Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral Is Reopening: You Should Book Admission

Five years after being devastated by a shocking fire, France’s venerated Notre-Dame Cathedral is finally reopening on December 8. This will come with crowd limits, a new ticketing system, and a smattering of special events — so if your Paris travel plans include the resurrected Gothic masterpiece, here’s what to know.

Physically, Notre-Dame looks pretty much the same as it had pre-fire. Most elements that were damaged have been restored to their previous state, including chapels, statues, and the black-and-white chessboard floor. But a handful of contemporary upgrades have been made as well, and Notre-Dame now boasts a new audiovisual system, slightly comfier seats for those attending mass, and — most notably — a massive (12-foot high) fancy new box to hold the Cathedral’s most prized relic, the Crown of Thorns. Meanwhile, the restoration team has taken the opportunity to give everything a good scrub-down…and Notre-Dame is now looking cleaner and brighter than it has in centuries.

But while the interior is reopening, the towers of Notre-Dame are still closed. They — and their excellent panoramic views of Paris — will reopen to the public down the road, but exactly when is still unknown. For now, Quasimodo needs a bit more time to get his home back to a presentable state.

Visiting Notre-Dame is still free, in keeping with the French Government’s policy of free access to churches and cathedrals. Therefore, beware of schemes to sell tickets: Any site that charges for admission or offers “skip the line” privileges is an immediate red flag.

However, the process to get in will look different from the show-up-and-wait method that was the pre-fire norm. Notre-Dame remains in a state of partial renovation, and is limiting capacity to 3,000 attendees at a time. (Previously, it admitted roughly 7,000.) To mitigate long lines, the Cathedral is releasing timed entry slots through the Notre-Dame website and its new app (available for iPhones and for Android phones — it’s called “Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris”). For those hoping to visit, this will be the best method to secure admission.

The booking process is a bit wonky, so give it a trial-run well before you need to reserve tickets to avoid hitting a snag and missing out. As of now, this is what to know:

• Tickets are released just two days in advance — but the exact time of day is unclear. Currently, authorities say “New visiting times [will be] opened regularly,” and invite those interested to check back frequently. As of now, hopeful attendees are placed in an online queue to reserve slots, but many report no bookings were available even when they reached the end of the queue. This article will be updated if we learn more, but for now we recommend entering the queue 48 hours before the day you’d like to visit to maximize your chance of securing slots.
• You’re limited to booking six tickets at once — split between adults (18+) and children — so if you’re traveling with a larger group, make sure someone is booking alongside you.
• The app doubles as a visitation booklet, with information listed under “Visit,” and labeled as “Tours.” (You must download a packet.) Don’t be fooled by the similar wording: If you’re using the app to reserve an entry slot, click “Book Your Visit.”

There will likely be some learning curves as this new process finds its stride, but if you’re heading to Paris, try to understand the ticketing system, be ready to book, and do your best to snag a slot. It’s worth some extra effort to get inside the “new” Notre-Dame — this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the world’s best-known Gothic cathedral in a naked state of recovery, let alone at half its typical capacity. Imagine standing at the foot of painstakingly cleaned columns and letting your eyes follow them up ten stories to where reborn Gothic arches come together like praying hands, as God’s light beams once again through spotless stained-glass windows…without, for once, being jostled by backpacks. C’est magnifique.

If you’re unable to book an entry time, you’ll have two options: wait in a long line…or skip it. Notre-Dame plans to coordinate daily in-person queues for ticketless travelers to wait and hope for no-shows. However, this line will likely be very long. So if you don’t have a slot but visiting the reborn Cathedral is the reason you’re traveling to Paris, go for it…otherwise, go elsewhere. Your time in Paris is precious, and unless you want to spend hours of it inching across cobblestones, simply get a good look at Notre-Dame’s glorious Gothic architecture from the outside, then spend the rest of the day at the City of Light’s other magnificent sites. (Our Paris guidebook is chock-full of excellent alternatives.)

The grand reopening will be a particularly complicated time to visit: Between December 8–15, the Cathedral is planning a series of special events, so hopeful visitors should anticipate irregular hours to accommodate invite-only masses, choir recitals, and visits from VIPs. Then, from December 16 on, Notre-Dame will resume regular visitation hours: 7:45 am to 7 pm Monday–Friday (open until 10 pm on Thursdays), and 8:15 am to 7:30 pm Saturday and Sunday — with a free organ recital every Sunday at 4 pm.

While the Cathedral eagerly awaits reopening its doors to the public, it won’t be 100% restored until 2026. Until then, reduced capacity and reserved entry slots will remain in place — as will some scaffolding. But once the renovations are complete, Notre-Dame will be back as we remember it, with the 2019 fire and painstaking reconstruction just another chapter in the Cathedral’s magnificent 850-year-old story.

 

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