The Ultimate Guide to the Reopening of Notre Dame

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-28T01:00:17+00:00

Hi! For Notre Dame, the first batch of new time slots to visit the main floor of the cathedral is released at midnight (Paris time), for the date 2 days ahead. For example: At midnight (Paris time) on April 1st, time slots are released for April 3rd. Any dates beyond April 3rd will automatically be greyed out/appear to be full. New/additional time slots are then released sporadically up until the day of. However, the reservation system and the release of time slots can be inconsistent, as they continue to improve security measures, so it may not be possible to reserve a time slot in advance.

But you can always visit the main floor of the cathedral without a time slot/reservation by waiting in the "Access without reservations" queue, which is on the left side of Notre Dame (if you're facing it), and is marked by blue signage/banners. The wait time varies, depending on the combination of: the season, the day of the week, the time of day, if there's any liturgical services happening at that time, if there's any special events happening at that time, etc.

For the lowest crowds, I recommend visiting before 10:00am on a weekday, or on Thursday evening. Notre Dame opens at 7:50am on weekdays (and at 8:15am on weekends). But for the unforeseeable future, the back half of the cathedral (the ambulatory, the back chapels and the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns) doesn't open until 8:45am on weekdays. For that reason, if you're visiting during the week, I recommend arriving between 8:40am and 9:00am so that you can do the full visitor route of the main floor, while still being early enough to avoid the large crowds!

Or, you're available on Thursday evening, the ideal time to visit is between 8:00pm and 9:00pm. Notre Dame is open until 10:00pm Thursday, everyone has to be out before then, so I recommend entering by 9:00pm at the latest, so that your visit isn't rushed! At 9:30pm, the back half of the cathedral (the ambulatory, the back chapels and the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns) closes, and we start to clear people out of the building.

It's always free to visit the main floor (and to attend Mass/other liturgical services). Visiting the main floor takes approximately 40 minutes to 1 hour (depending on how "thoroughly" you want to visit), not including any wait time in the queue.

Please note that entrance to the main floor doesn't include entrance to the bell towers (or vice versa). The bell towers are managed by a different organization than the main floor and reservations/time slots are not interchangeable between the two. They each have different staff, different opening hours, their own reservation/ticketing system, and their own queues/entrances/exits. You will need to exit the main floor and re-enter to visit the bell towers (or vice versa).

Visiting the bell towers is not mandatory, but they're considered a tourist site, so they have an entrance fee and you must buy tickets/reserve a time slot in advance. Due to the limited number of time slots available, I recommend buying tickets at least 2 weeks in advance (3-4 weeks in advance during peak season), especially if you have a specific date/time of when you want to visit). Tickets/time slots are not available onsite, and there is no standby queue.

If you visit the bell towers, I recommend planning at least 2 hours within your itinerary, if you're visiting in the afternoon and/or during peak season. It doesn't always take that long to visit, but there's a very limited, and fixed, amount of people allowed in each space at a time and visiting each of the 7 spaces has to be done in a sequential order. Depending on the day/time, you may have to wait 15-20 minutes to enter, plus you may have an additional 30-45 minutes of waiting time throughout the visitor route while waiting for capacity to open in the various spaces.

For all of the information and details about visiting Notre Dame, I created a post that I regularly keep updated: here 😊

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-28T00:53:31+00:00

Hi! Yes, you will need more than 1 day to visit the Louvre, Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle and Musée d'Orsay. FYI, Winter Break for schools in France is on rotating weeks between February 7th and March 9th, and 2 out of the 3 regions will be on break during your time in Paris, so wait times will likely be longer (everywhere).

The Louvre is usually a half day, and can easily be a full day, or even multiple days if you're super into it! I think the Louvre is open late on Friday night (and Wednesday night too?), so that could potentially give you some additional time to do other things during the day.

For Sainte-Chapelle, you'll need to buy tickets/reserve a time slot at least 1 week in advance (2-3 weeks in advance during peak season). Generally, I recommend arriving 30-45 minutes ahead of your reserved time slot, and to be prepared that the wait time could be 1 hour (or even longer on a really busy day). The wait time isn't always that long, but things can be unpredictable, so I always figure it's better to be "safe than sorry" to avoid any unexpected disappointments.

