Paris in the Spring

I've been to Paris a few times over the years: once as part of a guided bus tour across Western Europe, once as a port-of-call on a cruise, and flew in once to spend a couple of days.  But it was always in the summer – the peak tourist season when air fares, hotel prices, and temperatures can be at their highest; when throngs of people crowd the popular tourist sites, and restaurant bookings can be hard to come by.

This year though, I was fortunate to visit Paris in the spring time – in mid-April, to be exact.  Along with my parents and other family members, fourteen of us from across the globe arrived in Paris just in time for Easter weekend.

Although there was a little rain on some evenings, the daytime weather was almost perfect.  Not too hot and humid like it would have been in the summer. Hotel prices were reasonable, and getting tables at popular and trendy restaurants to satisfy the foodies and culinary explorers in our group wasn't all that difficult.

The popular and iconic Paris sites were understandably crowded, but that's true all year round, I've been told. 

"Skip-the-line" guided tours are available (at lower prices than in the summer) that allow you to, well, skip the inevitable lines to enter the Louvre, for example.  They may be worth the price just to skip the long lines, AND you get a guided tour to see the highlights of the museum, instead of trying to find your own way in the gargantuan building(s) to find what you're looking for, e.g. the Venus de Milo or the Mona Lisa.

So, if you're thinking of a trip to Paris (who isn't?) and you don't have to go in the summer (maybe no school-age kids traveling with you?), perhaps you should consider visiting in the "shoulder" seasons – spring or fall.

Any time you do end up going, Paris is sure to not disappoint.