Paris Catacombs: Tickets, Hours, How Deep and the Tunnels

This guide is part of our Paris Travel Guide — start there for the overview, itineraries and costs.

The Paris Catacombs (Catacombes de Paris) are a municipal ossuary 20 metres beneath the 14th arrondissement, holding the remains of nearly 6 million Parisians in former limestone quarries, with the entrance at Place Denfert-Rochereau. Tickets cost €31 (audio guide included) and must be booked online for a timed slot, released 7 days in advance; the site is open Tuesday to Sunday, 9:45 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and closed on Mondays.

Catacombs at a Glance

Tickets and Booking

Paid tickets are sold online only, as timed tickets on the official Paris Musées ticketing site, and reservations open 7 days in advance. The official tourism board for the Paris region notes that no tickets are sold on site because of demand, so a walk-up visit with a paid ticket is not an option.

Free tickets cannot be booked online. Eligible visitors go to the front desk on the day with proof of eligibility, and entry is guaranteed even when the website shows the day as sold out. The audio guide runs about an hour and is available in French, English, Spanish and German. When the official allocation is gone, the catacombs site lists several approved resellers.

Book through the official rates and booking page rather than through sellers in the queue.

Opening Hours

• Open: Tuesday to Sunday, 9:45 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
• Last admission: 7:30 p.m.
• Closed: every Monday, plus 1 January, 1 May and 25 December
• Open on public holidays including 14 July, 15 August, 1 November and 11 November

Only about 200 people are allowed underground at once, which is why slots sell out.

Getting There: Entrance vs Exit

The entrance is at 1 avenue du Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy, on Place Denfert-Rochereau in the 14th arrondissement. The nearest station is Denfert-Rochereau, served by Métro lines 4 and 6 and RER B; buses 38 and 68 also stop nearby.

The route is one-way, so you come out somewhere else. The exit is at 21 bis avenue René-Coty, nearly 700 metres from the entrance. Anyone meeting you, or holding bags you could not take in, should wait at the exit, not the entrance. There are toilets at both the entrance and the exit, but none on the route.

What You'll See

After the 131-step spiral staircase, the route follows bare quarry galleries before reaching the ossuary. A doorway carries the inscription "Arrête! C'est ici l'empire de la Mort" ("Stop! This is the empire of Death"). Beyond it, roughly 800 metres of galleries are lined with skulls and long bones stacked in walls, with plaques and inscriptions in French and Latin.

The decorative layout dates mostly from 1810–1814, when quarry inspector Louis-Étienne Héricart de Thury reorganised the bones into the arrangements seen today. The walls themselves are Lutetian limestone ("Paris stone"), laid down about 40–48 million years ago.

History of the Catacombs

Paris was built from stone quarried beneath it. Open-pit quarrying dates back to the 1st century AD and underground quarries to the 14th century. Centuries of digging left the city's south undermined, and in 1774 part of today's rue Denfert-Rochereau collapsed, with 300 metres of street swallowed up.

• 1776: a decree of 15 September closes the Paris quarries after a series of collapses.
• 4 April 1777: Louis XVI creates the General Quarry Inspection to monitor and reinforce the tunnels.
• 1780: a basement wall next to the overcrowded Cemetery of the Innocents gives way under the weight of a mass grave; the cemetery is closed.
• 7 April 1786: the Tombe-Issoire quarries are blessed and consecrated as the municipal ossuary, which becomes known as the Catacombs.
• 1787–1814: bones are moved from the city's parish cemeteries, with further transfers in 1840 and 1859–1860.
• 1809: the ossuary opens to the public.
• 1810–1814: Héricart de Thury rearranges the ossuary.

During the Second World War, the French Resistance used the tunnels, and Colonel Henri Rol-Tanguy, whose name the entrance street now carries, led the 1944 liberation insurrection from an underground headquarters.

How Deep and How Big Are the Paris Catacombs?

How deep are the Paris catacombs?

The visitor route is 20 metres (about 65 feet) underground. You reach it by 131 steps down, and climb 112 steps back up at the exit.

How big are the Paris catacombs?

The open section is a 1.5 km one-way walk, about 800 metres of it through the ossuary. It is only a small part of the old quarry network under the city, which is commonly put at around 280–300 km of galleries. The ossuary holds the remains of nearly 6 million people, making it the largest ossuary in the world.

The Tunnels Under Paris: Legal vs Illegal

Most of the tunnels under Paris are not the catacombs at all, but empty carrières (quarries), still mapped and reinforced by the city's Inspection Générale des Carrières, the service founded in 1777. Only the Denfert-Rochereau ossuary is open to visitors.

The rest is closed by law. A prefectural order of 2 November 1955 bans entry to the quarries without authorisation, and a police unit nicknamed the cataflics patrols them; people caught face a fine. Even so, a community of underground explorers known as cataphiles still goes down through hidden access points. In 2004, police found a fully equipped cinema, with seating and a bar, in a cavern beneath the Trocadéro. The ban exists for real reasons: the unofficial tunnels include unstable sections, flooded passages, poor air and few ways out.

Tips for Visiting

• Book the moment slots open. Tickets go on sale 7 days ahead and the site holds only about 200 people at a time.
• Pack light. Suitcases, large bags and motorcycle helmets are not allowed and there is no cloakroom; bags must be no bigger than 40 × 30 × 20 cm and carried in front of you.
• Leave the pushchair. Strollers are not permitted; bring a baby carrier instead.
• Bring a layer and good shoes. It is about 14°C and humid, and the floor can be uneven.
• Know the rules. Do not touch the bones. Eating, drinking and smoking are banned on the route. Photos for private use are allowed, but not with a flash or tripod.
• Check that it suits you. The site is not wheelchair accessible and is not recommended for people with motor disabilities, claustrophobia, or heart or breathing conditions. Children under 14 must be with an adult.

The full rules are on the official useful information page.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much are tickets to the Paris Catacombs?

€31 for adults and €25 at the reduced rate, both with the audio guide included; €15 for ages 8–17; free for children under 8.

Can you buy Paris Catacombs tickets at the door?

Not paid tickets. They are sold online only, as timed slots released 7 days in advance. Visitors entitled to free entry get their tickets at the front desk on the day.

How long does the Paris Catacombs visit take?

About 45 minutes to an hour for the 1.5 km route; the audio guide lasts about an hour.

How deep are the Paris catacombs?

The visitor route is 20 metres underground, reached by 131 steps down; the climb out is 112 steps.

How many people are buried in the Paris catacombs?

The remains of nearly 6 million people, moved from the city's cemeteries mostly between 1787 and 1814.

Where do you exit the Paris Catacombs?

At 21 bis avenue René-Coty, nearly 700 metres from the entrance at Place Denfert-Rochereau.

Is it illegal to go into the tunnels under Paris?

Yes. Apart from the official ossuary, entering the quarry network without authorisation has been banned since a prefectural order of 2 November 1955, and police patrols issue fines.

More background on the area is on the Paris Region tourism board's Catacombs page.