For anyone concerned about traveling to Paris this December here are our recent experiences. We had a trip planned and had concerns regarding safety, but as protests were limited to Saturday’s and specific locations (and trip insurance does not cover cancellations for social unrest) we chose to proceed with our trip. In the days preceeding Saturday, the city seemed as active and normal as a previous visit, however restaurants were not as busy and one owner told us business was down by 50%. We were advised to stay on the left bank on Saturday and of course avoid the previous protest sites.
We reviewed the site France24 on Saturday which listed closed attractions and events, as well as the metro stops that were closed. We visited several Christmas markets, churches, shops, and neighborhoods on the left bank and other than the sounds of occasional police cars driving through the streets, one could not detect any signs of the protest activities. By evening we walked to Notre Dame and the neighborhood around the Louvre and there were no protest activities. On Sunday we took the metro to the Christmas market at La Defense in the far northwest area of the city and vendors told us that it had been exceptionally busy on Saturday. The Christmas market at Tuileries Garden was open on Sunday and quite busy. The damage we did observe were the boarded windows in some businesses around the Galleries Lafayette, and the news reported window damage on Champs Elysees as well. We participated in a Paris Walks tour on Monday and the other 12 people with us also stated they had no experiences with protesters. However, no one had traveled west beyond the Louvre on Saturday.
Overall, our short visit was not negatively affected by the protests. However, we explored a small area of the city, never venturing west beyond the Orsay and Tuileries Gardens and modified our activities to avoid the Champs Elysees. In some areas the crowds did seem smaller, but there are several more Christmas markets scheduled to open the weekend of December 15th which may result in more shoppers and visitors. By monitoring the news and talking with the people there we felt we safely navigated the city. And with so much to see in Paris, even if we didn’t have to make adjustments to our sightseeing list we couldn’t have seen everything.