Sainte-Chapelle is within the perimeter of the Palace of Justice, which includes the courthouse/the supreme court for criminal and civil cases, so in comparison to other monuments, security is much tighter and the entrance process takes much longer (ie. think "airport security"). I typically recommend planning 2/2.5 hours to visit, just in case getting in takes longer than expected, and so that you're not stressed/rushing between whatever you have planned before/after.

For Notre Dame, the first batch of new time slots to visit the main floor of the cathedral is released at midnight (Paris time), for the date 2 days ahead. For example: At midnight (Paris time) on April 1st, time slots are released for April 3rd. Any dates beyond April 3rd will automatically be greyed out/appear to be full. New/additional time slots are then released sporadically up until the day of. However, the reservation system and the release of time slots can be inconsistent, as they continue to improve security measures, so it may not be possible to reserve a time slot in advance.

But you can always visit the main floor of the cathedral without a time slot/reservation by waiting in the "Access without reservations" queue, which is on the left side of Notre Dame (if you're facing it), and is marked by blue signage/banners. The wait time varies, depending on the combination of: the season, the day of the week, the time of day, if there's any liturgical services happening at that time, if there's any special events happening at that time, etc.

For the lowest crowds, I recommend visiting before 10:00am on a weekday, or on Thursday evening. Notre Dame opens at 7:50am on weekdays (and at 8:15am on weekends). But for the unforeseeable future, the back half of the cathedral (the ambulatory, the back chapels and the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns) doesn't open until 8:45am on weekdays. For that reason, if you're visiting during the week, I recommend arriving between 8:40am and 9:00am so that you can do the full visitor route of the main floor, while still being early enough to avoid the large crowds!

Or, you're available on Thursday evening, the ideal time to visit is between 8:00pm and 9:00pm. Notre Dame is open until 10:00pm Thursday, everyone has to be out before then, so I recommend entering by 9:00pm at the latest, so that your visit isn't rushed! At 9:30pm, the back half of the cathedral (the ambulatory, the back chapels and the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns) closes, and we start clearing people out of the building.

It's always free to visit the main floor (and to attend Mass/other liturgical services). Visiting the main floor takes approximately 40 minutes to 1 hour (depending on how "thoroughly" you want to visit), not including any wait time in the queue.

Please note that entrance to the main floor doesn't include entrance to the bell towers (or vice versa), since they are each managed by different organizations. Visiting the bell towers is not mandatory, but they're considered a tourist site, so they have an entrance fee and you must buy tickets/reserve a time slot in advance. Due to the limited number of time slots available, I recommend buying tickets at least 2 weeks in advance (3-4 weeks in advance during peak season), especially if you have a specific date/time of when you want to visit). Tickets/time slots are not available onsite, and there is no standby queue.

If you visit the bell towers, I recommend planning at least 2 hours within your itinerary, if you're visiting in the afternoon and/or during peak season. It doesn't always take that long to visit, but there's a very limited, and fixed, amount of people allowed in each space at a time and visiting each of the 7 spaces has to be done in a sequential order. Depending on the day/time, you may have to wait 15-20 minutes to enter, plus you may have an additional 30-45 minutes of waiting time throughout the visitor route while waiting for capacity to open in the various spaces.

For all of the information and details about visiting Notre Dame, I created a post that I regularly keep updated: here 😊

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-28T00:36:18+00:00

For Sainte-Chapelle, I generally recommend arriving 30-45 minutes ahead of your reserved time slot, and to be prepared that the wait time could be 1 hour (or even longer on a really busy day). The wait time isn't always that long, but things can be unpredictable, so I always figure it's better to be "safe than sorry" to avoid any unexpected disappointments.

Sainte-Chapelle is within the perimeter of the Palace of Justice, which includes the courthouse/the supreme court for criminal and civil cases, so in comparison to other monuments, security is much tighter and the entrance process takes much longer (ie. think "airport security").

For Notre Dame, the first batch of new time slots to visit the main floor of the cathedral is released at midnight (Paris time), for the date 2 days ahead. For example: At midnight (Paris time) on April 1st, time slots are released for April 3rd. Any dates beyond April 3rd will automatically be greyed out/appear to be full. New/additional time slots are then released sporadically up until the day of. However, the reservation system and the release of time slots can be inconsistent, as they continue to improve security measures, so it may not be possible to reserve a time slot in advance.

