Paris top tourist attractions map

Paris top ten tourist attractions

Summary

From Notre-Dame to the Eiffel Tower, Paris holds some of the world's most famous sights and these ten attractions should be top of the list for any first-time visitor. With the exception of the overtly modern Pompidou Centre, they have been landmarks of this elegant and romantic capital for centuries and remain awe-inspiring sights, no matter how often you visit the city. Below is the list of the city's ten best sights and attractions, elected for their mass popularity, historical importance, or sheer aesthetic appeal. If you want to experience Paris' most essential and iconic places before exploring in more depth, this guide will help you pinpoint what to see and do first.

1. Musée du Louvre

The world's largest museum unsurprisingly also contains one of the world's most important collections of art and antiquities. To learn the Louvre in and out, you might need a lifetime. Still, one has to start somewhere. The secret to mastering the Louvre is to combine a few key works you definitely want to see with the discoveries you make by wandering aimlessly. The site of the world's largest and most diverse collection of pre-20th century painting, sculpture, and decorative objects, The Louvre is definitely one of Paris' most coveted attractions. Not forgetting the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, bask in the works of Vermeer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and countless others. The palace itself is testament to a rich history spanning from the medieval period to the present.

2. Musée d'Orsay

Walk over the bridge from the Louvre to the Musée d'Orsay - and see the bridge between classical and modern art. Housing the world's most important collection of impressionist and post-impressionist painting, the Musée d'Orsay's light, airy rooms whir you through three floors of modern wonders, from Degas' ethereal dancers to Monet's water lilies, all the way to Gaugin's leafy jungles. Major works by Van Gogh, Delacroix, Manet, and others await you, too.

3. Eiffel Tower

More than any other landmark, the Eiffel Tower has come to represent an elegant and contemporary Paris. The iron tower, which was built for the 1889 World Exposition by Gustave Eiffel, was wildly unpopular with Parisians when it was unveiled, and was nearly torn down. It has since attracted over 220 million visitors, and it would be hard to imagine Paris now without it. The tower crowns the Paris night sky with its festive light, and glitters up a storm every hour. Note that queues are shorter if you come late at night. The Eiffel Tower has a fabulous luxury restaurant, Le Jules Verne (with its own lift) and has just added a Champagne bar on the top floor. Cliché? Maybe. But essential.

4. Notre-Dame

This great Gothic cathedral, founded on the site of a Roman temple, was completed in 1334 and is a repository of French art and history. It also represents the geographical heart of France. No first trip to Paris is complete without a visit to this marvel of architecture. One of the most singular and beautiful cathedrals of Europe, Notre Dame Cathedral's dramatic towers, spire, stained glass and statuary are guaranteed to take your breath away. Witness firsthand the spot that was once the heartbeat of medieval Paris, and that took over 100 years of hard labor to complete. Climbing the North tower to see Paris from the hunchback Quasimodo's vantage is essential, too. You'll soon understand why Notre Dame is one of Paris' top attractions.

5. Sacré-Coeur and Montmartre

With its unmistakeable white dome, the Sacre Coeur sits at the highest point of Paris on the Montmartre knoll, or butte. This basilica, which was consecrated in 1909, is best-known for its garish gold mosaic interiors and for its dramatic terrace, from which you can expect sweeping views of Paris on a clear day. Take the funicular up with a metro ticket and stop off at Sacre Coeur before exploring the winding, village-like streets of Montmartre. And after expending all your energy climbing Montmartre's formidable hills and stairs, consider a traditional Parisian cabaret at the legendary Moulin Rouge.

6. Arc de Triomphe

The 164-foot Arc de Triomphe commissioned by Emperor Napoléon I does exactly what it was made to do: evoke sheer military power and triumph. It was built in an age when leaders erected monuments in their own honor, and scaled to their egos. The arch's beautiful sculptures and reliefs commemorate Napoléon's generals and soldiers. Visit the Arc de Triomphe to begin or culminate a walk down the equally grandiose Avenue des Champs-Elysées. You can't help but feel grand yourself.

