Are the catacombs hot in summer?

Paris Catacombs - Due to their location in underground tunnels, the Catacombs temperature always is about 57°F (14°C), even in summer. Book in advance to avoid an hours-long wait in the sun. Get a ticket and audioguide to explore on your own, or go with a guide for a longer, more detailed tour.



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The temperature underground in the Catacombs is about 57° F (14° C), much cooler than Paris in summer. Bring a sweater, jacket, or scarf to help with the chill.

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However, the strong smell of the Paris catacombs is apparently what all the initial signs were warning sensitive visitors about. At best, it could be likened to the dusty, incense-infused scent of old stone churches, but with an underlying malaise that can only be attributed to the contents of multiple cemeteries.

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The tour of the Catacombs is deep underground. The walking route is about 2km, about 1.25 miles and the average independent visit takes around one hour. You will first descend 130 steps down to the Catacombs and then at the end it's an 83-step climb to street level.

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Hygiene. Both catacombs were dug largely for hygiene reasons. Rotting bodies in the middle of a city is not ideal, especially when they start piling up as they did in Paris. Both catacombs were created to avoid disease, but in Rome, they thought ahead.

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How to dress ? You can leave your boots at home, but be sure to wear comfortable shoes! However, waiting in front of the entrance can be long, even in winter, so don't forget to dress warmly.

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To ensure preservation of the site, you must not eat or drink on the site circuit, and animals are not allowed. Any kind of alcohol is prohibited. And, of course, you must not touch the bones, which are the fragile remains of millions of Parisians.

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The tour involves descending into the earth on stairs and uneven ground. The walkways are strewn with pebbles and may become slippery in moist areas. I highly suggest you wear tennis shoes or rubber sole shoes; the more comfortable, the better as you will be walking a distance. The catacombs is a must see.

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It may have been one of the largest and most prosperous cities in the Western World but its own rapid growth was causing the city's cemeteries to literally overflow with the bodies of the dead.

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The system of Odesa Catacombs consists of a network of basements, bunkers, drainage tunnels and storm drains as well as natural caves. The Catacombs are on three levels and reach a depth of 60 metres (200 ft) below sea level. It is one of the world's largest urban labyrinths, running up to 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi).

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It took the city 12 years to move all the bones—from bodies numbering between 6 and 7 million—into the catacombs. Some of the oldest date back as far as the Merovingian era, more than 1,200 years ago. Beginning during the French Revolution, the dead were buried directly in the catacomb's ossuaries .

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Despite the ritual with which they were transferred, the bones had simply been dumped into the tunnels in large heaps. Slowly but surely the quarrymen lined the walls with tibias and femurs punctuated with skulls which form the basis of most of the decorations that tourists see today.

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The Paris Catacombs have a fascinating history which dates back to ancient times, and is the final resting place of over 6 million Parisians.

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They form an extensive maze in which it's frighteningly easy to get lost if you are not a seasoned catacomb explorer, or 'cataphile', as these fearless souls are known. Even though only a small section of the tunnels are used as an ossuary, the entire network is referred to by Parisians as 'the Catacombes de Paris'.

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Some areas of the tunnels even became shrines for martyrs buried there. But after Christianity was legalized in 313 AD, funerals moved above ground, and by the 5th Century, the use of catacombs as grave sites dwindled, though they were still revered as sacred sites where pilgrims would come to worship.

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