-Provence. Charming, basic, fine.
Mid-range. $220–$380 CAD/night. Mas (converted Provençal farmhouses) outside Lourmarin, Gordes, or Arles run $250–$340. In Nice, Hôtel La Pérouse (cliffside, pool above the sea) and Hôtel Windsor are the mid-range icons. In Aix, Le Pigonnet is the move.
Splurge. $700–$2,000 CAD/night. La Bastide de Gordes, La Mirande in Avignon, La Réserve de Beaulieu on the Riviera. Pool, view, that 1920s air.
Loire Valley, Burgundy, Dordogne
The countryside is where France still has bargains. $180–$280 CAD/night gets you a manor house with breakfast, a garden, and a host who will tell you which vineyard to visit. Look at the Relais & Châteaux mid-range properties or independent château B&Bs on Booking.
Browse France hotels on Booking.com, sorted by guest rating.
The catch: Paris hotel rooms are small. A "double" is often a queen-and-no-room-to-walk situation. Pay an extra $40–$60/night for a "superior" or "executive" room and you'll thank yourself by day three. Book hotels with elevators if you have any mobility concern. Many older Parisian buildings don't have one, and the staircases are no joke.
What to Do: Paris, Provence, and the Riviera
Don't try to do all of France in one trip. Pick two regions, three at most. Carol's sweet spot is Paris plus one other region for a 12–14 day trip.
Paris: Walk it. The Seine from Pont Neuf to the Eiffel Tower is 90 minutes at a slow pace. The Marais, Saint-Germain, and Montmartre are all walkable neighbourhoods you should plan a half-day for each. Buy a single museum pass (Paris Museum Pass, €70 for four days) and you skip every line.
Musée d'Orsay over the Louvre. Both are worth seeing. If you only do one, do d'Orsay. It's more manageable, the impressionist collection is the best in the world, and the building itself (a converted train station) is the show. Two hours, not six.
Versailles by RER C. Half-day trip, get the timed-entry ticket through GetYourGuide so you skip the security line, go on a Tuesday or Wednesday when the gardens are quieter. Skip the Hall of Mirrors crush by entering at 9 AM exactly.
Cooking class in Paris. La Cuisine Paris in the Marais runs 3-hour classes on macarons, croissants, or French market cooking. About $130–$170 CAD per person. The market visit beforehand is the best part.
TGV to Provence. The 3-hour ride from Paris Gare de Lyon to Avignon costs €60–€140 in second class, €120–€220 in first class. Book on SNCF Connect 2–3 months ahead for the cheap fares. Trains here are nicer than flying in every measurable way.
Drive Provence. Rent a small car at Avignon or Aix and spend three days circling the Luberon villages: Gordes, Roussillon, Bonnieux, Lourmarin. The hill towns are the point. The Wednesday market in Saint-Rémy is one of the best in France.
French Riviera by train. From Nice, the regional train down the coast (Nice → Villefranche → Èze-sur-Mer → Cap-d'Ail → Monaco → Menton) costs €5–€7 per stop, runs every 20 minutes, and beats driving the Corniche in summer traffic.
Wine in Burgundy or Bordeaux. Two-day trip from Paris by TGV. Beaune (Burgundy's wine capital) is reachable by train; Bordeaux is a 2h05m TGV ride from Gare Montparnasse. Book a vineyard half-day tour through GetYourGuide or directly with a producer.
Mont Saint-Michel. Day trip from Rennes or an overnight at the abbey gates. Get there at 6 PM, watch the tide come in, eat at La Mère Poulard's omelette spot (touristy but the omelettes are real), wake up before the day-trippers arrive.
Book France experiences and tours on GetYourGuide.
The catch: French restaurants stop serving lunch at 2 PM and won't reopen until 7 PM. There is no in-between. If you walk in at 3 PM hungry, you're eating at a brasserie or a bakery. Plan around the lunch window or you'll spend a week annoyed.
Budget Breakdown: What Two Weeks in France Actually Costs
14 nights, one traveller from Toronto, all in CAD. Doubles when you bring your partner.
| Item | Budget | Mid-range | Comfort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flights (YYZ-CDG return) | $750 | $950 | $1,300 |
| Hotels (14 nights) | $2,100 | $3,800 | $6,500 |
| Food (14 days) | $700 | $1,200 | $2,000 |
| TGV and regional trains | $200 | $300 | $500 |
| Activities, museums, tours | $200 | $400 | $700 |
| Local transport (metro, taxis, rental car) | $150 | $300 | $600 |
| Total per person | $4,100 | $6,950 | $11,600 |
Carol's sweet spot is $5,500–$7,500 CAD per person for two weeks. That gets a nice Paris boutique, a converted Provençal farmhouse, three TGV legs, timed-entry tickets at the Musée d'Orsay, Versailles, and the Picasso Museum, and dinners worth photographing at four restaurants.
Stretching to $9,000–$11,000 unlocks a balcony view in Paris, a Riviera hotel with a sea-view pool, first-class TGV seats, and a Champagne tasting day trip from Paris (Reims is 45 minutes by TGV).
Practical Tips for Canadian Travellers
Cards work everywhere. Tap-to-pay is universal and contactless is the default. Bring a credit card with no foreign transaction fee: the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite, the Brim Mastercard, or any of the Wealthsimple cards. Notify your bank before you go if you still bank somewhere small enough that they care.
