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Advice that is likely to work in most European places: know when is the tourist season. Visit famous places when it is not. During the tourist seasons, there ar

by Iv 7y ago

Advice that is likely to work in most European places: know when is the tourist season. Visit famous places when it is not. During the tourist seasons, there are no shortage of very interesting places outside the crowded ones. Vaux-le-Vicomte, which was the model for Versailles, is virtually unknown and a really nice visit. When crowd traffic jams happen in front of Mona Lisa in the Louvres, the medieval art sections, two stories above, are almost deserted despite very interesting pieces. Everybody wants to see Notre Dame, but there are about 100 monumental cathedrals in France.

daemin 7y ago
Thank you for that recommendation! I knew about the Louvre where people crowd around the small painting but there's so many other things to see. Did not think about finding an alternative for Versailles.
- pjc50 7y ago
  Similarly, Pompeii is overcrowded while Herculaneum is merely averagely busy and Villa Poppaea is deserted. All within a short drive of each other at Naples.
- PuffinBlue 7y ago
  And you can go further afield for a similar experience: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrenchiemsee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrenchiemsee I've been there, it's pretty amazing, shame he ran out of money to finish it off!
yifanl 7y ago
The problem with any advice to avoid the tourist crowds is that it doesn't scale. If everyone avoids tourist season, then you've just made tourist season year-round ;)
- drukenemo 7y ago
  Not really, as many people are tied to school summer break schedules, especially families.
- Iv 7y ago
  Not really. Dilute a crowd of 1000 during two weeks in a whole year and you suddenly get down to 40 people on average. Totally different experience.
  - yifanl 7y ago
    Peak tourist season is more like 2 months, and its not like the streets are totally dead in the rest of the year. If we let T (tourists/day in peak season) = 3t(tourists/day in regular season), then we have about 1.3t if it all smooths out. Of course, depends on where you travel, but the places I've visited have been pretty busy in the off-season already, adding another 30% of them would be pretty hectic. New startup idea: modelling the ideal time to take a trip somewhere within certain metrics.
RhodesianHunter 7y ago
Notre-Dame in Reims is incredible, and you get to enjoy plenty of good champagne while you're there.
- Iv 7y ago
  I was reading Amber the first time I visited Chartres. Of course I walked through the maze :-)
grkvlt 7y ago
Well, there's not a choice anymore - everyone HAS to go and see those other hundred monumental cathedrals, after Notre Dame went up in flames a month ago...

by Iv 7y ago

daemin 7y ago

Thank you for that recommendation! I knew about the Louvre where people crowd around the small painting but there's so many other things to see. Did not think about finding an alternative for Versailles.

pjc50 7y ago
Similarly, Pompeii is overcrowded while Herculaneum is merely averagely busy and Villa Poppaea is deserted. All within a short drive of each other at Naples.
PuffinBlue 7y ago
And you can go further afield for a similar experience: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrenchiemsee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrenchiemsee I've been there, it's pretty amazing, shame he ran out of money to finish it off!

yifanl 7y ago

The problem with any advice to avoid the tourist crowds is that it doesn't scale. If everyone avoids tourist season, then you've just made tourist season year-round ;)

drukenemo 7y ago
Not really, as many people are tied to school summer break schedules, especially families.
Iv 7y ago
Not really. Dilute a crowd of 1000 during two weeks in a whole year and you suddenly get down to 40 people on average. Totally different experience.
- yifanl 7y ago
  Peak tourist season is more like 2 months, and its not like the streets are totally dead in the rest of the year. If we let T (tourists/day in peak season) = 3t(tourists/day in regular season), then we have about 1.3t if it all smooths out. Of course, depends on where you travel, but the places I've visited have been pretty busy in the off-season already, adding another 30% of them would be pretty hectic. New startup idea: modelling the ideal time to take a trip somewhere within certain metrics.

RhodesianHunter 7y ago

Notre-Dame in Reims is incredible, and you get to enjoy plenty of good champagne while you're there.

Iv 7y ago
I was reading Amber the first time I visited Chartres. Of course I walked through the maze :-)

grkvlt 7y ago

Well, there's not a choice anymore - everyone HAS to go and see those other hundred monumental cathedrals, after Notre Dame went up in flames a month ago...