Notre-Dame de Paris – Everything You Need to Know to Visit

Notre-Dame de Paris is a beautiful cathedral, known around the globe.

But did you know you could go inside for free? Or that you could climb to the top?

Come explore Notre-Dame with me and learn everything you need to know for your next visit to Paris!

 

 

The cathedral has been standing tall for more than 650 years, and it’s the most visited French monument (yes, even more visited than the Eiffel Tower!).

The cathedral itself is absolutely outstanding, both from the outside and the inside. It definitely contributes to Paris being one of the most beautiful cities in the world!

But did you know you could also climb to the top of the towers and have a panoramic view of Paris?

Well, let’s visit Notre-Dame de Paris together!

Here’s everything you will find in this guide:

• Notre-Dame de Paris location
• How to Get to Notre-Dame
• Best facts
• The visit & what to expect
• Entrance fee
• Notre-Dame de Paris tickets & How to buy them
• Opening hours
• Tips for your visit
• What to visit next?

Don’t feel like reading everything? Maybe you just want one info in particular? Don’t worry, you can click on any of the part above and you’ll skip straight to it ?

Anyway, let’s get started with the first item on our list: the location.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Notre-Dame de Paris Location
• How to get to Notre-Dame de Paris
• Best facts about Notre-Dame de Paris
• The Visit & What to Expect
• Notre-Dame de Paris Entrance Fee
• Notre-Dame de Paris Tickets & How to buy them
• Notre-Dame de Paris Opening Hours
• Tips for your visit
• What to visit next?

Notre-Dame de Paris Location

The Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral is located on the Île de la Cité, on the eastern part of the island.

The Île de la Cité is a beautiful part of Paris, with lot of things to discover: the Sainte-Chapelle, the Crypt, the Conciergerie, the nice garden around Notre-Dame, …

Definitely one of the best places to start your weekend in Paris!

How to get to Notre-Dame de Paris

To get to the cathedral, you have a few options. I advise against driving to it, as there are only a few parking spots in the area and you’ll probably end up driving around for a while before finding where to park your car. Oh and also, parking is very expensive in Paris.

One of the best ways to get around Paris is definitely with the metro system. With that being said, you can either:

• take the train – RER C to Saint-Michel-Notre Dame; metro 4 to Cité; line 1 to Hôtel de Ville
• rent a bike or scooter
• walk from nearby places, such as the Louvre or the Panthéon

Make sure you download an offline maps of Paris in Google Maps while connected to the wifi, this will allow you to use your GPS even with no internet connection!

Best facts about Notre-Dame de Paris

Here are some interesting facts you can tell your friends or family when visiting Notre-Dame de Paris that will make you the cool gal/guy ?

• it took almost 200 years to build the Cathedral – from 1163 to 1350
• the largest bell (Emmanuel Bell) weighs 13 tons (28,000 pounds)!
• more than 13 million people visit the cathedral every year, making it the most visited French monument
• Notre-Dame de Paris is a honey producer – there are bee hives on the top
• the cathedral is not only a national monument, it’s an active Catholic church
• there are 422 steps to climb to reach the top of the towers

The Visit & What to Expect

If you’re only spending 2 days in Paris, Notre-Dame de Paris is definitely a must-visit. Your visit will actually be divided into 3 main parts: seeing the cathedral from the outside before entering, then visiting the cathedral, and then climbing to the top and inside the towers.

Notre-Dame de Paris from the outside

Even after living in Paris for so many years, and having seen Notre-Dame so many times, it always strikes me how massive the cathedral really is. When headed to visit it, you’ll see it from far away, the two big towers emerging over the rooftops of the city.

When you finally get to the Île de la Cité, and stand right in front of it, Notre-Dame de Paris seems so much bigger than it was from afar. It’s imposing.

Asides from its size, the cathedral is surprising in many other ways. Take the time to go up close to the main entry, and look at all of the delicate details you will find.

It has always baffled me to think how long it must have taken to carve all of these sumptuous sculptures. They are all over Notre-Dame, and despite not noticing them at first, when you do notice them, you’ll find yourself spending so much time watching in awe.

After a while, you’ll have seen most of the sculptures on the main side of the facade. You are now ready move on to the second part of the visit: inside the cathedral.

Inside the cathedral

When you step inside the cathedral, you feel transported in a different place. The silence and ambient calm are so relaxing for the mind, far away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Be respectful when you step inside, as it’s a place of worship. Take off your hat and keep quiet. There will probably be other people praying on the benches, so try to respect their privacy.

I didn’t take many pictures inside, as I didn’t feel like disturbing the place with my huge camera and loud shutter noise.
All I can say is that it looks just as amazing from the inside that it does from the outside.

Now that you’ve seen Notre-Dame de Paris from both the outside and the inside, there’s one part of the visit left: climbing to the top!

Towers of Notre-Dame de Paris

When facing the main entrance of the cathedral, go to the left side, and you’ll find another entrance: the towers entrance. Make sure you’ve booked your spot or you won’t be able to enter. Learn more about this below.

After entering, and climbing a few steps, you’ll be in a huge room, where you’ll wait for the next visit to start. The room itself is beautiful, with high ceiling and painting on the walls. There is also a book with beautiful pictures of Notre-Dame and historical information, that I found pretty neat!

