Paris Catacombs and Pére Lachaise

Paris Catacombs and Père Lachaise, today the third route through Paris is … let’s say … different

Have you already done most of the classic visits in Paris? Do you now want to immerse yourself in its core?

Route…dark?, mysterious?….perhaps it is better for you to give the adjectives, shall we begin?

As we said, today’s route will take us to the catacombs of Paris and then to the Père Lachaise cemetery.

All our previous routes were only on foot, in this case we will make a transfer by metro in the middle since the distance between both points will be about 6 kilometers.

On this route we will have as expenses the metro ticket €1.90, and the entrance to the catacombs which is €29.

Indice:

Paris Catacombs How to get there

Paris Catacombs and Pere Lachaise Cemetery

►Paris Catacombs tickets

We took the metro to get there as we were staying very close to the Arc de Triomphe. If you are not staying near the catacombs, the stop will be for metro lines 4 and 6 and RER B: Denfert-Rochereau, and buses 38 and 68.

We went with the ticket already reserved in advance online, (the price is €29). Although you can get last minute tickets online for €15 (except in summer), it is very common to find tickets sold out, it is a place that is visited by a lot of people so getting them in advance is a good tip.

Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 09:45 to 20:30 hours. Last access at 7:30 p.m.

The catacombs are in the 14th district, and if you arrive by metro you will immediately see the directions for access and the queue at the entrance, as they are very visited.

The temperature inside them is always a little low, around 14 degrees all year round, so it is advisable to always wear a light coat.

We will be 20 metres deep, we will have to descend 131 steps, and climb 112 to the exit, we will travel 2 kilometres and it will take us between 45 minutes and an hour to complete the journey.

Your ticket will be according to the schedule indicated on it, the ticket includes a complete audio guide that will guide you from the moment you start descending the spiral staircase towards…… the macabre side of Paris. ►Paris Catacombs official website

Paris Catacombs: A Little History

The Paris Catacombs are a network of tunnels beneath the city, tunnels from old 15th century quarries that were later used to store bones from various cemeteries due to a plague problem in the city and to avoid health problems.

At the end of the 18th century, due to serious health problems caused by the city’s cemeteries, it was decided to move their contents to an underground location. The Parisian authorities chose an easily accessible site on the outskirts of the capital: the old quarries. The first evacuations took place between 1785 and 1787 and affected the most important cemetery in Paris, the Cemetery of the Holy Innocents.

It was declared the “Municipal Ossuary of Paris” on April 7, 1786 and it was then that it appropriated the mythical term “Catacombs”, in reference to the catacombs of Rome.

From 1809, the Catacombs were opened to the public by appointment. Currently, everyone can access them without the need for an authorization. They are preserved as an ossuary that houses more than six million human skeletons, the largest concentration of its kind in Europe.

The tour includes the mines of the fourteenth arrondissement of Paris, and includes 800 meters of galleries with walls lined with bones. But this part open to the public represents only a small percentage of Paris’ underground quarries.

The ossuary of the Catacombs is one of the largest in the world and one of the only underground ones. Before its opening in 1809, Héricart de Thury carried out a decorative rearrangement of the bones to give it a museographic and monumental air. The bone remains were no longer stacked in any old way, but were given new forms; classical columns and altars were created, which were attached to the walls of the quarry.

“Arrête ! C’est ici l’empire de la mort”

Before entering the ossuary, the legend “Stop, this is the empire of death” is seen.

The catacombs have appeared in numerous books, including Umberto Eco’s novel Faucoult’s Pendulum. They have also appeared in films and TV series, most recently in an episode of Lupin.

Without a doubt attracting people, the Paris Catacombs welcome almost 550,000 visitors a year.

This visit, as you will have seen from the images, is not advisable for all people, both for sensitivity to what is seen, and for accessibility due to the number of steps to reach them.

►Do you already know where to stay in Paris? Check out our complete post about each district of Paris!!

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Pére Lachaise Cemetery

We leave the catacombs behind, walk through this beautiful area of Paris until we take the metro towards Père Lachaise.

We do these steps looking at this area of Paris that although different is also beautiful.

We are about to enter the largest intramural cemetery in Paris.

With two centuries of history, Père-Lachaise is a functioning cemetery that receives about 3 million visitors every year.

Like Montmartre, Notre-Dame or the Champs-Élysées, the Père Lachaise cemetery is one of the must-see places in Paris. Admission is free. A true open-air pantheon in the largest green space within the city walls, and where you will find many tombs of illustrious figures.

I leave you a map to download with the locations of the tombs of the most famous characters.

►Download the map of Père Lachaise (on the official site you will find more downloadable plans)► Official website of the cemetery.

Keep in mind that the cemetery is very large, 43 hectares and touring everything will be impossible. Therefore, going with a plan of what they want to see is good advice.

The tombs of Chopin, Honoré de Balsac, Edit Piaf, Moliere, Oscar Wilde, Modigliani, Jim Morrison, among others are located here.

The schedules from 8 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. vary a little depending on the season.

You have guided tours in Spanish that you can book online. They are around € 18, last two hours and can be a good idea to go more relaxed and with information.