Below the streets of Paris lurks an entire secret history of the city’s dead. On this unique story-telling tour, you’ll visit the Paris Catacombs to see the remains of millions of Parisians and learn about the fascinating ways in which this ancient city has dealt with its dead. As you explore these eerie tunnels you also enjoy special access to parts of the Catacombs usually closed to the public and facts and stories from an expert local guide.
Your tour starts by skipping the lines to walk directly into the Catacombs. This vast, underground cemetery is composed of miles of underground tunnels lined with the skulls and bones of some six million Parisians. In the company of a local expert guide and a small group of 19 people (6 people on selected days) you’ll explore this unbelievable city of the dead where each room reveals ornate and macabre bone decorations.
Along the way, you'll hear the unbelievable story of how the Catacombs were built and the massive project that was undertaken to move bones from around the city to this point. Your special-access status means the guards will also open gates just for your group, letting you into areas like a secret chapel ornately decorated with skulls and femurs.
Believe it or not, the Paris Catacombs are just as much a symbol of the city as Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower. They contain bones representing some 2,000 years of history and their construction was a unique civil engineering project that helped give rise to the modern city.