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Today's strikes (Feb 16) actually don't look too bad

Local transport in Paris is supposed to be almost normal -- the RER C, which one uses to get to Versailles, will however have fewer trains running than normal.

Nationally, trains will also be less affected than they have been during recent strikes -- projections are that four out of five TGVs on average will run, for example.

However, a bit more difficulty for those flying within Europe - Orly will have to cancel about 30% of its flights, and regional airports like Marseille, Lyon, Montpellier expect to cancel about 20% of their flights.

All in all, it should be a much lighter strike day tomorrow.

But watch out for March 7!!!

Posted by
14732 posts

Thank you, Kim! Always good to have an update and an assessment from you.

Strikes won't stop me from visiting Paris in April, lol but I've built in flex time if needed for my days to Paris and leaving Paris.

Posted by
10193 posts

The Carnavalet museum has tweeted that the permanent collections from the Revolution to the present will close (due to the strike) at 2 pm today.

Posted by
10193 posts

The Orsay has a tweet up that says they can't guarantee they will open all the collections today, and that they definitely will not stay open for the regular Thursday evening. The museum will close at 5 pm with last entry at 4 pm.

Posted by
10193 posts

The Louvre says on its website that it is open today, bit that some exhibition rooms will not open (it doesn't specify which ones).

My wife and I have a brief visit planned for months to Paris - arrive March 6-- depart March 8 with just one full day of touring before a departing flight to our primary destination.
News that March 7 is planned for a labor strike is not good- I have been in France on other occasions when strikes occurred over the years.

I imagine airlines wont honor changes to airfare as a result of a strike - nor hotels nor advanced reservations at places like Eiffel Tower and Orsay.

Should we just come and make do in Paris as best we can?

Posted by
166 posts

We are in Paris now, have been since Monday. Yesterday we went sight-seeing and had no problems with the metro. We took buses and their schedules were disrupted, but only slightly. For example, the bus that would normally go the entire route stopped at Luxembourg and we all had to get off. Ultimately we walked twice as much as anticipated but in Paris, that's okay with me!
There is plenty of police presence, though, both gendarme and military style.

Posted by
37 posts

We were in Paris on Thursday. We had intended to visit the Pantheon in the morning, and checked the website and it said it was open. However, we arrived and it didn't open until 12:30. We were at Versailles the day before and they had posted that they expected disruptions or closure. The Arc de Triomphe was also closed on Thursday. In other words, the strikes can disrupt your sightseeing plans.

Posted by
10193 posts

Yes, Carolyn makes a good point. Several of the museums have either not opened at all, or opened for shorter hours, or not opened all their departments. Higher up in this thread, I conveyed some of that information during the strike day — which wasn’t as heavily subscribed as the others. (I.e. with the rhetoric around March 7, there may be many more closures.

The best place to look seems to be the twitter feed of the museum, if they have one. And cross-checking with the website, although Carolyn’s experience shows that not all the museums are good about posting their info (presumably some of their communications staff is participating in the strike, and thus, the public-facing information isn’t being updated as it should be).