Arriving in Paris on Monday Concerned about strikes...

The Eurostar trains to and from London have run normally every day so far. As for the rest, you just need to be flexible and plan on walking if needed. Paris is a very walkable city.

thank you this helps me out a lot!

Monday is usually a "quiet" day for the strikes. Your biggest challenge is going to be getting from the airport to your hotel. Luckily there are many options. RER B has been experiencing disruptions, so you might need to take a bus or taxi or shuttle depending on things at the time you arrive.

As was stated, Eurostar service has not been interrupted. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the train station to catch the Eurostar, though.

I just got back from a week in Paris. The situation there right now is somewhat unpredictable. For example, the first time we tried to go to the Orsay Museum it was closed, but then it was open the next day. (Granted, the day that it was closed was the day of the planned strikes on Oct. 12). We also a few times had to take alternate trains or routes in the RER/Metro system to get to where we wanted to go (including to get to the airport to fly home), but I would call these minor inconveniences, not major hassles. But I do agree that you should be prepared to walk if necessary. We used the Metro/RER some but we also did a ton of walking. Even with using the Metro system you are probably still going to be doing a lot of walking. Oh, and if you go on the France24 website (www.france24.com/en) they post new articles every two or three days to keep travelers informed on what is going on with transportation. Enjoy your trip!

I also just returned from a week long stay in Paris (10/9-10/16). As Judey said, the france24 site is a good resource. For us the strikes started on Tuesday and tapered down as the week went on, but many of the trains and sights were still disrupted.

The metro was most affected on Tuesday, with many of the lines running at half capacity or not at all. But most service was restored by Wednesday. The regional RER and SNCF lines were more seriously affected. For example, the RER B, which goes to CDG Airport, was not running at all inside of Paris, so you had to get to Gare Du Nord Station via alternate means to get to the airport. Most of the other RER trains were running 4/10 trains during the week.

Even more seriously, some of the museums and sights were closed as well due to the strike. We went to Versailles on Tuesday and it was closed except for the gardens. For the rest of the week, its website said there would be "disruptions", and when speaking to a metro agent, she told me that the palace stays closed until there is a union meeting in the afternoon and then they decided whether to open it that day (the palace closes at 4:00pm). Also, the Versailles Rive Gauche and Rive Droite stations were closed as well. We had to miss that site. The Eiffel Tower was also closed on Tuesday because of the strike but was open again the next day.

All in all, the timing was unfortunate, but there is so much to do in Paris and just being there was enough to not let the strike spoil our time. Hopefully you'll have internet access there so you can check websites to see if places will be open on a given day. Just allow yourself more time and flexibility and you'll do just fine.

Tom--I was there at almost the same dates as you were (10/10-10/17) and it sounds like you were unlucky to some extent. I was able to go to all of the sights you mentioned. The only thing we encountered was that the Orsay was closed on Tuesday, but we went over to the Rodin Museum and Napoleon's Tomb instead and they were open. We didn't even bother trying to take the Metro that day. I would say just as a general piece of advice that it is critical that you stay in a central area--that way, if transportation is shut down you can still walk to sights.

I'm in Paris now and having a good time. The situation changes daily, so look at the France 24 website for up to date information. There will be a big strike on 10/28. Happy travels.