Paris Valentines Weekend: Two Days Without the Tower Package

A Paris Valentines Weekend in 2027 is Saturday 13 February and Sunday 14 February, and the date on the card is the Sunday. It is not a public holiday in France, and museums keep their ordinary weekend hours. Restaurants do not. The plan here is plain: one timed museum ticket, one table you already hold, and a walk that still makes sense if the afternoon is cold and wet. A tower dinner booked on the Thursday before is the part that tends to go wrong.

If you have a Friday or a Monday as well, use 3 days in Paris and treat this note as the middle. December lights are a different visit: Paris Christmas markets. What to wear in this weather is in the winter packing list.

A Paris Valentines Weekend that skips the package

Valentine's Day falls on Sunday 14 February 2027. Saturday is the night restaurants treat as the event. Sunday lunch is the second sitting that disappears. Sunday night is weaker, because some kitchens close earlier than on Saturday and the people who wanted a celebration already ate. Book Saturday dinner or Sunday lunch, not both, unless you enjoy two fixed menus. When you reserve, ask whether a Valentine menu replaces the usual carte. If you want a normal meal, say so. A place that cannot serve the regular menu is allowed to say no. That answer is more useful two weeks ahead than at the door.

There is no citywide price for those menus, and this article will not invent one. A bistro and a dining room with a view are not the same purchase. Rue Montorgueil, in the 2nd arrondissement, is one street where you can look for a table that is not tied to the tower. It is busy, it is not a discovery, and it is a reasonable place to eat if the booking you wanted is gone. The Eiffel Tower admits people who hold a timed ticket, so a spontaneous visit is unlikely to work. If the view is the point, buy that ticket on its own and eat somewhere else. If the view is not the point, skip the tower this weekend.

Metro and RER run. Valentine's Day does not cancel them, and it does not protect you from a strike or a works closure. Check RATP the day before, the same way you would on any February weekend. Stay in the 1st, 2nd, 9th or 10th if this plan is the plan, so dinner is a walk and not a cross-town ride at 23:00. Hotel rates for this particular weekend were not collected for this article. Book the room before the restaurant if the address is fixed, and book the restaurant before you promise anyone a time.

The Louvre on a paid Sunday

The Louvre is open on Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 to 18:00. Last entry is one hour before closing, so 17:00. Rooms start clearing 30 minutes before closing. Wednesday and Friday are the late days, until 21:00. Tuesday is the closed day. The museum's public-holiday rule is narrow: closed on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December, open on other public holidays unless they fall on a Tuesday. The 14 February is not one of those closures.

It is also not a free day. The Louvre is free for all visitors on the first Friday of the month after 18:00, except in July and August, and on 14 July. You still book a slot, and the help page says those free slots are posted a few days ahead. In February 2027 the first Friday is 5 February, not the Valentine weekend. If you happen to be in Paris on the 5th, that evening is the free entry. The 13th and 14th are ordinary paid days.

The rate sheet dated 14 January 2026 lists 22 euros for citizens or residents of the European Economic Area and 32 euros for other visitors, covering permanent collections and temporary exhibitions, with the same-day or next open day at the Musée national Eugène-Delacroix included. An audio guide on that sheet is 6 euros. Buying the wrong category and correcting it on site is listed as an extra 15 euros. These are 2026 published rates. A 2027 tariff was not the document checked here, so recheck ticket.louvre.fr before you pay. Any exit is final. Do not plan to leave for lunch and come back on the same ticket. Eat before you go in, or after you come out.

Photo: Benh LIEU SONG (Flickr) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Tuileries Garden, on the Louvre's own visitor page, is open from 7:30 to 19:30 in January, February and March. That is the outdoor hour attached to the museum, and it is free. In February the light is already going by late afternoon. A 16:30 walk is a dusk walk, not a midday one.

Weather from the Montsouris normals

Météo-France's 1991-2020 sheet for Paris-Montsouris puts February at a mean maximum of 8.8°C, a mean of 6.0°C and a mean minimum of 3.3°C. Mean precipitation is 41.8 mm, with 9.1 days at or above 1 mm. About 5.3 days in a normal February have a minimum at or below 0°C, so a frost at breakfast is ordinary and a week of snow is not. The cold feels damp. A wool coat that looks right in a dining room and fails in a shower is the usual mistake. Waterproof shoes, a layer you can take off indoors, and an umbrella you will actually carry are enough. You do not need expedition kit.

