Paris Catacombs: Tours & Tickets

myself and my partner pre booked tickets to the catacombs for 12.30pm, we arrived at around 12 and were shocked to see a mile long queue around and down the street. however, that queue was not for us as we has pre booked there was a separate queue with no people there; we were quickly seen by a member of staff that asked to see our tickets and were asked to come back 10 minutes before our slot, we did as asked and went to grab a quick coffee in the McDonald's which was a 2 minute walk up the street. As we retured, the pre booked ticket queue was slightly longer (around 10 people, however this was still nothing compared to the non ticket hold queue).. we waited around 5 minutes, entered the building. After a quick and easy security check, my partner had to quickly finish his drink as no drinks are allowed unless secured with a tight lid and / or in a bag. We collected our audio guides, which we had pre paid for. I highly reccomend this as they give detailed information and are easy.

Paris Catacombs are amazing and a little creepy all at the same time. After awhile down in the dark with all these old bones you start to feel kind of creeped out, start hearing things that aren’t (or are) really there, feel like there are some unfinished spirits stuck down there. That being said I would do it all over again in a heartbeat, you must experience this once in your lifetime. A ton of Paris history and part of what makes the city what it is; quarried out the limestone to build everything, then the city began to sink and there wasn’t anywhere left to bury bodies, cemeteries were overflowing into the river and causing health problems. Solution: relocate the bodies painstakingly one by one to where the empty ground was to be able to tell where each person is buried, plus helped to shore up the city of Paris. Fascinating tour, definitely NOT for the faint of heart and claustrophobic though. Oh, and no elevator so unfortunately not a disabled accessible tour

Y'all, this tour was the absolute highlight of my entire trip. The 'skip the line' claim was absolutely accurate. By the time our tour was scheduled to begin, the standard queue was up to a staggering 4 hours of wait time, and we just breezed by and tried not to look too smug. Charlie was our guide and he was so full of historical fact, amusing anecdotes, and was equally entertaining for the adults and kids on the tour. The tour was 2 hours and it honestly flew by. Having access to locked areas was brilliant, and I'd recommend this to absolutely everyone.

First of all, we went ahead of the at least 2 hour long ques (!) and got in without even one minute of waiting. The audio guide (a little device that you hold up to your ear) was pretty good. You have basically different number along the way through the catacombs, that tell you a story. It was more a museum of the beauty of the dead, than a place to get frightened. But that was okay and a really different kind of experience. We learned alot about the story behind it and it was worth it imho. Recommended!

We enjoyed the catacombs, and the history behind them. We did skip the line which was necessary on the day we went. My one suggestion would be an explanation of how to use the handheld devices. We were able to ask the people in front of us, and they explained how to do it. Also once we were down there I never saw an employee, so no one to answer any questions.