When we were Googling things to do in Paris, the first thing we realized is that pretty much every list that came up was the same. While there are a few things in Paris that everyone has to do, like check out the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, there is so much a lot more to the city than just ticking items off your landmark check-list.
That’s why we checked out the French capital with the goal of having some a lot more off-track experiences and trying to get under the skin of Paris. We’ve never been ones to follow the excursion groups, so even when exploring the sixth-most checked out city in the world, we found our own little slice of it.
Table of Contents
Top Sights in Paris
The top things To do in Paris
Less-Visited things To do in Paris
Offtrack things To do in Paris
Best things To do in Paris For Foodies
Getting around Paris
More things To do in Paris?
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We used recommendations from our Parisian and ex-pat readers, as well as from our local excursion guides, hosts and people we met along the way to come up with the absolute best things to do in Paris, including those things that aren’t too swamped with tourists.
In this post, I’m going to list the best things to see in Paris, from the must-visit sights and attractions to the special experiences that may just end up being your favourite.
Top Sights in Paris
In this post, I’ll break down different areas of Paris by Arrondissement and the best things to do in each. I’ll also give you directions to our top 5 much-loved sightseeing walks in the city, which take in pretty much every sight you’d want to see on your first and second trip to Paris.
But just for clarity and ease of reading, here’s a quick list of the sights we’ll cover in this post.
Surprisingly, we were able to see a lot of of these on our short 5-day trip, but you’d be able to see lots of of them with just a couple of days in Paris. We didn’t feel too rushed, but because we tackled the city in the way I’ll show you in this post, we were able to get a lot done.
The Landmarks
Place Saint Michel
The Notre Dame de Paris
Eiffel Tower
The River Seine
Pont Neuf Bridge
The Louvre Museum
The palace of Justice
Sainte Chapelle
Musée d’Orsay
Place de la Concorde
Sacre Coeur Basilica
Montmartre
Pantheon
Bastille Market
The Catacombs of Paris
The wall of Love
Luxemburg Gardens
Montparnasse Tower
Archives Nationales
Petite Ceinture Railway
Montmartre Cemetary
Promenade Planteé
Berthillon
The Ile de la Cite
Jardin des Plantes
Hôtel de Ville
The army Museum
The Invalides
The Invalides Hotel
Champ de Mars Park
Place Joffre
Statue of Marshal Joseph Joffre
Pont d’Iéna Bridge
Trocadéro Gardens
Palais de Chaillot
Arc de Triomphe
Ave Champs-Élysées
Cour Carrée
Square du Vert Galant
Marché aux Fleurs
Saint Genevieve
Jardin des Tuileries
Jardin du Palais Royal
… and much more.
There are plenty of things to do in Paris and to us, the best part of the city is typically walking between the sights, because it’s such a terrific city for walking, particularly in the 1st to 4th Arrondissements where lots of of the historical landmarks are located.
The top things To do in Paris
We’ll start the post off with the items that you’ll find on everyone’s list. These are the must-sees and the places to check out in Paris that you probably don’t want to miss. Funnily enough, you won’t see the most checked out place in Paris on this list and you probably won’t be able to guess it either.
It’s not the Eiffel Tower or The Louvre… it’s Disneyland. Anyways, on with the list of Parisian things that are worth visiting.
1. join a complimentary walking Tour
This is our best recommendation for getting to see Paris while ticking off some of the major sites and actually learning a lot about the city along the way. There are complimentary walking excursions in a lot of major cities in Europe and we’ve done plenty of them over the years.
They never seem to disappoint and the complimentary walking excursion in Paris was no different.
We booked our complimentary walking excursion with Sandemans and we would absolutely recommend the tour. Our guide was Oliver, a theatre major from the UK who has lived in Paris for 8 years.
He was passionate about the city, spoke best English (of course), and gave us a lot of terrific ideas about the city, without boring us too much with certain dates and moments in history that we’d forget anyways.
This complimentary walking excursion takes you through the main sights inthe 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Arrondissements such as place Saint Michel, the Notre Dame de Paris, the popular River Seine, Pont Neuf, the outside of the Louvre, the palace of Justice, Sainte Chapelle, the Musée d’Orsay and place de la Concorde.
If you’ve never done a complimentary walking excursion before, at the end it’s expected that you give a small idea per person. Usually, €5-10 is fine.
2. check out The Louvre
The largest single-building museum in the world and without a doubt, one of the most sensational displays of art and history in the world, the Louvre is one of the main things to do in Paris that a lot of visitors won’t want to miss.
This is obvious in the lines. a lot more than 10 million people check out The Louvre each year, so you’ll want to purchase your ticket ahead of time. We gotten our “Skip The Line Tickets” through get Your guide and we were able to pretty much walk ideal into the museum without waiting. Well worth the extra few Euro it cost us.
If you’re really into art and history, you’ll a lot of likely want to join a guided excursion of the Louve (which also includes skip the line access). learn a lot more about those tickets here.
However you get your ticket, you’ll want to have a plan once you enter the Louvre. everyone has a few things they want to see when they enter.
Whether it’s the oldest piece of art in the world (8,000+ years old), the Mona Lisa, the $65 million Regent jewels or the Venus de Milo, if you’re not opting for a guide, you’re going to want to have a game plan to navigate the 60,000-meter ² (652,000 square foot) museum.
Dariece and I were in and out in a little over an hour. We had a few main things we wanted to see and that was it. all of Paris is a living museum, so by sauntering around hallways with 60,000 other tourists, we felt like we were losing time exploring the fascinating streets of the city and meeting local people.
