No city packs more world-famous sights into a walkable centre than Paris — the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, a gloriously restored Notre-Dame, the Impressionists of the Musée d'Orsay, bohemian Montmartre and the palace of Versailles beyond the ring road. Here are the 20 attractions worth building your trip around, with prices in euros, opening hours, Métro directions and tips to skip the queues.
€22Eiffel Tower
Area
7th · Champ de Mars
Category
Landmark
“Book a timed lift ticket two weeks ahead and go for the sparkle — it lights up for five minutes every hour after dusk.”
€22Louvre Museum
Area
1st · Rue de Rivoli
Category
Art Museum
“Enter via the Carrousel underground mall or Porte des Lions to skip the pyramid queue; book the first 09:00 slot.”
FreeNotre-Dame Cathedral
Area
4th · Île de la Cité
Category
Cathedral
“Reopened after the 2019 fire — reserve a free timed entry slot online to avoid the long walk-up queue.”
€16Musée d'Orsay
Area
7th · Rive Gauche
Category
Art Museum
“The Impressionist galleries on the top floor are the highlight — go there first, then work down.”
FreeMontmartre & Sacré-Cœur
Area
18th · Butte Montmartre
Category
Hilltop District
“Climb the back lanes early before the crowds; the basilica dome climb gives the best free-ish view in Paris.”
€16Arc de Triomphe
Area
8th · Place de l'Étoile
Category
Monument
“Use the pedestrian underpass to reach it — never cross the roundabout — and climb at sunset for the lit Champs-Élysées.”
€21Palace of Versailles
Area
Versailles · 45 min SW
Category
Palace
“Go Tuesday–Friday, book a timed passport ticket, and see the gardens first when the fountains run (Apr–Oct).”
€13Sainte-Chapelle
Area
1st · Île de la Cité
Category
Chapel
“Go on a bright morning when sunlight pours through the 15 stained-glass windows; book a combined ticket with the Conciergerie.”
€14Musée Rodin
Area
7th · Les Invalides
Category
Art Museum
“The rose garden with The Thinker and The Gates of Hell is the real draw — a garden-only ticket is cheaper.”
€15Centre Pompidou
Area
4th · Beaubourg
Category
Modern Art
“Ride the exterior escalator tube for a free-ish rooftop view; note the museum closes for renovation from late 2025.”
FreeLe Marais
Area
3rd & 4th · Rive Droite
Category
District
“Wander the side streets around Rue des Rosiers and Place des Vosges; Sunday afternoon is when the shops stay open.”
FreeLuxembourg Gardens
Area
6th · Rive Gauche
Category
Gardens
“Rent a toy sailboat for the octagonal pond, grab a green metal chair by the palace, and picnic on the lawns' edges.”
€29Catacombs of Paris
Area
14th · Denfert-Rochereau
Category
Historic Site
“Buy the timed online ticket well ahead — the walk-up queue is brutal, and it's cool (14°C) underground, so bring a layer.”
€17Seine River Cruise
Area
7th · Pont de l'Alma quays
Category
Boat Tour
“Take the last cruise of the evening to glide past the illuminated monuments and the sparkling Eiffel Tower.”
€13Musée de l'Orangerie
Area
1st · Tuileries
Category
Art Museum
“Sit a while in the oval rooms — Monet designed the Water Lilies to be immersive; go at opening for near-empty galleries.”
€13Panthéon & Latin Quarter
Area
5th · Latin Quarter
Category
Monument
“Climb to the colonnade dome (seasonal, extra ticket) for a rooftop panorama fewer tourists know about.”
€16Musée Picasso
Area
3rd · Le Marais
Category
Art Museum
“Housed in a superb Marais mansion — combine it with a wander round the surrounding boutiques and Place des Vosges.”
€15Palais Garnier
Area
9th · Opéra
Category
Opera House
“Self-guided daytime visits let you roam the Grand Staircase and Chagall-ceilinged auditorium — check it's not closed for rehearsal.”