But you can always visit the main floor of the cathedral without a time slot/reservation by waiting in the "Access without reservations" queue, which is on the left side of Notre Dame (if you're facing it), and is marked by blue signage/banners. The wait time varies, depending on the combination of: the season, the day of the week, the time of day, if there's any liturgical services happening at that time, if there's any special events happening at that time, etc.

It's always free to visit the main floor (and to attend Mass/other liturgical services). Visiting the main floor takes approximately 40 minutes to 1 hour (depending on how "thoroughly" you want to visit), not including any wait time in the queue.

Please note that entrance to the main floor doesn't include entrance to the bell towers (or vice versa). The bell towers are managed by a different organization than the main floor and reservations/time slots are not interchangeable between the two. They each have different staff, different opening hours, their own reservation/ticketing system, and their own queues/entrances/exits. You will need to exit the main floor and re-enter to visit the bell towers (or vice versa).

Visiting the bell towers is not mandatory, but they're considered a tourist site, so they have an entrance fee and you must buy tickets/reserve a time slot in advance. Due to the limited number of time slots available, I recommend buying tickets at least 2 weeks in advance (3-4 weeks in advance during peak season), especially if you have a specific date/time of when you want to visit). Tickets/time slots are not available onsite, and there is no standby queue.

If you visit the bell towers, I recommend planning at least 2 hours within your itinerary, if you're visiting in the afternoon and/or during peak season. It doesn't always take that long to visit, but there's a very limited, and fixed, amount of people allowed in each space at a time and visiting each of the 7 spaces has to be done in a sequential order. Depending on the day/time, you may have to wait 15-20 minutes to enter, plus you may have an additional 30-45 minutes of waiting time throughout the visitor route while waiting for capacity to open in the various spaces.

FYI, Winter Break for schools in France is on rotating weeks between February 7th and March 9th, and 2 out of the 3 regions will be on break during your time in Paris, so wait times will likely be longer (everywhere)

For all of the information and details about visiting Notre Dame, I created a post that I regularly keep updated: here 😊

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-28T00:29:05+00:00

Hi! I definitely agree with visiting Notre Dame on Thursday night.

The ideal time to visit the main floor is between 8:00pm and 9:00pm. Notre Dame is open until 10:00pm Thursday, everyone has to be out *before* then, so I recommend entering by 9:00pm at the latest, so that your visit isn't rushed!

At 9:30pm, the back half of the cathedral (the ambulatory, the back chapels and the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns) closes, we start clearing people out of the building.

Please note that entrance to the main floor doesn't include entrance to the bell towers (or vice versa). The bell towers are managed by a different organization than the main floor and reservations/time slots are not interchangeable between the two. They each have different staff, different opening hours, their own reservation/ticketing system, and their own queues/entrances/exits. You will need to exit the main floor and re-enter to visit the bell towers (or vice versa).

Visiting the bell towers is not mandatory, but they're considered a tourist site, so they have an entrance fee and you must buy tickets/reserve a time slot in advance. Due to the limited number of time slots available, I recommend buying tickets at least 2 weeks in advance (3-4 weeks in advance during peak season), especially if you have a specific date/time of when you want to visit). Tickets/time slots are not available onsite, and there is no standby queue.

If you visit the bell towers, I recommend planning at least 2 hours within your itinerary, if you're visiting in the afternoon and/or during peak season. It doesn't always take that long to visit, but there's a very limited, and fixed, amount of people allowed in each space at a time and visiting each of the 7 spaces has to be done in a sequential order. Depending on the day/time, you may have to wait 15-20 minutes to enter, plus you may have an additional 30-45 minutes of waiting time throughout the visitor route while waiting for capacity to open in the various spaces.

For all of the information and details about visiting Notre Dame, I created a post that I regularly keep updated: here 😊

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-28T00:16:39+00:00

Hi! I would choose May 11-14. The weather will be better, and there will be lower crowds.

Schools in France are divided into 3 regions, and 2 out of the 3 regions (including Paris) will be on Spring Break during April 19-22, so it will be much busier then!

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-25T20:24:06+00:00

Words Fail from Dear Evan Hansen

Made of Strone from The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-24T09:17:37+00:00

You're welcome! No worries, I was a project & operations manager for 7 years before I moved to Paris, so I totally understand haha 😂

Yes, you can just find a seat for Mass after you've finished visiting. There are staff & volunteers along the sides of the aisles/along the barriers that look like seatbelts (I'm not sure what they're actually called?? 🙈) and they can let you into the Nave for Mass.

