Is October less crowded?

Half of the US population seemed to be in Europe in October - I was in Tuscany at that time and the number of Americans was astounding. Throw in a major Spanish public holiday on Oct 12, good weather that might well have triggered some last-minute trips by residents of neighboring countries, and you have a recipe for crowds.
If I were planning a trip to Paris, instead of trying to plan for a period of hypothetically slightly lower crowds and definitely worse weather (hello, November!), I would just accept the fact that there will be crowds. Fatalistic approach, basically.

We are still in the "revenge" travel mode. 3 years of putting off travel has had the effect of shaking the champagne bottle before popping the cork. It should settle down in a year or two (maybe).

I took a cruise London to Lisbon all in October.

Europe was still very crowded with some places being more crowded than others. Lines were very long at the more popular attractions and sites.

I never travel in the summer so I can not compare October to the summer but I remember thinking about what it must be like in the summer given how busy and crowded it was in October.

We're planning on Paris in early December. With luck it won't be too crowded. What do you think?

We try to check venues to see how far in advance to get tickets.

We are still in the "revenge" travel mode. 3 years of putting off travel has had the effect of shaking the champagne bottle before popping the cork. It should settle down in a year or two (maybe).

Maybe, maybe not. At some point, one needs to sigh and accept that this is just the new normal. Heck, in a few years, we may be looking back at the summer of 2023 as the good old days when travel was easy and uncrowded. (shudder...)

One solution, or at least a strategy for partial mitigation, is to stop going to the places that the crowds are all going to. That can take some work (the uncrowded places are becoming more crowded, and it's increasingly difficult to find places not over-run and over-touristed) but IME it's possible and worth it.

I think we are also suffering from vastly increased tourism numbers and the "creep" of what used to be called the shoulder season.

Back 20 years go, May and September used to be pleasant and uncrowded nearly everywhere, now even April and October are seeing significant crowds.

In my opinion, Paris, like New York, is busy every time of year. I've been there about 6 times in the past year and a half (spring, summer, fall) and, at least around the typical tourist areas, it seemed to be equally as crowded. A point to note is that if the weather is inclimate, attractions such as the Eiffel Tower tend to be less crowded so if you don't mind a bit of rain, go to the tower where there's a bit of rain. We did this last summer (In July!) and hopped right up the tower, no crowds as everyone was hovering under the trees or awnings waiting for break in the rain.

Great question Bets.
In lower Brittany last month, you could nearly have counted the number of non-French/Belgian tourists that we met on two hands.
Maybe that's a comment on our own insularity. But truly, the numbers of foreign tourists in that region then were very low indeed.
Those travelers that we met were Brits, Americans and Canucks.

As for lines, we have for years now, adopted a new policy: no lines and no reservations. Not even once.
I am done. The end.

It's funny--when I was a teacher I longed for the ability to travel when the rest of the traveling public wasn't traveling. Particularly in the the fall--September and October seemed like a great time period to me, and, I believed, not nearly as many people travel in the fall. When I left teaching during Covid, I was excited to be able to travel during off peak, non-school vacation time periods, including fall. Of course, the new job still requires asking for the vacation time, but now more of the year was open to me. But now it seems like fall has become a hugely popular time to go abroad, for various global reasons. Hmmm--how is Europe in January?

It matters more as to which works best for my schedule, such as it is, when comparing Sept to Oct.

No to July or August but that is because of heat not crowds or lack of crowds. That also lets out early Sept. I think the earliest I would plan to travel is mid-Sept...fashion week or no fashion week.

My "line" strategy is always to get the earliest timed entry of the day for the Louvre or the Orsay. I am a morning person and I don't mind standing in line outside waiting for the doors to open in the Pyramid. And yes, there is something to me about going in the Pyramid entrance...It just starts the whole experience for me. Orangerie has lines as well but the timed entry takes care of that. The rest of the museums don't really need timed entries unless someone is going to the Musee du Luxembourg for one of their special exhibitions.

I haven't been up in the ET in years (maybe 1976, hahaha!!) but that's because I don't like heights!

I spent all of February 2017 in Paris. Zero crowds, heard 5 American voices at most. Walked right into Versailles, had the Hall of Mirrors to ourselves for the 20 min we were in there, walked right into the Orsay. Weather was perfect every day. Sun, no rain, in the 50s-60s during the day. Great walking weather, and Paris is a walking city.

We’re going this January for a month and i expect the same, although colder.
I love Paris in the winter and i love virtually no American tourists.

I’ve been in Paris for every month of the year and have found October equally as crowded as September. July and August are the worst in my experience.

How strange for someone to PM you to ask for Fashion Week dates. Maybe they think you work for Chanel ?

All a person has to do is Google "Paris Fashion Week dates 2024," and the magic of the internet will show them all the dates for the various weeks.

I guess it depends on where you are visiting. As I get older I look for off the beaten path places to avoid large crowds. Those places are seldom crowded. We still migrate towards May and September/October for our trips.

I have been in Paris for two weeks and will be here for two more week. the crowds are overwhelming. I was here in April and there were crowds but it was April and Paris! this is November! an additional problem is that there is construction everywhere. everywhere. so between crowds construction detours I don't see how it's going to get better until the Olympics are over.