Key practical and cultural dates for your diary in France for September 2025
Including tax and rental property deadlines as well as several festivals
France's new school year starts in September
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Practical dates
September 2: Back to school (rentrée scolaire).
The start of the new school year for pupils across France.
September 20: Online payment deadline for income tax and social charges.
If your income tax and social charges (prélèvements sociaux) are not paid automatically, you have until midnight on September 20 to pay online (internet, smartphone, or tablet).
The payment will be debited from your bank account starting September 25.
You will be informed of the exact debit date when confirming the payment order.
September 22: Start of autumn
September 30: Deadline to declare rental property on the property owners’ portal (biens immobiliers).
Owners must ensure their declaration of property occupancy is up to date.
Cultural dates
September 6-15: Deauville American Film Festival.
Held in Normandy, this celebrates the best US films of the year.
September 13-22: Fête de la gastronomie.
A nationwide celebration of French cuisine, featuring food markets, tastings, and chef demonstrations.
September 19-21: Journées Européennes du Patrimoine.
European Heritage Days, launched in 1985.
Various monuments and sites open their doors for free.
The theme this year is the heritage of routes, networks and connections.
September 21-22: Vendanges en fête.
Wine-growing regions such as Champagne, Alsace, and Bordeaux host events celebrating the grape harvest with music, parades, and tastings.
General update:
The Bayeux Tapestry will be displayed at the British Museum in London for nine months from September 2026 to June 2027, President Emmanuel Macron announced during a state visit to the UK in July.
Mr Macron previously proposed loaning the artefact to the UK in 2018 as a post-Brexit goodwill gesture, during a Franco-British summit.
However, a need for urgent repairs delayed the measure for years.
It is the first time the artefact will travel overseas in its modern history – it has twice been relocated to Paris, first by Napoleon and then by the Nazis – although many believe the tapestry will be making a homecoming trip.
The general consensus among historians now is that the tapestry, dating from the 11th Century, was created in England.
