What Are the Warmest Cities in France?

France is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Those who love warm weather are particularly attracted to the French Riviera on the Mediterranean Sea. Even in the winter season, you can escape the cold weather of the northern part of the country.

In this article I’ll share with you my list of the warmest French cities with at least 50,000 residents. I’ll cover the top 20 in more detail and then present the entire ranking in a table with 102 major cities in the country.

I include both Metropolitan France as well as its overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion.

Top 20 Warmest Cities in France

The cities are ranked by their annual daily mean temperature. Each city also includes temperatures in January and July.

The first ten warmest cities are a part of France but are not located in European France. They’re overseas departments of France in:

• South America (French Guiana),
• the Caribbean (Guadeloupe and Martinique),
• the Indian Ocean (Mayotte and Réunion).

Politically, they’re integral parts of France and the European Union. Because of their location, they’re much warmer then the French cities in Europe.

The next ten warmest cities are all in Metropolitan France. If you’re only interested in mainland France, then skip to #11.

Overseas Departments

The warmest places in France are all located in its overseas departments that have a tropical climate.

1. Mamoudzou – 27.4 °C

Mamoudzou is the capital city of the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean. Mayotte is an overseas department of France and its capital is by far the warmest city in France. The city features a tropical savanna climate that’s hot year round, with the rainy season between December and April.

Average high temperature in January: 30.9 °C

Average high temperature in July: 29.3 °C

2. Cayenne – 26.9 °C

Cayenne is the capital city of French Guiana, an overseas department of France in South America. It has a tropical monsoon climate bordering on tropical rainforest, with extremely high annual precipitation most of the year except between August to November.

Average high temperature in January: 29.3 °C

Average high temperature in July: 31.1 °C

3. Les Abymes – 26.7 °C

Les Abymes is the most populous city in Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. It’s an overseas department of France. Les Abymes features a hot tropical monsoon climate. The winter months are some of the driest months on the island.

Average high temperature in January: 29.1 °C

Average high temperature in July: 31.6 °C

4. Fort-de-France – 26.35 °C

Fort-de-France is the capital city of Martinique, a French overseas department in the Caribbean. It has slightly cooler winter temperatures than the previous three cities but is still by far one of the hottest French cities.

Average high temperature in January: 27.7 °C

Average high temperature in July: 29.7 °C

5. Saint-Paul – 25.3 °C

Saint-Paul is the second largest commune on the island of Réunion, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean. With a tropical savanna climate bordering on semi-arid, it has the best weather in the entire country for those who love hot climates.

Average high temperature in January: 31.6 °C

Average high temperature in July: 25.9 °C

6. Saint-André – 24.65 °C

Saint-André is another city on Réunion. It has a much wetter climate than Saint-Paul, getting over five times more rainfall.

Average high temperature in January: 30.9 °C

Average high temperature in July: 25.3 °C

7. Saint-Denis – 24.45 °C

Saint-Denis is the capital of Réunion. It has a tropical monsoon climate with a hot wet season between December and March and a drier season the rest of the year.

Average high temperature in January: 30.2 °C

Average high temperature in July: 25.4 °C

8. Saint-Pierre – 24.05 °C

Saint-Pierre is another city on the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. It has a hot semi-arid climate with particularly dry weather between August and December.

Average high temperature in January: 31.6 °C

Average high temperature in July: 25.6 °C

9. Saint-Louis – 22.2 °C

Saint-Louis is… you guessed it. It’s another city in the French overseas department of Réunion. It has a tropical savanna climate with slightly lower precipitation levels than Saint Denis.

Average high temperature in January: 29.5 °C

Average high temperature in July: 23.6 °C

10. Le Tampon – 19.1 °C

Le Tampon on the island of Réunion is the final city on this list that’s not located in Europe. Because it’s situated at an elevation of 860 m, it has cooler weather than the previous places.

Average high temperature in January: 26.7 °C

Average high temperature in July: 21 °C

Mainland France

The next ten warmest cities are all located in mainland France, mostly on the French Riviera. Most of those who visit France go to mainland France. While summers always bring warm weather, winter months can be mild or even a little cold with stronger wind, even on the French Riviera.

