Top 10 Things to Do in Paris

Ten essential Paris places to visit, from landmark viewpoints and Gothic interiors to major museums, opera-house spectacle, and the Catacombs below the city.

• Eiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower is the defining Paris activity: observation levels, ironwork, restaurants, history, and night illumination in one landmark. Book ahead if going up the tower, or time the visit for evening light around the Champ de Mars.
• Musee du LouvreThe Louvre is Paris's essential museum activity, with the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, Egyptian antiquities, French painting, decorative arts, and the palace architecture itself. Pick a theme or wing rather than trying to cover everything.
• Notre-Dame CathedralNotre-Dame Cathedral is the Gothic heart of the Ile de la Cite, with twin towers, rose windows, sculpted portals, flying buttresses, and a restored interior shaped by centuries of worship and civic memory.
• Sainte-ChapelleSainte-Chapelle is one of Paris's most concentrated visual experiences: a royal Gothic chapel whose upper room rises into walls of blue, red, and gold stained glass. Timed entry helps keep the visit simple.
• Musee d'OrsayMusee d'Orsay turns a former railway station into the city's major Impressionist and Post-Impressionist museum, with Monet, Renoir, Degas, Manet, Van Gogh, sculpture, decorative arts, and a great clock-facing hall.
• Arc de TriompheThe Arc de Triomphe is the monumental anchor of the Champs-Elysees, with sculpted reliefs, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and a rooftop terrace looking over the avenues of western Paris.