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01
2 hours
Eiffel Tower
Tour Eiffel
The Eiffel Tower was built to stand for twenty years and be taken down.
- Must see
- Historic site
- Paris
Country guide
1 to 2 hours in 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
Top things to see
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
Filter the list
56 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Interests
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02 1 hr 30 minPère Lachaise Cemetery
Cimetière du Père-Lachaise
Père Lachaise is a working cemetery that became a destination because its managers marketed it.
- Must see
- Historic site
- Paris
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03 1 hr 30 minPalais Garnier
Opéra Garnier
The Palais Garnier is what Napoleon III's Paris looked like when it stopped pretending to be restrained. He commissioned it in 1861, Charles Garnier won the competition, and it was built from 1861 to 1875, opening on 5 January 1875.
- Must see
- Historic site
- Paris
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04 2 hoursGrand Palais
Grand Palais exhibitions and events use date-specific hours; the building has no single continuous sightseeing timetable. Step-free entrances or public approaches, lifts where required, and accessible toilets serve principal visitor areas.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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05 1 hr 15 minConciergerie
The Conciergerie was a royal palace before it was a prison, and the prison is what everyone remembers.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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06 1 hr 30 minPetit Palais
Petit Palais, Musée des beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris
The Petit Palais was built for the 1900 World's Fair as an exhibition hall and has held the City of Paris's fine arts museum ever since.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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07 2 hoursHôtel de la Marine
Hôtel de la Marine is a paid-ticket monument on Place de la Concorde, one of a matching pair of colonnaded palaces — its twin across the square today houses the Hôtel de Crillon — built between 1758 and 1774 to…
- Must see
- Historic site
- Paris
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08 2 hoursCentre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou is a building turned inside out, and it is closed until 2030.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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09 1 hr 30 minNational Assembly
Assemblée nationale
The Palais Bourbon is where the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, has sat since the Revolution turned a princess's private mansion into the seat of the republic's elected chamber.
- Must see
- Historic site
- Paris
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10 1 hr 30 minÉlysée Palace
Palais de l'Élysée
The Élysée Palace is where the President of France lives and works, and it is closed to visitors for all but one weekend a year.
- Must see
- Historic site
- Paris
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11 2 hoursMusée des Arts et Métiers
The Musée des Arts et Métiers is Europe's oldest technology museum, founded in 1794 to collect and preserve the machines and instruments of French industry, and it has occupied a former medieval priory ever since.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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12 1 hr 30 minChâteau de Vincennes
Château de Vincennes is a medieval fortress on the eastern edge of Paris, beside the Bois de Vincennes.
- Must see
- Historic site
- Paris
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13 2 hoursbois de Boulogne
Bois de Boulogne
The Bois de Boulogne is a former royal hunting forest turned into an English-style public park, and at 846 hectares it covers more than double the area of New York's Central Park.
- Must see
- Nature site
- Paris
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14 2 hoursMoulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge is the famous cabaret on Boulevard de Clichy in Pigalle, at the southern foot of Montmartre. Its illuminated red windmill marks a venue closely associated with the French cancan and Parisian nightlife.
- Must see
- Art and culture venue
- Paris
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15 2 hoursBois de Vincennes
At roughly 995 hectares, the Bois de Vincennes is the largest public park inside Paris, wrapping the eastern edge of the 12th arrondissement.
- Must see
- Nature site
- Paris
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16 1 hr 30 minOpéra Bastille
Opéra Bastille opened on 13 July 1989, timed to the bicentenary of the storming of the Bastille prison, on the footprint of the old Bastille railway station at Place de la Bastille.
- Must see
- Art and culture venue
- Paris
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17 1 hr 30 minMusée d'art moderne de Paris
Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris
Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris is the city of Paris's own museum of modern art, occupying the east wing of the Palais de Tokyo on Avenue du Président Wilson.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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18 2 hoursMusée Rodin
The Musee Rodin occupies the Hotel Biron, an eighteenth-century mansion on Rue de Varenne in the 7th arrondissement that had already passed through use as a convent school before the state let it out cheaply as artists' studios in the…
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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19 2 hoursMusée du quai Branly
The Musee du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac gathers non-Western art and material culture from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas under one roof, a collection that had previously been split between the ethnographic Musee de l'Homme and the Musee…
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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20 1 hr 15 minMusée de l'Orangerie
The Musee de l'Orangerie sits at the western end of the Tuileries Garden, in a building put up in 1852 under Napoleon III to overwinter the garden's orange trees, a purely functional greenhouse rather than a building meant to be…
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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21 1 hr 30 minMusée Marmottan Monet
The Musee Marmottan Monet occupies a former hunting lodge built for the Duke of Valmy on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, bought in the late nineteenth century by the businessman Jules Marmottan and later expanded by his son…
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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22 1 hr 30 minMusée Picasso
Musée national Picasso-Paris
The Musee Picasso occupies the Hotel Sale, a seventeenth-century mansion in the Marais built in the 1650s for Pierre Aubert de Fontenay, a salt-tax collector whose unpopular trade gave the building its nickname, sale meaning salted.
- High
- Museum
- Paris
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23 1 hr 30 minBourse de commerce
Bourse de Commerce
The Bourse de Commerce is a Paris contemporary art museum housed in a historic circular building near Les Halles and the Louvre district.
- High
- Museum
- Paris
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24 2 hoursLouis Vuitton Foundation
Fondation Louis Vuitton
The Fondation Louis Vuitton is a contemporary art museum in the Bois de Boulogne, commissioned by Bernard Arnault, chairman of the luxury group LVMH, and designed by the American architect Frank Gehry.
- High
- Museum
- Paris
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25 1 hr 30 minMusée Grévin
Musée Grévin is a wax museum on Boulevard Montmartre, opened in 1882.
- High
- Museum
- 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.