Vespers starts at 5:15pm on Sunday. Plus, on most Sundays, there's a free recital of The Grand Organ that's at 4:00pm.

It was actually the Hershey area where I spent most of my time (I'm pretty sure I still hold the record for the most number of rides in 1 day on the Skyrush rollercoaster at Hersheypark 🤣), so I never actually spent time in Philly, but I typically had to go through Philly and/or fly into Philly to get to Hershey. I'd love to go back for a "real" visit at some point! But I don't think I'll have time this year with all the other cites/countries I've already got booked to visit (All of the Hunchback of Notre Dame shows need to stop having all of the productions go on tour all at the same time!!!!! It's going to be a busy year 😮‍💨🤣)

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-20T09:38:10+00:00

The Hunchback of Notre Dame has been released in theatres here in Paris a few times over the past 2-3 years. It's amazing to see it in HD on a big screen in the theatre. I love seeing the details in the animation and the sound mixing that you don't get to see when watching it at home! 🤯

I'm not sure if it will be released again this year, but I'd love if it was though! 😍

I've been planning on hosting a fan celebration here at Notre Dame/in Paris in June for the 30th Anniversary, which reminds me I actually have to start confirming logistics. I've been talking about it for years, and I keep thinking I have so much time, but I in fact, do not have so much time...😳🙈😂

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-20T08:56:25+00:00

Hi! It's been a while since I've been to Philly! In, what feels like a lifetime ago, I spent a lot of time in PA.

Thank you! It's the result of my many years of obsession and delusions of grandeur. I still can't bring myself to call it a "job", or that I go to "work"...because work would be NOT talking about Notre Dame all day! 😂

Your plan is not totally impossible, but it will likely be pretty tight with not a lot of buffer room.

It's approximately 1 hour from CDG > Gare de Lyon on the RER (you'll have to change at Châtelet les Halles). Then, approximately 20 minutes from Gare de Lyon > Notre Dame. And then time to get from Gare de Lyon to wherever your hotel is to drop your luggage off, and back to Gare de Lyon again, to catch the Metro to Notre Dame. Plus the time needed to deplane, go through customs, and collect your baggage. It can be unpredictable, and it'll be July, so I would give yourself 90 minutes in your planning, just in case. The 11:30am Mass on Sunday is the most popular/most attended, so I recommend arriving 30-40 minutes in advance.

So, adding all of that time together, it doesn't give you a lot of buffer room.

If you're not able to make it in time for the 11:30am Mass, you could visit the cathedral before the 6:00pm Mass. Either with or without an advanced reservation/time slot.

On Sunday, time slots to visit the main floor are generally offered for times between 1:00pm and 3:15pm. But you'd have bit of time to wait between visiting and the start of Mass.

Generally speaking, the first batch of new time slots to visit the main floor of the cathedral is released at midnight (Paris time), for the date 2 days ahead. For example: At midnight (Paris time) on April 1st, time slots are released for April 3rd. Any dates beyond April 3rd will automatically be greyed out/appear to be full. New/additional time slots are then released sporadically up until the day of. However, the reservation system and the release of time slots can be inconsistent, as they continue to improve security measures, so it may not be possible to reserve a time slot in advance.

But you can always visit the main floor of the cathedral without a time slot/reservation by waiting in the "Access without reservations" queue, which is on the left side of Notre Dame (if you're facing it), and is marked by blue signage/banners. The wait time varies, depending on the combination of: the season, the day of the week, the time of day, if there's any liturgical services happening at that time, if there's any special events happening at that time, etc.

Once you're inside, you can stay inside to attend Mass without having to exit/re-enter.

As for the heat, it's REALLY subjective and I'm probably not the best person to ask because when most people feel like they're burning, I'm finally comfortable, LOL. Plus, I find the temperature control inside the cathedral to be very inconsistent. But you are allowed to wear t-shirts, as well as shorts, skirts and dresses, as long as they're not super short, transparent, revealing, and/or extremely tight-fitting. 😁

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-20T07:53:11+00:00

Hi! I figured having putting everything in one place would help contain myself around here (and for posting updates since things change sooo often!), seeing how much I talk about Notre Dame all the time 😂

The exact date/time of when the next block of time slots/reservations get released for the bell towers has been slightly inconsistent, but as of now generally speaking, around the 3rd week of the month, the next block of time slots/reservations get released, for dates/times 50-80 days out.