7. Centre Georges Pompidou

Parisians consider the Centre Georges Pompidou to be the cultural pulse of the city. This modern art museum and cultural center, located in the neighborhood affectionately dubbed Beaubourg by locals, opened in 1977 to honor president Georges Pompidou. The Center's signature skeletal design, which evokes bones and blood vessels, is either loved or reviled (no in-betweens). If wacky design isn't your cup of tea, the permanent collection at the National Museum of Modern Art is a must and features works by Modigliani and Matisse.

8. Panthéon

Today Paris’s beautiful Panthéon building is a fitting final resting place for the nation’s great figures. However, it was originally built as a church, on the instigation of Louis XV to celebrate his recovery from a serious bout of gout in 1744. Dedicated to Sainte Geneviève, the structure was finished in 1790 and was intended to look like the Pantheon in Rome, hence the name; in fact it more closely resembles St Paul’s Cathedral in London. During the Revolution it was turned into a mausoleum, but Napoleon gave it back to the church in 1806. It was later deconsecrated, handed back to the church once more, before finally becoming a public building in 1885.

9. Sainte-Chapelle

La Sainte Chapelle is a 13th century Gothic chapel built on the Ile de la Cité in the heart of Paris and commissioned by Louis IX. When you ascend into the chapel you are indeed struck by the weightlessness of the space, an effect achieved by the sheer amount of glazing, with the roof seeming to be held up by glass. The colour and saturation of the stained glass is tremendous as it wraps around the volume. This is a space to spend time in savouring the views and the experience. And worth the long queues that seem to be there all year round.

10. Hôtel des Invalides

Hotel des Invalides was built between 1670 - 1676 by King Louis XIV as a residence for sick and injured soldiers. Today, the complex of buildings designed by the architect Libéral Bruant, contain monuments, museums and mausoleums relating to French military history. The complex is easily recognisable on the Parisian skyline because of the 107 metre high (351 ft) gold gilded baroque dome that sits on top of the Hotel des Invalides' Royal Chapel, designed by Jules Hardouin Mansart. The Royal Chapel is now a mausoleum visited by tourists who flock to see the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte, whose remains where interned here in 1861.

Keywords

download, print, printable, free, detailed, aerial, bird's eye, guide, map, plan, planner, travel, sightseeing, visit, trip, tour, tourist, what to do, where to go, things to do, must see, top attractions, points of interest, places, sites, sights, buildings, spots, destinations, locations, landmark, museum, in a week, in 3 days, one day, city, route, metro, subway, underground, tube, bus, kids, chidren, top 10, top ten, popular, famous, interesting, highlights

Seating plans and charts of entertainment venues showing detailed seat and row numbers

