Tour · 6 stops · ~4 hours
Paris Underground
Six accessible spaces beneath the city.
Below the streets. Roman baths, medieval royal kitchens, the catacombs of the 14th, the sewers of the 7th, and an inverted glass pyramid. The underside of Paris is at least as well documented as its surface.
Through the14e · Montparnasse & Denfert7e · Eiffel Tower & Invalides5e · Latin Quarter1er · Louvre & Les Halles
1Catacombs
1, place Denfert-Rochereau. The bones of approximately six million Parisians, transferred between 1786 and 1860 from overcrowded cemeteries to the limestone quarries beneath the 14th. The accessible visitor section is 1.5 km long, 20 m below street level.
Book a timed ticket online — same-day queues are 2+ hours. Bring a jacket: 14°C year-round. The signed visit ends at a different exit (Rue Rémy-Dumoncel) than the entrance, three blocks south of where you went in.
From Wikipedia›
Catacombs are man-made underground passages primarily used for religious purposes, particularly for burial. Any chamber used as a burial place is considered a catacomb, although the word is most commonly associated with the Roman Empire.
Read more on Wikipedia →48.83380, 2.33240
- 2
Sewers museum
Musée des Égouts de Paris, near Pont de l'Alma. A short walk through actual operational sewer tunnels — 200 m of catwalks alongside the flowing water. Reopened 2021 after a long renovation; surprisingly clean now, surprisingly stinky still.
Ticketed, paid. Avoid right after rain (running water sound is loud). The exhibition above is dry — both literally and tonally — but the descent into the actual sewer is the reason. Hand sanitiser at the exit; use it.
Verified nearby ·Musée des Égouts de Paris1 min
48.86240, 2.30220
- 3
Crypte archéologique du Parvis Notre-Dame
Beneath the cathedral square: foundations of Roman Lutetia, medieval streets, and the original Hôtel-Dieu hospital. Excavated 1965 when the city built an underground car park; turned into a museum that almost no one visits.
Entrance is in the small staircase on the parvis itself, in the centre near the bronze "Point Zéro" disc. Combined ticket with the Carnavalet Museum is good value. Allow 45 min — small but extraordinary, and never crowded.
Verified nearby ·Shakespeare and Company1 minLe Caveau de la Huchette2 min
48.85300, 2.34790
- 4
Conciergerie medieval halls
Below the modern building: the 14th-century Salle des Gens d'Armes ("hall of soldiers") — 64 m long, four-aisled vaulted gothic, the largest medieval secular hall in Europe. Used as a kitchen and dining room when this was a royal palace.
Enter from Quai de l'Horloge. The medieval halls are the first rooms; the Marie-Antoinette cell is a side detour. The four medieval kitchen fireplaces in the Salle des Gardes — each large enough to roast an ox — are the photograph.
48.85560, 2.34570
- 5
Métro Cité
20 m below the Seine. Built 1910, line 4 — the only line that crosses both islands of central Paris underwater. The platform retains its original art-nouveau wrought-iron lamp posts, six pairs in a curved arc, lit electrically since opening.
Use a regular métro ticket — it's a working station, no special access. Walk to the centre of the platform; the lamps and tile-work are best photographed from there. The lift up to street level is the most architecturally interesting in the métro.
48.85570, 2.34700
6Pyramide inversée
Inverted glass pyramid in the Carrousel du Louvre underground mall, 1993. Designed by I. M. Pei as the visual counterpart to his big pyramid above ground. The tip almost touches a small stone pyramid below — the meeting point famous from The Da Vinci Code.
Free, no ticket, no museum visit needed — enter the Carrousel mall via 99 Rue de Rivoli or directly from Métro Palais Royal. Walk into the central rotunda; you'll see it. Best photographed at midday when daylight comes through the top.
From Wikipedia›
The Louvre Inverted Pyramid is a skylight constructed in the Carrousel du Louvre, an underground shopping mall in front of the Louvre Museum in France. It may be thought of as a smaller sibling of the more famous Louvre Pyramid proper, yet turned upside down: its upturned base is easily seen from outside.
Read more on Wikipedia →Verified nearby ·Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain2 min
48.86250, 2.33570