Paris: Tickets, Hours and How to Visit
Paris: Tickets, Hours and How to Visit
Paris in 2026 is not a wander-in-and-see-it city anymore. The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Sainte-Chapelle and the Catacombs all run on mandatory timed entry, and the Metro switched to a single flat fare across the whole network. Get those two facts locked in before you land and the rest of the city, Notre-Dame’s reopened nave, the Marais, Montmartre, is genuinely easy to enjoy on foot.
The city at a glance
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Entry cost | Free to walk the city; paid sights average EUR 15 to 31 each |
| Getting around | Flat EUR 2.55 Metro/Train/RER, EUR 2.05 Bus/Tram, regardless of zone |
| Time needed | 4 to 5 days minimum to cover the highlights properly |
| Booking lead | Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Sainte-Chapelle: book once dates are fixed; Catacombs: exactly 7 days ahead, no walk-up |
Where the big sights actually stand in 2026
The Louvre now charges EUR 22 for EEA residents and EUR 32 for everyone else, requires a timed slot for every visitor, and closes every Tuesday. The Eiffel Tower runs the same way: EUR 23.50 for the second floor, EUR 36.70 for the summit, all bookable up to 60 days out. Notre-Dame is the good news story, it reopened in December 2024 after more than five years of restoration, and the nave costs nothing to enter.
Two neighborhoods do the heavy lifting for atmosphere: Le Marais for pre-Haussmann streets and Place des Vosges, and Montmartre for Sacré-Cœur and the hill views, watch your wrist near the steps up, the bracelet scam is concentrated right there. The Seine itself, and the historic riverside stretch it runs through, carries a UNESCO World Heritage listing covering the Louvre-to-Eiffel Tower corridor.
How many days does Paris actually need?
Four to five days covers the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre-Dame, Montmartre and Le Marais without feeling rushed between timed slots. Add the Catacombs and Musée d’Orsay for a sixth day, or the Arc de Triomphe and Latin Quarter for a seventh; our full itinerary series runs 2 through 7 days on the same nested route.
Is the Paris Museum Pass worth it for a first visit?
It pays off once you’re hitting three or more paid sights on the same day, since the Louvre, Orsay and Sainte-Chapelle alone nearly cover a two-day pass at roughly EUR 90. It excludes the Eiffel Tower entirely, and nine of its included sites still need their own timed-slot reservation even with the pass in hand, so it saves money, not planning.
Getting around without overpaying
Since 2025, every Metro, Train or RER ride costs a flat EUR 2.55 and every bus or tram ride costs EUR 2.05, no matter how many zones you cross. Load them onto a Navigo Easy card (EUR 2, reloadable, no photo needed) through Île-de-France Mobilités rather than looking for paper carnets, which stopped being sold at the end of 2025. From either airport, a flat EUR 14 rail ticket covers CDG’s RER B or Orly’s Metro Line 14 into the city.
Base yourself in Le Marais or Saint-Germain-des-Prés rather than further out to save on a nightly rate; you’ll lose the savings back on transit and time. Compare stays in both neighborhoods before you book, and if the Louvre and Eiffel Tower are your priorities, line up skip-the-line access for your first two days now rather than after you land.
Say “Bonjour” before anything else in every shop, cafe and ticket window, it’s the single most repeated etiquette note in the city and it genuinely changes how service staff respond to you.