What are the 10 French cities ranked by days of frost?

In order: Courchevel, Barcelonnette, Briançon, Gex, Saint-Chély-d'Apcher, Lons-le-Saunier, Pontarlier, Oyonnax, Digne-les-Bains and Albertville.

What is the top 5 of French cities ranked by days of frost?

Courchevel (185.1 days), Barcelonnette (169.9 days), Briançon (136.1 days), Gex (127.5 days) and Saint-Chély-d'Apcher (113.4 days).

Which city is 2nd in the ranking of French cities ranked by days of frost?

Barcelonnette, at 169.9 days, just behind Courchevel (185.1 days).

Is Courchevel really the French city ranked first on days of frost?

Yes, at 185.1 days, ahead of Barcelonnette (169.9 days) and Briançon (136.1 days).

In which département is Courchevel?

Courchevel is in département 73, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

What is the difference between Courchevel and Barcelonnette?

Courchevel is at 185.1 days, Barcelonnette at 169.9 days. The table gives the same figure for all 50 places, so any two of them can be compared the same way.

How many French cities does this ranking compare?

1,040, with the top 50 listed in full in the table below.

What are the French cities ranked by days of frost in 2026?

This ranking uses the most recent official figures published as of 2026: Courchevel leads with 185.1 days.

Is there a complete ranking of French cities ranked by days of frost?

Yes, the table below: the top 50 of 1,040, each with its département and its region, and the exact method and scope stated underneath it.

In order: Courchevel (185.1 days), Barcelonnette (169.9 days), Briançon (136.1 days), Gex (127.5 days), Saint-Chély-d'Apcher (113.4 days), Lons-le-Saunier (111.7 days), Pontarlier (110.1 days), Oyonnax (107.2 days), Digne-les-Bains (100.6 days), Albertville (98.7 days).

Where does this figure come from?

Straight from Météo-France, fiches climatologiques, joined to each commune by its INSEE code and never retyped by hand. A commune the source does not cover is left out of the table rather than shown as a zero: an absence and a measured zero are different facts, and only one of them is safe to rank.

Le Bon Rang

Weather · Météo-France, fiches climatologiques

The coldest cities in France

Name: The coldest cities in France
Creator: Le Bon Rang
License: https://www.etalab.gouv.fr/licence-ouverte-open-licence/

The coldest city in France is Courchevel, at 185.1 days (days of frost), ahead of Barcelonnette (169.9 days) and Briançon (136.1 days).

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Days of frost, 1040 cities shown. The coloured surface estimates the local tendency from nearby ranked cities. Exact city values remain in the table. Projection: longitude compressed by cos(46.3°N), so east-west and north-south distances stay comparable. Source: Météo-France, fiches climatologiques.

Find your town

Top 50 of 1,040 cities
Rank	City	Days of frost	Population	Region
1	73 Courchevel	185.1	2,290	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
2	04 Barcelonnette	169.9	2,518	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
3	05 Briançon	136.1	11,411	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
4	01 Gex	127.5	13,627	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
5	48 Saint-Chély-d'Apcher	113.4	3,955	Occitanie
6	39 Lons-le-Saunier	111.7	16,618	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
7	25 Pontarlier	110.1	18,067	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
8	01 Oyonnax	107.2	22,480	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
9	04 Digne-les-Bains	100.6	17,979	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
10	73 Albertville	98.7	19,978	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
11	31 Bagnères-de-Luchon	96.6	2,076	Occitanie
12	74 Cluses	89.3	17,795	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
13	74 Bonneville	89.3	13,335	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
14	74 La Roche-sur-Foron	89.3	11,348	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
15	04 Manosque	87.7	22,718	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
16	88 Gérardmer	86.8	7,581	Grand Est
17	48 Mende	85.8	12,464	Occitanie
18	01 Bourg-en-Bresse	85.2	42,372	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
19	43 Le Puy-en-Velay	84.3	18,540	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
20	01 Valserhône	82.8	16,712	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
21	08 Charleville-Mézières	79.8	45,560	Grand Est
22	88 Épinal	77.6	32,251	Grand Est
23	71 Autun	77.2	13,172	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
24	05 Gap	75.6	41,293	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
25	74 Annecy	74.4	132,117	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
26	74 Rumilly	74.4	16,442	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
27	74 Saint-Julien-en-Genevois	72.7	16,222	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
28	01 Saint-Genis-Pouilly	72.7	14,432	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
29	01 Ferney-Voltaire	72.7	12,094	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
30	01 Divonne-les-Bains	72.7	10,464	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
31	15 Aurillac	70.6	26,214	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
32	08 Sedan	70.6	16,667	Grand Est
33	71 Chalon-sur-Saône	70.4	45,102	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
34	57 Thionville	69.8	42,658	Grand Est
35	57 Yutz	69.8	17,391	Grand Est
36	57 Hayange	69.8	15,806	Grand Est
37	57 Fameck	69.8	14,788	Grand Est
38	57 Florange	69.8	12,035	Grand Est
39	57 Amnéville	69.8	10,875	Grand Est
40	68 Saint-Louis (68)	69.7	22,805	Grand Est
41	03 Vichy	69.6	25,115	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
42	03 Cusset	69.6	13,316	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
43	23 Guéret	69.6	12,955	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
44	41 Romorantin-Lanthenay	69.3	18,373	Centre-Val de Loire
45	68 Mulhouse	68.9	104,978	Grand Est
46	68 Wittenheim	68.9	15,553	Grand Est
47	68 Illzach	68.9	14,923	Grand Est
48	68 Rixheim	68.9	14,380	Grand Est
49	68 Kingersheim	68.9	13,354	Grand Est
50	68 Riedisheim	68.9	12,200	Grand Est

