Things to do in Paris

2Louvre

The largest art museum in the world, inside a palace that housed kings for centuries. The Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory are only the best-known few of tens of thousands of objects.

Time

3 to 4 h, and you will still miss most of it

Setting

Indoor

Best time

After 6 pm on a Wednesday or Friday

Getting there

Metro 1 or 7, Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre

Tip: Do not try to see everything. Choose two sections, say the Italian paintings in the Denon wing and the Egyptian rooms in the Sully wing, and save the rest for another trip. The Mona Lisa room is the slowest place in the building, so go there first or in the last hour, then turn round to the enormous Veronese on the opposite wall.

Open Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 am to 6 pm, Wednesday and Friday until 9 pm, closed on Tuesdays. Last entry is an hour before closing. €22 for visitors from the European Economic Area, €32 for everyone else; under 18s and EEA residents under 26 enter free.

3Musée d'Orsay

A railway station of 1900 turned into a museum in 1986, and home to one of the finest Impressionist collections anywhere: Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Cézanne.

Time

2 to 3 h

Setting

Indoor

Best time

Thursday evening, or at opening

Getting there

RER C Musée d'Orsay, or metro 12 Solférino

Tip: Go straight up to the top floor for the Impressionists while your eyes are fresh, then work downwards. The glass clock face on that level frames Sacré-Cœur across the river, and it is the photograph nearly everyone leaves with.

Closed on Mondays. Open from 9.30 am to 6 pm, and on Thursdays until 9.45 pm. Tickets are €16 online and €14 at the museum. Under 18s and EEA residents under 26 enter free, and so does everyone on the first Sunday of the month with a booked slot.

4Sainte-Chapelle

A royal chapel consecrated in 1248 to hold the Crown of Thorns. The walls of the upper chapel are almost entirely stained glass, which on a bright morning makes it the most colourful room in Paris.

Time

45 min plus the security queue

Setting

Indoor

Best time

Opening time on a sunny day

Getting there

Metro 4 Cité

Tip: The lower chapel is low and dim, so do not linger there; the reason you came is up the spiral stairs. Light does most of the work, which means a clear morning is worth waiting for, and a grey afternoon is only half the experience.

1 April to 30 September from 9 am to 7 pm, 1 October to 31 March from 9 am to 5 pm. Last entry is half an hour before closing. Admission €22, or €30 combined with the Conciergerie next door. EU residents under 26 enter free.

5Notre-Dame

The cathedral on the Île de la Cité reopened in December 2024 after the fire of April 2019. The Gothic front and the rose windows are as people remember them, and the cleaned stone inside is paler than before.

Time

40 min inside, longer if you queue

Setting

Both

Best time

Early morning, or after dark for the lit front

Getting there

Metro 4 Cité, or RER B and C Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame

Tip: Entry is free, so the line moves in bursts and is longest around midday; look at the cathedral's own site for a reserved slot before you go. The square outside is a better place for the front than the queue is. For the flying buttresses, walk round to the little garden behind the apse, or cross to the quay on the Left Bank.

6Arc de Triomphe

Napoleon ordered it in 1806 and it was not finished until 1836. Twelve avenues meet at its feet, and the roof gives the straightest view down the Champs-Élysées.

Time

45 min up and down

Setting

Outdoor

Best time

The last hour before dark

Getting there

Metro 1, 2, 6 or RER A Charles de Gaulle–Étoile

Tip: Use the underground passage from the Champs-Élysées side. Crossing the roundabout at street level is exactly as dangerous as its reputation says. The way up is 284 steps of tight spiral, so save your legs for it.

Open from 10 am to 11 pm between April and September and until 10.30 pm from October to March, but not before 11 am on Tuesdays. The last access is 45 minutes before closing. Admission €16; EU residents under 26 enter free.

7Sacré-Cœur and Montmartre

The white basilica on the hill, completed in 1914 and visible from half the city. Entry is free, but the reasons to come are the view from the steps and the lanes behind them.

Time

1 h to 1 h 30 min with a walk through the lanes

Setting

Both

Best time

Early morning, or just after sunset

Getting there

Metro 2 Anvers, then the funicular, or metro 12 Abbesses

Tip: The funicular takes an ordinary metro ticket, so ride up or down and walk the other direction. At the foot of the steps, men will offer to tie a bracelet on your wrist; keep your hands in your pockets however friendly it looks. Behind the basilica the streets are much calmer.

The basilica is free and open every day from 6.30 am to 10.30 pm. Climbing the dome has its own ticket and gives the higher view.

8Musée Rodin

A mansion with a garden full of bronzes: The Thinker, The Gates of Hell, The Burghers of Calais. Of all the museums in Paris this is the one where the outside matters more than the rooms.

Time

1 h 30 min to 2 h

Setting

Both

Best time

A dry afternoon, spring or early autumn

Getting there

Metro 13 Varenne

Tip: The Thinker sits in plain view of the benches, so you can look at it for as long as you like. It is a good museum for the day you are tired of museums: the rooms are small and the garden is a rest in itself.

Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am, closing between 5.30 pm and 6.30 pm with the season. Full price €14.

9The Marais: Carnavalet and Place des Vosges

The narrow streets east of the Louvre that escaped Haussmann's rebuilding. The Carnavalet museum tells the story of Paris in two mansions, and the Place des Vosges, laid out in 1612, is the oldest planned square in the city.

Time

1 h 30 min to 2 h

Setting

Both

Best time

A weekday morning

Getting there

Metro 1 Saint-Paul, or metro 8 Chemin Vert

Tip: Sunday afternoons are packed, because the shops here open when the rest of the city is shut. For lunch, the falafel counters on the rue des Rosiers are famous and the queues show it; the side streets serve the same thing with no wait.

Carnavalet is free for its permanent collections and open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 6 pm; it is closed on Mondays.

10Luxembourg Gardens

The garden of the French Senate: gravel paths, green metal chairs and a pond where children push hired sailboats. It is where Parisians go to sit rather than to see.

Time

1 to 2 h

Setting

Outdoor

Best time

Any mild afternoon from April to October

Getting there

RER B Luxembourg

Tip: Pick up one of the movable chairs and carry it to wherever the sun is. Opening hours follow the daylight, so check the notice at the gate in winter. The Medici Fountain, in the north-east corner under the plane trees, is the quietest spot.

11Walks along the Seine

The best free thing in Paris. The stretch from the Pont Neuf past the Louvre to the Pont Alexandre III has the bridges, the booksellers' green boxes and the tips of both islands.

Time

1 to 2 h

Setting

Outdoor

Best time

Late afternoon, when the stone turns gold

Getting there

Metro 7 Pont Neuf

Tip: Walk on the lower quays beside the water, where people sit with a bottle of wine as the evening goes on. Pont Alexandre III, built for the 1900 World's Fair, is the most ornate bridge in town and looks best from the quay beneath it.