When everyone is ready, usually 5 minutes after stepping in the big room, you’ll be able to start the climb.

The first climb will take you to the gargoyle level. You can walk on the balcony, and go around Notre-Dame. This is where you’ll see the iconic view of the Eiffel Tower with the gargoyle in front of it.

Since 2018, safety nets have been installed in front of the balcony, making it harder to take good photos. If you take photos with your phone, you will be fine, you can put your phone through the holes in the net to take the pictures ? For camera users, use a longer lens (>85mm), and use a wide aperture (below f/2.8) to make the net disappear.

On this level, there is a small door that will take you inside the tower, and up to the bell! Look for it, and make your way inside.

Inside the tower, you’ll find a wooden staircase: be careful, it’s very steep! Up the stairs is the big bell, and it’s pretty impressive to see. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that thing when it rings.

Well, that was incredible, right? So much to see up the towers of Notre-Dame de Paris. But wait, there’s more! When you’re ready to go, you can move on to the next and last part of the visit. Follow the « exit » signs, and wait in front of the security line. After a few minutes, someone will come to open the line, and you’ll be able to go back down.
Or you could go up.

I would advice going up.

By climbing up the last stairs of Notre-Dame de Paris, you’ll be on the very top of the cathedral. This is where you’ll have the best view!

On top of the tower, you’ll have an impressive 360° view of Paris. How many monuments can you name?
It’s also pretty interesting to be high above Notre-Dame, as you can see details that you wouldn’t see from the ground, such as beautiful statues and ornaments.

After this, the visit is over. You can go back down, using the small stone staircase.
I bet you’ll feel dizzy when reaching the ground after spinning down the 422 steps!

Notre-Dame de Paris Entrance Fee

Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral entrance fee
The entrance to the cathedral is free.

Notre-Dame towers entrance fee
Lots of tourists go to the cathedral without checking before, but this is an absolute thing not to do in Paris, especially for huge landmarks. If you want to go up the towers of Notre-Dame, you’ll have to purchase a ticket. You can find the prices below. 

Full price: 10€
Discount price: 8€

You can visit the Sainte-Chapelle for free if you are:

• under 18 years old
• from the UE and under 26 years old
• a primary/secondary school teacher
• disabled or with a disabled person
• a job seeker

Notre-Dame de Paris Tickets & How to buy them

To visit the towers of Notre-Dame, you have to book your visit.
There is a dedicated app for this: Duck The Line

Download the app, and then you’ll see « Tours de Notre-Dame de Paris » in the list.

Select it; it will tell you how many people are already in the line, and when is the next available visit.

You can then request to join the line, for up to 7 people.

Then, you can plan your visit: you either queue for the next possible visit, or you choose a certain time range when you’d like to visit.

Once you’ve joined the line, you’ll have information about how many people are ahead of you in the queue, and when is your visit.
The information is updated in real-time, which is pretty convenient.
Make sure to head to the entrance of the towers for the time of the visit. There, just show your phone with the app; they’ll scan your QR code, and you’re good to go!

Alternatively, you can book your visit on site using the machines next to the entrance. The machines are only open from 9:15 though, so you’ll have to wait a while when you book, as there will likely be a lot of people in the queue already.

Notre-Dame de Paris Opening Hours

Notre-Dame de Paris is one of the French monuments that is open the most. You can visit every day of the year, as it never closes.

The hours are different for the cathedral and the towers. You can find the opening hours below.

Cathedral opening hours
Closing days: The cathedral is open all year
Monday to Friday: 8am to 6:45pm
Saturday and Sunday: 8am to 7:15pm

Towers opening hours
Closing days: January 1st, May 1st and December 25th
October to March: 10am to 5:30pm
April to September: 10am to 6:30pm

In July & August, you can visit late-night on Fridays and Saturdays. The towers close at 11pm on these days.

Tips for your visit

Are you planning to visit Notre-Dame de Paris soon? Well if so, here are a few tips for you to help you make the most out of your visit!

• no luggage is allowed in the Cathedral. If you have a suitcase or bulky bag with you and still want to visit, you can leave your bags in lockers around the city
• right in front of Notre-Dame de Paris is the « point zero » or « point zero des routes de France »: that’s the very center of Paris!
• the booking starts at 7:30am – Make sure to wake up early to book your spot for the first visit at 10am, then go inside the Cathedral and be ready to go up the towers at 10 ?
• go early if you want to have a sweet experience – it gets overly crowded from 11am!

What to visit next?

After your visit to Notre-Dame de Paris, there are a few things to visit in the same area! Right next to the cathedral, you’ll find:

Sainte-Chapelle du Palais

Conciergerie – A Fortress in the heart of Paris

Pont-Neuf – Paris Oldest Bridge

France Guides:

Sillans la Cascade – Amazing waterfall in Var, France

Lac de Quinson, Gorges du Verdon

Lac Esparron de Verdon

Did you already visit Notre-Dame de Paris? Or are you planning to visit soon?

I hope this Paris travel guide helped you in planning your visit, and that you’ll enjoy your time there 🙂

If you post photos from the place on Instagram, make sure to tag them with #kevmrc so that I can see them!