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26
20 min
Bastille
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
Country guide
Places to visit in France — page 2
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
185 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
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27 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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28 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 monument
- Paris
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29 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 monument
- Paris
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30 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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31 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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32 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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33 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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34 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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35 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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36 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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37 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 monument
- Paris
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38 1 hourCoulée verte René-Dumont
The Coulée verte René-Dumont is a footpath laid along the top of a disused railway viaduct — a park built above the street rather than beside it.
- Must see
- Nature site
- Paris
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39 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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40 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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41 15 minBataclan
Le Bataclan
The Bataclan is a concert hall of 1,694 seats at 50 Boulevard Voltaire, and it is the site of one of the worst attacks in modern French history.
- Must see
- Art and culture venue
- Paris
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42 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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43 1 hourMusée de la Vie romantique
Musée de la Vie Romantique
The Musée de la Vie romantique occupies the house and studio of the painter Ary Scheffer, in a district that was the address of Romantic-era Paris rather than a stop added to it later.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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44 2 hr 30 minPhilharmonie de Paris
The Philharmonie de Paris is a concert hall clad in a swirl of aluminium panels shaped like birds in flight, built to give the city's main orchestra a home purpose-built for symphonic sound.
- Must see
- Art and culture venue
- Paris
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45 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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46 45 minShakespeare and Company
Shakespeare and Company is an independent English-language bookshop at 37 rue de la Bûcherie on the Left Bank, facing Notre-Dame across the Seine.
- Must see
- Market
- Paris
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47 45 minMarché des Enfants Rouges
Marché couvert des Enfants Rouges
Marché des Enfants Rouges, at 39 rue de Bretagne in the Marais, is the oldest covered market still operating in Paris, tracing back to a walled market built for the neighbourhood in the early seventeenth century under Louis XIII, when…
- Must see
- Market
- Paris
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48 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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49 2 hr 30 minCité de l'architecture et du patrimoine
Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine is a museum of French architecture and heritage in the east wing of the Palais de Chaillot at Trocadéro, opened in its current form in 2007.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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50 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
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.