The 20 best, in orderBest things to do in Paris
What to do in Paris, from the first morning to the last night: the 20 things worth your time, in the order this site would do them, with how long each takes, what it costs and when to go.
- 20
- Things to do, in order
- 6
- Cost nothing
- 10
- Are under a roof, for a wet day
- 11
- Take two hours or less
Best things to do in Paris
Show
All 20
1Monument
Go up the Eiffel Tower
Monument, Champ de Mars
The view everyone came for. Go up before sunset, watch the city turn gold, and be on the ground again when the tower starts to sparkle.
- Time to allow
- 2 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- An hour before sunset
4.7496,438 Google ratingsFrom €28.80
Read the guide2Museum
See the Mona Lisa at the Louvre
Museum, 1st arrondissement
The largest museum in the world, and the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory under one roof. Pick ten works, not a hundred.
- Time to allow
- 3 to 4 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- First thing in the morning
4.7378,984 Google ratingsFrom €55.20
Read the guide3On the water
Cruise the Seine
On the water, The river, from the Eiffel Tower to Notre-Dame
An hour on the water takes you past the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Notre-Dame without a single queue. The easiest way to see how Paris fits together.
4Walk
Climb Montmartre to Sacré-Cœur
Walk, Montmartre
The village on the hill: steep lanes, a vineyard, the studios of Picasso and Renoir, and the white basilica at the top with the whole of Paris below it.
- Time to allow
- 2 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Free, ticket for the dome
- Best time
- Early morning, or at sunset
4.7168,834 Google ratingsFrom €15
How to do it5Church
Step inside Notre-Dame, restored
Church, Île de la Cité
The cathedral that burned in 2019 reopened in December 2024, its stone cleaned for the first time in centuries. It has never looked like this in living memory.
- Time to allow
- 45 to 90 minutes
- Cost
- Free
- Best time
- Early, on a weekday
4.7101,142 Google ratingsFrom €5
How to do it6Museum
See the Impressionists at the Musée d'Orsay
Museum, 7th arrondissement
Monet, Renoir, Degas and Van Gogh in a railway station of 1900, under its great glass roof. The most loved museum in Paris, and a manageable size.
- Time to allow
- 2 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- Late afternoon
4.8117,710 Google ratingsFrom €13
Read the guide7Day trip
Spend a day at Versailles
Day trip, Versailles, 17 km west of Paris
The palace of the Sun King: the Hall of Mirrors, the gardens that go on to the horizon, and Marie-Antoinette's hamlet. A full day, half an hour from Paris by train.
- Time to allow
- A full day
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- A weekday, from opening time
4.6171,839 Google ratingsFrom €15
Read the guide8Church
Stand inside the stained glass of the Sainte-Chapelle
Church, Île de la Cité
A royal chapel of the thirteenth century whose walls are almost entirely glass. On a bright day it is the most beautiful room in Paris.
- Time to allow
- 45 to 60 minutes
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- A sunny morning
4.650,502 Google ratingsFrom €25
Read the guide9Monument
Climb the Arc de Triomphe
Monument, Top of the Champs-Élysées
Twelve avenues meet at Napoleon's arch, and from its roof you look straight down every one of them, with the Eiffel Tower close enough to touch.
- Time to allow
- 45 to 60 minutes
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- At dusk
4.7300,144 Google ratingsFrom €16
Read the guide10Underground
Go down into the Catacombs
Underground, Denfert-Rochereau
Twenty metres under the streets, the bones of more than six million Parisians are stacked in walls along the tunnels of an old quarry. Nothing else in Paris is like it.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- Any day it rains
4.111,472 Google ratingsFrom €38
How to do it11Walk
Wander Le Marais and the Place des Vosges
Walk, Le Marais
The old aristocratic quarter that Haussmann never rebuilt: mansions behind carriage gates, the oldest square in Paris, falafel on the rue des Rosiers and the best shop windows in the city.
12Garden
Take a chair in the Luxembourg Gardens
Garden, Saint-Germain-des-Prés
The garden Parisians actually use: green metal chairs you can move wherever you like, toy boats on the pond, a queen's fountain in the shade. It costs nothing.
