Who wants to wait in long lines during their vacations?  On The Traveling Professor's tours to Italy and Paris we avoid the long lines.   Here are The Professor's tips for beating the crowds:

Travel Off-Season:  My #1 tip for avoiding tons of people.  With global warming, travelers can find great weather as early as March and into November.  Prices are cheaper too.

Get the Museum Passes:  In Paris it is called the Paris Museum Pass, in Rome it is called the Roma Pass, in Florence it is called the Firenze Card, in Madrid it is the Madrid Card.   These passes give the traveler no-wait-in-line admission to the most popular destinations.  On top of it, you might save some money and some of these passes provide unlimited bus/metro transportation.  We always use these on my small group tours to Italy and on my tours to Paris.

Go to Popular Museums at Night:  Don't make the mistake of trying to beat the crowds by arriving early in the day - everyone else thinks like that too.   In Paris, popular museums like the Louvre and Orsay are open one or two nights a week.  The same applies in other major cities.   The Vatican, for instance, is nearly empty on the times it is open on Friday nights.   Some attractions, like the Eiffel Tower, are least crowded in late afternoon.

Use a Tour Guide:  We find that when hiring a licensed tour guide, they can get us right into a museum with no wait in line.

Beat the Cruisers:  In Florence, the place is absolutely mobbed during the day, and it is mostly by those visiting on cruise ships.  But those people disappear at about 6 pm.  Venice is a beautiful city, after 6 pm.

For more information on my tours to Italy, Paris, and Spain, visit www.travelingprofessor.com or better yet, check out my Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Traveling-Professor/136094362898