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France's must-see landmarks at a glance
The landmarks you can't skip
If you only have time for a handful, prioritise the five icons below. Every landmark in this guide is reachable from Paris as a day or weekend trip — the table shows how far each one is.
Paris icons
- ✓Eiffel Tower
- ✓The Louvre
- ✓Sacré-Cœur & Montmartre
- ✓Sainte-Chapelle
Worth the detour
- →Palace of Versailles
- →Mont Saint-Michel
- →Pont du Gard
- →Verdon Gorge
| Landmark | Where | From Paris | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eiffel Tower | Paris | In city | The classic photo |
| Palace of Versailles | Yvelines | 40 min | Royal grandeur |
| Mont Saint-Michel | Normandy | 4–5 h | Iconic abbey island |
| Pont du Gard | Occitanie | 3 h | Roman engineering |
| The Louvre | Paris | In city | World's top museum |
| Sacré-Cœur & Montmartre | Paris | In city | Free city view |
| Sainte-Chapelle | Paris | In city | Gothic stained glass |
| Palais Garnier | Paris | In city | Opera architecture |
| Père Lachaise | Paris | In city | Famous graves |
| Vaux-le-Vicomte | Seine-et-Marne | 1 h | Versailles' inspiration |
| Giverny & Monet's Garden | Normandy | 45 min | Impressionist art |
| Saint-Malo | Brittany | 3 h | Walled seaside town |
| Fontenay Abbey | Burgundy | 1 h+ | Medieval calm |
| Verdon Gorge | Provence | 6 h+ | Outdoor adventure |
Travel times are indicative, from central Paris by the fastest common route. Updated July 2026.
The Eiffel Tower
No landmark says "France" quite like the Eiffel Tower. The 330-metre iron lattice tower was built by engineer Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 World's Fair, and was only meant to stand for 20 years. Today it is the most-visited paid monument in the world, drawing close to 7 million visitors a year (official figures, toureiffel.paris).
You can ride the lifts (or climb the stairs) to three levels, with the summit sitting at 276 metres. Book online in advance — same-day queues at the ticket offices are notoriously long, especially in summer.
How to get there: Take metro line 6 to "Bir-Hakeim" or the RER C to "Champ de Mars — Tour Eiffel". The tower is a short walk from either stop.
The Palace of Versailles
Louis XIV turned his father's hunting lodge into the most extravagant palace in Europe, and moved the royal court there in 1682. The Palace of Versailles has roughly 2,300 rooms, but the showstopper is the Hall of Mirrors — 73 metres of mirrored arches where the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919 (chateauversailles.fr).
Don't rush the gardens: André Le Nôtre's formal landscape of fountains, groves and canals is a UNESCO World Heritage site in its own right. In summer, time your visit for the musical fountain shows.
Curious about the château that inspired it all? Skip the crowds and see Vaux-le-Vicomte, further down this list.
How to get there: Take the RER C to "Versailles Château — Rive Gauche", about 40 minutes from central Paris, then a 10-minute walk to the gates.
Mont Saint-Michel
Rising out of the bay between Normandy and Brittany, Mont Saint-Michel is a medieval abbey perched on a rocky tidal island. It has been a place of pilgrimage since the 8th century and has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1979 (whc.unesco.org).
The bay has some of the highest tides in Europe, which historically cut the mount off from the mainland twice a day. A modern footbridge now keeps access open, but the sight of the abbey surrounded by water at high tide is still unforgettable.
How to get there: Take the train from Paris Montparnasse to Rennes or Villedieu-les-Poêles, then a shuttle bus to the mount. Allow 4 to 5 hours door to door — it's best done as an overnight trip.
Pont du Gard
The Pont du Gard is one of the best-preserved Roman aqueducts in the world. Built in the 1st century AD to carry water nearly 50 km to the city of Nîmes, it stands around 50 metres high and was assembled from precisely cut stones without mortar. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1985 (whc.unesco.org).
The riverside site is great for a day out: you can swim in the Gardon below the bridge in summer, walk across the aqueduct's lower tier, and visit the on-site museum about Roman engineering.
How to get there: Take a TGV from Paris to Nîmes or Avignon (about 3 hours), then a local bus or a short drive to the site near Vers-Pont-du-Gard.
