“AVOID Travel to Europe during the Summer!” I lecture, create and lead tours – and even press trips for tourist boards — in Europe during the summer and have done it for years. And if you plan it right, there are virtually no lines if you visit great places when they are not mobbed. That is until next summer after tourists and travel agents have read this travel column.

Nowadays, no matter whenever you’re in Paris and visit the Louvre, there are lines – even in the dead of winter. And not just to get in. Lines for special exhibitions and lines for the most famous works of art. I’ve seen the Mona Lisa so many times over many years. Thank God, they placed her in a room all by herself. She hasn’t aged a day and now that she’s far removed, she won’t be able to see how much I’ve aged. The secret to sightseeing in cities, especially during the summer, is to visit a museum — when it’s open during the evening. Besides being much less crowded, it also frees the daytime for relaxing in parks, shopping and museums which are not open evenings. And since there are many museums in top European cities, chances are a city’s best and most famous museums also have the longest hours to avoid the longest lines!

Paris, London and Rome have been a part of my life as long as I can remember. When my parents took me when I was a child and I was not allowed to stay up late, it meant that museum-hopping was a daytime delight. Except sadly due to regulations there was no running or even hopping in museums.Museum-going as a child with my parents was frequently a most uplifting experience – literally. So that I could see everything my parents frequently lifted me and my brother up so we could view an entire exhibit which neither of us tired of.

Since then, travel to Europe became so commonplace we had to think of places that were less common as well as the best times to visit – and so did museums. Now, when I lead tours, I want to visit museums when they’re open evenings. Seeing the Louvre’s Venus de Milo during days when it’s crowded you can even miss seeing her missing arms. During the evening, you see art in a totally new light – literally. The evening interior lighting highlights statues from new perspectives and illuminates different details. With a spotlight on her, I actually notice Venus de Milo’s beautiful face– a feature she actually has – instead of parts that are missing.

When my parents took me to Europe when I was a child there were very few museums open evenings. In 2026 with many European museums opened not just for a late night – but for many late nights. (The Louvre is open late on Friday evenings and Wednesday evenings.) And frequently attending a museum in the evening isn’t just looking exhibits without crowds it becomes an evening “on the town” in just one building! Remember, if a large museum is open late – its restaurants also are open late. And frequently on late night weekend museum openings – there are also evening concerts so visiting a museum can be a “night on the town” in just one building!

The next time I visit Paris my Wednesday and Friday evenings are set. But what about Thursday evening? That’s the perfect time to visit the Musee d’Orsay with its elegant restaurant, Le Restaurant. (Visible from the restaurant is the Hotel de Salm – Thomas Jefferson’s favorite Paris building now the Museum of the Legion of Honor.) Not just the most beautiful Paris museum restaurant, one of the most elegant restaurants in all Paris. The runner-up Paris museum restaurant, Les Ombres, is the one on top of the Musee du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (a great museum of indigenous cultures) with a great view of the Eiffel Tower – and a great view of the magnificent Art Deco Palais Trocadero from the opposite windows.

One of the world’s great museums — and not just London’s — is the British Museum. Besides being open on Friday evenings, it has another attribute which really makes the trip worthwhile – Friday evenings are FREE! London’s National Gallery, Britain’s largest art museum, is also open on Friday evenings. Around the corner is the National Portrait Gallery with portraits of famous Brits and even some easily identifiable Americans. (Since it’s around the corner from London’s National Gallery it’s great that it’s also open late on Saturday evenings for those who think it might take 24 hours to walk from the larger to the smaller museum.) Both museums are terrific! So that you have enough energy for that tour between those two museums, I suggest eating in the National Gallery’s restaurant with a view of Trafalgar Square and even the Houses of Parliament on a clear day.

One of my favorite museums is the Victoria & Albert Museum. It’s one of the world’s great museums that even has clothing and furniture — and in some exhibits “Clothing in Furniture.” It is hosting the “Marie Antoinette” exhibit even featuring Marie’s wigs and hats which, sadly, she no longer needed. Another great museum is the Tate Modern (converted from a former power station) which is open late on Friday and Saturday. And if you love the architecture of Sir Christopher Wren, the great architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral — you can see it while dining in the museum’s restaurant. (A unique pleasure for this architecture professor and everyone.)

Rome — Great Art in Great Architecture. Many believe that Italian architecture is among the best in the world. Therefore, it’s no surprise that two of Rome’s greatest museum buildings were initially designed by great architects: Michelangelo and Bernini who designed the Vatican — and Michelangelo who designed the Capitoline Square and the buildings housing its Capitoline Museum.

When I visited Italy as a child, many museums closed for lunch. Now museums like Rome’s Capitoline Museum (overlooking the Roman Forum) actually have a lovely restaurant on its roof (with great views) that’s open during museum hours. So, after you see the statue of the She-Wolf feeding the two infants, you can take your infants to lunch. London, your Tate Gallery isn’t the only art museum in a former power plant. Rome has the power to open a branch of the Capitoline Museum in a former power plant, the Montemartini Museum. (And with Rome’s new subway, it’s now easily accessible.)

Rome even has a stunning new art museum, the Maxxi Museum designed by the great architect Zaha Hadid.

Many consider New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (where I’ve lectured and led tours starting as a college intern) is America’s greatest art museum. Except for Friday and Saturday late night openings, it closes daily at 5 PM. Most of Rome’s art and sculpture Museums close at 7 PM! And on many days the Vatican Museum is open until 8 PM!

We began with the Louvre’s Venus de Milo, we’ve come full circle to the Capitoline Venus (who still has her hands) so she can applaud our museums’ successes.