Paris, France

Paris in 2026: What Has Changed and What Has Not

Notre-Dame reopened in December 2024 after five years of reconstruction following the 2019 fire, and the result is better than expected. The medieval choir scaffolding is gone, the stained glass restored, the interior more luminous than it was before the fire. Free entry tickets need to be reserved in advance via the cathedral’s official site; paid tower access – where you climb to the gargoyle level and look across the city – is also back. Go before 9am or after 4pm and you will have something close to the experience the building deserves. Go at noon on a July Saturday and you will wonder why you came.

Paris in 2026 is busy. European and Asian travellers who previously visited the United States have been redirecting to France in notable numbers. The major sites require pre-booked timed entry across the board: the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Sainte-Chapelle, Versailles, all need advance reservation. Plan further ahead than you think is necessary.

The Eiffel Tower

Go at night. The daytime queue in summer months can exceed three hours even with booked tickets, and the ascent crowds are dense. The evening summit view with the city lit below is objectively better than the daytime one, the queues are shorter, and the Champ de Mars lawn is more pleasant after the heat of the day. Book at tour-eiffel.fr. If the summit is sold out, the second floor is sufficient.

If your goal is to look at the tower rather than from it – a legitimate choice – the Champ de Mars lawn to the south gives you the better angle and you can sit on the grass for free.

The Louvre

The Mona Lisa is small, behind thick glass, and usually surrounded by 200 people taking photos with their phones. That is simply true and you should decide whether it changes your plans. The museum is large enough that skipping the Italian Renaissance wing entirely – or saving it for last when you have calibrated your energy – and instead spending time in the Mesopotamian antiquities, Dutch Golden Age rooms, or French sculpture halls gives you a far better experience. Those sections are extraordinary and often nearly empty. Buy timed-entry tickets via the Louvre website. The Richelieu wing entrance on the rue de Rivoli side tends to have shorter pyramid-area queues.

The First Sunday Museum Rule

Many Paris museums offer free entry on the first Sunday of each month: the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Centre Pompidou, Rodin Museum. Spots disappear within minutes of midnight on the day they open for booking. Set a reminder. The Rodin Museum garden on a free Sunday morning, with the Thinker and the Gates of Hell and almost no one else, is close to perfect.

Beyond the Monuments

Montmartre is worth going to despite the tourist density if you go before 10am, when the lanes around the vineyard behind Sacre-Coeur are genuinely quiet. The vineyard itself – planted in 1933 and producing actual wine every October – is one of those Paris facts that most visitors walk past without realising.

The Latin Quarter around Rue Mouffetard has a Saturday morning street market with real local participation. The Canal Saint-Martin between Belleville and the 10th arrondissement is the neighbourhood where younger Parisians actually live: the banks have good cafes and bookshops, the water moves through iron footbridges, and the atmosphere is the version of Paris that hasn’t been art-directed for tourism.

Eating

Le Bouillon Chartier, open since 1896, serves a proper three-course French meal for 20-25 euros. The pot-au-feu and profiteroles are exactly right. It is not sophisticated, but it is the most honest bistro meal in the city and it has been that since before most of the people serving it were born. No reservations; arrive before opening (11:30 for lunch, 18:30 for dinner) or join the queue.

Da Rosa on Rue Saint-Sulpice for serious charcuterie, cheese, and wine. Any boulangerie with a line of locals outside at 7:30am for something that costs less than two euros.

Getting Around

The paper carnet of ten tickets was abolished in 2023. Use a Navigo Easy card loaded with t+ tickets (1.73 euros each) or a weekly Navigo pass if you are staying seven or more days. Velib bike rental stations are now dense enough throughout the city that cycling is a practical option for most cross-city trips.

When to Go

Avoid July and August if you can. The city’s own residents leave for August and the restaurants that actually matter close. May, June, September, and October are the months Paris was designed for. January and February are cold and frequently grey but cheap, and the museums are barely attended.