Neighbors are wanting my wife and I to join them in Paris in early May. Hesitant to go because of the rumors of rioting. Does anyone have any recent, first-hand or extremely reliable second-hand information on how it is affecting the city….especially as relates to travelers?

Well my clients had a split Rome-Paris stay. The day of going to Rome to Paris, their train was cancelled. Apparently it was a scheduled thing with the riots. I didn't know this. Rather than contacting me, my clients bought $5k tickets home.

What I have heard from others is, it is not impacting day-to-day very much, and that most is occurring in the evenings. However, if you can easily change your trip, I probably would after what my clients experienced.

I go in two weeks, last time we had everything booked Covid happened and we lost a lot of money on cancellations, now this! We're going anyways and hoping for the best, too late to make changes now…

Just got back from a Viking cruise on the Seine followed by 3 days in Paris yesterday. The River cruise had to change some due to worries about lock closures. During the days they call for strikes, quite a bit of the infrastructure is shut down. Trains don't run, museums etc are closed. They don't strike for multiple days. Just one random day a week. Airlines were not too disrupted. Orly was worse than DeGaulle. We did not see any riots, just one protest which was easy to avoid. Did not feel endangered by the situation over there, just inconvenienced. Take precautions to deter pickpockets. Carry a minimum of cash and cards. Keep your debit card locked and in the hotel safe unless you plan to use it. Know how to lock the cards down fast. They were trying to use mine within 15 minutes of stealing them. If your overseas cell data service is a free slow speed data, it may be worth it to pay for faster speeds. We did not experience anything that would deter us from going.
ETA
The garbage strike ended Thursday and they are cleaning up all the trash now.

I know someone who was there March 17-22.

They didn't run into any riots but there was trash everywhere and of course it stunk to high heaven. Kinda hard to enjoy a Parisian cafe when you are sitting next to piles of rubbish.

I was there last week. The trash was bad in some areas but we didn't notice an overwhelming stench at all. If that's cleared (sounds like it's on its way) then it's a non-issue for may. There was no trash around the Louvre, Eiffel Tower or champs elysees during our time. I saw it between gare du nord and a few blocks north of the Tuileries. Across the siene the trash was sporadic south of Notre Dame (no trash around Notre dame) and some near the Luxembourg gardens. It may have helped that it was still cooler then.

We were between major strikes so no major impact and the protests were not in the main parts of the city a tourist might go.

The threat of labor strikes is always high in France at any time of the year. Predicting what might be happening in May might be hard to do.

The major impact could be transportation or if the trash lectors strike again. Especially as it warms up. But if somebody is waiting to go to France when there's no chance of a transit related strike, good luck.

Thanks guys……that is all extremely helpful!

dccbq80 said:

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They don't strike for multiple days. Just one random day a week.

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Lol lazy French. Of course this would be how they riot.

We were there over spring break. Some trash around town for sure, but it was pretty normal in the touristy areas. We encountered one protest where a bridge was blocked by truckers.

Thank you all for this. Taking my family there from June 2 to 6th. Getting there via London tube.

I hope they get this all worked out asap!

Any updates from people on the ground are appreciated.

We are going to Paris and Normandy April 25 - May 2.
I will give you an update when we get back.

JUST IN: BlackRock Paris headquarters has been TAKEN OVER by protestors…

MEDIA SILENT..

pic.twitter.com/tUFqHEp9fA

— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) April 6, 2023

Just back (Monday 4/10) from Verdun and Strasbourg. (I know....not Paris).

The innkeeper at our B&B said it was all confined to Paris.

He was 100% correct; we did not encounter anything remotely resembling a riot or protest.

ontherocks said:

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I go in two weeks, last time we had everything booked Covid happened and we lost a lot of money on cancellations, now this! We're going anyways and hoping for the best, too late to make changes now…

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Paris sucks, go to the deer lease

Wife really wants to go next year and I was planning to run the marathon next April.

I follow several American expats who live in Paris because I'm planning a trip early next year, and they regularly post about what's going on. It seems like most of the actual grves are pretty scheduled and organized - to the extent that you can check in advance if transit and museums etc will be down on certain days. From what they've all shared, the situations are very rarely violent or disruptive. If the trash situation occurred during my visit, it would be a huge bummer, but based on what I've seen, I wouldn't let the possibility of strikes stop me from going.

This girl is really informative: https://www.tiktok.com/@americanfille?_t=8bSeu87gOVe&_r=1

Paris is a great city.

Love the food, architecture and general exploring. Not to mention day trips to wine country (and charming small towns).

The news is almost always sensational to get clicks and worse than reality. I have been in towns (Beijing, Rome, London, etc) with riots, marches and strikes occurring that made big news in the US but I hardly knew they would going on in the city where I was staying. Train and airport strikes are the worst, but they usually only last a day or two. I would go and not worry at all. If minor disturbances do occur while you are there then just go to the Louvre that day vs Montmartre, or spend the day at a park having a picnic along the Seine, etc.

I just returned from France. Flew in and out of CDG but spent most of my time in the west due to my daughter playing in a soccer tournament in that area. Tuesdays and Thursdays (only one of them each week) are the scheduled strike days and they are disruptive to everything going on during the scheduled strike day. We had some of our group go into Paris and none had any significant issues on the other days of the week. The other major towns do have some disruptions during the scheduled strike days, but it has calmed down over the last few weeks.

Planning on running the marathon there next year.

Bump, looking for a recent update. Leaving for Paris in nine days and curious if this is still an issue.

Family and I were in Paris this past weekend. I didn't notice any issues with strikes. We flew in to CDG and used Uber to get around. Just found out about a strike in England that affects our Oxford to London train. Go figure. I was worried about France but got hit in England.

We were in Paris 3 weeks ago.
No problems at all. Use the trains and the bus
when ever you can.

Daughter was just there with huge marketing group from A&M. No issues. Riots/strikes announced ahead of time - when and where. Then rioters go home.