Daylight is longer than in December and still short enough that a 19:30 table is a night-time arrival. Do the outdoor walking before 16:30 and let the museum or the passage take the grey hour.

Photo: GFreihalter / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Two days, in order

Saturday 13 February. Morning in Galerie Vivienne. The passage sits in the 2nd, with ways in from rue Vivienne, rue des Petits-Champs and rue de la Banque. Walking through is free. Shops keep their own hours, and some will be shut; the glass roof is the point if a boutique is dark. Passage des Panoramas is a short walk in the same arrondissement and is the second covered street if the rain has already started. Do this in daylight. Gates on these passages are not a 24-hour public road.

Afternoon at the Louvre with a timed ticket, entered early enough that 17:00 last admission is not your plan. If you only want a short visit, still book the slot. A Saturday in February is not empty, and this Saturday is busier than a normal one in the restaurants even when the galleries are merely busy. Evening on Rue Montorgueil, at the table you booked, or at a place on that street that can seat you without a special menu. If the restaurant is on the other side of the river from the Louvre, leave time. The exit-is-final rule means you cannot "just pop out".

Sunday 14 February. Morning along Canal Saint-Martin, on the quays in the 10th. It is flat, it is outdoors, and it is not the postcard that the weekend is sold on. If it is pouring, swap this morning with a longer Louvre visit and do the canal for half an hour between showers. Afternoon in the Tuileries, while the garden is still inside its 7:30 to 19:30 February hours, then walk across to Saint-Germain if your feet agree. The point of the afternoon is not another ticket. Evening in Saint-Germain is a walk and a drink or a simple meal, not a second celebration. If you wanted the important meal on Sunday, make it lunch, booked, and keep the evening light.

Friday 12 February is worth knowing if your train arrives then. The Louvre is open until 21:00 on Fridays. A late Friday entry, with Saturday kept for the passages and dinner, is a calmer shape than stuffing the museum into Saturday afternoon before a 20:00 table. Monday 15 February is an ordinary Monday: the Louvre is open 9:00 to 18:00, and many smaller shops in the passages are open again. Neither day is required.

Put the Louvre slot and the restaurant time on the same day in one list before you confirm either. RoamerPlanner is a simple place to see that they are two hours and two arrondissements apart. If a rail strike appears on the RATP or SNCF notice, the list is also where you drop the canal and keep the table.

Short answers

Is Valentine's Day a holiday in Paris? No. Sunday 14 February 2027 is an ordinary Sunday. Museums follow weekend hours. Offices are already closed for the weekend, not for the date.

Is the Louvre free that Sunday? No. Free entry for everyone is the first Friday evening (5 February 2027, after 18:00, slots posted close to the day) and 14 July. The weekend of the 13th and 14th is a paid visit. The January 2026 sheet shows 22 euros or 32 euros depending on EEA status. Recheck before February 2027.

Do you need to book a restaurant? For Saturday night or Sunday lunch, yes, if you care which room you sit in. For a meal on Rue Montorgueil with no fixed menu, you may still walk in, and you may also find the places you wanted are full. Book the one meal that matters.

What if it rains? Galerie Vivienne, Passage des Panoramas and the Louvre are the indoor spine. The canal and the Tuileries are the outdoor hours. Swap them. Do not buy a package to solve the weather.

Sources

Musée du Louvre hours and admission page (Saturday and Sunday 9:00-18:00, Wednesday and Friday until 21:00, closed Tuesday, last entry one hour before closing, rooms cleared 30 minutes before; closed 1 January, 1 May and 25 December; Tuileries Garden 7:30-19:30 in February; free for all visitors on the first Friday evening except July and August, and on 14 July; exit is final). Louvre rate sheet for individual visitors as of 14 January 2026 (22 euros EEA, 32 euros non-EEA, audio guide 6 euros). Louvre help page on free admission and timed booking. Météo-France climatological sheet for Paris-Montsouris, 1991-2020 normals (February mean maximum 8.8°C, mean 6.0°C, mean minimum 3.3°C, precipitation 41.8 mm, 9.1 days with at least 1 mm, 5.3 days with minimum at or below 0°C). Restaurant prices and 2027 Louvre tariffs were not officially confirmed in this check. Checked 24 October 2026.

Cover photo: Benh LIEU SONG / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0