€15Les Invalides
Area
7th · Rive Gauche
Category
Museum / Monument
“The golden dome over Napoleon's tomb is the highlight; the Army Museum is one of the world's biggest military collections.”
Paris attractions in detail
1.Eiffel Tower
Built by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 World's Fair and once derided by the city's artists, the Tour Eiffel is now the single image every visitor pictures when they think of Paris. The 330-metre iron lattice has three levels: the first with a glass floor and exhibitions, the second with the best all-round panoramas over the Seine and the rooftops, and the summit, reached by a second lift, where you can see Sacré-Cœur, La Défense and the whole city spread out. Tickets are timed and sell out days ahead in high season, so book online and choose the lift or the cheaper stairs to the second floor. Go at opening for shorter queues, or at dusk to watch the tower's 20,000 bulbs sparkle for five minutes on the hour. The Champ de Mars lawns and the Trocadéro terrace opposite give the classic photo. Allow two hours, and keep valuables secure in the busy plaza below.
Hours
Daily 09:30–23:45 (last lift ~23:00; seasonal)
Price
Lift to summit from ~€29; stairs to 2nd floor from ~€14
Getting there
Métro L6 to Bir-Hakeim or RER C to Champ de Mars–Tour Eiffel
Insider tip: Book a timed lift ticket two weeks ahead and go for the sparkle — it lights up for five minutes every hour after dusk.
2.Louvre Museum
The Louvre is the largest art museum on earth, a former royal palace holding some 35,000 works across eight departments and eras from ancient Mesopotamia to the mid-nineteenth century. Its stars need no introduction — Leonardo's Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People — but the building itself, wrapped around I. M. Pei's glass pyramid, is half the spectacle. Nobody sees it all: pick two or three wings (Denon for Italian painting and the crowds, Richelieu for calmer French and Northern galleries, Sully for Egyptian antiquities) and accept that you're sampling. Tickets are timed and must be booked online; the pyramid entrance queues badly, so use the Carrousel mall or Porte des Lions doors. Arrive at opening, head straight to the Mona Lisa before the crush, then wander. It's free on the first Friday evening of each month and always free for under-18s. Budget three hours minimum.
Hours
Wed–Mon 09:00–18:00 (Fri to 21:45); closed Tue
Price
€22 online (timed); free first Fri evening of month & under-18s
Getting there
Métro L1/L7 to Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre
Insider tip: Enter via the Carrousel underground mall or Porte des Lions to skip the pyramid queue; book the first 09:00 slot.
3.Notre-Dame Cathedral
Notre-Dame de Paris is the great Gothic cathedral at the very heart of the city, begun in 1163 and standing on the Île de la Cité, the island from which Paris grew. The devastating fire of April 2019 destroyed the spire and roof and shocked the world; after a five-year, billion-euro restoration it reopened in December 2024, its cleaned pale stone, rebuilt oak spire and dazzling stained-glass rose windows looking more luminous than they have in generations. Inside, the soaring nave, ribbed vaults and the glow of the medieval rose windows are free to visit, though a timed reservation is now strongly advised to manage the huge crowds. Climbing the towers — home to the gargoyles and the great bell — is ticketed separately and books out fast. Even from outside, the flying buttresses along the Seine and the sculpted west façade reward a slow circuit. Combine it with Sainte-Chapelle and the Latin Quarter just across the river, and come early to beat the queues.
Hours
Daily ~08:00–19:00 (reserve free timed entry)
Price
Free to enter; towers ~€16 (book ahead)
Getting there
Métro L4 to Cité, or RER B/C to Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame
Insider tip: Reopened after the 2019 fire — reserve a free timed entry slot online to avoid the long walk-up queue.