Vaux-le-Vicomte
Often overshadowed by Versailles, Vaux-le-Vicomte is in fact the château that inspired it — and it rewards visitors with the same grandeur and a fraction of the crowds.
A young Parlement of Paris member named Nicolas Fouquet bought the land where Vicomte sits in 1641. Over the next several years, he — along with a handful of architects — reimagined and turned the land into a beautiful estate for himself, with sprawling gardens to match.
Fouquet threw a party there and invited King Louis XIV, who was in power at the time. The estate was meant to flatter the king, but instead, it just made him jealous. A few days later, the king ordered Fouquet's arrest, and then ordered the architects who helped design Vicomte to create what we now know as the Palace of Versailles.
The story is also documented in the fictional world of "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas.
How to get there: It's about an hour by train from Paris Gare de l'Est. Once you arrive at "Verneuil l'Etang" station, you can wait for the château's shuttle bus to pick you up and drive you to the estate.
Sacré-Cœur and Montmartre
If you're looking for a different side of Paris, take a walk up through the Montmartre area and visit Sacré-Cœur Cathedral. The landmark boasts the best (free) view of the City of Light, thanks to its high elevation. The Cathedral itself is not as big as Notre Dame, but it's just as beautiful with its decorated ceilings and vast interior.
The area of Montmartre holds a lot of history. Its winding roads and hilly neighbourhoods housed many well-known artists: Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Degas, and Renoir are just a few. Nowadays, that artistic, bohemian vibe lives on, with musicians and vendors lighting up the streets with their art.
The name "Montmartre" means "Mount of the Martyr," and was named after the Patron Saint of France and former Bishop of Paris, Saint-Denis. He was also, unfortunately, decapitated on the hill around 250 AD. But you won't have to worry about that happening if you visit these days.
How to get there: Sacré-Cœur and Montmartre sit in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, in the northern part of the city. It is accessible primarily through metro lines 2 or 12. The metro stop "Abbesses" is the closest stop to the cathedral.
Saint-Malo
If you were looking to visit Mont St. Michel but were too put off by the crowds, try Saint-Malo instead. The two towns are built similarly, with their high, castle-like walls blocking out the rest of the world. But Saint-Malo is much bigger than Mont St. Michel, and you can easily feel more like a local thanks to the minimized tourist population.
Located on the Brittany coast in the northwestern region of France, Saint-Malo was founded by the Gauls in 1 B.C. The modern-day town can be traced back to a monkhood in the 6th century. During World War II, Saint-Malo was bombed heavily by the Allies, as they tried to free it from its German captors.
Nowadays, it's a quaint seaside town that's a perfect beach getaway for those living in the busy Paris city centre.
How to get there: Take the train from Gare Montparnasse in Paris. You can either take a direct train or transfer in the town of Rennes, depending on the train schedule. It'll take roughly 3 hours to get there.
Giverny and Monet's Garden
Even casual observers of art know who French Impressionist painter Claude Monet was, or have at least seen his famous Water Lilies paintings.
Monet and his family settled in Giverny in 1883. When visiting the town, you'll see the family's old farmhouse, their garden, and then, across the road, the Japanese water garden Monet installed ten years after he moved in. It would inspire him for the rest of his life.
How to get there: Take the train from Paris Gare Saint Lazare to Vernon-Giverny. It'll take you about 45 minutes to get there. Then, you will need to take a bus or taxi to Giverny, as it is about 7 kilometres from the station.
To make the most of your trip, explore our dedicated guides to French culture and French food.
Père Lachaise
A cemetery might seem an unusual sightseeing choice, but Père Lachaise is no ordinary graveyard. Beautifully landscaped and enclosed by tall, castle-like walls, it is the final resting place of a remarkable roll-call of names.
Are you a fan of Oscar Wilde? What about Frédéric Chopin, or Jim Morrison? These three have been laid to rest here, along with many others of different nationalities.
Napoleon established the cemetery in 1804, declaring every citizen, regardless of race or religion, had the right to be buried. Today, it is the largest cemetery in Paris, filling up 440,000 square meters of land (City of Paris).
How to get there: Take Paris metro line 2 and get off at either Père Lachaise or Philippe Auguste station.
Sainte Chapelle
Sainte-Chapelle is one of the finest sights in Paris. Its walls are made almost entirely of stained glass, and stepping inside on a bright day, surrounded by light pouring through the windows, is a genuinely breathtaking experience.
