Do you need a tour for the catacombs?

Skip the Line Paris Catacombs Tickets While we recommend a guided tour to help you uncover the mysteries of what you're seeing and gain access to restricted areas, skip-the-line tickets are a good option if you've been to the Paris Catacombs before or are familiar with the history of these tombs.



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Access to the catacombs is strictly limited, and only a relatively few visitors at a time are allowed on any given day at any given hour. The wait time, then, can be long. That's why we strongly recommend you sign up for a catacombs small-group guided walking tour that gets you underground ahead of the line.

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If you're feeling confident enough to explore the catacombs on your own, you can actually purchase tickets to the Catacombs of Paris which include an audio guide at no extra cost. One of the best things about this option is that tickets are available almost every day of the week.

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A most unusual sight, it is said that the catacombs include the bones of more than six million Parisians. At about the same time, in the late 18th century, graffiti artists also moved in and started decorating the walls, which you will also see during your visit.

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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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What to Know Before Visiting the Catacombs in Paris
  • Only 200 people are allowed to tour the Paris catacombs at any given time. ...
  • You should definitely book your Paris catacombs tickets in advance. ...
  • … ...
  • The catacombs in Paris are not wheelchair accessible. ...
  • Dress the part: wear comfortable shoes and bring a jacket.


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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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How far in advance do you need to buy your tickets. The tickets for the Catacombs are often sold out super quickly as the attraction has a limited capacity of 200 visitors per day. On the official website, you can only buy them 1 week in advance BUT you can buy them a couple of weeks in advance on the ticket resellers.

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The unique and fragile ossuary presented at the Paris Catacombs must not be touched. Group leaders must make their groups aware of the essential rules for preserving the works and be considerate towards other visitors. It is fordbidden to smoke, eat or drink inside the Paris Catacombs.

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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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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 city stopped moving bones into the ossuaries in 1860. Today, a little more than a mile of the catacombs is open for visitors to explore. The public entrance is located in Paris' 14th arrodissement, at 1, avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy. It takes about 45 minutes to walk through.

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The biggest, most popular, and most crowded site, the Catacombs of St. Callixtus, has a vast network of galleries that house the crypts of 16 popes, as well as early Christian statues and paintings. Photo Caption: Relief sculpture inside the Catacombs of Saint Sebastian in Rome.

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The catacombs in Paris really don't have the same historical significance as do the Roman ones. In Paris, the bones were moved down to the catacombs from overflowing cemeteries following war/disease periods. The catacombs in Rome have a background related to religious persecution of Christians.

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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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