The Simple Action You Can Take In Advance To Avoid Crowds In Europe, Per Rick Steves

If you're planning a vacation to Europe, you're not alone. Crowds are swelling, leading some European cities like Venice and Athens to build up restrictions on tourism by charging a day-tripper fee and raising the tourism tax, respectively. In fact, a whopping 11.7 million Americans took a trip to Europe in 2023, per the International Trade Administration. Crowds are inevitable in most famous spots, but travel expert Rick Steves has a great tip for helping you avoid the worst of it.

On his website, Steves recommends buying tickets in advance and picking timed entrances to skip the lines. He says, "Many popular sights, like the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, sell advance tickets online that guarantee admission at a certain time (often with a small booking fee that's well worth it)." Generally, you can linger at the attraction once you're inside, but you can't enter until the time listed on your ticket. 

If you happen to be staying primarily in one city, Steves has another option to save you some time and money: picking up a museum or city pass, like the Paris Museum Pass. These tickets help you get the most out of your museum visits in Europe, especially if you plan on visiting multiple spots. Alternatively, the travel expert suggests purchasing a combo ticket at the less popular of the two sites. He explains, "... if you're in Madrid and planning to see both the Reina Sofía Museum and Prado Museum, there's no reason to wait in the ticket line at the Prado — buy your combo-ticket at the less-trafficked Reina Sofía."

Timed tickets are a great idea, and you can find them at a lot of major European sites. For instance, say you want to go to the Louvre Museum in Paris. You can purchase a ticket beforehand for, say, 2 p.m. on a Wednesday and skip the long lines at the admissions counter. That way, you know around when you have to finish up your delicious Parisian lunch, and you can actually relax while eating it, knowing your entrance is guaranteed. The same is true for the Colosseum in Rome, the Prado Museum in Madrid, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam (as mentioned earlier), and plenty others. If you book one site in the morning and one in the afternoon, you can relax in between, knowing you won't be stuck in line for hours.

Another idea to save yourself time and sidestep some of the worst crowds in Europe is arriving to an attraction early or late in the day. Rick Steves says that early risers experience the best of Europe without crowds. He writes on his website, "In Italy, midday crowds fill the streets and blockbuster sights in Venice, but at 7 a.m., you're able to enjoy the beauty of St. Mark's Square alone." The same goes for the evening. Some places like the Louvre and the Tate Modern in London stay open late on certain weekdays. In addition, Steves says the evening is the best time to visit the Acropolis in Athens, Greece, as cruise ship passengers tend to leave the site around 5 p.m. No matter where you visit in Europe, a bit of careful scheduling will surely pay off.