My wife and I are heading to France next Spring. We would prefer to not have a rigidly structed visit. Having said that, if we decide one morning that we want to go to Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower, how long of a wait is it to go to these places without tickets?
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Hello,
Are you just visiting Paris in France or multiple cities?
If visiting multiple cities I would 100% recommend booking in advance if you want to avoid obnoxious train prices and accom prices. I visited Paris and Bordeaux this year and booked everything quite last minute and really regret not just jumping online earlier or taking a multi day tour to the region, as I would have saved some serious coin.
As for activities, some you need to book at least a day or a few days in advance to be able to do. Maybe it’s worth jumping online even to see what it looks like if you were to book in 3 days time, is there availability?
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Hello Kerri!
I always find myself in Paris and in my experience you can just walk into the Notre Dame. It is free to book a timed entrance and I think they release these tickets same day, but I’ve never bothered, and the most I’ve waited is like 20 minutes (while looking at all the Gargoyles on the outside of the cathedral, this is nothing!) You only really need to book in advance if you want a guided tour, but even then you could probably book 48-24 hours in advance!
For the Eiffel Tower, the wait can be hours long so if you think you will want to go up to the top, I would recommend booking in advance. You need to do this well in advance too. But to be honest I’ve never bothered going up in the lift, and not felt like I was missing anything. There are better views of Paris! And the best thing about the Eiffel Tower is the light show 
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See I also never went up the tower and didn’t feel like I was missing anything! I view of it from the ground is magical especially at night. Plus I’m afraid of heights!
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If you are just thinking about activities you can wait to book those but if you are thinking about travelling to different cities you may want to book train tickets and hotels in advance. I have be burned before by getting to a city without a hotel and the only thing available was so expensive
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Whenever I travel, I’m a little bit of both. I think if it is something that you know you’ll want to see or do, I would probably just book it in advance and get the headache out of the way. I usually make a PowerPoint (I know it might be a bit much) with the things I want to do throughout the trip, and then never stick to it lol. Having the flexibility to do whatever I feel that day or change up the schedule, while still having options to pick from the PowerPoint really helps me feel like I’m seeing what I want to see without the rigidity!
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