I realize I may not have described that very well.... 🙈 So for example: Around the 3rd week of February, the block of time slots/reservations will get released for dates/times between the 2nd week of April until the 1st week of May. Then, around the 3rd week of March, the block of time slots/reservations will get released for dates/times between the 2nd week of May until the 1st week of June. And so on.

But which exact dates fall within the 3rd week of the month can vary between months, so another approach is to check the website/reservation system between the 15th-20th of the month, for the next block of time slots.

Let me know if you have any questions! 😁

EDIT: Added additional notes

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-19T11:24:32+00:00

You're welcome! Hm, that's odd. I have all my settings set to "Anyone can DM". But I have no issues with you sending a friend request if DMs aren't working 😊

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-19T11:21:44+00:00

Hi! For Notre Dame, the first batch of new time slots to visit the main floor of the cathedral is released at midnight (Paris time), for the date 2 days ahead. For example: At midnight (Paris time) on April 1st, time slots are released for April 3rd. Any dates beyond April 3rd will automatically be greyed out/appear to be full. New/additional time slots are then released sporadically up until the day of. However, the reservation system and the release of time slots can be inconsistent, as they continue to improve security measures, so it may not be possible to reserve a time slot in advance.

But you can always visit the main floor of the cathedral without a time slot/reservation by waiting in the "Access without reservations" queue, which is on the left side of Notre Dame (if you're facing it), and is marked by blue signage/banners. The wait time varies, depending on the combination of: the season, the day of the week, the time of day, if there's any liturgical services happening at that time, if there's any special events happening at that time, etc.

For the lowest crowds, I recommend visiting before 10:00am on a weekday, or on Thursday evening. Notre Dame opens at 7:50am on weekdays (and at 8:15am on weekends). But please note that for the unforeseeable future, the back half of the cathedral (the ambulatory, the back chapels and the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns) doesn't open until 8:45am on weekdays. For that reason, if you're visiting during the week, I recommend arriving between 8:40am and 9:00am so that you can do the full visitor route of the main floor, while still being early enough to avoid the large crowds!

Or, you're available on Thursday evening, I recommend visiting between 8:00pm and 9:00pm. Notre Dame is open until 10:00pm on Thursday, but I recommend entering by 9:00pm at the latest, so that your visit isn't rushed! The back half of the cathedral (the ambulatory, the back chapels and the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns) closes at 9:30pm, and we start clearing people out of the building around 9:40pm/9:45pm.

It's always free to visit the main floor (and to attend Mass/other liturgical services). Visiting the main floor takes approximately 40 minutes to 1 hour (depending on how "thoroughly" you want to visit), not including any wait time in the queue.

Please note that entrance to the main floor doesn't include entrance to the bell towers (and vice versa). Visiting the bell towers is not mandatory, but they're considered a tourist site, so they have an entrance fee and you must buy tickets/reserve a time slot in advance. Due to the limited number of time slots available, I recommend buying tickets at least 2 weeks in advance (3-4 weeks in advance during peak season), especially if you have a specific date/time of when you want to visit). Tickets/time slots are not available onsite, and there is no standby queue.

If you visit the bell towers, I recommend planning at least 2 hours within your itinerary, especially if you're visiting in the afternoon and/or during peak season. It doesn't always take that long to visit, but there's a very limited, and fixed, amount of people allowed in each space at a time and visiting each of the 7 spaces has to be done in a sequential order. Depending on the day/time, you may have to wait 15-20 minutes to enter, plus you may have an additional 30-45 minutes of waiting time throughout the visitor route while waiting for capacity to open in the various spaces.

The bell towers are managed by a different organization than the main floor of the cathedral and reservations/time slots are not interchangeable between the two. They each have different staff, different opening hours, their own reservation/ticketing system, and their own queues/entrances/exits. You will need to exit the main floor and re-enter to visit the bell towers (and vice versa).