Having said that, we’re not substantial museum people but the Louvre was one of our favourites for sure. It’s worth adding to your must-see list of things to do in Paris.
Pro Tip: Download Rick Steeve’s Europe City Guides app and then download the audio guide for The Louvre in-app. It’ll give you a good 2-hour excursion of the museum for complimentary (but make sure you still get your skip the line ticket!).
3. Take photos of The Notre Dame
Once demanding nearly a half-day to explore as it was the grandest, a lot of checked out and a lot of recognizable religious structure in the world, today the mostly burnt down Notre Dame Cathedral can only be glimpsed from the outside as a decade-long restoration effort is underway.
Nevertheless, getting a selfie from below this towering gothic masterpiece is still on every Paris visitor’s list, so I’m adding it to mine. We gazed at the once grander monolith in awe, a lot more so understanding that it was once even a lot more impressive.
You can see the Notre Dame from pretty much anywhere in the 4th, 2nd, 5th and 11th Arrondisments so once you catch a look of the tower, just head towards it and cross the bridge for the best view. Take your photo and step on, keeping in mind that you’ll have to return in 10-15 years to see it again once the repair work are complete.
4. get a Selfie By The Eiffel Tower
Probably the most famous structure in all of Europe, the Eiffel tower is a pillar that defines Paris. love it or hate it, it has become the most recognizable part of the city.
Originally developed by engineer Gustave Eiffel as the entrance to the World’s fair in 1889, the 324 meter (1,063 ft) tall rod iron tower was once the tallest structure in the world.
Today it is the most-visited paid monument in the world with nearly 7 million people getting tickets to enter it every year. But, there’s actually not much reason to pay to go up the Eiffel Tower.
Parisians will all tell you that it’s better to go up the Montparnasse Tower, the most hideous structure in the city. That way, you get a view of Paris with the Eiffel Tower and without the eyesore of Montparnasse itself (more on that later in this post). having said that, many people want to actually go inside the popular tower. You’ll need a ticket for that, which you can get here.
5. Climb The steps of Montmarte & gaze Up At The Sacre Coeur Basilica
The artistic capital of the city and home to the breathtaking Sacre Coeur Basilica, Montmartre was one of our much-loved areas of Paris to walk around. because it’s set on a hill 130 meters above the city, there are views of Paris from every narrow alleyway and open plaza.
There are plenty of tourists around the Sacre Coeur, but as you get farther away from the basilica there are enough quiet alleyways and narrow streets to get lost in. having said that, you’ll still want to enter the Sacre Coeur. It’s complimentary and well worth a visit.
6. walk Along The Seine
The Seine River is a 777-kilometer long waterway and crucial commercial transportation route that runs through the center of Paris.
Many of the city’s top sites lie on the banks of the Seine so one of the best things to do in Paris is to take the metro to any stop along the banks of the river, get off and simply walk for hours along the broad boardwalks that are developed on either side of it.
We have some self-guided sightseeing walks that you can do along the Seine River later in this post.
Less-Visited things To do in Paris
These are the things that aren’t completely off-track, but where you’ll find fewer tourists and maybe feel a little bit like you’re in real Paris rather than just following crowds of tourists around. We’ll get to a lot more off the beaten path experiences a little later in this post.
7. walk around The Pantheon
We made a decision to stop at the Pantheon because we were already walking from the 2nd Arrondissement to the catacombs in the 14th (we recommend this 45-minute stroll as a thing to do in Paris by itself). We were pleasantly shocked that the Pantheon area was actually quite breathtaking.
Located in the Latin Quarter, the 18th-century structure was first developed as a church dedicated to the patron saint of Paris, Saint Genevieve.
Today it stands as a terrific example of neo-classicism and yes, the front facade is modeled after the a lot more popular Pantheon in Rome.
Nearby buildings worth checking out include the Gothic-Renaissance church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, the imposing research Institute Judicial Pierre Raynaud, and the town Hall of Paris.
All of these sensational buildings are developed around the Pantheon, making the entire open area feel like a museum of architecture. absolutely worth a visit, even if you don’t decide to pay the €9 entrance fee to enter the Pantheon.
8. Go shopping At The Bastille Market
This open-air market is one of the largest and liveliest Parisian street markets and stretches for 10 city blocks from The place de la Bastille to Rue Chemin Vert. open only on Thursdays and Sundays from 8 am to 1 pm, if you’re in Paris during these times don’t miss this place!
It’s one of the best markets that we’ve ever been to.
Venders call out the quality of their products from each of their stands which sell anything from meats and cheeses to last year’s Parisian fashions, all under the backdrop of the stunning Colonne de Juillet looming overhead.
Come here to get some fresh vegetables, cheeses, meats, and bread and then plan to have a picnic somewhere in the neighbourhood afterward.
9. Descend into The Catacombs of Paris
Not for the squeamish or the very claustrophobic, the Catacombs of Paris are an extraordinary sight to behold. There are over 350 kilometers of old limestone quarries developed in a labyrinth 30 meters below the city, but visitors have access to around 2 kilometers of the eerie tunnels.
You pay an entrance fee of €14, plus €5 extra for the audio guide (well worth the money), and then you descend down a spiral staircase into the depths of the catacombs. If you don’t feel like waiting in line all day, it’s recommended to get a skip the line ticket so you can enter the catacombs when you arrive.
In the tunnels lie the skeletal remains of between 6 – 8 million bodies that were buried here or moved here from local cemeteries in the late 18th century.