In Paris, there are two distinct service times: Lunch is typically from around 12 until 2:30, and dinner around 7:30-11 p.m. If you are hungry in between, you can always step into a patisserie or boulangerie.
The traditional evening meal in France is considered a family affair – around a table, lots of chatter, more good food, and an all-round convivial experience that rolls along merrily for an hour or so. They usually run from roughly 7.30pm until 8.45pm.
If the restaurant has a sign saying service continu, this indicates that you can have a meal at any time of day. The majority of bars and cafes open early, around 7 or 8 am and close around 10pm, or later if the establishment has a special dispensation (2am for the bars).
For most restaurants, they follow the usual French times of opening for lunch service around 12.30pm and closing up at 2.30pm to prepare for dinner service at around 7:00/7:30pm until around 11pm, all restaurants vary though so it is important to check.
Lunch is usually between midday and 2 pm, when the kitchen will go off duty. Watch out, as during these times, service can be rather slow if you find yourself in a business area. Parisians don't dine until at least 8.30 pm as prior to that, time is set aside for “l'apéritif”.
Dinner is usually a much smaller occasion since Peruvians will typically have a quick snack or meal, called lonche, in the afternoon around 5:30 pm. Lonche may involve a quick sandwich, empanada, tamal or juane. This will tide them over until they sit down to dinner between 8:00 pm and 10:00 pm.
What time do people go out in Paris? Parisians usually start going out around 6 pm to enjoy a drink after work. Then, they have dinner at 8 pm, followed by the pre-party between 9 and 10 pm in a bar. The clubs usually start to fill up around 1 am and do not close until the morning hours.
And what about the sparkles? Here is the answer to all your questions. The Tower lights and beacon are lit up every evening from dusk until 11.45pm. As soon as it gets dark, the Eiffel Tower's golden lighting switches on automatically within less than 10 minutes, thanks to light-sensitive twilight sensors.
What time is tea time in Paris? Since many tea rooms in Paris have varying times on when they serve tea, it's hard to pinpoint a specific time, but in general, I'd say tea time in Paris ranges between 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm.
“French people eat late because most standard job hours are 9 or 10 to 6, instead of 9 to 5 like in the States,” Alysa explains. “So, by the time everyone gets home, gets settled, and a meal is prepared, it's about 8 pm.”
A typical French breakfast is light, sweet, and fairly simple. It's usually made up of breakfast cereals, a tartine (slice of bread with topping) and a drink (tea, coffee, orange juice). It's usually eaten between 6 AM and 8 AM.
The Average Daily Life in France
Adults and school-aged children are generally up by 7:00 a.m., allowing for the business and school day to begin promptly at 8:30 a.m. A typical workday begins at 9:00 a.m. However, lunchbreak in France can last up to two hours.
While tea is becoming more popular in France, it still lags well behind coffee and is very far behind the consumption rates you'll see across the English Channel. Like the British, the French tend to primarily drink black tea varieties.
Standard hours
The French working hours are usually 8 or 9 AM to 4 or 5 PM, with 1 hour of unpaid lunch break. This will, however, vary depending on the business and company agreements. The weekly working hours are 35 (7 hours a day, five days a week).
In general, to feel more comfortable, start your visit early in the morning (before 10:30am) or at the end of the day after 5 PM, or even in the evening.
Visiting the Eiffel Tower in the evening and at night is a completely different experience to day tours – and just as much of a must-see experience! In particular, climbing the stairs while the structure is lit up from the inside offers a unique ambiance that you don't want to miss.
You can choose to visit the Eiffel tower during the day or at night. We advise you to choose both options because they are very different experiences but each one is as fantastic as the other. You can buy your ticket in advance from our online ticket office to avoid having to queue at the ticket office at the Tower.
If you stroll more around the tourist areas, this will not be a problem because you will often be surrounded. Actually, in Paris there are often people going out and mainly in tourist areas thanks to many bars and restaurants. So you are unlikely to find yourself in a dark alley without too many people.
Restaurants. For most restaurants and bars, the dress code is dressed-up casual. So, if you do decide to go with a cocktail dress, the norm is for it to be accompanied by tights and a sweater/light jacket. This isn't because Parisians are against showing skin; it's just not typical for this type of setting.
During summer, the municipality of Paris changes the hours of many of its parks, usually from the beginning of July until September. This allows you to walk and enjoy the fresh evening air as late as midnight in most of them.
Expect to eat dinner a little later
Unlike in some European countries, such as Germany and the Netherlands, where people tend to enjoy an early evening meal at around 18:00, the French prefer to wait until later to eat their dinner. In fact, they typically don't sit at the dining table until around 20:00 or even later.
At your usual suspects, such as UK, dinner (often a blurry line with the evening tea and supper) is served between 6.30-8pm. After that, you can hit the pub for pint and some snacks. The French eat their gourmet grub a little later, between 8-9pm, as do places like Belgium, France, Austria, Vienna, among others.
According to the map, most Europeans eat dinner between 7pm and 8.30pm. Enjoy a ratatouille in France during this time, or pierogies in Poland.
Another example of how important food is in France can be seen when you consider their traditional meal times: breakfast at 7:00 am, lunch at noon, afternoon snack (le goûter) at 3:30 pm (for kids only), dinner around 8:00 pm.