When is the best time to visit Paris?
The city has been in the news recently and unfortunately it has been for all the wrong reasons.
First and foremost, my heart goes out to all those affected by what has happened recently.
I have a handful of traders in Paris that shared their stories with me. Two of which were in the general area where the attacks occurred.
Best time to visit Paris
Thankfully, everyone is okay but the city has suffered a blow to its reputation. Temporarily at least.
This is precisely why now is one of the best times to visit Paris.
#1: Terrorism Rarely Happens Twice
Ironically,
the one of the best times to visit any place in the world would be
right after a terrorist attack. Never would I wish that on any city or
country, but when we have an attack in a specific location we never have
another attack immediately after. Security is heightened in the region
and countries (as well as cities) take extra precautions to make sure
that it doesn’t happen again. While everyone is scared about what
happened it is the safest time to visit because it becomes that much
harder for another terrorist attack to occur.
Do
keep in mind that there may be some limitations due to the increase in
security and the French surely won’t go out of their way to thank you
for visiting.
Right now the Eiffel Tower is closed and other sites may be affected as well.
When Is The Best Time To Visit Paris and see the Arc de Triumph
#2: The Euro Has Taken A Smack Down
As I day trade for a living
I keep quite abreast of the financial situations across the globe. This
is one way to save money while traveling. We don’t have to rush to see
things in our lifetime at the end of the day we do have 80 year live
spans :D.
Right now it is one of the best times to visit Paris because the Euro has
taken quite a hit compared to the US. While the reasoning is more
complex it is also due to the US Dollar increasing in value
significantly.
During the great
recession of 2008 one dollar equaled over 1.5 Euro. That means that
everything that we bought in Europe costs us 50% more. While the
exchange has fluctuated up and down now the current exchange rate has
been hovering between roughly 1.60 (1 US dollar equals 1.60 Euros) to
1.20. As of Jan 2nd, 2015, we had a huge breakout to the downside and
now we are hovering between 1.05 (1 USD dollar equals 1.05 Euros) and
1.14.
The best part is we will most likely go to parity very soon meaning that 1 US Dollar will equal 1 Euro.
If
the current state of the economy stays the same there is actually an
opportunity that the US dollar will be worth more than Euros which could
benefit all travelers using US Dollars.
This
is one of the great things about the world economy right now, while it
isn’t great, many Americans are able to travel very cheaply. Especially
to countries that are commodity based (sell things like Oil, Silver,
Gold, etc).
The best time to visit Paris may be 6 months from now.
Shangri-La Paris
#3: Tourism Is Going To Take A Big Hit
People are scared.
Many have cancelled their plans and/or are going to travel to safer countries like…. Colombia? (GASP)
Air France has reported that it has taken a $54.5 million hit after the Paris attacks and there was a drop in hotel occupancy of 12%.
What all these fancy numbers mean is that things are going to get cheaper, a lot cheaper.
Hotel
rooms (I recommend the fancy Shangri-La with a view of the Eiffel
Tower) and airfare will drop first followed by other items. With both
the dollar getting stronger and prices getting cheaper it could be one
of the best times to visit Paris in a very long time.
Best times to visit Paris Marcello
#4: The Economy Is Going To Get Worse Before It Gets Better
The
global is not going well. One of the things something the main stream
media doesn’t want us to believe. Things haven’t really recovered since
the Great Recession of 2008.
It is of course not all bad news.
Very
similar to how the Euro is weakening the entire global economy is going
to get worse, not better. It won’t be a great thing for all of us but a
fantastic thing for traveling. Supply and demand is simple.
The more things get worse the less people will travel.
The less people will travel the more prices will come down.
Even
though things aren’t great out there I want to take this moment to say
that whenever there is a crisis there is great opportunity. There were
more millionaires created during the Great Depression in 1929 (one of
the worst moments of the global economy in history) than at any point in
the history of the United States. Since the world is so connected this
is going to be one of the best times to be able to make money.
I
wanted to send that little note to those out there that are having a
hard time because there is always an opportunity to make money out
there.
What food in Paris looks like: Breakfast
#5: Paris Is Still Amazing
I
didn’t go during the best time to visit Paris (July) last year but it
was still fantastic. I always had a habit of avoiding the iconic city
because I wanted to travel off the beaten path. The idea was to stay
away from the most visited places in the world. Including the most visited city in the world, Paris.
Paris has a way to steal your heart away.
Finding the best time to visit Paris will only enhance your experience.
The
food is rich and amazing while the portions are small to not deluge
your waistline. The sites are incredible and historic. Visiting outside
of the hot and humid months of July and August you will enjoy the city
that much more.
It goes without saying there are some downsides.
While
I didn’t have a bad experience with the people in Paris, there are
rumors that they are very short of nice to begin with (according to the
rumors). The other item I wasn’t a fan of is the fact that everyone
seems to smoke. Every outdoor cafe has a habit of shoving as many people
on their patio as possible. So we get to smell the wonderful smoke
from everyone.
Keep in mind that
overall Europe follows the general schedule where the peak in tourism
occurs in the summer. July and August are the peak months. To have the
best combination between privacy and good weather the Spring would be
the best time to visit Paris. The months of May and June would be best.
June is when the number of visitors start to increase quite a bit.
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