4.Musée d'Orsay
Housed in the glorious Beaux-Arts Gare d'Orsay, a former railway station whose vast glass-and-iron hall and giant clock are a sight in themselves, the Musée d'Orsay holds the world's finest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. This is where you find Monet's water lilies and cathedrals, Renoir's dancers, Degas's ballerinas, Van Gogh's self-portraits and starry nights, Manet, Cézanne, Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec, spanning the pivotal 1848–1914 decades. The top-floor Impressionist rooms behind the great clock are the crown jewels — head straight there before the tour groups arrive, then descend through sculpture, Art Nouveau and academic painting. It's far more manageable than the Louvre, comfortably seen in two to three hours, and the clock-window views over the Seine to Montmartre are a bonus. Book timed tickets online (€16), and note it's free on the first Sunday of each month. Pair it with a walk along the Left Bank or the Tuileries just across the river.
Hours
Tue–Sun 09:30–18:00 (Thu to 21:45); closed Mon
Price
€16 online; free first Sun of month & under-18s
Getting there
RER C to Musée d'Orsay, or Métro L12 to Solférino
Insider tip: The Impressionist galleries on the top floor are the highlight — go there first, then work down.
5.Montmartre & Sacré-Cœur
Montmartre is the village-on-a-hill that gave Paris its bohemian myth — the quarter where Picasso, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh worked, and where cobbled lanes, ivy-clad houses and tiny squares still feel a world apart from the grand boulevards below. Crowning it all is the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, a gleaming white Romano-Byzantine church begun in 1875, free to enter and framed by the city's most sweeping viewpoint from its steps. Climb the dome for an even higher panorama. Around it, the Place du Tertre buzzes with portrait artists (touristy but fun), while quieter streets hide the Espace Dalí, the vineyard, the Bateau-Lavoir and the café from Amélie. It's genuinely steep, so take the funicular up from Anvers or the métro to Abbesses with its Art Nouveau entrance. Come early morning or at dusk to dodge the crowds and pickpockets, wander without a map, and settle into a café terrace on one of the back lanes for the full effect.
Hours
Basilica daily ~06:30–22:30; dome ~10:30–20:30
Price
Basilica free; dome climb ~€8
Getting there
Métro L2 to Anvers (then the funicular) or L12 to Abbesses
Insider tip: Climb the back lanes early before the crowds; the basilica dome climb gives the best free-ish view in Paris.
6.Arc de Triomphe
Commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to honour his armies and completed in 1836, the Arc de Triomphe stands at the centre of the Place de l'Étoile, where twelve grand avenues radiate out like a star. At 50 metres it is one of the world's great triumphal arches, its façades carved with monumental reliefs — Rude's 'La Marseillaise' among them — and beneath it burns the eternal flame over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the First World War, rekindled every evening at 18:30. Climb the 284 steps (there is limited lift access) to the rooftop terrace for one of the best views in Paris: straight down the Champs-Élysées to the Louvre, out to the Eiffel Tower and along the axis to the modern arch at La Défense. Reach it via the pedestrian tunnel from the Champs-Élysées — never attempt the traffic circle. Sunset is magical as the avenue lights up. Allow an hour; book online to save time.
Hours
Daily 10:00–22:30/23:00 (seasonal; last entry ~45 min before)
Price
Rooftop ~€16; free under-18s & first Sun of month (off-season)
Getting there
Métro L1/L2/L6 or RER A to Charles de Gaulle–Étoile
Insider tip: Use the pedestrian underpass to reach it — never cross the roundabout — and climb at sunset for the lit Champs-Élysées.
7.Palace of Versailles
The Château de Versailles is the grandest palace in Europe, the seat of French royal power from Louis XIV until the Revolution and a monument to absolute monarchy's ambition. The showpiece is the Hall of Mirrors — 73 metres of glittering glass and chandeliers where the Treaty of Versailles was later signed — but the gilded State Apartments, the King's and Queen's chambers and the Royal Chapel are barely less opulent. Outside, André Le Nôtre's formal gardens stretch for 800 hectares of clipped parterres, fountains, canals and groves; from spring to autumn the fountains stage musical shows worth timing your visit around. Further out lie the Grand and Petit Trianon and Marie-Antoinette's rustic hamlet. It's overwhelming and hugely popular, so book a timed 'Passport' ticket online, arrive early or later in the afternoon, and consider renting a bike or golf cart for the vast grounds. Reach it in about 40 minutes on the RER C. Allow a full day to do it justice.
