Paris Catacombs Special Access Tour
- Duration2 hours
- Time in the ossuary2 hours
- Group sizeMax 14 travellers
- Departs fromParis
- Rating4.7 from 985 reviews
- CancellationFree cancellation up to 24 hours before the start time.
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start time.
The gates the public route never opens
A guard with a key
Gates are unlocked for your group alone, then locked again behind you.
The underground chapel
A chamber lined with skulls and femurs, off the public route.
The quarryman’s carvings
Relief cut into the rock face by the men who dug these galleries.
Six on three departures
The 1:30, 4:30 and 5:30 pm slots run at six guests instead of fourteen.
No ticket queue
Skip-the-line admission is inside the fare.
Free cancellation
Full refund up to 24 hours before you start.
Two hours with a guide who has the key
The public circuit is fixed, lit and the same for everyone. What this walk adds is a set of gates: side chambers that stay closed to ticket holders, opened by a guard for your group and locked again once you are through. That is the whole proposition, and it is the reason the fare sits where it does.
Two hours is enough to walk the main galleries without hurrying and still spend real time in the chambers most visitors never see — a chapel decorated in skulls and femurs, a stretch of relief carved into the rock by the quarrymen themselves, and lower galleries below the main route. A licensed English-speaking guide leads throughout, which matters more here than on the public route: unlabelled chambers need someone to explain them.
Numbers run to fourteen, and to six on three of the daily departures. If the smaller group matters to you, book one of those three times rather than assuming.
How the two hours run
- Meet at the café. Fifteen minutes before the start, at 2 avenue du Général Leclerc. Your guide carries a green sign.
- Walk to the entrance. A few minutes on foot, past the queue you are not joining.
- Down and into the quarry. 131 steps, then the plain galleries and the carved street names overhead.
- The inscribed doorway. The threshold of the ossuary, and where the bone walls begin.
- The locked chambers. The guard opens the gates: the chapel, the carvings, the lower galleries.
- Out and away. The exit is not the entrance, so arrange your onward journey from there.
Who this suits — and who should take the plain ticket
Who this suits
Anyone who has decided the ossuary is worth doing properly, and anyone travelling with a curious teenager who will get more from a person than a headset. It is also the pick if your plans might move — a full refund is available up to 24 hours ahead.
Who should book something else
If the budget is tight, the entry ticket with the audio guide covers the same public route for about a quarter of the fare. And no departure here can help a wheelchair user or anyone with a cardiac or respiratory condition: the site itself does not admit them, and the honest alternative is a surface afternoon in Montparnasse.
What the fare covers
Inside the fare
- ✓ Skip-the-line ticket for Paris Catacombs
- ✓ Access to special areas of the Paris Catacombs
- ✓ Local English-speaking guide
- ✓ Small group tour (max 14 people)
- ✓ Bone arrangements & sculptural formations
- ✓ The quarryman's carvings
- ✓ The underground chapel
Not included
- ✗ Tips
- ✗ Hotel pickup and drop-off
Meeting at the Café du Rendez-Vous
The group gathers at the Café du Rendez-Vous, 2 avenue du Général Leclerc, not at the Catacombs door. Arrive fifteen minutes early; your guide will be holding a green sign. Denfert-Rochereau is the station for both.
The walk finishes at the ossuary exit rather than back at the café, which is a nine-minute walk away on the surface. Several travellers have flagged that gap, so plan the ride home from the exit.
Know before you go
- Restricted areas can close — at short notice, including for strikes; free cancellation to 24 hours covers you
- 131 steps down, 112 up — with no lift, over uneven damp stone
- 14 °C and humid — a layer matters more here than on a shorter visit
- No strollers — and bags are capped at 40 × 30 × 20 cm
- Group size varies by time — six guests at 1:30, 4:30 and 5:30 pm; fourteen at 12:30 and 5:00
- The finish is not the start — the exit sits nearly 700 metres from the meeting point
What travellers say about the special access walk
“Our guide knew the Paris Catacombs and clearly loved them. The sections off the main route were the part we talked about for the rest of the trip.”
— Jacob M., United States · solo · July 2026 · ★★★★★
“The tour was easy to follow and the guide was excellent. The one thing to sort out beforehand is where you finish, because the exit is nowhere near where you start.”
— Kimberley P., United States · couple · July 2026 · ★★★★
“Standing among that many bones is genuinely something else, and our guide never let it tip into spectacle. None of us will forget it.”
— Margarita S., Spain · group · July 2026 · ★★★★★
More accounts of every departure are on the reviews page.
Read all reviews for this tour →
Questions about this tour
Is there a Paris Catacombs ghost tour?
No operator sells one, and the Ville de Paris does not run one. This walk is the closest legal equivalent — a skull-lined chapel and carvings the public route never reaches — and the story most people are chasing is on the legends page.
What exactly does special access open?
The operator names an underground chapel, the quarryman’s carvings and bone arrangements away from the main circuit. Which chambers open on a given day depends on what the site has cleared.
How big is the group?
Up to fourteen, and six on the 1:30, 4:30 and 5:30 pm departures. Book one of those three times if the smaller group is what you are paying for.
Can I cancel?
Yes, in full, up to 24 hours before the start time. That is not true of every departure here, so check the card if you are comparing.
Is admission included, or do I buy a ticket too?
Included. Skip-the-line entry is inside the fare and there is nothing else to buy.
What if I want the river as well?
The Catacombs and Seine cruise ticket adds a narrated hour on the water for less than this fare. It has no live guide on either half, so it is a different purchase rather than a cheaper version of this one.
Hear the gate unlock, and walk through it
A guard opens the chapel and the carvings for your group alone, then locks them behind you. Fourteen guests at most, six on three departures, and a full refund at 24 hours.