Easter is, traditionally, a busy period for travel in France, and across Europe. This year, however, because it is so early, it comes before French schools break up for their Spring vacation – which means it’s likely to be a little less busy than usual. 

Perhaps surprisingly, no walkouts are (currently) planned in France over the Easter holiday weekend, but strikes elsewhere may affect international flights and rail travel.

And if you’re planning to travel to the UK, expect some border issues, as we will explain.

Planes

Easter will be busy at France’s airports. That’s a given. Hundreds of thousands of travellers are expected at the country’s airports for the first great long-weekend getaway of 2024. Many are heading south for the holidays.

However, strikes in other European countries – walkouts are expected in Austria and Italy, for example, may have a knock-on effect on flights and international travel.

Trains

SNCF has planned maintenance and improvement works on certain sections of the network over the Easter weekend. No TGVs will run between Bordeaux and Toulouse, for example, on Easter Sunday, or Easter Monday because of works.

There are no services between Orléans and Paris on the same two days for the same reason.

If you’re planning to travel by train over the Easter weekend you will be well advised to book in advance as many trains are already sold out.

In Paris, and Ile-de-France, the Metro and bus network is subject to an ongoing strike notice, meaning that strike notices may be posted at any time. At the time of writing, the next RATP strike was scheduled for April 4th. 

Automobiles

School vacations in France don’t start until the weekend after Easter weekend. France’s roads watchdog Bison Futé predicts busy periods on the roads, but said that “intensity of traffic over the weekend will be directly linked to the weather conditions”. 

Because most road users in France will be heading for holiday resorts and coastal areas, Bison Futé expects heavy traffic to holiday resorts on Friday, March 29th, when it has put most of the country’s main roads on ‘orange’ alert – meaning ‘difficult’ travel conditions.

The Île-de-France and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions, meanwhile, are on ‘red’ alert, meaning ‘extremely difficult’ conditions on the roads. 

On Saturday, the following day, it forecasts difficult travel conditions in Île-de-France, heading out of the region to holiday areas, particularly on the A6b, A6 and A10. As for the rest of the country, traffic is expected to be normal (green). 

On Sunday, Bison Futé predicted traffic would be normal, and it did not pinpoint any areas as having particularly slow road conditions.

And finally, at the end of the Easter weekend on Monday, the driving site warns of ‘difficult’ travel conditions, especially on routes back to major cities from holiday resorts, with the worst of the jams expected in the northwest of the country, where it has raised the ‘red’ alert flag.

The website warned that the north-eastern quarter of the country would see the most intense traffic slowdowns.

At the borders

UK Border Force workers have been balloted on strike action. No walkouts are expected before April 5th, at the earliest, but that weekend coincides with the first wave of Spring holidays for French schools.

If the strike does go ahead, expect delays at UK borders and airports.