Hours
Tue–Sun 09:00–18:30; gardens daily (closed Mon)
Price
Palace €21; Passport with gardens ~€24–32
Getting there
RER C to Versailles Château Rive Gauche (~40 min from central Paris)
Insider tip: Go Tuesday–Friday, book a timed passport ticket, and see the gardens first when the fountains run (Apr–Oct).
8.Sainte-Chapelle
Hidden inside the courtyards of the old royal palace on the Île de la Cité, Sainte-Chapelle is the most breathtaking interior in Paris. Built in just seven years by Louis IX (Saint Louis) in the 1240s to house his collection of relics, including the Crown of Thorns, it is Gothic architecture reduced to its most daring: on the upper level, fifteen soaring 15-metre stained-glass windows dissolve the walls into a shimmering wall of light, telling more than a thousand biblical scenes in glowing reds and blues. On a sunny morning the effect is otherworldly, the whole chapel bathed in coloured radiance. The plainer lower chapel, for palace servants, sets up the drama before you climb the tight spiral stair. It's small, so entry is timed and queues form for security (it shares the Palais de Justice); book online and visit early on a clear day for the best light. Combine it with the neighbouring Conciergerie, the medieval prison where Marie-Antoinette was held, on a single ticket.
Hours
Daily 09:00–19:00 (to 17:00 in winter)
Price
€13; combined with Conciergerie ~€20
Getting there
Métro L4 to Cité; inside the Palais de Justice complex
Insider tip: Go on a bright morning when sunlight pours through the 15 stained-glass windows; book a combined ticket with the Conciergerie.
9.Musée Rodin
The Musée Rodin occupies the Hôtel Biron, a graceful eighteenth-century mansion where Auguste Rodin lived and worked, and it is one of the most enjoyable museums in Paris precisely because so much of it is outdoors. The three-hectare sculpture garden, planted with clipped hedges and roses, displays the sculptor's monumental bronzes in the open air — The Thinker brooding on his plinth, the tormented Gates of Hell, the Burghers of Calais — with the dome of Les Invalides rising behind. Indoors, the mansion's light-filled rooms hold The Kiss and hundreds of marbles, plasters and studies, plus works by Rodin's pupil and muse Camille Claudel. It's intimate, uncrowded by Paris standards and deeply atmospheric, ideal for a calmer couple of hours between the bigger sights. There's a lovely garden café among the sculptures. A full ticket is €14, but a cheap garden-only pass lets you see the star bronzes and enjoy the grounds. It's free on the first Sunday of the month, and steps from Les Invalides.
Hours
Tue–Sun 10:00–18:30; closed Mon
Price
€14; garden only ~€5; free first Sun of month
Getting there
Métro L13 to Varenne, beside Les Invalides
Insider tip: The rose garden with The Thinker and The Gates of Hell is the real draw — a garden-only ticket is cheaper.
10.Centre Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou turned architecture inside out when it opened in 1977, wearing its colour-coded pipes, ducts and escalators on the outside so the interior could be one vast flexible space. Locals were scandalised; now the 'Beaubourg' is a beloved landmark and home to the Musée National d'Art Moderne, the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe. Its galleries run from Matisse, Picasso, Kandinsky and Duchamp through to Warhol, Pollock and living artists, alongside major temporary shows, a public library and a cinema. The glass escalator tube climbing the façade is an attraction in itself, delivering a terrific rooftop panorama across the rooftops to Montmartre and the Eiffel Tower. The sloping piazza in front draws buskers and crowds, and the Stravinsky Fountain with its playful Niki de Saint Phalle sculptures sits alongside. Note that the building is scheduled to close for a major multi-year renovation from late 2025, so check before planning a visit. When open, allow two hours plus the view.
