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You come up from the subway at 42nd Street, and within a minute someone dressed as a cartoon character has an arm around your shoulder, a stranger is pressing a CD into your hand and the pavement has stopped moving.
The eight places in this guide all draw enormous crowds, and no clever timing will empty them. What you can do is learn how each crowd behaves: where it bunches, what it is queuing for, when it drains away and who makes a living from it. A trick that works at Magic Kingdom is useless in Istanbul, and a habit that passes unnoticed in Orlando will earn you stares in Tokyo.
Times Square: use the plazas, then leave the crush
Times Square is a long, narrow bow-tie where Broadway crosses Seventh Avenue, and much of it is closed to traffic. The pedestrian plazas through the middle have room to stand still. The pavements alongside are where people trying to walk collide with people taking photographs. If you are simply passing through, Eighth Avenue and Sixth Avenue run parallel and move far faster.
Characters and CDs
The costumed characters are not official. They pose for photographs and then expect a tip, and some are insistent about it, particularly with families. Painted activity zones on the plazas are meant to contain them and other solicitors.
- If you want a photo with one, have a small note ready and settle the amount first.
- Accept nothing put into your hand. The CD that seems to be a gift is the opening of a request for money.
The ticket booth at Duffy Square
At the northern end, Duffy Square has a flight of red glass steps that double as free seating and the classic viewpoint. Beneath them is the discount theatre ticket booth, selling same-day seats for Broadway and other shows at reduced rates. Long-running shows and plays turn up often, while the current sell-out hit usually does not, so go with several shows in mind. If one show matters, book ahead or ask its box office about rush and lottery tickets.
Timing the visit
The square surges each evening as theatre audiences arrive before curtain up, and again when they pour out. Dusk is the moment for photographs, with the billboards glowing against a blue sky. For dinner, walk west to Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen. If New York is one stop on a longer trip, Best Tourist Destinations in the USA can help you balance it with quieter places.
Magic Kingdom: win the first hour and the last
Crowds here follow a predictable curve: thin at opening, building until mid-afternoon, falling in the evening. Almost every good strategy means doing the opposite of that curve.
Getting there and rope drop
Most day visitors do not park at the park itself. They stop at the Transportation and Ticket Center, pass security, then cross the Seven Seas Lagoon by ferry or monorail.
Gates often open before the official start, letting guests onto Main Street, U.S.A. Rope drop is the moment staff release that gathered crowd into the rest of the park. Choose your first ride in advance. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in Fantasyland and Space Mountain in Tomorrowland lie in different directions, so pick one and go straight there.
Paying to skip the queue
Disney sells optional add-ons, on top of the park ticket, that let you book return times for rides and use a separate, shorter line. The names, prices and rules have changed several times, so read the current details on the official website. In general, paying makes most sense on busy days, with young children or on a one-day visit, and less sense on a quiet midweek day if you will arrive for rope drop and stay late.
Using the rest of the day
- Mid-afternoon: the hot, crowded peak, and in summer often the time of thunderstorms that close outdoor rides. Go back to your hotel, or choose indoor attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion.
- Fireworks: the crowd masses on Main Street, so ride queues elsewhere can shorten sharply.
For the wider city, see Three Of The Most Popular Attractions In All Of Orlando.
Grand Bazaar: pick a gate and learn the bargaining rules
The Grand Bazaar, or Kapalıçarşı, feels like a maze because its lanes grew up around old trading halls, not to any visitor-friendly plan. Crowds pack the broad main lanes and leave much of the rest alone. A few minutes in the side passages and the courtyards known as hans shows you a quieter, working market.
Gates and the Bedesten
Most visitors use the Beyazıt Gate on the west side, close to the tram stop, or the Nuruosmaniye Gate on the east, beside the mosque of that name. Kalpakçılar Caddesi, the wide street of jewellers, links them. Note the gate you came through and use it as a meeting point, because phone maps are unreliable under the vaulted roofs.
The market grew outward from the Old Bedesten, a domed, thick-walled hall where valuable goods were once traded and locked away. It is now known for antiques and old silver. The bazaar shuts one day a week and on major religious holidays, so check before setting off.
How bargaining actually works
There is no magic ratio, and any formula you read online is known to the seller. A better method:
- Decide your top price before you ask, and do not reveal it.
- Only start bargaining if you are prepared to buy. Walking away after a price is agreed is considered rude.
- Offer calmly and accept the slow pace. Tea may appear, and accepting it does not oblige you to buy.
- If the gap will not close, thank the seller and leave.