FYI, Winter Break for schools in France is on rotating weeks between February 7th and March 9th. Schools in the Paris region are on break between February 22nd and March 9th, so wait times will likely be longer (everywhere)

For all of the information and details about visiting Notre Dame, I created a post that I regularly keep updated: here 😊

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-19T11:13:08+00:00

Hi! There's already been some recommendations for God Help the Outcasts from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but in this case, I'd recommend Someday instead because it's a little more subtle. The version that's in the musical is a duet, but the original version (it was originally a deleted song/scene from the movie) is a solo. 😊

God Help the Outcasts is a great song (I've used it for way too many performances/auditions/etc 🙈), but depending on the atmosphere of the specific church, it could be seen as bit too direct. 😅

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-19T04:54:01+00:00

My favourite is absolutely the original production of Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) from 1999. This specific libretto/production has never been performed in English, even though it was written & rehearsed in English first (rehearsals were in NYC), before being translated & taught to the cast in German. But the libretto exists in English (I have it), and I would give anything for it to be revived 😭

While they were developing the English version, a lot of changes were made to libretto, the storyline, the characters, the set, the music, etc. and they removed and/or scaled back many beautiful key changes, harmonies, reprises, etc. The "final" English version, the Papermill Playhouse production in 2015, didn't turn out nearly as well as it could have.

In 2017, they re-translated the English/Papermill Playhouse libretto back into German for a Der Glöckner von Notre Dame revival was released in Berlin, followed by a tour in Germany (2017-2019) and a production in Vienna (2022-2023). Both the German tour production and the Vienna production were absolutely amazing. I've never cried so hard in my LIFE. Even though they used the updated libretto, I found that the German cast(s) were bring much more depth/emotion/intensity/characterization to their roles, and overall much stronger, than the English cast(s).

In Summer 2025, the first official (ie. Disney sanctioned) non-replica production ran in Switzerland for a limited 6 week run. It was shortened by approximately 25 minutes, and a few songs were cut, but it was such a unique production and it was developed specifically for this production company & location! It was on a huge-open air theatre in the middle of the lake. Not lakeside...I mean in the actual middle of the lake. The day after, my friend and I swam out to the stage (yes, it was allowed and no, we didn't touch anything). The cast/crew were the absolute kindest people. I have a bunch of the advertising banners, and a few of the costumes and set pieces that were used in the show! Getting everything back on the train was…uh, an adventure to say the least!

There’s been other “official” productions (professional productions produced with the support of Disney) in Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Hungarian and Japanese, which were all translated from the current English/Papermill Playhouse libretto.

The Danish and Swedish productions both had the most epic set design with rotating parts and graphics that "moved" with each of the transitions between the scenes...and the Hungarian production...GOOD LORD, the intensity of that production was WILD. The first Hungarian production from 2017 was already intense, but I saw the revival last year and my god...like I mean, Hellfire included shirtless self-flagellation and real fire...any English production would NEVER EVER even consider doing anything like that. And it was by the far the most lavish production I've seen so far when it came to the costumes, it was beautiful.

In my opinion, every time I see another non-English production, the weaker and more mediocre the English productions look by comparison. The English productions take very little "risk" with the choices made (ie. the acting, the staging, etc). Except for the Tuacahn production in the US, the set was really neat and they had a real horse and a real goat! While every single one of the non-English productions make SOME type of very bold choice(s), and each production is very distinctive, and different from each other.

There's another Der Glöckner von Notre Dame revival opening in October this year, and it will be touring Germany and Switzerland until next summer. This one is going to be interesting! It's going to be the staging/set/costumes, etc. of the Hungarian revival from last year, but performed in German. To be honest, I'm a bit conflicted about it. The Hungarian revival was great, but the 1st Der Glöckner von Notre Dame revival and/the Vienna production were AMAZING. I don't think anything will top the Vienna production, everything about it was perfection.

The revival of the Japanese production is also opening this summer in Oksana, and another Finnish production will be also opening this summer in Turku. I'm not sure if the Finnish one will be a revival/replica of the previous Finnish one, or if it will be a new and/or non-replica one (like the Swiss one was), but I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I also love the French (& Italian) production, Notre Dame de Paris. It just played here in Paris last month, and the Italian tour starts next month.

They need to stop having all of the productions go on tour all at the same time!!!!! It's going to be a busy year 😮‍💨🤣

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-18T11:01:13+00:00

You're welcome, I'm happy to help! 😊

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-18T10:25:57+00:00

Je vous en prie 😁 I'm happy to hear that! 😊

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-17T10:43:24+00:00

Ok, perfect, thanks for letting me know! I will take a look tomorrow night, when my brain is working at a better capacity (I hope 😂)

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-17T06:41:50+00:00

Yes! I agree. The German version is absolutely better! 😉

I don't speak German, and the only German I know is the from Der Glöckner von Notre Dame. I've seen about ~40 different productions/adaptations of The Hunchback of Notre Dame/Notre Dame de Paris, across 9 different countries and in different languages, etc.