13Museum
Sit with Monet's Water Lilies at the Orangerie
Museum, Tuileries Garden
Two oval rooms built for eight vast paintings of a pond. Monet's Water Lilies surround you completely. An hour here is the calmest in Paris.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- At opening time
4.624,985 Google ratingsFrom €13.50
Read the guide14Monument
Walk up the staircase of the Opéra Garnier
Monument, Opéra
The opera house of the Phantom: a marble staircase built for showing off, a gilded foyer longer than the Hall of Mirrors feels, and a ceiling painted by Chagall.
- Time to allow
- 1 to 1.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- Late morning
4.761,367 Google ratingsFrom €25
How to do it15Museum
Find The Thinker in Rodin's garden
Museum, Invalides
The Thinker, The Kiss and The Gates of Hell, in the mansion where Rodin worked and in the rose garden around it. The most pleasant museum in Paris.
- Time to allow
- 1.5 to 2 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- A dry day, for the garden
4.721,075 Google ratingsFrom €14
Read the guide16Walk
Look for Jim Morrison at Père Lachaise
Walk, 20th arrondissement
A hillside city of the dead, cobbled and tree-lined, where Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Édith Piaf and Jim Morrison are buried. The most visited cemetery in the world, and free.
- Time to allow
- 1.5 to 2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Best time
- A weekday morning in autumn
4.64,639 Google ratingsFrom €14.50
How to do it17Walk
Walk the Latin Quarter up to the Panthéon
Walk, Latin Quarter
The student quarter since the Middle Ages: bookshops, narrow streets and cheap restaurants climbing a hill to the Panthéon, where Voltaire, Hugo and Marie Curie lie.
- Time to allow
- 2 to 3 hours
- Cost
- Free to walk, ticket for the Panthéon
- Best time
- Late afternoon, into the evening
4.670,053 Google ratingsFrom €13
How to do it18Show
See the can-can at the Moulin Rouge
Show, Pigalle, at the foot of Montmartre
The red windmill, the feathers, the can-can it invented. The most famous cabaret in the world has played every night since 1889, and it is exactly as over the top as you hope.
- Time to allow
- 2 to 2.5 hours
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- The late show
4.419,106 Google ratingsFrom €142
How to do it19Walk
Explore the covered passages
Walk, Grands Boulevards
The shopping arcades of the 1820s, under glass roofs: mosaic floors, old bookshops, toy shops and tea rooms. The Paris most visitors walk straight past.
- Time to allow
- 1.5 to 2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Best time
- A rainy afternoon
4.66,653 Google ratingsFrom €35.29
How to do it20Day trip
Take a day at Disneyland Paris
Day trip, Marne-la-Vallée, 32 km east of Paris
Two theme parks forty minutes from the centre by train, and the most visited attraction in Europe. With children it is not a question of whether, only of which day.
- Time to allow
- A full day
- Cost
- Ticket
- Best time
- A weekday outside school holidays
4.5325,992 Google ratingsFrom €52
How to do it
How long each one takes
The time to allow for each, shortest first, so you can see what fits into a spare hour and what needs a day. These are this site's estimates for an unhurried visit.
- Sainte-Chapelle45 to 60 minutes
- Arc de Triomphe45 to 60 minutes
- Seine river cruise1 hour
- Notre-Dame Cathedral45 to 90 minutes
- Catacombs of Paris1 to 1.5 hours
- Luxembourg Gardens1 to 1.5 hours
- Musée de l'Orangerie1 to 1.5 hours
- Palais Garnier1 to 1.5 hours
- Musée Rodin1.5 to 2 hours
- Père Lachaise Cemetery1.5 to 2 hours
- Covered Passages1.5 to 2 hours
- Moulin Rouge2 to 2.5 hours
- Eiffel Tower2 to 3 hours
- Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur2 to 3 hours
- Musée d'Orsay2 to 3 hours
- Le Marais2 to 3 hours
- Latin Quarter and the Panthéon2 to 3 hours
- Louvre Museum3 to 4 hours
- Palace of VersaillesA full day
- Disneyland ParisA full day
The track is eight hours long. The bar ends at the longest visit, and the line inside it marks the shortest.
What visitors say
Each place's overall rating on Google, and how many people have given one. The longer the bar, the more people have been and said so.
