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07
45 min
Champ de Mars
The Champ de Mars is a parade ground that became a lawn, and the Eiffel Tower stands at one end of it.
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
Country guide
France
France is 18 regions and 632,702 km2, and five of those regions are overseas - French Guiana in South America, the French West Indies, islands in the Indian and...
Photograph · Pierre Blaché · CC0
7,605
Places
1Cities
Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor
France is 18 regions and 632,702 km2, and five of those regions are overseas - French Guiana in South America, the French West Indies, islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans. Metropolitan France alone runs from the Rhine to the Atlantic and from the Mediterranean to the North Sea, so a week here is a choice rather than a circuit. Of the 69.1 million people estimated in 2026, more than 13 million are in the Paris metropolitan area, which is why the capital tends to win the first visit. The corners - Alpine, Atlantic, Mediterranean - are further from one another than the map's familiarity suggests.
Checked 2026-08-25
Cities
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
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Paris
Photograph · Yann Caradec from Paris, France · CC BY-SA 2.0
Paris 7,605 places
Practical information
- Language spoken
- French
- French is the language of the Republic under Article 2 of the Constitution
- Dialling code
- +33
- The country code for metropolitan France
- Currency
- Euro (€, EUR)
- France has used the euro as its official currency since 2002
- Emergency number
- 112
- One number across the country; 15 reaches an ambulance directly
- Plug type
- Type E · 220 V
- Round-pin sockets use a projecting earth pin
- Tap water
- Safe to drink
- The health ministry says tap water may be consumed safely unless local authorities issue specific advice
Planning a visit
Seasonal closures come from recorded opening hours.
- January: seasonal closure recorded
- February: seasonal closure recorded
- March: seasonal closure recorded
- April: seasonal closure recorded
- May: seasonal closure recorded
- June: seasonal closure recorded
- July: seasonal closure recorded
- August: seasonal closure recorded
- September: no seasonality data recorded — this month
- October: seasonal closure recorded
- November: seasonal closure recorded
- December: seasonal closure recorded
- Seasonal closure recorded
- No data recorded for this month
- The current month
Top things to see
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
Filter the list
52 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Interests
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08 1 hourPanthéon
The Panthéon was built as a church and finished just in time to stop being one.
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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09 20 minplace de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde
The Place de la Concorde is a 7.6-hectare traffic island that was once the busiest execution ground in Europe. It is the largest public square in Paris.
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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10 45 minGrand Mosque of Paris
Grande Mosquée de Paris
The Grand Mosque of Paris opened in 1926 as France's thanks to its Muslim soldiers, and it remains the city's central mosque a century later.
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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11 45 minPalais-Royal
Palais Royal
The Palais-Royal was a cardinal's house that became Europe's first shopping centre and then the place the Revolution started. Jacques Lemercier built it for Cardinal Richelieu between 1633 and 1639 as the Palais-Cardinal.
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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12 20 minBastille
Ruines de la Bastille
The Bastille is a square where a prison used to be, and the prison held seven people on the day it was stormed.
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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13 20 minLuxembourg Palace
Palais du Luxembourg
The Luxembourg Palace is the French Senate, and it was built because a widowed queen was homesick for Florence.
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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14 20 minLouvre Pyramid
Pyramide du Louvre
The Louvre Pyramid is the glass entrance structure built in the museum's main courtyard in the 1980s, and it is a part of the Louvre — its main entrance and one of the more argued-over additions to central Paris …
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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15 1 hourUniversity of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne
Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - Centre Sorbonne
Behind the gate at Place de la Sorbonne sits a university with a name older than most nations: Robert de Sorbon founded a theology college here in 1257 under the patronage of Louis IX, and the word "Sorbonne" has meant…
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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16 30 minLa Madeleine
Église de la Madeleine
La Madeleine is a Greek temple in the middle of Paris, and it took seventy-nine years and several changes of mind to finish.
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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17 20 minplace Vendôme
Place Vendôme
Place Vendôme is an octagon of uniform stone façades built as a single architectural composition, not a collection of separate buildings that happened to end up on the same square.
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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18 20 minPont Neuf
The Pont Neuf is the New Bridge and it is the oldest standing bridge in Paris, which has been the joke about it for four hundred years.
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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19 1 hourHôtel de Ville
The Hôtel de Ville is Paris's city hall, seat of the mayor and the city council, on the square that carries its name.
