Before You Book the Paris Catacombs: Every Cost, and What's Worth It
By the BeatTheCrowd team · Prices last checked 2 November · 3 min read
The Paris Catacombs, an ossuary holding the remains of millions of Parisians in old quarry tunnels, reopened after renovation, and tickets are now timed, online only and released a week ahead. There's the standard ticket with the audio guide, reduced and child prices, and reseller tours with access to closed sections. Most of them sound worth paying for. You don't need the most expensive one to have a great visit. In this guide we walk through what each option costs, what you really get, and how to choose the right one, whether that's a quiet morning slot or a packed afternoon.
At a glance
Adult, with audio guide
€31
Ages 18-26
About €25
Children 5-17
€12 (no audio guide)
Booking
Online only, released 7 days ahead at 10 am
Hours
Tue-Sun 9:45 am-8:30 pm, last entry 7:30 pm
Closed
Mondays
Quietest
The first slots, and the evening
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The real total: entry price vs what a typical visit costs
A standard ticket costs €31 for adults, with timed entry and an audio guide included. Visitors aged 18-26 pay about €25 with ID, and children 5-17 pay €12, without the audio guide. There are no walk-up sales: tickets are released online 7 days ahead at 10 am Paris time. Prices are from Art Visit Guide and Les Frenchies Travel; confirm on the official site.
Visitor
What they buy
Price
Adult
Timed ticket + audio guide
€31
Age 18-26
Reduced ticket
About €25
Child 5-17
Child ticket
€12
Tickets and entry: what each one gets you
Cost
Price (€)
Type
How to cut it
Adult ticket
€31
≈ US$36
Unavoidable
Book at 10 am, 7 days ahead.
Age 18-26
About €25
≈ US$29
Unavoidable
Bring ID.
Child 5-17
€12
≈ US$14
Unavoidable
No audio guide included.
Reseller tour
Varies
Optional
Costs more; some include restricted areas.
How to get a ticket
Tickets go on sale 7 days ahead at 10 am Paris time and popular slots go fast. Our verdict: set a reminder; if your date is sold out, a reseller tour is the fallback, at a higher price.
Is the audio guide worth it?
It's included for adults, in French, English, Spanish and German. Our verdict: use it; without it, the tunnels are atmospheric but hard to make sense of.
What visitors say
Visitors find the Catacombs eerie and unforgettable, with walls of carefully stacked bones, and say the audio guide adds a lot. The most common complaints are the hard-to-get tickets, the stairs and the visit feeling short for the price, so the advice is to book on release day and bring a layer for the cool tunnels.
Prices last checked: 2 November. Prices vary with the season, peak and off-peak dates and promotions, and we recheck them every month. Visitor-reported costs are marked as estimates, and US$ figures are rough conversions.
The crowd tax: what busy hours really cost you
Our crowd data shows the Catacombs moderate at opening, then busy from about 11 am or noon until about 7 pm, Tuesday to Sunday. Evenings are moderate again. Timed tickets cap numbers, so the real crowd tax is sold-out slots and narrower tunnels at busy times.
When
Crowds (our data)
What to do
9:45 to about 11 am
Moderate
Best time
About noon to 7 pm
Busy
Book ahead
After about 7 pm
Moderate
A calmer late slot
Crowds by day and time
From the typical weekly visitor pattern for Catacombs of Paris, based on Google’s popular-times data.
Quietest time
Tuesday, 9-10 am
Busiest time
Sunday, 11 am-7 pm
Skip-the-line and tours: when they're worth it
Every ticket is timed, so there's no line to skip at the door. Reseller tours cost more and sometimes include areas closed to standard visitors. Our verdict: book the official ticket; a tour is worth it only if official slots are gone.
Short on time? What you'd regret missing
The ossuary, with its walls of bones.
The entrance inscription, "Arrête ! C'est ici l'empire de la Mort".
The quarry tunnels leading in.
Getting there
The entrance is at Place Denfert-Rochereau, next to Denfert-Rochereau station (Metro and RER B). The exit is a short walk away.
Rules that cost money
There are many steps down and back up, and the tunnels are cool. Bring a layer and wear comfortable shoes.
What can go wrong
You turn up without a ticket: no walk-up sales.
You go on a Monday: closed.
You book late: slots sell out after release.
What one adult really spends
Level
What's included
One adult
Young adult
18-26 ticket
About €25
Typical
Adult ticket + audio guide
€31
A child 5-17 adds €12.
FAQs
How much are the Paris Catacombs?
+
€31 for adults with the audio guide, about €25 for ages 18-26 and €12 for children 5-17.
When are Paris Catacombs tickets released?
+
Online, 7 days ahead, at 10 am Paris time. There are no walk-up sales.
Are the Paris Catacombs open on Mondays?
+
No. They're open Tuesday to Sunday, 9:45 am to 8:30 pm.
How we research: every guide is written by the BeatTheCrowd team from official sources and recent traveller reports, cross-checked against each other. Crowd figures come from our own crowd data. Prices last checked 2 November. Prices and rules change, so always confirm on the official site before you book.
When
What to expect
Verdict
Weekdays, 9-11 am
A steady flow of visitors, short waits at the main spots. Before the main crowds arrive.
Best
Weekdays, 11 am-3 pm
Peak crowds, queues at the entrance and main sights. Peak sightseeing hours, when most visitors are on site.
Worst
Weekdays, 3-6 pm
Peak crowds, queues at the entrance and main sights. Stays busy into the afternoon.
Worst
Weekdays, 6-9 pm
A steady flow of visitors, short waits at the main spots. Calmer as the day winds down.
Best
Saturday and Sunday
Peak crowds, queues at the entrance and main sights. Similar to weekdays.
Worst
📍 Live crowd check
See how busy Catacombs of Paris is right now, plus today’s hourly forecast.
