Avignon or Paris?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Wins on year-round weather with your weighting.
Wins on nightlife and sights concentration with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Avignon if you want a compact centre where the museums and sights sit within a short walk, warmer days through the year, and protected countryside close by.
Choose Paris if you want breadth: many times more restaurants and kitchens, far more museums, and nightlife on a different scale, with more to keep children occupied. Its summer stays milder, peaking near 26°C.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Avignon and Paris are level on 0.
| Avignon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 0 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 0 |
| Beaches 10 km | 1 | 2 |
| Coast distance | 55 km | 149 km |
| Water distance | — | — |
Places to eat. Paris leads by 46 points.46
| Avignon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 44 | 90 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 336 | 4,732 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 18 | 33 |
Museums & heritage. Paris leads by 21 points.21
| Avignon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 55 | 76 |
| Museums within 10 km | 17 | 185 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 16 | 65 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 94 | 35 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 6 | 4 |
Nightlife. Paris leads by 72 points.72
| Avignon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 16 | 88 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 115 | 3,796 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 97 | 1,694 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 84 | 45 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 4 | 201 |
Nature & day trips. Paris leads by 4 points.4
| Avignon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 44 | 48 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 36 | 28 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 31 | 26 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 100 |
| Park area within 2 km | 23 hectares | 82 hectares |
Good for families. Paris leads by 33 points.33
| Avignon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 42 | 75 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 15 | 89 |
| Park area within 2 km | 23 hectares | 82 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 4 | 3 |
Sights concentration. Paris leads by 54 points.54
| Avignon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 40 | 94 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 40 | 865 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Avignon and Paris are level on 62.
| Avignon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 62 | 62 |
| Price level global | 73.7 | 73.7 |
| Daily budget | €160 | €160 |
Year-round weather. Avignon leads by 4 points.4
| Avignon | Paris | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 70 | 66 |
| Monthly daytime high | 11.2 °C to 31.2 °C | 7.8 °C to 26 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 34 mm to 111 mm | 38 mm to 75 mm |
| Dry months | 2 | 1 |
Where they differ
Avignon keeps its museums tightly around the centre and has 6 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach against Paris's 4. The land around it is more heavily protected, 36% against 28%, and it runs warmer through the year, 11-31°C against Paris's 8-26°C.
Paris has many times as many notable places within walking distance of the centre, many times as many restaurants near it and a much wider range of kitchens, and many times as many bars and clubs, about half of them central.
Where they are alike
Neither is a swimming destination. Paris counts 2 beaches within reach against Avignon's 1, and neither has a month of sea at 21°C or more, so either trip is planned around streets rather than water.
Both also put countryside within day-trip reach, 36% of the land protected around Avignon and 28% around Paris, along with parks in the city itself. Both are usable year-round, warmest in summer and coolest in January.
Which traveller are you?
A traveller who plans days around eating and evenings out should take Paris: many times as many restaurants near the centre, a much wider range of kitchens, and many times as many bars and clubs.
A heritage walker who dislikes long transits is better served by Avignon, where the museums cluster tightly around the centre and 6 UNESCO-listed places sit within day-trip reach against Paris's 4.
Families with restless children will find more in Paris, with many times as many attractions near the centre and about three times as much park space, though Avignon counters with 4 theme parks within reach against 3.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value comparison between these two carries no information. That figure is a national price level, identical for both by construction, and the €160 daily budget beside it is a single national estimate rather than a measurement of either city. Anything you have heard about the cost of a capital against a small town is not in these numbers.
No weather station near Paris reports sunshine hours, so that figure is missing rather than low. Paris's monthly ratings rest on temperature and rainfall alone, while Avignon's include 2883 hours of sun a year, so the two weather pictures are not measured the same way.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Avignon: 1991-2020 normals, Nimes / Courbessac (34 km from centre). Paris: 1991-2020 normals, Paris-Montsouris (4.6 km from centre).
Avignon's best run is May into June, with highs of 24-28°C and rainfall of 44-58mm. July and August push to 31°C, dry at 34mm in July, but hot for walking. Autumn turns wet, 111mm in September and 90mm in October.
Paris is at its best from June to August, milder at 24-26°C with 51-58mm of rain, and September still holds 22°C and 51mm, drier than Avignon that month. In winter the gap reverses: Avignon 11-13°C against Paris's 8-9°C.
Getting there
| Flying from | Avignon | Paris |
|---|---|---|
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 55 m €219-245 1 stop MRS · 65 km | 3 h 15 m €152-378 1 stop CDG · 22 km |
| MadridMAD | 1 h 35 m no fares MRS · 65 km | 1 h 55 m €107-141 ORY · 14 km |
| AlgiersALG | 1 h 35 m €100-103 MRS · 65 km | 2 h 15 m €282-437 CDG · 22 km |
| LisbonLIS | 2 h 10 m €136-184 1 stop MRS · 65 km | 2 h 20 m €138-242 ORY · 14 km |
| BordeauxBOD | 1 h 15 m no fares MRS · 65 km | 1 h 15 m no fares CDG · 22 km |
| AmsterdamAMS | 1 h 50 m no fares MRS · 65 km | 1 h 10 m €188-212 CDG · 22 km |
| NantesNTE | 1 h 30 m €72-162 MRS · 65 km | 1 h 5 m no fares CDG · 22 km |
| TunisTUN | 1 h 40 m no fares MRS · 65 km | 2 h 25 m €153-251 ORY · 14 km |
| MontrealYUL, YHU, YMX | 7 h 45 m no fares MRS · 65 km | 7 h 10 m €444-536 CDG · 22 km |
| SeoulICN, GMP | 11 h 35 m no fares MRS · 65 km | 11 h 10 m €509-719 1 stop CDG · 22 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-10, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Avignon | Paris |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | French | French |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CE230 V, 50 Hz | CE230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 10 m | 27 m |
| Main airport | Marseille Provence Airport (MRS)65 km from centre125 non-stop destinations | Charles de Gaulle International Airport (CDG)22 km from centre277 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 11 days | 11 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Avignon | Paris |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 92,188 | 2,103,778 |
| People per km² | 1,420 | 19,960 |
| Museums within 10 km | 11 | 251 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 6 | 4 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 36 | 169 |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Avignon or Paris somewhere new.