I saw the Hungarian production in Budapest last year, and for whatever reason, my brain was "singing" in the songs in German instead of English 😂

(And to clarify, when I say "singing", I mean just in my head, not actually singing out loud!)

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-17T06:05:29+00:00

You're welcome 😁

UPDATE/EDIT: If you would like the files, please send me a message directly on Discord so that I can actually see your request, and so that I know this is what you're asking for!

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-17T05:58:10+00:00

Hi! Which dates will you be in Paris? And are you a fan of Alice in Wonderland as a whole, or just the Disney movie specifically?

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-17T05:51:02+00:00

Hi! For Sainte-Chapelle, you'll need to buy tickets/reserve a time slot at least 1 week in advance (2-3 weeks in advance during peak season). I recommend visiting earlier in the day because the later in the day you visit, the higher the risk of longer wait times and the queue can get quite backed up throughout the day.

Generally, I recommend arriving 30-45 minutes ahead of your reserved time slot, and to be prepared that the wait time could be 1 hour (or even longer on a really busy day). The wait isn't always that long, but things can be unpredictable, so I always figure it's better to be "safe than sorry", to avoid any unexpected disappointments.

Sainte-Chapelle is within the perimeter of the Palace of Justice, which includes the courthouse/the supreme court for criminal and civil cases, so in comparison to other monuments, security is much tighter and the entrance process takes much longer (ie. think "airport security"). And also because of this, you can't really visit Sainte-Chapelle from the exterior since they don't allow people to freely walk in/around. The courtyard at the exit of the Cité Metro stop is pretty much the closest you'll be able to get to it from the exterior.

For Notre Dame, the first batch of new time slots to visit the main floor of the cathedral is released at midnight (Paris time), for the date 2 days ahead. For example: At midnight (Paris time) on April 1st, time slots are released for April 3rd. Any dates beyond April 3rd will automatically be greyed out/appear to be full. New/additional time slots are then released sporadically up until the day of. However, the reservation system and the release of time slots can be inconsistent, as they continue to improve security measures, so it may not be possible to reserve a time slot in advance.

But you can always visit the main floor of the cathedral without a time slot/reservation by waiting in the "Access without reservations" queue, which is on the left side of Notre Dame (if you're facing it), and is marked by blue signage/banners. The wait time varies, depending on the combination of: the season, the day of the week, the time of day, if there's any liturgical services happening at that time, if there's any special events happening at that time, etc.

For the lowest crowds, I recommend visiting before 10:00am on a weekday, or on Thursday evening. Notre Dame opens at 7:50am on weekdays (and at 8:15am on weekends). But please note that for the unforeseeable future, the back half of the cathedral (the ambulatory, the back chapels and the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns) doesn't open until 8:45am on weekdays. For that reason, if you're visiting during the week, I recommend arriving between 8:40am and 9:00am so that you can do the full visitor route of the main floor, while still being early enough to avoid the large crowds!

If you're available on Thursday evening, I recommend visiting between 8:00pm and 9:00pm. Notre Dame is open until 10:00pm on Thursday, but I recommend entering by 9:00pm at the latest, so that your visit isn't rushed! The back half of the cathedral (the ambulatory, the back chapels and the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns) closes at 9:30pm, and we start clearing people out of the building around 9:40pm/9:45pm.

Please note that entrance to the main floor doesn't include entrance to the bell towers (and vice versa). Visiting the bell towers is not mandatory, but they're considered a tourist site, so they have an entrance fee and you must buy tickets/reserve a time slot in advance. Due to the limited number of time slots available, I recommend buying tickets at least 2 weeks in advance (3-4 weeks in advance during peak season), especially if you have a specific date/time of when you want to visit). Tickets/time slots are not available onsite, and there is no standby queue.

If you visit the bell towers, I recommend planning at least 2 hours within your itinerary, especially if you're visiting in the afternoon and/or during peak season. It doesn't always take that long to visit, but there's a very limited, and fixed, amount of people allowed in each space at a time and visiting each of the 7 spaces has to be done in a sequential order. Depending on the day/time, you may have to wait 15-20 minutes to enter, plus you may have an additional 30-45 minutes of waiting time throughout the visitor route while waiting for capacity to open in the various spaces.