- Eiffel Tower4.7496,438 Google ratings
- Louvre Museum4.7378,984 Google ratings
- Disneyland Paris4.5325,992 Google ratings
- Arc de Triomphe4.7300,144 Google ratings
- Palace of Versailles4.6171,839 Google ratings
- Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur4.7168,834 Google ratings
- Luxembourg Gardens4.7129,695 Google ratings
- Musée d'Orsay4.8117,710 Google ratings
- Notre-Dame Cathedral4.7101,142 Google ratings
- Latin Quarter and the Panthéon4.670,053 Google ratings
- Palais Garnier4.761,367 Google ratings
- Sainte-Chapelle4.650,502 Google ratings
- Musée de l'Orangerie4.624,985 Google ratings
- Musée Rodin4.721,075 Google ratings
- Moulin Rouge4.419,106 Google ratings
- Catacombs of Paris4.111,472 Google ratings
- Covered Passages4.66,653 Google ratings
- Père Lachaise Cemetery4.64,639 Google ratings
Read on Google Maps. A district is shown by the rating of its main sight: Montmartre by the Sacré-Cœur, the Latin Quarter by the Panthéon, the covered passages by the Galerie Vivienne. A walk or a cruise with no entry of its own is left out. Ratings change, and so will this.
Where they are
Each number is a thing on the list, where it stands in Paris: the blue band is the river, the green blocks are the parks, gardens and cemeteries. North is up and each square of the grid is one kilometre, so you can see what is next to what and plan a day on foot.
- 1Eiffel Tower
- 2Louvre Museum
- 3Seine river cruise
- 4Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur
- 5Notre-Dame Cathedral
- 6Musée d'Orsay
- 8Sainte-Chapelle
- 9Arc de Triomphe
- 10Catacombs of Paris
- 11Le Marais
- 12Luxembourg Gardens
- 13Musée de l'Orangerie
- 14Palais Garnier
- 15Musée Rodin
- 16Père Lachaise Cemetery
- 17Latin Quarter and the Panthéon
- 18Moulin Rouge
- 19Covered Passages
River and green areas: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Off the map: 7. Palace of Versailles, 14.1 km from number 1, 20. Disneyland Paris, 35.8 km from number 1.
Things to do in Paris: common questions
- What is the number one thing to do in Paris?
- On this site's list: go up the Eiffel Tower. Then see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, and cruise the Seine. The order is this site's own: what a first visit should do first.
- What can you do in Paris for free?
- 6 of the 20 things on this list cost nothing: Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Le Marais, Luxembourg Gardens, Père Lachaise Cemetery and Covered Passages.
- What is there to do in Paris when it rains?
- 10 of the 20 are under a roof: Louvre Museum, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Musée d'Orsay, Palace of Versailles, Sainte-Chapelle, Catacombs of Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, Palais Garnier, Moulin Rouge and Covered Passages.
- What is there to do in Paris at night?
- Eiffel Tower, Seine river cruise, Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur, Arc de Triomphe, Le Marais, Moulin Rouge and Disneyland Paris are all at their best after dark.
- How many days do you need in Paris?
- The 18 things on this list that are in the city add up to between 27 and 38 hours of visiting, by this site's estimates, without the time to get between them. At about six hours of visiting a day, that is 5 to 7 days for all of them, and three or four days for the first ten.
- What are the best day trips from Paris?
- Palace of Versailles (17 km west of Paris) and Disneyland Paris (32 km east of Paris). Each takes a full day.
Where to stay in Paris
- Four Seasons Hotel George V4.8Five-star hotel, Palace, Avenue George V, off the Champs-Élysées
- La Réserve Paris4.8Five-star hotel, Palace, Avenue Gabriel, by the Champs-Élysées gardens
- The Peninsula Paris4.7Five-star hotel, Palace, Avenue Kléber, by the Arc de Triomphe
- Hôtel de Crillon4.7Five-star hotel, Palace, Place de la Concorde
How the list is made
The choice and the order are this site's: what a first visit to Paris should do first. Nobody has paid to be on the list or to be higher on it. The times are estimates for an unhurried visit, not measurements.
Where a row shows a price, it is the lowest price of the ticket or tour its page links to, as its seller showed it on the day the page was checked. The ratings are Google's and change over time.