Arc de Triomphe
Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris
Napoleon commissioned this arch in 1806, right after his victory at Austerlitz, but he never got to walk through it as Emperor.
Le Marais
Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, 75004 Paris
The Marais means "the swamp," and that's exactly what it was until the Knights Templar drained it in the 13th century.
Les Invalides & Napoleon's Tomb
129 Rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris
Louis XIV built this complex in 1670 as a hospital and retirement home for wounded soldiers, and it still serves that purpose today — making it one of the oldest veterans' institutions in the world.
Luxembourg Gardens
Rue de Médicis, 6th Arr., Paris, 75006, France
Marie de' Medici was homesick.
Montmartre & Place du Tertre
Place du Tertre, 18th Arr., Paris, 75018, France
Before it was a tourist magnet full of portrait artists and crêpe stands, Montmartre was the beating heart of modern art.
Notre-Dame Cathedral
6 Parvis Notre-dame-place Jean-paul II, 4th Arr., Paris, 75004, France
She burned on live television on April 15, 2019, and roughly a billion people watched, many of them weeping for a building they'd never set foot in.
Palace of Versailles
Allée des Dames, 16th Arr., Paris, France
Louis XIV built this palace for one very clear reason: control.
Palais Royal
8 Rue de Montpensier, 1st Arr., Paris, 75001, France
This is Paris's best-kept secret hiding in plain sight, a five-minute walk from the Louvre that most tourists walk right past.
Père Lachaise Cemetery
16 Rue du Repos, 20th Arr., Paris, 75020, France
This is the most visited cemetery in the world, and it has better residents than most cities.
Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde, 8th Arr., Paris, 75008, France
This is the largest square in Paris, and it has one of the bloodiest histories of any public space in Europe.
Place des Vosges
Place des Vosges, 4th Arr., Paris, 75004, France
This is the oldest planned square in Paris, and it's still the most beautiful.
Pont Neuf
Pont Neuf, 1st Arr., Paris, 75001, France
The "New Bridge" is the oldest standing bridge in Paris, which is exactly the kind of contradiction the French enjoy.
Sacré-Cœur Basilica
35 Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, 18th Arr., Paris, 75018, France
Sacré-Cœur is gorgeous, controversial, and impossible to ignore — it sits on the highest point in Paris like a giant meringue, visible from practically everywhere in the city.
Sainte-Chapelle
10 Boulevard du Palais, 1st Arr., Paris, 75001, France
If you only see one church interior in all of Paris, make it this one.
Shakespeare and Company
37 Rue de la Bûcherie, 5th Arr., Paris, 75005, France
This tiny English-language bookshop across from Notre-Dame is arguably the most famous independent bookstore on the planet.
The Catacombs of Paris
1 Avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy, 14th Arr., Paris, 75014, France
Twenty meters below the streets of the 14th arrondissement, the bones of six million Parisians are stacked along 1.
The Conciergerie
2 Boulevard du Palais, 1st Arr., Paris, 75001, France
This is where the French Revolution ate its own.
The Louvre
1st Arr., Paris, France
The numbers are staggering: 380,000 objects, 35,000 on display, 72,735 square meters of gallery space.
The Panthéon
Place du Panthéon, 5th Arr., Paris, 75005, France
Originally built as a church dedicated to Saint Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, this building has had more identity crises than any structure in Europe.
Tuileries Garden
Place de la Concorde, 8th Arr., Paris, 75001, France
This garden stretches from the Louvre to the Place de la Concorde like a green carpet unrolled through the heart of Paris.
Explore history in Paris
GPS-guided narration at every landmark. Tap a spot on the map, hear the story. Every fact verified.