Are the trains packed because there are fewer trains or are they less full because people avoid moving on those days? What about sights? Are the crowds thinner on strike days?
I'm considering going to Giverny from Paris on a strike day and was wondering what your experiences have been? I can easily skip it and stay in Paris but do I need to?
Tourist sites seem to be about the same. For obvious reasons, the trains running on the day of the strike will be more crowded. A train strike doesn't mean that the locals suspend everything and stay home. And the majority of train users are locals and not tourists.
Thanks for asking this Brad. I was wondering the same thing regarding a trip to Giverny.
Definitely more crowded (think packed), and routes will be cancelled. We were there and traveling from CDG to the Loire when a strike was called. We were fortunate to squeeze into a compartment and instead of a direct train, had to change in Montparnasse.
Even the ticket turnstiles didn't work and had to climb over them.
We took a TGV from Marne La Valle/Chessy to Lyon on May 13, a strike day. We made the reservations after 5:00PM on May 12; several trains had been cancelled but we found one that was scheduled to run. We made a reservation and received a seat assignment. Since this was an all reserved train, we did not encounter any problems with crowds.
We did drive to Versailles on a strike day and found that traffic was very heavy.
Good question Brad.
I would have guessed there would be less tourists at Giverny/Versailles/Fontainebleau/Vaux, etc, because most tourists wouldn’t know how to get there and back.
Our train to Rouen was one of the few to run on a strike day last month. I don't think it was a Giverny appropriate train because I don't remember a Vernon stop. Anyway, Gare Saint-Lazare was not crowded, at all. And the train was virtually empty. This was on a Monday. There turnstiles or whatever they are were open, I only saw two SNCF employees near the track, and nobody checked our tickets at any time.
I took the train to Giverny a couple years ago in mid-April on a Monday morning and the train was packed, plenty of people standing and a lot of folks had luggage.
Well, we were some of the people who skipped Vaux and Giverny because we weren't sure how to get there and back on strike dates -- guess they will have to be (once again) put on the "next trip" list. Our experience with longer-range TGV trains was as mentioned above -- since seat reservations are required, no real difference in comfort.
Thanks for the replies. It's interesting to read details of what you experienced. Personally, I've always missed strikes. Either they were threatened but didn't materialize or they were done striking by the time it mattered to me. I've also never run across any unscheduled strikes. I guess I've been lucky that way?
Brad, your time may be coming!
I was in Paris on two of the strike days the first week in May, had to do something, so I went to Fontainebleau, besides the last time there was in 2010. I didn't notice the train being less crowded, the numbers at the Chateau seemed to be greater than in the morning...obviously. I went to St Germain en Laye for the chateau the day before on the RER, no difference in service.
When I am back in Paris in June, two of the days there are designated strike days, I'll play that by ear whether or not I can get a train to do day trips to at least one of these places...Soissons, Beauvais, Troyes. One just has to read/listen to the announcements at the stations.
Yes, I'm sure my time is coming. I am scheduling around them this trip, which is the first time I've even done that. So far it's always been a strike that is happening somewhere else or I missed it by a week.
I was sort of hoping to hear that the day trip sights might be less crowded. That would make it worth my while (even on a crowded train) to avoid a crowd at the sights.
Are there alternate transportation options to Giverny like there are to Versailles?
Automobile rental is an option. It can be cheap if arranged ahead of time via agencies such as autoeurope (in the U. S. A.). If you choose this option, try to arrange the rental at some office outside of central Paris, one you can easily get to by bus, taxi, or Uber.
We really enjoyed Giverny long ago, but it was such a mob scene by 0955 on the day we went in May, 2018, that we just kept driving to Rouen. This should not be a problem for the crowd/mob/torrent tolerant traveler.
I plan to go to Giverny on a non-strike day. Thankfully I'll be in Paris for 12 days and I can be flexible. Otherwise I personally would rent a car to go. I'll have an IDP anyway because I'll have a car for a week in Hannover. I hope it doesn't come to that though.
