Looks like there were a bunch of these all over Europe over the weekend. Today, the workers at the Louve went on strike, leaving thousands lined up outside of the museum.

And it's supposed to be 98* in Paris on Tuesday.

Our visit is shaping up to be interesting.

TXTransplant said:

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Looks like there were a bunch of these all over Europe over the weekend. Today, the workers at the Louve went on strike, leaving thousands lined up outside of the museum.

And it's supposed to be 98* in Paris on Tuesday.

Our visit is shaping up to be interesting.

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Pull an "American" and liberate it.... just walk in if all the staff have left

Are you working with a travel advisor and did you purchase travel protection? I have clients in Paris for the next 2 days and we are in contact and modifying things as need be.

The irony of the EU throwing anti-tourism protests which actually helps their economy vs allowing refugees who are actively colonizing them and hurting the economy

Heading to Barcelona in a week and a half. I had this discussion with my travel agent ahead of time when I booked the trip many months ago. The majority of my time there is already scripted (will only be there a few days) with guided tours and a nighttime performance, so I am hoping that my milling around looking like a tourist will be minimized. I get it for the people who live there, but they probably wouldn't like the alternative so much, either.

Just back from Milan. Horrible getting through immigration with one line exclusively for mainland Chinese and there were quite a few. Things have changed since I first started traveling which at that time literally over half the world did not travel.

Traveling to Europe during the summer months is tough due to tourist crowds no matter where you go. At least the UK has installed a bunch of E-gates at Heathrow so getting through immigration is pretty easy.

harringtontravelco said:

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Are you working with a travel advisor and did you purchase travel protection? I have clients in Paris for the next 2 days and we are in contact and modifying things as need be.

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Out of curiosity, what are you having to change? Just visits to attractions, or things like hotel and rental car?

We are only in Paris for about 2 1/2 days, tagging along on a business trip. Company will handle any issues with hotel.

Three of the four activities I have booked are with two very reputable small group tour operators who I know will issue refunds. Fourth is Eiffel Tower - if I lose that $100, it's ok.

I'd already been warned about customs being a disaster by a friend who was there a couple of weeks ago.

We have a rental car booked to drive to Normandy for the majority of the trip. I'm not worried about issues there. Just not expecting Paris to go as planned.

Spore Ag said:

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Just back from Milan. Horrible getting through immigration with one line exclusively for mainland Chinese and there were quite a few. Things have changed since I first started traveling which at that time literally over half the world did not travel.

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I was surprised when I returned to Neuschwanstein in 2015, after having visited in 2000. A VERY large gift shop (I think the largest one) in the town there had been completely converted to an Asian store - all of the goods catered to Asian tourists and the prices were displayed only in Asian currency (I think Yen and Yuan).

The demographics of international travel have changed a lot in the last 25 years. There is also a lot more large group travel. We haven't visited any popular tourist destination in the last 10 years that wasn't absolutely overwhelmed with busloads of international tour groups - I've seen it at the Grand Canyon, Germany, the Amalfi Coast, and Banff, Canada.

I try to stay somewhat off the beaten path/out of the big cities these days - which is why we are spending most of this trip in Normandy.

We were in Italy in May and chatted with a lot of locals who said that since 2020 they've been swarmed with tourists and cruise groups. It's overwhelmed all the towns and the roads. Every where we went there were groups of 10-30 people following a guide carrying a flag, all wearing headphones as the guide led them around. You could barely walk down the street in Capri midday, and the locals told us that this was only the start of the busy season. The day trip crowds from cruises were suffocating.

Tourism "helps the economy" but if locals are priced out of apartments and homes due to vacation rentals and Air B&B I can understand their frustration. We noticed a lot of the hotels in Positano had staff housing for the summer season.

Just changed a couple of attractions, nothing like hotel or rentals. I would say my clients currently in Paris after their bike tour are having a fabulous time

I'm just going to keep going to Europe in the winter. It's so much better than fighting the crowds. I nearly had a panic attack in the hall of mirrors my first time to Versaille which was in the summer about 15 years ago. Since then, I've been twice in the winter in the morning and it has been awesome to be in rooms with literally no one else. Only downside is the gardens aren't blooming.

Just returned from 11 days in Italy (Milan, Florence, Rome). Heavy crowds, especially in Rome, but didn't see any protests or encounter any unusually long or slow lines. Things went really smoothly.

Our prior trips to Europe have all been in Fall/Winter and I think that'll be our plan for future trips. It was in the mid to upper 90's for all of our trip. The heat combined with the crowds was not ideal. Luckily, we were staying very central in each city and could take a break in our AirBNB's during the hottest part of the day. Also, like others mentioned, there seemed to be a huge number of Asian tourists in Rome, which I hadn't noticed on previous trips. Not sure what was up with that.

Never travel to Europe in the summer.