Planning vs Spontaneity

[u/trgreg]

We'll be in Paris for 5 days at the end of November. It's obviously not high season, but I'm wondering just how much planning/booking we need to do. We just got our accommodations settled, & I'd love to have the flexibility to roam through a park or neighbourhood if the weather is decent (knowing that the weather will be questionable that time of year); but I expect that if we want to get to some of the main museums or sites we will still need to book tickets in advance.

What can we realistically get away with this time of year?

[u/fancypants1589]

My advice is the same no matter what time of year it is, and I’ve been to Paris in every season: book anything you would be sad about missing, whether that’s a museum, attraction, show, restaurant, etc.

You’ll always be able to find something to do and somewhere to eat. You just may not get to do everything you want to do if you leave too much until the last minute.

[u/jo_noby → u/fancypants1589]

This. I will I won’t I to the point that I missed an activity that I wanted to do, a cooking class. And while was able to do the orsay and the orangerie, I had to spend up and still stood in lines for hours. (Just left Paris this morning )

[u/Jackms64 → u/fancypants1589]

After 25 trips to Paris: This is the way

[u/Sensitive-Deer-4145]

What my husband and I try to do in any city we go to is this: plan each day in terms of what neighborhood(s) we are going to visit that day, book our must-do items including any monuments, dinners, experiences for the day we’ll be in that area and then leave the rest of the day open to explore and do whatever we want. Then we also usually leave a day or so open completely at the end of the trip to do anything we missed or found out about while on the trip that we want to circle back to!

[u/EineKleineNachtMusic]

I just came back from a week-long stay in Paris with only one reservation (to the Eiffel Tower). We saw everything we wanted to (Notre Dame, Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, l'Orangerie, etc.) by just buying tickets when we arrived. The only time I regretted it was Sainte Chapelle, but after a 60 min. wait, we finally succeeded there too. Since we were traveling with a toddler, it was impossible to know what time we'd arrive and how long we'd like to stay. I did do a lot of planning before the trip though--choosing to visit museums during their extended hour days, for instance. Even without children, I really prefer spontaneity while traveling.

[u/jeuxdeboule]

These venues generally require reservations, even in November. Book early using only official sites:

https://www.toureiffel.paris/en

http://ticketlouvre.fr/ Closed Tuesdays

https://billetterie.musee-orsay.fr/en-GB/

https://www.sainte-chapelle.fr/en/visit

https://www.galeriedior.com/en

https://www.tours-notre-dame-de-paris.fr/visiter/informations-pratiques

https://haussmann.galerieslafayette.com/en/experiences/

https://www.catacombes.paris.fr/en No earlier than 7 days in advance, closed Mondays.

While it is generally not necessary to book cafés, I reserve all restaurants. Some restaurants can be booked a day in advance, others require up to several weeks.

[u/Ok_RubyGrapefruit]

We travelled in November last year. We pre-booked Sainte Chapelle, the Towers of Notre Dame, the Louvre & the Musee D'orsay. I made a few dinner reso's, but would only do that again if there was a place I had to eat. Some nights I would have preferred a much more simple meal than we ended up eating because we had a reservation.

[u/OddNet805]

Paris is pretty busy now even when it's not high season. Just a little less busy.

[u/Change_Soggy]

Make dinner reservations.

We go every year at that week.

We got tickets for Vaux Vicomte because the Christmas decorations every year are epic. Deciding on Orsay only because of the Cassett exhibit and might go back to Fondation LV.

Other than that, we’re just winging it. Doing some Christmas shopping. We have a car to visit husband’s family.

But dinner reservations are definitely recommended.

[u/Master_Box_977]

I'm here now and bought tickets for timed entries and I kinda regret it now - unless its something you really really want to do. I missed my hike up to the arc this afternoon - because I was having too much fun wandering around the city. I will not miss my Louve timed entry or the catacombs as those tickets are hard to come by.

[u/Ok_Prize5795]

Wondering around the city in the middle of October I don’t know if there really is an off season anymore.

[u/CatCafffffe]

You'll need to book any of the big exhibits (Cezanne, Mary Cassatt, etc)--do that now! You'll need to book any of the upscale bistros but you can do that a day or so before, esp if you go for lunch. Other than that, you'll be fine! It's a lovely time to visit.

[u/Upstairs-Buyer9015 → u/CatCafffffe]

Yes of all of the fall exhibits, I think Cezanne is the one you really need to book.

[u/CatCafffffe → u/Upstairs-Buyer9015]

Right? We're going to be there next month and booked the Cezanne exhibit several weeks ago. NOT going to miss that! ps the Grand Palais has posted some "advance looks" on Instagram and it looks utterly glorious.

[u/Upstairs-Buyer9015 → u/CatCafffffe]

It also looks crowded 😬

[u/Quasimodaaa]

You're definitely smart to leave time for flexibility!

But for the things that you REALLY want to visit while you're here, I recommend you pre-book/buy tickets/reserve time slots in advance as soon as you can. If it's something that you'd be disappointed if you left without visiting, book it!

Some sites/monuments required advanced reservations (ie. the bell towers of Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle). It's always best to reserve directly through the site's official ticketing/reservation system. If there's any unexpected issue/closure, etc, it will be much easier to deal with the museum/monument directly for exchanges/refunds.

I strongly advise against buying tickets (for any museum/monument/activity/tour) that are sold through 3rd party sites like TripAdvisor, Viator, GetYourGuide, Headout etc. They're often very misleading, very overpriced, and they're are usually more scammy than not. And for some museums/monuments, tickets/reservations/time slots obtained by 3rd parties are fake, and they will not be accepted at entry at all.

😊

[u/tangerine-skies71]

We pre booked Musee D’Orsay and L’ Orangerie as well as the tower climb at Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle as well as 2-3 dinner reservations.

We just walked up for coffee, bakeries, breakfasts, lunches, Sacre Couer, climbing the Arc d’ Triomphe. For Eiffel Tower we walked to the actual location, but didn’t go up and didn’t really miss it. There is a beautiful view from the top of Notre Dame of the tower. Loved just strolling though Luxembourg Gardens and The Grand Epicerie as well as so many other spontaneous shops and bakeries. We only had 4 full days and felt this was a good balance of sights and free time!

[u/No_Salad_6244]

It’s hard to be spontaneous with things like events or museums. Timed entrances killed that off. Book what you MUST see. I always book MO because it fills fast. Notre Dame is the same.

[u/kls09e]

We were just there for 2 days and did exactly this. We walked around all day and stopped at a brasserie for lunch and were able to walk in and go to the musee d’Orsay to see Van Gogh and Monet paintings. We waited in line for about 10 minutes. This was on a Thursday afternoon. All of the big museums are also open late 1 or 2 days a week until 9, and it is less crowded in the evening. So you could try that as well. If there’s a specific restaurant you want to go to I would book it. We got lucky one night and tried walking in and we only got a table because someone didn’t show up. This was at a little bistro that seemed to be popular with locals and wasn’t a tourist trap. Have a great time!