Gold is priced largely by weight and that day's rate, plus a charge for workmanship, so ask for the breakdown. For carpets, inspect the knots on the back and get the material and any shipping agreement in writing. Turkey restricts the export of antiques, so ask for paperwork if a piece is described as old.
On to the Spice Bazaar
From the Mahmutpaşa side, follow the steep shopping street downhill among local shoppers to the Spice Bazaar at Eminönü, beside the New Mosque. It is smaller and good for Turkish delight, dried fruit and spices, though very cheap saffron is often safflower. For more ideas, see Things To Do In Turkey To Make Your Stay Unforgettable.
Notre-Dame: free entry, timed slots and the Left Bank view
Notre-Dame has reopened after the fire that destroyed its roof and spire, and the restoration has changed what you see. The interior stone has been cleaned to a much paler colour than older photographs show, the spire has been rebuilt to the design that was lost, and the great rose windows, which survived, are the thing to stop and look up at.
Getting inside
Entry to the cathedral is free. A free timed reservation is offered through the official website and is usually worth having, as slots are released a short time ahead and go quickly. People without one can join a separate line, which can be long. The towers are a separate, paid visit. Check the system a few days before you travel, since it may change. This is a working church: services take priority, and modest dress and quiet are expected.
Where to see it from
The forecourt, or parvis, gives you the west front with its Gallery of Kings and carved portals, and it is also where the crowd stops dead. Spend a moment, then cross to the Left Bank and walk the Quai de Montebello, where the cathedral rises above the Seine. Further east, the Pont de l'Archevêché and Pont de la Tournelle show the flying buttresses and rebuilt spire in profile.
The rest of the island
Do not treat Notre-Dame as the sole stop on the Île de la Cité. Sainte-Chapelle, a short walk west, has walls of stained glass and should be booked ahead for a sunny day. The Conciergerie, the former palace and Revolutionary prison, is beside it. Then cross to the Île Saint-Louis for a calmer stroll. To fit this into a longer stay, see How to Spend 4 Days in Paris.
Tokyo Disneyland: follow the etiquette and choose the right park
First, be sure which park you mean. Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea are separate parks side by side at Maihama, in neighbouring Chiba, linked by a monorail loop and sold on separate tickets.
- Tokyo Disneyland is the classic castle park, with many rides gentle enough for young children, plus World Bazaar, a covered take on Main Street that is handy in rain.
- Tokyo DisneySea has a nautical theme and detailed scenery around a harbour and a volcano. It tends to appeal more to adults and to anyone who has seen a Disneyland elsewhere.
Tickets are sold in advance for a particular date and park, and popular days can sell out, so do not rely on buying at the gate. Check the official website for how overseas visitors can buy.
How Japanese queues behave
- Do not run. Staff ask people to walk when the park opens, and will stop you if you sprint for a ride.
- Queue as a group. Sending one person ahead to hold places for friends is frowned upon.
- Stay low at parades. Guests lay out small picnic sheets in designated areas and wait, often for a long time. Holding phones or children above head height blocks the view behind.
Planning the day
Crowds are heavier at weekends, during Japanese school holidays and around Golden Week, and the Halloween and Christmas seasons are popular too. The park runs free and paid systems for reducing waits through its official app. These change, so read the current English explanation before you arrive and have mobile data ready.
Some attractions are narrated in Japanese, including ones that rely on jokes, so favour visually led rides such as Pooh's Hunny Hunt and Haunted Mansion if you do not speak the language. For the wider trip, Traveling to Japan on a Budget & Making Money covers how to stretch your funds.
Golden Gate Bridge: walk it, cycle it, then step back
The trouble with the Golden Gate Bridge is that you may not be able to see it. San Francisco's summer fog, known locally as Karl, is often thickest in the months most people visit, and it can sit on the bridge while the city a few miles away is in sunshine. Late summer and autumn tend to be clearer. Check a webcam before you cross town, and bring a windproof layer whatever the forecast says.
Walking and cycling
Pedestrians normally use the east sidewalk, facing Alcatraz and the city. Which side cyclists use depends on the time and day, so check the bridge's official website. The crossing is longer than it looks from shore, loud with traffic and exposed to wind. A good option is to walk from the southern end to the first tower and back, then decide whether to go on to Vista Point on the Marin side.
The classic day out is to hire a bike near Fisherman's Wharf or the Marina, ride the flat waterfront, climb to the bridge, cross and coast down to Sausalito, then return by ferry. Gusts around the towers can unsettle inexperienced riders, and ferries can fill with bikes on busy afternoons, so check the timetable and leave spare time.
