About the Catacombs of Paris
The Paris Catacombs are one of the best things to do in Paris, probably because of their mysterious character. The Catacombs in Paris are also a unique attraction, as few European or world destinations have sites of this kind!
Despite its eccentric location, in the 14th District of Paris, the Catacombs of Paris are one of the places with the longest lines, so a Paris Catacombs skip-the-line tour is paramount. With a skip-the-line Paris Catacombs tour, you can access the site very quickly, while with regular tickets, you may have to wait in line for up to two hours or more.
Below, I’ll describe all the ticket options for visiting the Paris Catacombs and why you should consider THIS Paris Catacombs skip-the-line VIP tour, which offers special access to restricted areas.
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Paris Catacombs Tickets and Tour Options
All the Paris Catacombs tickets are sold online. You can purchase tickets directly on the Paris Catacombs website. However, due to ticket fraud, booking is only available for the next 7 days.
You won’t be the only one trying to access the Catacombs website, so there’s often a “waiting room,” and requests are treated according to the order of arrival in the waiting room.
Booking a Paris Catacombs tour or tickets through websites for travel activities like GetYourGuide or Viator removes all this hassle and ensures you’ll find tickets available when you’re ready to book. These websites buy bulk tickets for their tours, that’s why you can book before this 7-day time window.
That said, the Paris Catacombs are very popular, so I strongly recommend booking as soon as possible! Here are all the Paris Catacombs tours and tickets offered by these websites right now:
TOUR | CATEGORY | DURATION | BOOK |
|---|---|---|---|
SELF-GUIDED | 90 min | ||
SELF-GUIDED, MONEY SAVER | NA | ||
GUIDED, SKIP THE LINE, VIP | 120 min | ||
GUIDED, SKIP THE LINE | 120 min |
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Why the Paris Catacombs Skip-the-Line Tour with VIP Access is a Good Idea
The Paris Catacombs are one of the most unique places to see in Paris, so be sure to choose the right ticket for the best experience.
I have visited the Catacombs of Paris twice – alone with a regular ticket and with a skip-the-line VIP tour – and the second visit was definitely much better. Here’s why you should book the Skip-the-Line Paris Catacombs Tour with VIP Access to Restricted Areas
1. Immediate Access
For the first visit, I chose the best time to avoid the longest lines in the Catacombs of Paris. Despite that, I had to wait in line for one hour. With a Paris Catacombs skip-the-line tour or ticket, the access is immediate!
2. Fun and Entertaining Experience
The Catacombs of Paris are an ensemble of galleries filled with old bones and skulls displayed in various arrangements. The inscription at the Catacombs entrance, « Arrête! C’est ici l’empire de la mort » (=stop, here it’s the Empire of Death), is very impressive. Still, after seeing gallery after gallery full of bones, the visit becomes a bit boring (in my modest opinion).
A Catacombs tour with an engaging professional guide is another story. The visit is much more entertaining, and while you explore the site, you also learn about the history and legends surrounding these 15th-century underground quarries and the medieval bones that inhabit them. So much information that you would never know walking through the Catacombs of Paris on your own! Plus, I loved how our guide made the experience interactive.
3. Special Access to Restricted Sections
The Paris Catacombs tickets and most Catacombs tours follow the standard itinerary and do not provide access to the restricted sections.
Only a few skip-the-line Paris Catacombs tours have special access to sections not available in the standard itinerary. These restricted sections are always the best part of the tour!
The room with an old sculpture of a castle here above, for example, is not included in the regular tour. The access to these unique rooms and halls also explains the tours’ difference in price.
Not all guided tours explore these restricted sections, so be sure to book your tour through this link. You can read more reviews about this skip-the-line tour with VIP access here.
Paris Catacombs History
The history of the Paris Catacombs is linked to the stone extraction in Paris. The city is rich in limestone, located on the south bank of the Seine River and in the southern suburbs.
In Roman times, the stone was quarried in open quarries, supplying the most significant buildings of Lutetia – Roman Paris.
In the Middle Ages, stone became scarce on the surface, and the extraction of stone went underground in the quarries that you can see today. Notre Dame de Paris and all the Gothic monuments of Medieval Paris were built with this stone.
In fact, the Catacombs of Paris are not underground cemeteries or early Roman burial places like the catacombs of Rome in Italy. The Catacombs of Paris are underground quarries that were reused years later to store the bones of disappeared cemeteries in Paris. These cemeteries became insalubrious and a health risk for the city; that’s why Paris decided to close them down.
To summarize, you will walk through kilometers of underground limestone quarries, dug in the 15th century, and occupied by bones from the Parisians of the Middle Ages.
Catacombs of Paris Practical Info
I highly recommend booking the VIP Skip-the-Line Paris Catacombs Tour with special access to these restricted areas. It’s fun and much more interesting than the regular tours. Here’s all the practical information to plan your visit.
Address: 1 Avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy, Paris 14
Access: Metro lines 4 and 6 and RER B station Denfert-Rochereau
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. Closed on Mondays, 1 January, 1 May, and 25 December.
And while you are there… Don’t miss the Musée de la Libération de Paris, located in front of the Paris Catacombs, and free to visit. This museum is one of the best World War 2 sites in Paris to visit.
