I just got tickets for visting Notre Dame on our visit.
Quick questions- if you have a tickets, do you still often have to wait?
Second question- it says that you need to bring along your ID card. Can a US driver's license work or should I bring my passport or copy of a passport?
Hi dtwhiteman5,
Depending on what exactly time you're visiting, no. The wait time with a time slot/reservation is usually 5 minutes or less.
Your driver's license is fine. They haven't actually asked to see ID since the reopening week (at least in my experience), but it's good to have on you when you're travelling anyways!
I hope you enjoy your visit!
There is a designated line for those with reservations; when we visited in the afternoon there was no wait; we just walked right in. However they are pouring in from the non ticketed line in a steady stream and the Cathedral inside is jammed. You can sit in the center seats to take a moment to just look but the trip around the perimeter to view the chapels and such is cheek by jowl.
In travel in Europe since 1960 and a couple of times to Paris every year in the last 20 years I have never been asked for ID in using a ticket for a museum or other ticketed site (except of course where passports are obligatory like banks, phone stores and airports/borders). You should have some ID on you but if you did get asked for ID, which you won't be at Notre Dame, then the driver's license with picture will probably work.
Was there last week and...it was insane.
I tried to get a reserved-ticket and no dice, all sold-out. I went down in the AM and that was a mistake, half of the earth's population was there in front of the cathedral and the line was beyond anything a Disney-ride could conjure up. I considered coming back in the afternoon hoping things had calmed down but, I was already worn-out as I had already gotten in my 35k+ steps in that day.
As for checking IDs...it's good to have but, I've never been checked. Going to the Louvre, I could've had some fake/bogus QR code on my phone, flashed it to the security person and they just waved you through.
I have heard that Sundays are harder to get in, so a weekday is your best bet.
I arrived at Notre Dame with no ticket around 9:00 a.m. on May 12. No wait at all to enter and not crowded inside.