Amsterdam Ziggo Dome Arena floor seat numbering

Anaheim Honda Center floor seat numbering

Atlanta Philips Arena floor seat numbering

Belfast Odyssey SSE Arena floor seat numbering

Birmingham Genting NEC Arena (LG Arena) floor seat numbering

Birmingham Barclaycard Arena (NIA National Indoor Arena) floor seat numbering

Boston TD Garden floor seat numbering

Brighton Centre floor seat numbering

Calgary Scotiabank Saddledome floor seat numbering

Cardiff Millennium Stadium floor seat numbering

Cardiff Motorpoint Arena floor seat numbering

Charlotte Time Warner Cable Arena floor seat numbering

Chicago United Center floor seat numbering

Cologne Lanxess Arena floor seat numbering

Dallas American Airlines Center floor seat numbering

Dallas AT&T Stadium floor seat numbering

Derby Velodrome Arena floor seat numbering

Detroit Palace of Auburn Hills floor seat numbering

Dublin 3Arena (O2 Arena) floor seat numbering

Edmonton Rexall Place floor seat numbering

EagleBank Arena floor seat numbering

Gdańsk Ergo Arena floor seat numbering

Glasgow Hydro SSE Arena floor seat numbering

Glendale Gila River Arena (Jobing.com Arena) floor seat numbering

Kraków Tauron Arena floor seat numbering

Las Vegas New T-Mobile Arena floor seat numbering

Leeds First Direct Arena floor seat numbering

Liverpool Echo Arena floor seat numbering

London O2 Arena floor seat numbering

London Royal Albert Hall floor seat numbering

London Twickenham Stadium floor seat numbering

London Wembley Arena SSE floor seat numbering

London Wembley Stadium floor seat numbering

Los Angeles Forum Inglewood floor seat numbering

Los Angeles Staples Center floor seat numbering

Louisville KFC Yum! Center floor seat numbering

Manchester Phones4u Arena floor seat numbering

Melbourne Rod Laver Arena floor seat numbering

Memphis FedExForum floor seat numbering

Miami American Airlines Arena floor seat numbering

Nashville Bridgestone Arena floor seat numbering

New Orleans Smoothie King Center arena floor seat numbering

New York Barclays Center Arena floor seat numbering

New York Madison Square Garden floor seat numbering

Newark Prudential Center floor seat numbering

Newcastle Metro Radio Arena floor seat numbering

Nottingham Motorpoint Arena (Capital FM Arena) floor seat numbering

Oakland Oracle Arena floor seat numbering

Oklahoma City Chesapeake Energy Arena floor seat numbering

Orlando Amway Center floor seat numbering

Oslo Spektrum Arena floor seat numbering

Oslo Telenor Arena floor seat numbering

Perth Arena floor seat numbering

Phoenix Talking Stick Resort Arena (US Airways Center) floor seat numbering

Pittsburgh Consol Energy Center floor seat numbering

Portland Moda Center (Rose Garden Arena) floor seat numbering

Rosemont Allstate Arena floor seat numbering

Saint Paul Xcel Energy Center floor seat numbering

San Antonio AT&T Center floor seat numbering

San Jose SAP Center floor seat numbering

Sheffield Motorpoint Arena floor seat numbering

St. Louis Scottrade Center floor seat numbering

Sunrise BB&T Center floor seat numbering

Sydney Allphones Arena floor seat numbering

Toronto Air Canada Centre floor seat numbering

Tulsa BOK Center floor seat numbering

Uncasville Mohegan Sun Arena floor seat numbering

Vancouver Rogers Arena floor seat numbering

Vienna Wiener Stadthalle floor seat numbering

Washington DC Verizon Center floor seat numbering

Winnipeg MTS Centre floor seat numbering

Zürich Oerlikon Hallenstadion floor seat numbering

High resolution, printable travel guide maps of cities showing top tourist attractions

Amsterdam top 10 tourist attractions map

Bangkok top 10 tourist attractions map

Barcelona top 10 tourist attractions map

Beijing top 10 tourist attractions map

Berlin top 10 tourist attractions map

Budapest top 10 tourist attractions map

Cambridge top 10 tourist attractions map

Chicago top 10 tourist attractions map

Dubai top 10 tourist attractions map

Florence top 10 tourist attractions map

Hong Kong top 10 tourist attractions map

Istanbul top 10 tourist attractions map

Las Vegas top 10 tourist attractions map

Lisbon top 10 tourist attractions map

London top 10 tourist attractions map

Los Angeles top 10 tourist attractions map

Marrakech top 10 tourist attractions map

New York top 10 tourist attractions map

Oxford top 10 tourist attractions map

Paris top 10 tourist attractions map

Prague top 10 tourist attractions map

Rome top 10 tourist attractions map

San Francisco top 10 tourist attractions map

Singapore top 10 tourist attractions map

Sydney top 10 tourist attractions map

Tokyo top 10 tourist attractions map

Venice top 10 tourist attractions map

Washington DC top 10 tourist attractions map