Search to Discover Top Places in Paris

One of the oldest museums dedicated to Paris’s story, Musée Carnavalet opened in 1880 in the Renaissance Hôtel Carnavalet (built 1548–1560) and expanded over time—including the annexation of Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau in 1989. Closed for major renovations in 2016, it reopened in March 2021 with rich new displays and modernized visitor paths, offering over 625,000 artifacts chronicling Paris from prehistory to today.

The Panthéon, originally built between 1758 and 1790 by Jacques-Germain Soufflot as a church, was secularized during the Revolution in 1791 to honor France’s greatest citizens. It oscillated between religious and civic use before becoming a steadfast mausoleum in 1885 with Victor Hugo’s entombment. Notable features—including Foucault’s Pendulum and the crypt—make it a monument to France’s intellectual legacy.

Housed in what was once the Gare d’Orsay, a 1900 Beaux-Arts train station, the Musée d’Orsay transformed into a museum and officially opened in December 1986 after a bold renovation by Gae Aulenti and team under a plan initiated in the 1970s. It was envisioned to bridge collections between the Louvre and Centre Pompidou. Today, it hosts the world’s largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, set under soaring glass ceilings and original clocks of the old station. A major expansion, funded in part by a €20 million donation, is underway to extend gallery and educational spaces by 2026.

The Parc de Sceaux, designed in the 17th century by the legendary landscape architect André Le Nôtre, remains one of France’s finest examples of classical garden art. Its grand north-south and east-west perspectives, monumental hydraulic works like the Grand Canal (over one kilometer long), the Octogone, and the Petit Canal still dominate the landscape four centuries later. Historic structures—including the Pavillon de l’Aurore, the Orangerie, castle basins, moats, and the Petit Château—enrich the park’s character and reflect the elegance of the Grand Siècle.

Founded in 1931 for the Paris Colonial Exhibition, the Tropical Aquarium is located in the Palais de la Porte Dorée, a stunning Art Deco building in eastern Paris. It was one of the first public aquariums in France and remains a popular educational site for biodiversity and marine conservation.
The aquarium hosts over 5,000 animals from 300 species across ecosystems including Amazonian rivers, African lakes, Indo-Pacific coral reefs, and mangroves.

The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre) in Paris is the world’s most visited art museum and one of the city’s most iconic landmarks. Originally built as a medieval fortress in the late 12th century and later transformed into a royal palace, it became a public museum during the French Revolution. Officially opened on August 10, 1793 as the Musée central des arts de la République, the Louvre has since grown into a global cultural treasure. Its vast collections span from ancient civilizations to the 19th century, featuring masterpieces like the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. Today, the Louvre is not only a symbol of Parisian heritage but also a must-visit destination for art, history, and architecture lovers worldwide.

La Madeleine Church in Paris, an iconic neoclassical monument near Place de la Concorde, has a fascinating history spanning over 80 years of construction. Originally planned as a parish church in the 18th century, its purpose shifted through France’s political upheavals—from a revolutionary oratory to Napoleon’s envisioned “Temple to the Glory of the Great Army”—before finally being consecrated as a Catholic church. Blending the grandeur of ancient temples with Parisian elegance, La Madeleine stands today as both a place of worship and one of the city’s most striking historic landmarks.

Commissioned by Queen Marie de Medici in 1612,
the Jardin du Luxembourg was inspired by the Boboli
Gardens of Florence. Centered around the Palais du
Luxembourg (now the French Senate), the 25-hectare
park offers classical French and English-style gardens,
ornamental fountains, and nearly 100 statues.
A beloved Parisian retreat, the garden serves as a
vibrant cultural and social hub, featuring art exhibitions,
concerts, and public leisure spaces.

The Musée de Cluny is housed in a blend of Gallo-Roman ruins and a Gothic mansion that once served as the residence of the abbots of Cluny. It reopened in 2022 after extensive renovation and now presents a thematic, chronological journey through 1,000 years of medieval history.
The museum is most famous for the « The Lady and the Unicorn » tapestries—a series of six 15th-century masterpieces symbolizing the five senses and a mysterious « sixth sense. »