Are major tourist attractions likely to be crowded in early November? Are there likely to be lines to get into places such as the Louvre, Orangerie, Versailles?

I doubt it will be very bad (but Versailles and the Louvre are never "sparsely populated."...we've been there in October and it wasn't bad.

TIP - Enter the Louvre directly from the Metro station (Line: 1, Station: Palais Royal-Musee du Louvre). Usually much less crowded than the main entry at the pyramid.

SS

No, that isn't a heavy tourist period, nor even other visitors to Paris. Some hotels (not many) even have "low period" rates in November, and they don't do that in periods with heavy business travelers. The big trade fairs and business meetings are in Sept/October, and tourism is higher then, also, because the weather is better. Some of these things always have some lines, though, but I don't think you should be worrying at all. The Louvre has never had that long a line when I've been there, even in summer, since they have the automatic ticket machines now. I don't enter by the pyramid, just by the metro entrance.

I as in Paris three years ago in the first part of November. It was really nice, not crowded. We didn't need museum passes at all. We hit the Louvre very early one morning. It wasn't planned, but it was our first morning and because of time difference we were up really early and just started out walking and there it was, the Pyramid, there was almost no one around and we went right in. It got more croweded as time passed. We waiting in line maybe 10 mintues at the most for the d'Orsay and I'd say 20 mintues for l'Orangerie.

Versailles was probably the most crowded, but not packed by any meanse. The weather was cool, so very comfortable. Rain threatened a couple of times. It rained over night one evening and drizzled for an hour or so one day, but other than that it was perfect.

The trees still had leaves so it wasn't barran, but they were beginning to turn and fall. It was a great time to be in Paris.

I was there last year from Oct 27th to November 8th. We did wait over an hour to climb up to the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower at 6:30 pm on a Monday night... so it's safe to assume there are a few attractions that will never be empty.

It was a great time of the year, I would go back again late October/early November in a heartbeat.

There are a lot of European school holidays around that time, but it does not compare at all to the summer crush.