Known for
Monuments along the Seine, art museums and café culture
Must-see landmark
The Eiffel Tower
Best time to visit
April to June and September to October
Days needed
Three to four full days for the main sights
The Gothic cathedral on the Île de la Cité reopened in December 2024 after the fire restoration, with its nave and rose windows back in view. Entry is free and the first hour of the morning is the quietest. Sainte-Chapelle stands an 8 minute walk away across the island.
The royal chapel of the 13th century palace holds walls of stained glass that turn the upper level into a lantern of colour. It shares the island with the Conciergerie, so security lines move early in the day. A 19 minute walk along the river leads to the Louvre.
The world's most visited museum spreads from the glass pyramid across three wings, so two hours are best spent on one of them, with the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo in the Denon wing. The museum closes on Tuesdays. The Tuileries Garden begins 12 minutes away.
The formal garden between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde lines its central alley with fountains, statues and café chairs, the natural pause of the route. Crossing the Seine towards the Left Bank, the Musée d'Orsay is a 14 minute walk.
A former railway station under a great glass roof now holds the leading collection of Impressionist painting, with Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh on the upper level. It closes on Mondays. The walk to the Eiffel Tower follows the river for about 40 minutes, or RER C covers it in two stops.
The iron tower built for the 1889 World's Fair remains the city's defining landmark, with viewing floors reached by lift or stairs. Booking a timed slot ahead avoids the longest lines at the base. The terraces of the Trocadéro wait 13 minutes away across the Pont d'Iéna.
The gardens and terraces below the Palais de Chaillot hold the classic face-on view of the Eiffel Tower across the river. Late afternoon light suits photos best, and the esplanade at sunset closes the day.
Paris concentrates its reasons to visit along a few kilometres of the Seine, whose banks are listed as World Heritage. The city proper is compact, twenty arrondissements spiralling out from the Louvre, and most of what visitors come for sits within a walkable band on either side of the river, from the medieval island core to the grand boulevards.
The Île de la Cité is where the city began, with Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle. The Marais keeps its pre-revolutionary streets and many of the free city museums, the Latin Quarter and Saint-Germain hold the Sorbonne, the Panthéon and the Luxembourg Gardens, and Montmartre remains a hilltop village around Sacré-Cœur. The 7th arrondissement gathers the Eiffel Tower, the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée Rodin.
April to June and September to October bring mild weather and manageable lines, while July and August are the hottest and busiest months. Winter stays quiet outside the holidays. Three to four full days cover the main sights: one for the islands and the Louvre, one for the Eiffel Tower and the Left Bank museums, one for Montmartre, and a fourth for Versailles.
The centre rewards walking, and the métro reaches everything else with stations rarely more than a few minutes apart. RER B trains link Charles de Gaulle airport with the centre, métro line 14 runs from Orly, and the RER C follows the Left Bank towards Versailles.
Vivaldi's Four Seasons fills the Sainte-Chapelle on 16 August at 20:00, a classical concert beneath the stained glass of the upper chapel.
The Hollywood Vampires play the Adidas Arena on 26 August at 20:00, the rock supergroup founded by Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp and Joe Perry.
France take on Slovenia at the Accor Arena on 27 August at 20:30, a home night for Les Bleus in Bercy before the autumn season.
Joji plays the Adidas Arena on 1 September at 20:00, bringing his tour to the new arena at Porte de la Chapelle.
Lauryn Hill plays the Accor Arena on 2 September at 20:00, one of the biggest R&B dates of the Paris autumn.
Ronnie Wood and his band play L'Olympia on 5 September at 20:00, the Rolling Stones guitarist in the historic Boulevard des Capucines hall.
The most visited cemetery in the world covers a wooded hill in the 20th arrondissement, where Chopin, Oscar Wilde and Édith Piaf rest along cobbled avenues. Entry is free, and the gates open daily from morning to early evening.
The open terrace on the 8th floor of the Haussmann department store looks over the Opéra Garnier and across the rooftops to the Eiffel Tower. Access is free during store hours, riding the escalators up past the stained glass dome.
Two minutes from the Louvre, the former royal palace encloses a formal garden framed by arcades, with Buren's striped columns filling the courtyard. The garden is free to enter and opens daily.
Passage des Panoramas and Galerie Vivienne are the best preserved of the 19th century shopping arcades, glass roofed galleries of stamp dealers, bistros and bookshops near the Grands Boulevards. Walking through costs nothing.
The vast antiques market at Porte de Clignancourt gathers more than a thousand dealers across a dozen covered markets just beyond the périphérique. Browsing is free from Saturday to Monday, when the stalls open to the public.
The museum of the history of Paris fills two Marais mansions with period rooms, relics of the Revolution and Proust's reconstructed bedroom. The permanent collection is free for everyone; only temporary exhibitions are ticketed.
The ticket gives you access to the roof of the Arc de Triomphe to enjoy a 360° panoramic view of Paris after climbing 284 steps. Although the ticket includes access to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the museum, please note that the ticket is non-refundable and that, even with priority access, you will still have to go through the mandatory security checks.
This ticket includes a guided tour with elevator access to the first and second levels of the Eiffel Tower and panoramic views of Paris.
This ticket includes a guided tour climbing the stairs to the first and second levels of the Eiffel Tower and panoramic views of Paris.
Discover the quieter side of Versailles with access to the Estate of Trianon, including the Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon and the picturesque Queen’s Hamlet once enjoyed by French royalty.
This ticket includes timed-entry admission to the Louvre Museum, access to the permanent collections and temporary exhibitions, and an optional audio guide.
This ticket includes timed-entry admission to the Louvre Museum, a live guided tour in English or Spanish, and full access to the permanent collections across all eight departments.
Skip the lines at the world's most visited museum and enjoy reserved entry to the Louvre plus exclusive hosted access directly to the Mona Lisa, guided by a dedicated host through the magnificent Arc du Carrousel.
This ticket grants you skip-the-line access to the magnificent Sainte-Chapelle, a 13th-century Gothic masterpiece nestled within the former royal residence on Île de la Cité.
Enjoy a commented sightseeing cruise on the Seine River and discover Paris’ most iconic landmarks from the water, including the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, and Musée d’Orsay.
Discover the Palace of Versailles with an English-speaking guided tour that includes skip-the-line access to the royal apartments, the Hall of Mirrors and the most iconic rooms of France’s most famous palace.
Skip the long queues and fast-forward your entry to the world’s biggest and most iconic art museum.