Hours
Wed–Mon 11:00–21:00; closed Tue (check renovation dates)
Price
Museum ~€15; free first Sun of month
Getting there
Métro L11 to Rambuteau or L1/L4/L7/L11/L14 to Châtelet
Insider tip: Ride the exterior escalator tube for a free-ish rooftop view; note the museum closes for renovation from late 2025.
11.Le Marais
The Marais is the best-preserved slice of pre-Revolutionary Paris, a maze of narrow medieval streets and grand seventeenth-century mansions (hôtels particuliers) that escaped Haussmann's boulevards. At its heart is the Place des Vosges, the city's oldest planned square, a serene arcade of rose-brick façades where Victor Hugo once lived. Around it the quarter layers identities: the historic Jewish district along Rue des Rosiers with its falafel counters, the lively LGBTQ+ scene around Rue Sainte-Croix, and a wave of independent boutiques, concept stores, vintage shops and cafés that make it Paris's coolest place to browse. It's also dense with culture — the Picasso Museum, the Carnavalet (the free museum of Paris's history) and the Pompidou all sit within it. Crucially for visitors, many Marais shops open on Sundays when the rest of Paris shuts. Simply wandering is the pleasure: duck through carriage gates into hidden courtyards, graze on falafel or pastries, and settle on a café terrace. Free, central and endlessly photogenic, it rewards an unhurried half-day.
Hours
Streets always open; shops ~11:00–19:00 (many open Sun)
Price
Free to explore
Getting there
Métro L1 to Saint-Paul or L8 to Chemin Vert
Insider tip: Wander the side streets around Rue des Rosiers and Place des Vosges; Sunday afternoon is when the shops stay open.
12.Luxembourg Gardens
The Jardin du Luxembourg is the Left Bank's favourite green space and, for many Parisians, the most beautiful garden in the city. Laid out in 1612 for Marie de' Medici around the Italianate Luxembourg Palace (now the French Senate), it blends formal French parterres with looser English-style groves, all dotted with statues of queens and poets, fountains and manicured lawns. The great pleasures are simple and free: drag one of the famous green metal chairs to the octagonal basin and watch children push wooden sailboats across the water, wander to the romantic Medici Fountain in its shady grotto, or picnic under the chestnut trees. There are tennis courts, chess players, bee-hives, an orchard, puppet shows and one of the city's best playgrounds, making it as good for families as for solo loafing with a book. Bordering the Latin Quarter and Saint-Germain, it's the ideal restful break between museums and cafés. It's free, opens dawn to dusk, and shifts with the seasons — glorious in spring blossom and autumn gold.
Hours
Daily dawn to dusk (~07:30–21:30 summer)
Price
Free
Getting there
RER B to Luxembourg, or Métro L4 to Saint-Sulpice
Insider tip: Rent a toy sailboat for the octagonal pond, grab a green metal chair by the palace, and picnic on the lawns' edges.
13.Catacombs of Paris
Beneath the streets of the 14th arrondissement lies one of Paris's strangest and most memorable sights: the Catacombs, a vast underground ossuary holding the remains of an estimated six million people. In the late eighteenth century, with the city's cemeteries overflowing and spreading disease, bones were exhumed and transferred into disused limestone quarry tunnels, where workers stacked skulls and femurs into eerie, artful walls that still line the passages today. The visit descends 130 spiral steps into the cool, dim tunnels and winds for about 1.5 kilometres past inscriptions and the carefully arranged bones, an atmospheric and genuinely haunting hour. It is not for the claustrophobic or very young children, and there is a long climb back to street level at the end. Entry is timed and capped, and the walk-up queue can swallow hours, so buy the online ticket (around €29, audioguide included) well in advance. It stays a constant 14°C underground, so bring a layer even in summer, and wear sturdy shoes for the uneven, sometimes damp floor.
Hours
Tue–Sun 09:45–20:30; closed Mon
Price
~€29 timed online (includes audioguide)
Getting there
Métro L4/L6 or RER B to Denfert-Rochereau
Insider tip: Buy the timed online ticket well ahead — the walk-up queue is brutal, and it's cool (14°C) underground, so bring a layer.