Viewpoints worth the detour
Battery Spencer is an old gun emplacement on the Marin Headlands, reached by Conzelman Road. It looks down on the bridge from a high angle with the city behind, and when low fog sits under the deck this is where you want to be.
Crissy Field, a former airfield on the city side, gives you a long, level shoreline walk with the bridge straight ahead, and it leads to Fort Point, the brick fort under the southern end of the span.
If you are driving
Tolls are collected electronically with no cash booths, so ask your car hire firm how it charges you. Break-ins are a known problem at the city's viewpoints, so leave nothing visible in the car, even for a few minutes.
The Forbidden City: book with your passport, walk one way
You cannot just turn up at the Forbidden City, officially the Palace Museum. Tickets are sold in advance under a real-name system with a daily cap, and they can sell out, especially around Chinese public holidays. You book with your passport details and bring the same passport, because it gets you through the gate. Release times and the process for overseas visitors change, so read the official website well before you travel, and ask your hotel or a reputable agency if you cannot manage the booking. The museum also has a regular weekly closing day, so confirm that before you plan around it.
A route with no way back
Visitors enter from the south through the Meridian Gate and leave at the north or east, so you will not finish where you began. Reaching the gate involves security checks around Tiananmen, so allow plenty of time and keep your passport handy.
How the crowd moves
Almost everybody goes straight up the central axis, through the Gate of Supreme Harmony to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, then the Halls of Central Harmony and Preserving Harmony. See these first, because their scale is the point of the place, but there is no need to fight for a view of the thrones. Then step sideways, where the palace stops being a parade ground and starts to feel lived in.
- The eastern and western palaces: small courtyards where the imperial household lived.
- The Treasure Gallery and Clock Gallery: side exhibitions, sometimes with a separate fee, and less crowded than the main axis.
- The Imperial Garden: old cypresses and rockeries just before the northern exit.
The courtyards are huge expanses of stone with almost no shade. They bake in summer and catch the wind in winter, so bring water, a hat and comfortable shoes.
Finish at Jingshan Park
Across the road from the north exit is Jingshan Park, an artificial hill raised from earth dug for the palace moat. Walk up to the pavilion at the top and the whole complex lies below you, a long sea of golden roofs in strict symmetry.
Sacré-Cœur: avoid the scam stairs and climb the dome
Most visitors arrive the same way: out of the metro at Anvers, up Rue de Steinkerque through the souvenir shops and on to the main stairs below the basilica. This is where the scammers wait, because it is where the crowd is.
The string-bracelet trick
Men at the foot of the steps approach in a friendly way and quickly tie a string around your wrist or finger. Once it is on, you are asked to pay, and walking away is awkward while your hand is held. Keep your hands in your pockets, say no firmly and do not stop walking.
Funicular or steps
The Montmartre funicular runs up the hillside beside the gardens and normally accepts a standard metro ticket, though ticketing changes and it can be out of service, which matters if anyone in your party has limited mobility. The alternative is Rue Foyatier, a long, straight staircase alongside it, a stiff but short climb that tends to be less pestered than the central stairs.
A far better arrival is from Abbesses metro. From there, walk uphill through the village streets and reach the basilica from behind, missing the stairs altogether.
Inside and up
The nave is free to enter, and signs ask for quiet and no photography, since prayer continues here throughout the day. Look up at the huge apse mosaic of Christ above the altar.
The dome is a separate paid climb with its own entrance outside: several hundred spiral steps, no lift, and stairs narrow enough to trouble claustrophobic visitors. The reward is a wide view across Paris, high above the crowded terrace. Check the official website for current access. The terrace in front of the basilica is free and packed at sunset, so come in the morning if you want room to enjoy it.
The backstreets of Montmartre
Place du Tertre, the busy square of portrait painters, is worth passing through, but be careful of sketch artists who start drawing you unasked and then expect payment. Head downhill and the crowds fade quickly:
- Rue Cortot for the Musée de Montmartre and its gardens.
- Clos Montmartre, the small vineyard on the slope, visible from Rue des Saules.
- Place Émile-Goudeau, by the site of the Bateau-Lavoir studios where Picasso once worked.
- Rue Lepic, a curving street running down past the Moulin de la Galette windmill.
Go up from Abbesses, climb the dome early, wander down by Rue Cortot and Rue Lepic, and keep your hands in your pockets if you do use the main stairs.
Official sources and further reading
Opening times, entry rules and prices change, so check them on the official sites before you travel:
- GOV.UK: foreign travel advice: Entry rules, safety and health notices for every country, kept up to date by the UK government.