The table stops at 50. Search any of the 1,040 ranked towns ↑

The other end : The cities in France where it almost never freezes

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Scope, method and sources

Scope: France, metropolitan and overseas, Corsica and the DROM included. This dataset holds every commune of 10,000 inhabitants or more, plus smaller communes famous enough to be household names, 1,131 in all. It is not the full list of 35,000 French communes, so a village can sit outside a ranking whose extreme it would otherwise hold. This particular ranking is metropolitan only: the distance to the coast is measured against the coastlines of the Hexagon and Corsica, which would put an overseas port thousands of kilometres from a sea it sits on, so no value is published for overseas France rather than a wrong one.

Method and sources: populations are the INSEE legal populations, boundaries and coordinates come from the IGN commune registry, both served by geo.api.gouv.fr. Density is the population divided by the commune's area; distances are measured as the crow flies from the commune's centre. Data read on August 28, 2026.

12 questions about this ranking

What are the 10 French cities ranked by days of frost?: In order: Courchevel, Barcelonnette, Briançon, Gex, Saint-Chély-d'Apcher, Lons-le-Saunier, Pontarlier, Oyonnax, Digne-les-Bains and Albertville.
What is the top 5 of French cities ranked by days of frost?: Courchevel (185.1 days), Barcelonnette (169.9 days), Briançon (136.1 days), Gex (127.5 days) and Saint-Chély-d'Apcher (113.4 days).
Which city is 2nd in the ranking of French cities ranked by days of frost?: Barcelonnette, at 169.9 days, just behind Courchevel (185.1 days).
Is Courchevel really the French city ranked first on days of frost?: Yes, at 185.1 days, ahead of Barcelonnette (169.9 days) and Briançon (136.1 days).
In which département is Courchevel?: Courchevel is in département 73, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
What is the difference between Courchevel and Barcelonnette?: Courchevel is at 185.1 days, Barcelonnette at 169.9 days. The table gives the same figure for all 50 places, so any two of them can be compared the same way.
Which city is 10th in the ranking of French cities ranked by days of frost?: Albertville, at 98.7 days.
How many French cities does this ranking compare?: 1,040, with the top 50 listed in full in the table below.
What are the French cities ranked by days of frost in 2026?: This ranking uses the most recent official figures published as of 2026: Courchevel leads with 185.1 days.
Is there a complete ranking of French cities ranked by days of frost?: Yes, the table below: the top 50 of 1,040, each with its département and its region, and the exact method and scope stated underneath it.
What are the top 10?: In order: Courchevel (185.1 days), Barcelonnette (169.9 days), Briançon (136.1 days), Gex (127.5 days), Saint-Chély-d'Apcher (113.4 days), Lons-le-Saunier (111.7 days), Pontarlier (110.1 days), Oyonnax (107.2 days), Digne-les-Bains (100.6 days), Albertville (98.7 days).
Where does this figure come from?: Straight from Météo-France, fiches climatologiques, joined to each commune by its INSEE code and never retyped by hand. A commune the source does not cover is left out of the table rather than shown as a zero: an absence and a measured zero are different facts, and only one of them is safe to rank.

The table below ranks the top 50 of the 1,040 cities in the dataset, each with its département, its region and the figure it is ranked on (days of frost), so you can see not just the order but how far apart the places are. The numbers are official public data: INSEE legal populations and the IGN commune registry, with the exact method and the exact scope stated under the table rather than left to be guessed at.

The same data answers neighbouring questions too: see The cities in France where it almost never freezes and Hours of sunshine: the top 50 French cities, or all rankings for the full list. All of it comes from Le Bon Rang, a free daily game that gives you five French cities and one of these statistics and asks you for the order.