14.Seine River Cruise
A cruise along the Seine is the easiest and most romantic way to see Paris's greatest monuments line up in a single hour, and it's especially worthwhile because the river's banks are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Open-top sightseeing boats — Bateaux-Parisiens, Bateaux-Mouches and Vedettes du Pont-Neuf among them — glide past Notre-Dame on its island, the long façades of the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay, the Conciergerie, the Institut de France, the gilded Pont Alexandre III and, finally, the Eiffel Tower, with commentary pointing out the landmarks as you pass beneath the historic bridges. Standard one-hour tours cost from around €17 and run through the day; the magic peaks after dark, when the monuments are floodlit and the Eiffel Tower sparkles on the hour. For a splurge, lunch and dinner cruises add a meal to the view. Boarding points cluster near the Eiffel Tower and Pont Neuf. Sit on the open upper deck if the weather allows, book online in peak season, and time an evening sailing to catch the illuminations.
Hours
Departures ~10:00–22:30, roughly hourly (seasonal)
Price
Sightseeing cruise from ~€17; dinner cruises much more
Getting there
Boarding at Port de la Bourdonnais (Eiffel Tower) or Pont Neuf
Insider tip: Take the last cruise of the evening to glide past the illuminated monuments and the sparkling Eiffel Tower.
15.Musée de l'Orangerie
The Musée de l'Orangerie is a small museum with one enormous drawcard: Claude Monet's Nymphéas, the great cycle of Water Lilies he painted at Giverny and donated to France. They fill two purpose-built oval rooms, wrapping visitors 360 degrees in luminous panels of pond, willow and shifting light — a meditative, immersive experience that Monet conceived as a refuge for the senses. Downstairs, the Walter-Guillaume collection is a jewel-box of Impressionist and early modern painting, with Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, Modigliani, Soutine and Picasso hung in intimate rooms. Set in a former royal greenhouse at the Tuileries end nearest Place de la Concorde, it is compact enough to see properly in around an hour, making it an ideal pairing with the Musée d'Orsay across the river or a stroll through the gardens. Because the oval rooms lose their calm when full, arrive right at opening. Tickets are €13, free on the first Sunday of the month, and a combined ticket with the Orsay saves money for anyone doing both in a day.
Hours
Wed–Mon 09:00–18:00; closed Tue
Price
€13; free first Sun of month & under-18s
Getting there
Métro L1/L8/L12 to Concorde, in the Tuileries gardens
Insider tip: Sit a while in the oval rooms — Monet designed the Water Lilies to be immersive; go at opening for near-empty galleries.
16.Panthéon & Latin Quarter
Crowning the hill of the Latin Quarter, the Panthéon began as a church dedicated to Sainte-Geneviève and became, after the Revolution, the secular mausoleum of France's national heroes. Beneath its vast neoclassical dome and columned portico lie the tombs of Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, Marie Curie, Louis Braille and, more recently, Josephine Baker and Simone Veil. The airy interior also holds Foucault's Pendulum, first swung here in 1851 to demonstrate the Earth's rotation, and sweeping murals of the city's patron saint. In warmer months you can climb to the exterior colonnade for a superb, uncrowded panorama over the Latin Quarter's rooftops to the Eiffel Tower. Around it spreads the studenty Latin Quarter itself — the Sorbonne, medieval Rue Mouffetard, bookshops and the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont — perfect for wandering afterwards. Entry is €13, with the dome an extra seasonal ticket. Combine it with the nearby Luxembourg Gardens and Sainte-Chapelle for a rich Left Bank day steeped in French intellectual history.
Hours
Daily 10:00–18:00 (to 18:30 in summer)
Price
€13; dome climb extra (Apr–Oct); free first Sun off-season
Getting there
RER B to Luxembourg, or Métro L10 to Cardinal Lemoine
Insider tip: Climb to the colonnade dome (seasonal, extra ticket) for a rooftop panorama fewer tourists know about.