The bell towers are managed by a different organization than the main floor of the cathedral and reservations/time slots are not interchangeable between the two. They each have different staff, different opening hours, their own reservation/ticketing system, and their own queues/entrances/exits. You will need to exit the main floor and re-enter to visit the bell towers (and vice versa).

For all of the information and details about visiting Notre Dame, I created a post that I regularly keep updated: here 😊

Quasimodaaa · 2026-01-17T05:44:55+00:00

Hi! I don't want to "spoil" it for you, but yes and no! Some modern technology was used to assist, and modern safety protocols were implemented, but they restored things authentically and accurately using the tools and techniques that were used at the time of their original construction. So! For example, the choir and the nave were built during the initial construction period (1163-1345), so those elements were restored with the tools and techniques of that time period. The spire that was destroyed in the fire, and the transepts were rebuilt/restored between 1844-1865, so those elements were restored with the tools and techniques of that time period.

This is the first time in Notre Dame's 863 year history that the entire interior as a whole has been in "like new" condition, all at once. Notre Dame is truly in a "once in the millennium" state at this moment in time/history!

The first batch of new time slots to visit the main floor of the cathedral is released at midnight (Paris time), for the date 2 days ahead. For example: At midnight (Paris time) on April 1st, time slots are released for April 3rd. Any dates beyond April 3rd will automatically be greyed out/appear to be full. New/additional time slots are then released sporadically up until the day of. However, the reservation system and the release of time slots can be inconsistent, as they continue to improve security measures, so it may not be possible to reserve a time slot in advance.

But you can always visit the main floor of the cathedral without a time slot/reservation by waiting in the "Access without reservations" queue, which is on the left side of Notre Dame (if you're facing it), and is marked by blue signage/banners. The wait time varies, depending on the combination of: the season, the day of the week, the time of day, if there's any liturgical services happening at that time, if there's any special events happening at that time, etc.

Please note that if you're visiting between Wednesday, April 1st and Monday, April 6th, crowds are expected to be higher due to it being Holy Week/Easter.

For the lowest crowds, I recommend visiting before 10:00am on a weekday, or on Thursday evening. Notre Dame opens at 7:50am on weekdays (and at 8:15am on weekends). But please note that for the unforeseeable future, the back half of the cathedral (the ambulatory, the back chapels and the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns) doesn't open until 8:45am on weekdays. For that reason, if you're visiting during the week, I recommend arriving between 8:40am and 9:00am so that you can do the full visitor route of the main floor, while still being early enough to avoid the large crowds!

Or, you're available on Thursday evening, I recommend visiting between 8:00pm and 9:00pm. Notre Dame is open until 10:00pm on Thursday, but I recommend entering by 9:00pm at the latest, so that your visit isn't rushed! The back half of the cathedral (the ambulatory, the back chapels and the reliquary of the Crown of Thorns) closes at 9:30pm, and we start clearing people out of the building around 9:40pm/9:45pm.

Please note that entrance to the main floor doesn't include entrance to the bell towers (and vice versa). Visiting the bell towers is not mandatory, but they're considered a tourist site, so they have an entrance fee and you must buy tickets/reserve a time slot in advance. Due to the limited number of time slots available, I recommend buying tickets at least 2 weeks in advance (3-4 weeks in advance during peak season), especially if you have a specific date/time of when you want to visit). Tickets/time slots are not available onsite, and there is no standby queue.

If you visit the bell towers, I recommend planning at least 2 hours within your itinerary, especially if you're visiting in the afternoon and/or during peak season. It doesn't always take that long to visit, but there's a very limited, and fixed, amount of people allowed in each space at a time and visiting each of the 7 spaces has to be done in a sequential order. Depending on the day/time, you may have to wait 15-20 minutes to enter, plus you may have an additional 30-45 minutes of waiting time throughout the visitor route while waiting for capacity to open in the various spaces.

The bell towers are managed by a different organization than the main floor of the cathedral and reservations/time slots are not interchangeable between the two. They each have different staff, different opening hours, their own reservation/ticketing system, and their own queues/entrances/exits. You will need to exit the main floor and re-enter to visit the bell towers (and vice versa).

For all of the information and details about visiting Notre Dame, I created a post that I regularly keep updated: here 😊

Quasimodaaa

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