How to Skip the Lines at Europe’s Biggest Tourist Attractions
Ah, Europe! The land of castles and fairytale landscapes, the land of majestic mountains and sweeping valleys, the land of history and culture, and the land of modern cities and industrialization. There’s so much to see and do in Europe’s amazing cities, from visiting historic sites like the Colosseum to gazing up at the Eiffel Tower, to seeing the Duomo paint Florence’s skyline, or discovering the underground secrets of the Paris catacombs.
The problem though with wanting to see these famous tourist attractions in Europe is that everyone else wants to see them too. So you end up waiting in line for hours just to catch a short glimpse of La Pieta or not even getting in to see the Last Supper.
How do you solve the problem of too many places to see and not enough time to see them? Or too many other people wanting to see them at the same time as you?
What are your best options?
Skip the line tickets are a heaven-sent answer to travelers’ problems. Paying a few dollars more gives you the right to enter many major tourist attractions in Europe without waiting in long lines to get in. So instead of only getting to see two or three attractions in a day after having spent hours in line at each, you can see at least double the amount.
If you’re lucky, sometimes you might be able to buy skip-the-line tickets on the day you visit the attraction. But more often than not, they’ve already sold out weeks or months in advance. So these very popular skip-the-line tickets or VIP entry tickets as they’re sometimes referred are best bought in advance through online travel portals.
Even if you have good shoes, save yourself the trouble of standing in line for hours at St. Peter’s Basilica only to reach the front of the queue when they’re stopping entry for the day. Save yourself the disappointment of having to spend hours out in the sweaty sun waiting to reach the front at the London Eye only to have your kid want to go to the loo at the moment you’re almost getting in.
Buying the skip the line tickets at major European attractions will help you check more places off your bucket list!
Skip The Line In Paris
From the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre, from beautiful churches to historic buildings, the City of Lights has a lot to offer! You can visit Paris a dozen times and still want to go back for more. With tourists from every country coming to see the land of the croissant, it can get crowded sometimes, even when it’s not peak season.
If you don’t want to spend your time in the City of Love just waiting in queues, it’s best to book your tickets well in advance. Here are options to skip the line at important sites you can’t miss in Paris.
1. Eiffel Tower
The most visited monument on the planet, the Eiffel Tower is a cultural symbol of France. Constructed by Gustave Eiffel in the latter half of the 19th century, the 81-story tall tower has three levels you can visit by steps of by the lift.
For perfect bird’s eye views of the city of Paris, book a skip-the-line ticket to the Eiffel Tower that will give you a chance to head straight to the summit floor of the tower with your guide.
I just did that and didn’t wait at all, just had to wait for about 10 minutes for the elevator.
2. Louvre Museum
Home to masterpieces such as Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the Louvre is the most-visited museum in the world. This historic landmark museum that has been running since the 18th century is actually housed in Phillip II’s Louvre Palace which was built in the late 12th century on the banks of the Seine.
Housing art and collectibles from all over the world, you can see everything from Egyptian antiquities to Greek and Roman artifacts. Famous art and paintings from all over the world can be seen here. So book your skip-the-line tickets to the Louvre so that you can get entry at a pre-fixed time!
3. Saint Chapelle
The Notre Dame may still be being repaired, but there’s another chapel you must see which in my opinion is much more impressive. An architectural gem built-in 1248, Saint Chapelle is a royal chapel with over 1000 stained glass windows.
The fifteen windows in the apse and nave will drop your jaw. They depict 1,113 scenes from the Bible, from creation to the time some of the relics reached Paris.
The Gothic rose window installed in the 15th century is especially beautiful and must be captured in your memories of Paris. Book the skip-the-line ticket to see Saint Chapelle and the neighboring Concierge.
4. Palais de Versailles
A short 12-mile drive outside Paris is well worth the effort to see the Palais de Versailles, a symbol of the French monarchy and home to kings in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The splendor and magnificence of the palace and vast royal gardens will leave you fascinated. The skip-the-line tickets ensure that your guide takes you into the Château de Versailles through a separate entrance.
Now I’ll be brutally honest, don’t even attempt to visit Versaille in the spring or summer without skip the line tickets. The line for the “skip the line” is already long as people begin to line up before the palace even opens.
You’ll still wait, but more like 30 minutes rather than stand in line to get tickets and then another line to enter – I heard of people waiting almost 2 hours sometimes! With skip the line tickets you can still have the Hall of Mirrors to yourself!
5. Other Must-Visit Attractions in Paris
The magical river that runs through Paris and has been featured in many paintings by great artists, La Seine supplies half of Paris water. You can walk down the romantic banks (in spots that haven’t been taken up by the homeless) or even better, you can take a romantic dinner cruise along the river with your loved one. Of course, if you’d prefer a morning cruise, you can take an hour-long cruise while looking out at the city’s beautiful monuments.
Every famous town has a dark past, and so does Paris. When the cemeteries couldn’t take any more dead, over 6 million Parisians were buried in underground quarries or catacombs. Go underground to discover the dark side of Paris with skip-the-line tickets.