What to See in Montparnasse: 6 Stops Between Three Free Museums and the Catacombs

The most recent guides, in order of publication. If you are not sure where to start, the blocks below are sorted by kind of content, and every article appears only once.

a lock on the canal saint martin in paris seen from above a footbridge, the dark water reflecting the plane trees, the two service huts on the paved quays and the vault of the covered passage at the far end

What to see between the Canal Saint-Martin and Belleville: 5 stops and four centuries of architecture

the romanesque bell tower of saint germain des pres in paris, with its twin arched windows under the slate roof, the flank of the church covered in red ivy and cars parked along the street

What to see in Saint-Germain-des-Prés: 7 stops from the Delacroix to the Monnaie de Paris

the west front of notre dame de paris after the restoration, the pale stone with its three carved portals, the row of kings in the gallery, the central rose window and the two square towers against a blue sky

What to see on the Île de la Cité and the Île Saint-Louis: 6 stops from Notre-Dame to the Conciergerie

the dome and the colonnade of the pantheon in paris seen at the end of a narrow street, with the front of the sainte genevieve library on the right and bicycles parked along the kerb

What to see in the Latin Quarter: 6 stops from the Panthéon to the Jardin des Plantes

place des vosges in paris, the red brick and pale stone pavilions with slate roofs and dormer windows, a stone fountain and the garden lawn in the foreground

What to see in the Marais: 9 stops from place des Vosges to the Arts et Métiers

the eiffel tower in paris seen from below, with the iron lattice structure narrowing towards the blue sky and the beams crossing in a sunburst pattern overhead

What to see in Paris in 3 days: the Louvre, Notre-Dame, the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre, day by day

Book the Borghese Gallery Book now

Experiences to book

Discover the best things to do nearby: tours, museums and experiences you can book online, skip the queues, at the best price.

Book the Last Supper Book now

Twisted columns with cosmatesque mosaic inlay from a ciborium by Arnolfo di Cambio

Book the Florence Duomo Book now

Lithograph with impossible geometries by M.C. Escher

Book the Escher museum Book now

the pink facade of claude monet’s house at giverny, with green shutters and beds of red geraniums in the foreground

Giverny day trip from Paris Book now

the golden gate of the palace of versailles seen from the courtyard, with the slate roof and the pure gold ornaments on the facade and visitors heading towards the entrance

Versailles Passeport Book now

the conciergerie seen from the other bank of the seine in golden evening light, with the round towers and their conical slate roofs, the long front on the quai de l horloge and the river in the foreground

Sainte-Chapelle & Conciergerie Book now

the carved pediment of the pantheon with the gilded words aux grands hommes la patrie reconnaissante on the architrave, the french flag on the drum, the circular colonnade and the grey dome topped by the lantern with a cross

Get the Paris Museum Pass Book now

Bernini’s veiled Nile in the Fountain of the Four Rivers

Piazza Navona underground Book now

Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Bal du moulin de la Galette, a Sunday dance in Montmartre

Musée d’Orsay tickets Book now

Affiliate link

6 articles

Travel guides

Guides answer one question: what do I see in this city. They put the stops in order, taking into account distances and closing days, which are the variables that ruin a plan.

the keep of the monforte castle in campobasso with its battlements, the flag and the external staircase

Campobasso: the Monforte Castle reopened in 2026 and the museum where the Samnites end up

a roman gate at saepinum with the grassy droving road running under it

What to see in Molise: a whole Roman town, a Samnite theatre and the day of the week that decides everything

13 min read

the bastione di saint remy in cagliari seen from piazza costituzione with its monumental staircase and arch

What to see in Cagliari in two days: the complete guide

the pink and white chequered facade of the basilica of santa maria di collemaggio with three rose windows and three portals

What to see in L’Aquila in two days: the city that came back, monument by monument

14 min read

the porta praetoria in aosta, a double roman gate with three arches and the inner courtyard, seen from the street

What to see in Aosta in one day: the Roman city that the day of the week opens only halfway

13 min read

painting of a session of the council of trent with the council fathers seated in the nave of a church

Travel guides · Europe

The Council of Trent and the art of the Counter-Reformation: what actually changed in the pictures

6 articles

Monuments & landmarks

One monument at a time, with its history and what you need in order to get inside: when to go, what you actually see, and what the most common ticket leaves out.

the west facade of chartres cathedral at sunset, with the central rose window and the two towers different from each other, one flamboyant gothic and one older and plainer

Chartres Cathedral: the free nave, the paid Treasury and the labyrinth on the floor

8 min read

Giverny: Monet’s house and garden, and why it pays to go before 1 November

7 min read

Palace of Versailles: the just-restored Hall of Mirrors, the gardens and the Domaine de Trianon

8 min read

6 articles

Museums & masterpieces

Museums told through what they hold, not through their floor plan. Which works to look for, how much time to allow, and which rooms you can skip without regret.

a large vaulted sewer tunnel, with the metal grating walkway running down the middle above the channel, oval lamps set into the right hand wall, cables and pipes hanging from the vault and two visitors at the far end beside a pale blue machine

Paris Sewer Museum: 7 stops in five hundred metres of real tunnels

the front of the hotel de salm on the riverside, with the central rotunda articulated by corinthian columns, the green copper dome topped by the french flag, statues on the roof balustrade and busts in circular niches along the whole front

Musée de la Légion d’honneur: 7 stops in the hôtel de Salm, and it is free

the rue geoffroy l asnier seen from street level, porphyry paving between two rows of bollards, on the left the corner of an 1898 school building with the sign allee des justes parmi les nations and the french flag, on the right the green doors of the marais mansions

Mémorial de la Shoah: 6 stops, and the wall with 75,568 names

a corridor of the ossuary between two walls of bones stacked to head height, with rows of skulls set in between the layers, spotlights sunk into the floor on both sides and a visitor at the far end of the passage

Catacombes de Paris: 8 stops twenty metres under Denfert-Rochereau

head of an albino alligator in the tropical aquarium, with cream white skin, a pink eye with a vertical pupil and the green light of the tank on its scales

Palais de la Porte Dorée: 7 stops between the immigration museum and the aquarium

hand coloured frame from le voyage dans la lune with the yellow face of the moon and the red capsule driven into one eye, the film perforations visible at the sides

Musée Méliès: 8 stops at the Cinémathèque, and the colours painted by hand 13,795 times

6 articles

Artists

The lives and the style of the names that keep coming back in museum rooms. They help you recognise a hand in front of a painting, which is the difference between looking and seeing.

Artists · Artisti

Exhibitions on now