Paris Catacombs Entry Ticket and Audio Guide
- Duration1 hour
- Time in the ossuary1 hour
- Departs fromParis
- Rating4.6 from 12,076 reviews
- CancellationNon-refundable: this booking cannot be changed or refunded.
Non-refundable: this booking cannot be changed or refunded.
Your hour underground, at your own pace
Straight past the counter
A pre-booked timed slot means you join the door, not the ticket queue.
Four languages
Spanish, English, French or German, rewritten for the 2026 reopening.
Your own pace
No group to keep up with and nobody waiting on stragglers.
The full public route
All 1.5 km of it, from the quarry galleries to the climb out.
The cheapest way in
Roughly a third of what a guided departure costs.
What the audio guide actually tells you
This is the ticket the Ville de Paris sells, bought a step earlier. You get a timed entry slot, a headset, and the whole public circuit to walk in whatever order of stopping and staring suits you. Nothing about the route is different from a guided visit — the difference is that nobody is talking.
For a lot of visitors that is the right trade. The audio commentary is genuinely good since it was rewritten for the April 2026 reopening, narrated in the voice of Héricart de Thury, the inspector who arranged the bones into the walls you are looking at. It runs about an hour if you walk it steadily and rather longer if you read every plaque.
What you cannot do with it is ask a question, and you cannot go anywhere the public route does not already go. There is no live guide on this ticket, and no gate opens that is not open to everyone.
The descent, the circuit and the climb out
- Arrive at your slot. The entrance is a small building on the traffic island at Denfert-Rochereau. Bags are checked here.
- Collect the headset. Pick your language at the desk and go straight to the staircase.
- Down 131 steps. A tight spiral, about two minutes, to twenty metres below the street.
- Twenty minutes of quarry. Bare limestone, floor lighting and carved street names overhead before the bones start.
- The ossuary. The bulk of the hour: bone walls, plaques, the Samaritan Fountain, the Sepulchral Lamp.
- Out at a different street. 112 steps up, a bag check, and a door onto 21 bis avenue René-Coty.
Who this ticket suits — and who should book a guide instead
Who this suits
Independent visitors, photographers, anyone on a budget and anyone who would rather read a plaque twice than be moved along. It is also the easiest option for a family, because nobody is holding a group up.
Who should book something else
Anyone who wants the locked side chambers, or someone to ask, should book a guided walk instead — the special access tour opens a skull-lined chapel and the quarryman’s carvings, and refunds in full at 24 hours. This ticket is non-refundable, so if your dates are at all loose that alone may decide it.
What the fare covers
Inside the fare
- ✓ Pre-booked ticket for the Paris Catacombs
- ✓ Audio guide
Not included
- ✗ Guided tour
Getting to 1 avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy, 75014 Paris
Go straight to the entrance at 1 avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy, 75014 Paris, on the traffic island outside Denfert-Rochereau station. Take Sortie 1 from the métro and the gate is directly across the road. There is no separate meeting point and no guide to find — show your voucher at the door.
The exit is somewhere else entirely: 21 bis avenue René-Coty, nearly 700 metres away. Plan your onward journey from there, not from where you went in.
Know before you go
- 131 steps down, 112 up — there is no lift, so wear shoes you can climb in
- 14 °C all year — take a layer even in August; the cool turns cold by minute forty
- No cloakroom — bags over 40 × 30 × 20 cm are refused and the exit is nearly 700 metres from the door
- No toilets on the route — and none underground at all — go before you descend
- No phone signal — download the voucher before you leave the surface
- Under-14s need an adult — and the stairs suit older children far better than toddlers
What travellers say about the audio ticket
“Doing the Paris Catacombs at our own pace with the headset suited us perfectly. The cool air was a relief in August, and the commentary is genuinely good.”
— Annie L., Canada · couple · August 2026 · ★★★★★
“Booking three months out was the only reason we got in at all. Walk-up tickets had gone for the whole day by the time we arrived, and the visit itself is very moving.”
— Joy W., United Kingdom · couple · August 2026 · ★★★★★
“The audio guide carries all of it in whichever language you choose. It is not cheap for an hour underground, but we would still tell people to go.”
— Allison R., New Zealand · solo · July 2026 · ★★★★
More accounts of every departure are on the reviews page.
Read all reviews for this tour →
Questions about this tour
Can I add a guide to this ticket?
No — this is a self-guided audio ticket and a guided walk is a separate booking. If you want someone to ask, the special access tour adds a live guide and opens chambers this ticket cannot reach.
Is the audio guide included in the price?
Yes, in every language offered, at no extra charge. Pick your language when you collect the headset at the door.
Can I cancel this ticket?
No. This booking is non-refundable and cannot be changed, so fix your date before you buy. Departures with a 24-hour refund window are listed on the Paris Catacombs tours comparison.
How long will I actually be underground?
About an hour for the 1.5 km circuit at a steady pace. Allow fifteen minutes either side for the stairs and the bag check.
Is this the official ticket?
It is a timed entry ticket for the same site and the same route. Admission is also sold directly by the Ville de Paris at billetterie-parismusees.paris.fr, as the visiting guide explains.
Will I see the restricted chambers?
No. The locked side rooms open only for guided groups whose operator holds that arrangement, which is five of the eight departures. Everything on the public route is yours to see.
Twenty metres down, for the price of a museum ticket
Pick a slot, take the headset and walk the bone galleries at whatever pace you like. The 200-person cap makes an early booking worth more here than almost anywhere in Paris.