Paris Catacombs Tickets: Time Slot, the Route and What to Expect Underground

The Paris Catacombs run on a time slot, not a queue, and without a booking you do not get in. Tickets are sold online only, up to seven days ahead, at €31 with an audio guide included, so the old picture of two hours on the pavement no longer applies. The real problem now is finding a slot that is still free.

Which Paris Catacombs ticket to book, and why the time slot matters more than the reseller

Book on the official site and pick the date first, because slots are the scarce thing and everything else follows from them. The standard ticket costs €31 and includes the audio guide, which explains much of what you walk past in the dark. Visitors aged 18 to 26 and students pay €25 with ID, on the same slot and the same route. The Paris Museum Pass is not accepted here.

Resellers sell guided tours that reach parts the standard route skips, and that is all the extra money buys, since the standard ticket already has its own slot and a reseller does not shorten any wait. Slots run out, especially in summer, so book as soon as your date falls inside the seven-day window. For a first visit the official ticket is the right one. A tour makes sense only if you want those extra rooms.

Children pay a separate price; the Paris Museum Pass is not accepted.

When to book and when to arrive

Opening hours: Tue–Sun 9:45 am–8:30 pm, last entry 7:30 pm. The Catacombs are closed Mondays, 1 January, 1 May and 25 December. Count on about an hour underground, plus the security screening before your slot, so arrive 15 to 20 minutes early and have your booking ready on the phone.

The quietest times are the first slot of the morning, at 9:45, and the last ones, between 7 and 7:30 pm. On weekdays slots stay free longer, while midday, weekends and summer fill first. If you can choose, take the first slot. The crowd grows through the day.

The route in order: the quarry, the ossuary, Port-Mahon

The first quarter of an hour of the descent passes through empty quarry galleries with no bones at all, which works as a slow approach with the walls close on both sides. Above the door to the ossuary an inscription reads Arrête, c'est ici l'empire de la mort, which means stop, this is the empire of death. The bones were arranged along the walls between 1810 and 1814 by the quarry inspector Héricart de Thury.

Further on, the Port-Mahon gallery holds a model of a fortress on Menorca, carved by the quarryman François Décure in his lunch breaks. Take your time over it, since it is the one place where the tunnel stops being grim and becomes someone's hobby. The whole route is 1.5 km, one way, with no turning back.

What does not go underground: bags, steps and an hour without a break

Leave suitcases and large bags at the hotel, because there is no cloakroom. Toilets are at the entrance and at the exit only, so plan around the hour. Photography is allowed, without flash or tripod. The temperature holds at about 14 °C all year, which means a light layer is needed even in August, when the street above feels like an oven.

There are 131 steps down and 112 up and no lift, so the route is not accessible for pushchairs. The exit is on a different street from the entrance, which means you should plan your onward route from where you come out and not from where you went in.

3 daysThe Catacombs are left out of the three-day plan on purpose. They suit anyone with half a day to spare who does not mind narrow passages, and the itinerary shows where that half day fits.Paris in 3 days →

When there is no time, or it is not worth it

Skip the Catacombs if you dislike tight spaces or stairs, or if no slot is left for your dates. A slot is a firm appointment, so build the rest of the day around it instead of squeezing it between two other things, and keep the hour after the exit free in case the stairs leave you slower than planned.

• Book the earliest slot you can get and put nothing before it.
• Arrive about 15 minutes early, so the security screening does not eat into your slot.
• Skip the walk if narrow passages or 131 steps with no lift are a problem.
• After the exit, take metro line 4 or 6 back to the centre.

Getting aroundMetro lines 4 and 6 and RER B all stop at Denfert-Rochereau, and the same single fare covers the trip: €2.55.Getting around Paris →