Notre Dame advice for someone without a ticket

If you put "Emily of Notre Dame" in the search bar you can find a lot of great info from her contributions to this forum on the subject. She seems to be an all knowing super fan.

I'm wondering if there aren't third party grifters or bots sucking up the tickets for resale because I too have yet to succeed in ever finding one available with constant tries.

There is a line for people without tickets -- During holy week individual visits were mostly stopped for masses. I am hoping we can get in this week but despair also of getting tickets.

I was there 2 weeks ago without a ticket. We arrived at 10am and the line was daunting. However, we got in line and, surprisingly, it moved quickly and we were inside within 15 minutes, maybe a bit less than that. So, if you time your visit right, you could get lucky.

As long as you are not attempting to visit on a busy weekend, such as Easter weekend, you will not need a ticket. During the week, the lines move very fast. I waited less than 10 minutes without a ticket.

I wouldn't worry too much. I was there about 10 days ago without a ticket with my 2 grandkids, and we just got in the long line. It moved along very quickly and we were inside the cathedral in a little less than 10 minutes.

So even if you don't get a ticket, I would would still try for it. We were there on a Sunday around 1 pm.

Get into the Notre Dame website at midnight Paris time. There is almost always availability for the last day shown.

Don’t stress. We were there at the beginning of April and went twice with no ticket. First time was on a Monday around 9 am. We got in the line for those with no tickets and were basically just continually slow walking back and forth winding our way through the line. Total wait time was no more than 10 minutes. The next time was on a Sunday morning. It was just after 10 am, a Gregorian mass was going on. The line was much longer,but again it only took about 20 minutes.
Inside was more crowded so I would recommend going early on any weekday morning and you’ll be fine.

So very helpful, everyone. What would I do without this community?

We went on a Thursday morning, maybe 10 a.m. or so, a couple of weeks ago. The line looked like it was almost to the street, but as others have said, it moves very fast. We were inside in 15 minutes, and once there you can spend as much time as you like. It's gorgeous!

I got mine at midnight 2 nights before. There was a big line, and it was moving fast, but I was still happy to have no line to enter with the ticket. But our hotel concierge said tickets aren't necessary now.

Hi sthkrakow!

• The first batch of new time slots is released at midnight (Paris time), for the date 2 days ahead. For example: At midnight (Paris time) on April 1st, time slots are released for April 3rd. Any dates beyond April 3rd will automatically be greyed out/appear to be full. This first batch can fill up within ~20 minutes of being released, so I recommend opening the reservation system around 11:50pm. For the fastest connection, I recommend accessing it on your computer using Chrome.
• A second batch of additional "same day" time slots are released 4 hours in advance. For example: At 5:00am (Paris time), new time slots are released for 9:00am for that same day. At 5:30am, new time slots are released for 9:30am, etc. However, there are certain hours when no time slots are ever offered, therefore no new time slots are released 4 hours in advance of those hours. For example: No time slots are offered for 12:00pm, therefore no new time slots will be released at 8:00am. The availability of these time slots is based on the planned and/or current capacity available inside the cathedral.

Time slots are offered in 15 minute intervals. This is meant to help spread out the flow of visitors coming in/out, but it doesn't mean that you're limited to only 15 minutes to visit!

• Monday to Friday, time slots are generally offered between 9:00am and 11:15am and between 1:00pm and 4:15pm. On Thursday, additional time slots are generally offered between 7:00pm and 9:15pm.
• On Sunday, time slots are generally offered between 1:00pm and 3:15pm.

No time slots are offered during Mass times. Visitors are still allowed to enter during Mass, but priority entrance is given to those attending Mass (and other liturgical services).

Not every time slot will be offered every day. Pilgrim groups, school groups, international diplomats/government officials, etc. book their time slots/reservations on a different reservation system and/or with Notre Dame's management team directly. Due to Notre Dame's capacity limit, if a large group is expected, no time slots/reservations for visitors will be offered for that day/time. For example, if there's a group of 2,000 pilgrims scheduled to visit on April 1st at 9:00am, no visitor time slots will be offered for 9:00am that day (or within an hour or 2 afterwards)

The best times to visit without a reservation are:

• Before 10:00am: Notre Dame opens at 7:50am on weekdays and at 8:15am on weekends. Priority entrance is first given to those attending Morning Mass (8:00am on weekdays/8:30am on weekends), and then visitors are allowed to enter.

• After 4:30pm (and/or after 7:00pm on Thursdays): Priority entrance is first given to those attending Vespers (5:30pm on weekdays/5:15pm on weekends) and Evening Mass (6:00pm), then visitors are allowed to enter. The last entry is 30 minutes before closing, but they start closing the back chapels earlier, so I recommend entering at least 1 hour before closing.

  • If you're available later in the day on a Thursday, I recommend visiting between 7:00pm and 9:00pm. Notre Dame is open late/until 10:00pm on Thursday nights, and this is generally a more peaceful time to visit! Everyone has to be out before 10:00pm, and they start the closing process and clearing out the back chapels at 9:30pm, so I recommend entering by at least 9:00pm.

• Any time when it's raining: If you don't mind a little rain (or bringing an umbrella), there is typically no wait time when it's raining.

If you put "Emily of Notre Dame" in the search bar you can find a lot of great info from her contributions to this forum on the subject. She seems to be an all knowing super fan.

Hi KD!

Thank you for such a kind compliment. Notre Dame really is my entire life! I've been a "superfan" since I was about 12 (I'll be 31 this year...), and there's nothing I love doing more than sharing my love and knowledge of Notre Dame with others.

I went a month ago. I had a reservation for the next day, but my schedule changed so I took my chances and walked up on a beautiful sunny weekday mid-morning. I was inside in 15 minutes.

Well, even with all this wonderful advice I was unable to get into Notre Dame today. It was closed for prayer for the Pope, so no one was admitted when I went around 4:30 pm. I'll try again tomorrow.

my daughter is visiting this week for a week and I had obtained ND tickets for Wednesday afternoon but all visits are cancelled this week due to the death of the Pope and only admission for religious services and prayer is possible.