How To Celebrate Easter In France

France celebrates Easter in lots of different ways. It has traditions involving flying bells and giant omelettes with a little bit of the Easter bunny thrown in for good measure.

The bells are flying

Traditionally, the chocolate is brought not by the Easter Bunny but by flying bells. During Easter, as a sign of respect to Jesus and to commemorate his death, church bells are not rung between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Children are told that the bells have flown to Rome. On Easter Sunday morning, the bells return bringing chocolate for the kids, and so that’s why you’ll find a lot of chocolate bells in the shops – as well as eggs. Then the bells start ringing, symbolising Christ’s return.

The chocolate bells come flying on Easter Sunday

Easter egg hunt

Making a giant omelette

The town of Bessières, in southwestern France, gets together every Easter Monday to make a giant omelette with 15,000 eggs which the whole town eats. It apparently takes a four-metre pan, 40 cooks and very long sticks. The tradition stems from Napoleon’s visit to the town where he ate a wonderful omelette before bed, which was so nice, he ordered a huge one be made for his army to eat before they left the next morning.

Decorating chocolate eggs

France has always taken its desserts very seriously and Easter is really the time it lets its hair down. The chocolate shops are a wonder to behold in the run-up to Easter Sunday and not just the eggs – the chocolate hens, rabbits, frogs, toads, etc. are mouthwateringly good. The French call window shopping, “lécher les vitrines“, literally to ‘lick the windows’. With chocolate this tempting, it might happen in practice.

Easter in France is a great time to window shop chocolate

Working on Good Friday

France is often heralded as having a good work-life balance with lots of public holidays and family time off. One of those dates is not Good Friday, however, as everyone in France works and it’s not a public holiday. Good Friday is the day in the Catholic church when Jesus was crucified and is traditionally a day of fasting. The only exception is the region of Alsace in France. This region on the French-German border has changed hands multiple times. When they became German they received the benefit of having Good Friday as a holiday, and when they became French again, they refused to give the holiday up.

The Easter egg hunt is a vital part of French tradition for kids

Alsatian Easter markets

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the region of Alsace celebrates Easter with some special markets. Towns are garlanded with Easter-themed decorations and people make little nests in their gardens so that the Easter Bunny can deliver their eggs. This is the one place where the bells don’t fly, as they’ve kept the German tradition of Easter rabbits instead. The Easter markets are the place to find chocolate rabbits and also the furry kind – they’ll be out in force for the kids to hold and stroke.

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.