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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20 30 minChapelle expiatoire
The Chapelle expiatoire is a neoclassical funerary chapel built between 1815 and 1826 on the site of the former Madeleine cemetery, where the guillotined bodies of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were buried in unmarked graves covered with quicklime in…
- Must see
- Historic monument
- Paris
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21 15 minarc de triomphe du Carrousel
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel
The Arc de triomphe du Carrousel stands in the Cour Napoleon, between the Louvre's wings and I. M.
- High
- Historic monument
- Paris
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22 30 minChaillot Palace
Palais de Chaillot
The Palais de Chaillot is the curved, colonnaded building on the hill of Trocadero facing the Eiffel Tower across the Seine, built for the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques on the site of the demolished 1878 Palais du…
- High
- Historic monument
- Paris
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23 1 hourHôtel Matignon
Hôtel de Matignon
The Hotel Matignon is the official residence and working office of the French Prime Minister, on the Rue de Varenne in the 7th arrondissement, and it is not open to the public in any ordinary sense — this is a…
- High
- Historic monument
- Paris
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24 15 minTomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris
Tombe du Soldat inconnu
The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a flat paving stone beneath the Arc de Triomphe, at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, marking the grave of an unidentified French soldier from the First World War.
- High
- Historic monument
- Paris
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25 20 minplace de la République
Place de la République
Place de la Republique is a large public square straddling the 3rd, 10th and 11th arrondissements, at a junction where several of Paris's grand boulevards meet, and it functions today primarily as a civic gathering space rather than a sightseeing…
- High
- Historic monument
- Paris
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26 15 minÉcole Militaire
The Ecole Militaire is an operating French military academy, not a museum, and it is not open to the public.
- High
- Historic monument
- Paris
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27 10 minLuxor Obelisk
Obélisque de Louxor
The Luxor Obelisk stands at the centre of Place de la Concorde, a 3,300-year-old pink granite obelisk that once stood at the entrance to Luxor Temple in Egypt, one of a matching pair carved in the reign of Ramesses II.
- High
- Historic monument
- Paris
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28 20 mingalerie Vivienne
Galerie Vivienne
Galerie Vivienne is a covered shopping passage, one of the best-preserved of the passages couverts that dotted central Paris in the early 19th century before department stores and Haussmann's boulevards displaced most of them.
- High
- Historic monument
- Paris
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29 1 hourJardin des serres d'Auteuil
Jardin des serres d’Auteuil
The Jardin des serres d'Auteuil is a municipal botanical garden built around a set of glasshouses, on the western edge of Paris beside the Bois de Boulogne.
- High
- Historic monument
- Paris
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30 30 minArènes de Lutèce
Cavae des Arènes de Lutèce
Arenes de Lutece is the surviving Roman amphitheatre of Lutetia, built in the 1st century AD on the slope of what is now the 5th arrondissement, and it once seated an estimated 15,000 people for gladiator contests and theatre.
- High
- Historic monument
- Paris
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31 15 minSaint-Jacques Tower
Tour Saint-Jacques
The Tour Saint-Jacques is the last surviving fragment of the church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie, a late-Gothic parish church built between 1509 and 1523 for the guild of Paris butchers, whose market gave the church its name.
- High
- Historic monument
- Paris
Common questions
How long should a first trip to France be?
Ten to fourteen days supports four or five days in Paris plus one coherent regional direction, such as Lyon, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, or Marseille. Avoid routing every extension back through Paris, because even fast TGV journeys leave local connection time at each end.
What entry documents are needed for France?
France applies Schengen entry rules, but the required passport validity or visa still depends on nationality and route. France-Visas is the official place to verify the exact requirement before booking and again before entering from outside Schengen.
What is the best way to travel around France?
TGV trains join France's largest cities, while TER services handle regional links and many rural areas still favour a car. Long-distance reservations may be mandatory, and each city retains its own urban ticket system rather than accepting one national visitor card.
When is a practical time to visit France?
April to June and September to October suit the Paris-plus-region route described here. Alpine access, Mediterranean heat, Atlantic weather, and rural seasonal services differ enough that the selected second region should determine the final dates.
What money and payment basics apply in France?
France uses the euro (EUR). Bank cards are common, yet a small euro reserve remains useful for markets or local machines; confirm any terminal conversion choice before accepting it because this page does not record changing fees.
What practical safety details should I save for France?
For urgent help anywhere in France, call 112; medical emergencies also use 15 and police matters 17. The electrical standard is 230 V with Type C and E plugs. This dataset has no recorded national tap-water finding, so consult the municipality or lodging for the specific stop.