11. Toulon – 16.7 °C

Toulon is the warmest city in Metropolitan France. Located in southern France on the Mediterranean Sea on the French Riviera, Toulon enjoys the highest average temperature. Its Mediterranean temperate climate gives it warm weather year round, though the winter season comes with only moderately warm temperatures of about 13-14 °C.

Toulon enjoys plenty of sunny days, recording 2,854 sunshine hours. The only weather drawback of Toulon is strong winds recorded on average 115 days a year. With strong winds, winter months may feel cold.

Average high temperature in January: 13.2 °C

Average high temperature in July: 29.5 °C

12. Nice – 16.3 °C

Nice is the second largest French city on the Mediterranean coast, on the French Riviera. For its latitude, it offers one of the warmest Mediterranean climates with hot, dry summers and mild winters with more precipitation. At 2,761 hours of sunshine per year, it’s slightly less sunny than Toulon. For many, Nice offers the best climate in France.

Average high temperature in January: 13.3 °C

Average high temperature in July: 27.5 °C

13. Antibes – 16 °C

Antibes is located on the French Riviera coast, southwest of Nice. It has cooler winters and hotter summers.

Average high temperature in January: 12.3 °C

Average high temperature in July: 28.7 °C

14. La Seyne-sur-Mer – 15.95 °C

La Seyne-sur-Mer belongs to the agglomeration of Toulon. It records slightly lower temperatures but overall is still one of the warmest places in the French Riviera region.

Average high temperature in January: 13 °C

Average high temperature in July: 29 °C

15. Marseille – 15.9 °C

Marseille is the biggest city in the south of France on the French Riviera. With 2,897 sunshine hours a year, it’s the sunniest major city in France. It’s also the driest major city. It has colder winter temperatures than Nice, particularly at night when temperatures can drop to about 4 °C compared to 6-7 °C in Nice.

Average high temperature in January: 11.8 °C

Average high temperature in July: 30.7 °C

16. Ajaccio – 15.85 °C

Ajaccio is the capital city of Corsica, a French island in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s the first warmest city on this list that isn’t located on the French Riviera. While the island has many microclimates, Ajaccio features a typical Mediterranean climate. It has the highest average high temperatures between December and February, reaching 14-15 °C.

Average high temperature in January: 14 °C

Average high temperature in July: 28.6 °C

17. Perpignan – 15.75 °C

Perpignan is located in southwestern France, west of the French Riviera. It’s the last major French city before the Spanish border, sometimes considered the “entrance” to the Iberian Peninsula. Its mild climate is similar to other places on the Mediterranean coast.

Average high temperature in January: 12.4 °C

Average high temperature in July: 29.2 °C

18. Hyères – 15.7 °C

Hyères, located to the east of Toulon on the French Riviera, has the highest average winter temperature out of all cities in southern France, though it’s just a half a degree higher than in other places.

Average high temperature in January: 13.6 °C

Average high temperature in July: 28.8 °C

19. Fréjus – 15.7 °C

Fréjus is another city located on the southeastern coast of France, roughly halfway between two famous resort towns: Cannes northeast of the city and Saint-Tropez southwest of the city. This makes it a convenient city for exploring the French Riviera.

Average high temperature in January: 13.3 °C

Average high temperature in July: 29.1 °C

20. Nîmes – 15.6 °C

Nîmes is the only inland city in metropolitan France that’s on this list. It’s situated about 50 km from the Mediterranean coast and 56 km northeast of Montpellier. It has a humid subtropical climate with summers that are too wet to be qualified as a Mediterranean climate. It has the hottest summers out of all continental French cities on this list and the coolest winters.

Average high temperature in January: 11.4 °C

Average high temperature in July: 31.5 °C

Top 102 Warmest French Cities Ranked by the Average Temperature

Here’s a table with 102 major French cities that have at least 50,000 residents. Some cities are missing because I couldn’t find climate data for them. The data comes primarily from Météo France.

You may also be interested in articles about the warmest cities in other European countries.

I also wrote an article answering the question of “Where is it warm all year round in Europe?” You may also want to read my article What’s the Hottest Country in Europe?