Paris Travel Guide 2026: Tickets, Prices & Where to Stay

Built by Gustave Eiffel's company for the 1889 World's Fair, the 330 m iron tower was hated by many artists at the time and was supposed to be taken down after 20 years. It survived because it was useful as a radio antenna. It sparkles with lights for 5 minutes every hour after dark.

Price: about €35–37 to the top by lift; about €14–15 to the 2nd floor by stairs (official prices change; check toureiffel.paris) · Hours: about 9:30 to 23:45 · Time needed: 2 to 3 hours · Tip: tickets go on sale 60 days ahead and sell out fast; the stairs are cheaper and have shorter queues.

The largest art museum in the world, in a palace that began as a fortress around 1190 and became a public museum in 1793 during the Revolution. Highlights are the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The glass pyramid by I. M. Pei opened in 1989.

Price: €22 for EU/EEA visitors, €32 for most non-EU visitors (from January 2026); free under 18 · Hours: 9:00–18:00, late opening on Wednesday and Friday; closed Tuesday · Time needed: half a day · Tip: book a timed ticket online and use the Carrousel entrance; go to the Mona Lisa first or last.

The Gothic cathedral on the Île de la Cité was begun in 1163. A fire on 15 April 2019 destroyed its roof and spire, and after five years of restoration it reopened on 7 December 2024, brighter than it has looked in centuries. The towers reopened to visitors in 2025.

Price: cathedral free (book a free time slot online to skip the line); towers about €16 · Time needed: 1 hour.

A royal chapel built in 1248 by King Louis IX to hold the Crown of Thorns. The upper chapel has 15 stained-glass windows, 15 m high, telling 1,113 Bible scenes. On a sunny day it is one of the most beautiful rooms in the world.

Price: about €13–16 · Time needed: 45 minutes · Tip: go on a sunny morning.

The world's best collection of Impressionist art (Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh) in a beautiful former train station built for the 1900 World's Fair. Look through the giant clock window on the top floor.

Price: about €16 · Hours: closed Monday · Time needed: 2 to 3 hours.

Napoleon ordered the arch in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz; it was finished in 1836. Under it lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with a flame relit every evening at 18:30. Climb the 284 steps to the roof for a view of the 12 avenues forming a star.

Price: rooftop about €16–22 · Tip: use the underground passage; never cross the roundabout on foot.

The hill of artists like Picasso and Van Gogh, with Place du Tertre, vineyards and steep stairs. On top is the white Sacré-Cœur basilica, completed in 1914, with a free view over Paris.

Price: basilica free; dome a few euros · Tip: watch out for the "friendship bracelet" scam at the bottom of the stairs.

The old aristocratic district with Place des Vosges (1612, the oldest planned square in Paris), small museums, falafel on Rue des Rosiers, vintage shops and the Musée Picasso.

Price: free to wander.

The student district around the Sorbonne, with Shakespeare and Company bookshop, the Panthéon (where Voltaire, Victor Hugo and Marie Curie are buried) and the elegant Luxembourg Gardens.

Price: gardens free; Panthéon about €13.

A one-hour boat ride passes most of the big sights from the water, under historic bridges like the Pont Neuf (1607), the oldest standing bridge in Paris.

Price: about €15–20 · Tip: go at dusk to see the Eiffel Tower light up.

Louis XIV turned his father's hunting lodge into the most famous palace in Europe and moved the court here in 1682. The Hall of Mirrors is where the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919. The gardens are huge, with Marie Antoinette's estate at the far end.

Price: palace about €21–32 depending on the ticket (gardens free most days, paid on fountain-show days) · Hours: closed Monday · Getting there: RER C to Versailles Château Rive Gauche, about 40 minutes · Tip: book a timed ticket and go early.