Top 10 Tourist Places in Paris
Visiting Paris once will never be enough. Besides being “La cité de l’amour”, this city is also an open-air museum, full of art, which offers countless tourist places to visit and corners to get lost. These are some sites you cannot miss if you go to Paris!
10. Palace of Versailles
This is one of the most visited tourist places in France, not only because of its imposing architecture, but because it constitutes an important part of the history of France. It’s also a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Visiting Versailles fills us with history and culture, and allows us to enjoy nature while walking around the gardens. However, it’s impossible to tour the entire place in a single visit. Thus, it’s advisable to take a guided tour or select what you prefer to see before visiting the palace
9. Montmartre
Located on a 130-meter-high hill, Montmartre is one of the most charming and quirky neighborhoods in Paris. In its small and steep streets are the oldest cabarets, restaurants, painters and the famous Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur.
Montmartre is also famous because it has been the setting for several hit films. Additionally, at the beginning of the twentieth century many artists worked there, including Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro and Vincent van Gogh.
8. Pont Neuf and Seine
UNESCO declared the quays alongside the River Seine as World Heritage in 1991. Thirty seven bridges and catwalks cross the river, some of the most beautiful of the city as the Pont Neuf, the Pont de l’Alma or the Pont Alexandre III. It is a very picturesque place, where you will find musicians, painters, artists, people doing sports and souvenir sellers.
Le Pont Neuf is the oldest bridge of all. It unites the Île de la Cité with the city and gives us unique views of the surrounding area. The best option to visit this place is taking a cruise by the Seine, the best experience you will ever have!
7. Les Invalides
Les Invalides was built in the 17th century and originally as a royal retirement home for French war veterans. It is a complex of buildings containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France. But this place is especially known and visited for housing the mortal remains of the emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
6. Palais Garnier
Designed by the architect Charles Garnier, it’s a theater also known as the Opéra Garnier. It was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera.
This wonderful theater is the place that inspired the famous Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera. In effect, during the tour of the Garnier Palace it is possible to contemplate the luxury and the opulence that surrounded the people that went to the opera to enjoy the spectacle.
5. Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame is one of the oldest Gothic cathedrals in the world. Its name means Our Lady of Paris and is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was built between 1163 and 1245 and is located in the Île de la Cité. Important events have taken place in Notre Dame, including the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte, the beatification of Joan of Arc and the coronation of Henry VI of England.
Notre Dame has two towers of 69 meters high. From them you can appreciate the fantastic views of Paris, visit the bell tower where the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame took place and see the many gargoyles. But before you must also consider that ascending to the towers implies climbing 387 steps.
4. The Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most famous tourist places to visit in Paris. As mentioned above, it’s located on the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the center of Place Charles de Gaulle. Its 50 meters high make it one of the best viewpoints in Paris.
It was built by Napoleon to recall his victory at the Battle of Austerlitz and honours those who fought and died for France with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its surfaces.
3. The Avenue des Champs-Élysées
Also called “la plus belle avenue du monde” (“the world’s most beautiful avenue”). It is one of the most famous avenues in the world and the main one in Paris. It is 1.9 kilometers long, running between the Place de la Concorde and Arc de Triomphe.
In this avenue you can find cafes, restaurants (more expensive than the rest of the city), theaters and luxurious shops. But also you can find the most popular ones like Zara, H & M, GAP or Marks & Spencer. Even if you don’t want to buy anything, visiting this avenue is a great experience!
2. The Louvre Museum
The Louvre is the world’s second most visited museum. It opened on 10 August 1793 and it’s located in the Louvre Palace. Before becoming a museum, some monarchs like Charles V and Philip II used the palace as a royal residence in which they accumulated their artistic collections.
Visiting the Louvre can take from a few hours, if you want to see the most famous artworks, even days if you are an art lover. Some of the most famous art pieces are: La Gioconda by Leonardo da Vinci, the Venus de Milo, or the Seated Scribe.
1. The Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a 324 meter high iron building, designed by the French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel as the entrance to the 1889 World’s Fair. It’s the most representative symbol of Paris and a global cultural icon of France, despite having been highly criticized at first by some of France’s leading artists.
Thanks to the rise of Paris as an international tourist destination, the Eiffel Tower is the most visited paid monument in the world with more than 7 million annual visitors. There are two ways to ascend the tower: by elevator or by stairs, but what you cannot do is missing the incredible views of the city from this tower.