Carry €100–€150 in cash. For tips, café visits, the occasional cash-only Parisian bistro, and rural tabacs that don't take cards. Get euros from a bank ATM (BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole) once you land. Skip the airport currency exchange. The rates are bad and you don't need them in the first hour.
Tipping isn't the system. Service is included by law. Round up at restaurants (€2–€5 for a nice meal), leave the change at cafés. That's it. Hotel housekeeping €1–€2 per night is appreciated. Taxis: round up to the nearest euro.
Mobile data. An eSIM (Airalo, Saily, Holafly) set up before you fly is the easiest path. About $20–$35 CAD for 10 GB over two weeks. If you want a physical SIM, Free Mobile and Orange both sell tourist SIMs at the airport for €20–€30.
Travel insurance is non-negotiable for Canadians over 60. Most Canadian credit card travel insurance tops out at 17–25 days for travellers 65 and up, and many policies exclude pre-existing conditions unless you specifically buy a "stable for 90 days" rider. Don't assume your card covers you. Manulife CoverMe and Blue Cross both sell single-trip policies sized for the over-60 traveller. A 14-day policy for a 65-year-old runs about $80–$160 CAD depending on coverage and pre-existing conditions.
Schengen 90/180 rule. As a Canadian you can spend up to 90 days in any 180-day window across the entire Schengen area, not per country. If you've spent time in Portugal, Italy, or Germany in the past six months, that counts against your 90 days for France. Keep stamps and boarding passes if you're close to the limit.
ETIAS from 2026. Canadians now need to register through ETIAS before flying to France (or anywhere in Schengen). It's about €7, online, takes a few minutes, valid for three years. Do it the week before you fly. Some flights won't let you board without it.
Don't drive in Paris. Parking is impossible, the metro covers everything, and the city centre has limited-traffic zones (ZTL-equivalent) where the fines follow you home. Rent a car only when you leave the city. Avignon, Bordeaux, and Nice are easier rental pickup points than Paris.
Trains, not flights. France has the best train network in Europe. Paris-Marseille is 3h12m on the TGV. Paris-Bordeaux is 2h05m. Paris-Lyon is 2h. By the time you've gone to CDG, cleared security, flown, and gotten to the centre of Marseille, the TGV has already delivered you, calmly, with luggage and legroom.
Photo by Christian Harb on Unsplash
FAQ
Do Canadians need a visa for France? No. Canadian passport holders can enter France visa-free for stays of up to 90 days within any 180-day Schengen window. Starting in 2026, Canadians need to register through ETIAS before travelling. It's about €7, online, takes a few minutes, and is good for three years.
How long is the flight from Toronto to Paris? Air Canada and Air France nonstops YYZ-CDG run about 7h30m eastbound and 8h30m westbound. From Vancouver, with a connection, plan on 13–17 hours total. From Montreal, the nonstop on Air Canada or Air France is about 7h.
How much does a flight from Toronto to Paris cost? Return fares from YYZ to CDG typically run $700–$1,100 CAD in shoulder season (April–June, September–October). November to early March sees flash sales drop to $550–$700. Peak summer (July–August) and Christmas week run $1,200–$1,800. Air Transat in shoulder months is usually 15–25% cheaper than Air Canada for the same dates.
What's the best month to visit France? May, June, and September are the three months everything works. Temperatures sit at 16–24°C, gardens are at their peak, restaurants are open, the lavender is on in Provence (mid-June to mid-July), the harvest is on in September, and prices haven't spiked. Avoid mid-July through late August unless you love crowds and 35°C in a hotel without air conditioning.
Is France expensive for Canadians? Mid-range, not luxury. Budget $200–$300 CAD per person per day for hotel, food, and activities. Paris is the most expensive part of any trip. Provence and the Loire are 25–35% cheaper for the same standard. The single biggest cost is the hotel, especially in Paris.
Should I fly into Paris or Nice? Fly into Paris (CDG or Orly) if you're spending more than half the trip there or doing a multi-region trip. Fly into Nice (NCE) if you're focused on the Riviera and Provence. Air Canada and Air Transat both fly seasonal nonstops YYZ-NCE in summer. Open-jaw flights (into Paris, out of Nice or Marseille) usually price the same as a return on either end and save you the trip back.
How do I get from CDG airport into Paris? Three options. The RER B train runs to Châtelet–Les Halles in 35 minutes for €11.80. A Paris taxi has a flat fare to the city centre: €56 to right bank, €65 to left bank. The Roissybus to Opéra is €17 and takes 60–80 minutes depending on traffic. Skip the unmarked drivers in arrivals offering "taxi". Only take the official taxi line.
Is the TGV worth booking in advance? Yes. SNCF Connect (the official site) opens TGV bookings 2–4 months ahead. The cheapest "Prem's" fares appear at booking opening and disappear within 2–3 weeks. A Paris-Marseille TGV booked four weeks out runs €70–€110 second class; the same seat at the station that morning is €180–€220. First class is €40–€70 more. Worth it for a 3-hour ride.
Current Deals from Canada to France
Live YYZ-CDG, YVR-CDG, YUL-CDG, YYC-CDG, and seasonal YYZ-NCE deals are tracked on FareNorth. See current deals from Canada to France on FareNorth.
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