17.Musée Picasso
The Musée National Picasso holds the richest public collection of the artist's work anywhere — some 5,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints and ceramics — assembled largely from the works Picasso's heirs gave the French state in lieu of inheritance tax. It fills the Hôtel Salé, a magnificent seventeenth-century Marais mansion whose grand staircase and restored rooms make an elegant backdrop for the art. Rather than a greatest-hits gallery, it traces the whole restless arc of his career: Blue and Rose periods, the birth of Cubism, neoclassical nudes, Surrealist experiments and late explosions of colour, alongside his personal collection of works by Cézanne, Matisse and Rousseau. Because it's chronological and comprehensive, it rewards anyone who wants to understand how Picasso kept reinventing himself. It's mid-sized and manageable in around ninety minutes, and its Marais setting means you can fold in the Place des Vosges, independent boutiques and a café afterwards. Tickets are €16, free on the first Sunday of each month; book online at busy times to skip the queue.
Hours
Tue–Fri 10:30–18:00, Sat–Sun 09:30–18:00; closed Mon
Price
€16; free first Sun of month & under-18s
Getting there
Métro L8 to Saint-Sébastien–Froissart or L1 to Saint-Paul
Insider tip: Housed in a superb Marais mansion — combine it with a wander round the surrounding boutiques and Place des Vosges.
18.Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier is the sumptuous nineteenth-century opera house that gave Paris its most theatrical interior and inspired The Phantom of the Opera. Designed by Charles Garnier and opened in 1875 as the centrepiece of Haussmann's new boulevards, it is Second Empire opulence at full volume: a grand marble staircase built for the aristocracy to see and be seen, mirrored and gilded foyers glittering with chandeliers and mosaics, and a red-and-gold horseshoe auditorium crowned by Marc Chagall's dreamlike 1964 ceiling, painted around the seven-tonne central chandelier. You can visit by day on a self-guided or guided tour to admire the staircase, the Grand Foyer and (rehearsals permitting) the auditorium, or come in the evening for ballet and opera in one of the world's most beautiful theatres. It sits at the top of the Avenue de l'Opéra near the big department stores, making it easy to combine with shopping on the Grands Boulevards. Daytime entry is around €15; check the schedule, as the auditorium closes during rehearsals.
Hours
Daily ~10:00–17:00 for visits (varies with performances)
Price
Self-guided ~€15; guided tours more
Getting there
Métro L3/L7/L8 to Opéra, or RER A to Auber
Insider tip: Self-guided daytime visits let you roam the Grand Staircase and Chagall-ceilinged auditorium — check it's not closed for rehearsal.
19.Les Invalides
Les Invalides is the grand seventeenth-century complex Louis XIV built as a home and hospital for wounded soldiers, and its glittering gilded dome — one of the tallest and most recognisable monuments in Paris — is now the setting for the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. Beneath the dome, the emperor lies in a monumental red-quartzite sarcophagus ringed by reliefs of his victories, a suitably imperial resting place. The surrounding buildings house the Musée de l'Armée, France's national army museum and among the largest military collections in the world, spanning medieval armour, Napoleonic uniforms and campaigns, and the two World Wars, including a moving Charles de Gaulle memorial. The vast courtyard, lined with historic cannon, and the classical façade make an impressive approach across the esplanade from the Seine. It's close to the Musée Rodin and Eiffel Tower, so it slots neatly into a Left Bank day. A single ticket (around €15) covers the Army Museum and the Dôme with Napoleon's tomb; allow two hours, more for military-history enthusiasts.
Hours
Daily 10:00–18:00 (seasonal; some evenings)
Price
€15 (Army Museum + Dôme); free under-18s
Getting there
Métro L8 to La Tour-Maubourg or L13 to Varenne; RER C to Invalides
Insider tip: The golden dome over Napoleon's tomb is the highlight; the Army Museum is one of the world's biggest military collections.