Visitor guides to 14 Paris landmarks — verified 2026 ticket prices, opening hours, sold-out workarounds and worth-it verdicts, from the Eiffel Tower and Louvre to the Catacombs.
Paris packs its headline landmarks into an unusually walkable core — the Louvre, the Musée de l'Orangerie and the Tuileries line the Right Bank of the Seine while the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée Rodin face them from the Left; Notre-Dame and Sainte-Chapelle share the Île de la Cité; and the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the dome of Sacré-Cœur anchor the skyline from three different directions. Add the Palace of Versailles at the end of the RER C line and the bone-lined tunnels beneath Denfert-Rochereau, and the fourteen landmarks on this page cover nearly every ticket a first- or second-time visitor will actually buy.
The hard part of visiting in 2026 isn't finding these landmarks — it's keeping up with ticketing rules, several of which changed this year. The Louvre now charges €32 for non-EEA visitors (€22 EEA) under pricing introduced in January, Sainte-Chapelle followed with its own €16/€22 split on January 12, and since March the Musée d'Orsay requires every visitor — Paris Museum Pass holders included — to book a timed-entry slot while its reception areas are renovated. The Centre Pompidou's main building is closed outright until 2030 for a €460 million overhaul, the Catacombs cap the underground circuit at 200 people at a time, and the Opéra Garnier sells day tickets online only. Meanwhile Notre-Dame is free again after its December 2024 reopening, and Sacré-Cœur never charged at all. Each guide below verifies the current ticket price, the real opening hours, how long to plan, and — where it matters — an honest verdict on whether the ticket is worth it or whether a free alternative does the job.
Use this page as your index: every card links to a full visitor guide with the details that don't make it into official-site FAQs — sold-out workarounds, the best hour to arrive, and which combined tickets actually save money. Below the landmark guides you'll find our Paris trip-planning pieces for itineraries, pass math and day trips.
Elevator tickets to the top cost €36.70 for adults in 2026, the tower opens as early as 09:00, and a proper visit — queueing, security, two elevator changes — runs most people 2 to 3 hours door to door. The guide gives a straight verdict on summit versus second floor.
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Admission costs €22 for EEA residents and €32 for everyone else as of January 2026, open 9am–6pm (until 9:45pm Wednesdays and Fridays) but closed every Tuesday. A focused highlights visit takes 2 to 3 hours — the guide covers which entrance and which wing to start with.
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The Passport ticket covering the Palace, Gardens and Estate of Trianon costs €35 in 2026 high season, and doing it properly takes a full day — roughly 6 to 8 hours door to door from central Paris. The guide explains which ticket tier to skip.
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Entry is free — doors open from 7:50am on weekdays — following the December 2024 reopening after the fire restoration. The bell towers take a separate €16 timed ticket and the archaeological crypt €9, stretching a full visit to about 2.5 hours.
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The rooftop terrace costs €22 from April through September (€16 on Wednesdays, and a flat €16 October–March), with the monument open as late as 11pm in summer. The only way in is the underground Passage du Souvenir — there's no crossing Place Charles de Gaulle at street level.
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Tickets cost €16 for EEA nationals or €22 for everyone else under pricing that took effect January 12, 2026, with hours of 9am–7pm April through September. Unlike Notre-Dame across the square there's no free option — every visitor books a 30-minute entry slot.
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Admission costs €16 online in 2026, open Tuesday–Sunday 9:30am–6pm (Thursdays until 9:45pm) — and since March 2026 every visitor, including Paris Museum Pass holders, must book a timed-entry slot because walk-up admission is suspended during renovation.
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The basilica is free and open every day of the year from 6:30am to 10:30pm — the only ticket is the dome climb at €8 for adults, sold on-site only at a booth beside the main entrance. No advance booking, and no risk of it selling out like a timed museum slot.
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Tickets run €31 full rate with audio guide included (€25 reduced, €15 ages 8–17), open Tuesday–Sunday 9:45am–8:30pm. The underground circuit caps at 200 visitors at a time, so an unbooked summer afternoon can mean an hour-plus queue above Denfert-Rochereau.
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A standard adult ticket costs €16 as of July 2026, open daily 10:00–18:30 through September 30 with last entry 45 minutes before closing. No timed-entry scramble like the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre — which is why it quietly ranks among central Paris's better-value stops.
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A self-guided visit costs €15–25 depending on residency, with the building open daily 10am–3:30pm (extended to 4:30pm in August). Booking is online-only through the official Paris Opera site — there's no ticket desk to walk up to on the day.
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Tickets cost €12.50 online (€11 at the on-site desk), open 9am–6pm every day except Tuesday. Built around eight Monet Water Lilies canvases in two oval rooms, it's done in well under two hours — the guide covers when to beat the tour groups.
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Admission costs €14 online in 2026, open Tuesday–Sunday 10am–6:30pm inside the Hôtel Biron on the Left Bank. The draw is one of Paris's most photographed sculpture gardens, with full-scale bronze casts of The Thinker and The Gates of Hell.
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The main Beaubourg building has been closed since September 2025 for a five-year, roughly €460 million renovation and won't reopen until 2030. The guide covers what's actually open in 2026 — the free Maison Pompidou nearby and the Metz sister site at €7–14.
Visitor guide →The landmark guides above cover tickets, hours and worth-it calls sight by sight — these companion guides handle the trip-level decisions. Start with the 2 days in Paris itinerary for a day-by-day route that sequences the big tickets around their opening windows, and run the numbers with is the Paris Pass worth it before buying any city pass. Budget travelers should pair the free landmarks on this page with our free things to do in Paris round-up, and families will want Paris with kids for which sites hold a child's attention and which to skip. When the ticket queues wear thin, hidden gems in Paris covers the quieter corners locals actually use, and day trips from Paris gets you to Versailles' lesser-known neighbors, Giverny and Chantilly by train.