Completed in 1248, the chapel sits on the Île de la Cité in Paris and is a testament to the Gothic style that ruled France for a couple of centuries. It houses 15 stained glass windows that dictate 1,113 scenes from the Old and New Testament of the Bible (Centre des monuments nationaux). It was originally built to house Christian relics, including Christ's crown of thorns.
How to get there: Take Paris metro line 4 and get off at the stop called "Cité."
Verdon Gorge
A must for outdoor enthusiasts, the Verdon Gorge is nicknamed the "French Grand Canyon". It lies in the south-eastern Provence region, within the Verdon Regional Nature Park. The gorge reaches 700 metres deep in places and runs some 25 kilometres long, making it one of the largest in Europe.
It is a popular spot for kayaking and whitewater rafting, and for those after a different kind of thrill, the park also offers aerial sports such as paragliding.
How to get there: If you want to take the train from Paris, it'll take about six hours. Alternatively, you could fly from Paris to Marseille or Nice and take either a bus or train from there. However, this will likely run you up into the 7 or 8-hour travel range.
Palais Garnier
Designed under the reign of Napoleon III by architect Charles Garnier, this ornately decorated building is impossible to miss when visiting Paris. It was finished in 1875 and was the primary theatre in Paris for the ballet and opera until the opening of the Opéra Bastille in 1989.
It's been referenced a fair amount in pop culture, most notably in the 1910 novel, "The Phantom of the Opera," which would later become the beloved musical we know today.
If you'd like to take a peek inside, you don't necessarily need to buy tickets to the ballet; guided and self-guided tours are available daily.
Don't miss out on the gold-lined ceilings and a grand staircase that'll rival even the most extravagant palaces.
How to get there: Take Paris metro line 3, 7 or 8 to "Opéra," line 9 or 7 to "Chaussée d'Antin La Fayette," or the RER A line to "Auber" station to see this beauty in person.
Fontenay Abbey
The Abbey of Fontenay sits near the village of Marmagne in Burgundy, in the Côte-d'Or department. Founded in 1118 by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, it is one of the oldest surviving Cistercian monasteries in Europe and has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1981.
It's a great place to immerse yourself in what religious life was like 900 years ago: you can wander through the old meal hall, the dormitories, and take Harry Potter-esque photos in the cloister, or covered walkway.
How to get there: Take the train from Paris to Montbard; it'll take a little over an hour. You can then take a taxi from Montbard to the Abbey, not too far away.
The Louvre
As one of the most famous landmarks in France, we couldn't leave it off the list even if we wanted to.
This museum is more than just the home of the Mona Lisa. It's a beautiful former palace, built in the late 12th to 13th century under King Philip II. It housed several different reigning kings until Louis XIV moved to Versailles and used the palace as a place to display the royal collection.
It was only during the French Revolution that it was decided that the palace would be turned into a museum that would display France's treasures.
So pay a visit to Mona, but don't forget to look at all the other 35,000 works (roughly) that are on display at any given time (louvre.fr)!
How to get there: Take Paris metro line 1 to metro stop "Louvre-Rivoli" or "Palais Royal - Musée du Louvre." Metro line 7 will also take you to the latter stop.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most visited landmark in France? Read more Close
The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world and one of France's top attractions, while the Eiffel Tower is the most visited paid monument, with close to 7 million visitors a year. The Palace of Versailles and Notre-Dame also draw millions annually.
What is the most famous landmark in France? Read more Close
The Eiffel Tower is France's most recognisable landmark and a global symbol of Paris. Beyond the capital, Mont Saint-Michel and the Palace of Versailles are the country's best-known monuments.
Which French landmarks are easy to visit from Paris? Read more Close
The Palace of Versailles (40 minutes by RER C), Giverny (45 minutes by train) and Vaux-le-Vicomte (about 1 hour) all make easy day trips. Within Paris itself, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Sacré-Cœur and Sainte-Chapelle are all reachable by metro.
How many UNESCO World Heritage sites does France have? Read more Close
France has more than 50 UNESCO World Heritage sites, including Mont Saint-Michel, the Palace of Versailles, the Pont du Gard and the banks of the Seine in Paris. You can check the full list on the UNESCO website.