The 100 Best Free Things to Do in Paris

Sit on a bench at the end of the Tuileries Gardens and watch the chaotic traffic roar thru the Place de la Concorde down below - especially foolish pedestrians who try to cross against the red lights.

Watch street entertainers on the Boul St Michel or in front of the Pompidou Centre

Stroll thru Notre-Dame Cathedral

Stroll the Seine behind Notre Dame Cathedral.

During the holiday season, stroll the Champs Elysees under the lighted trees.

Sunday morning organ mini-concert at St. Sulpice.

A visit to the Carnavalet museum (which is always free).
Strolling through the Marais district is wonderful, particularly when one has read that Hausseman didn't get around to re-arranging the Marais district, so it maintains its ancient charms.

Two free museums that are situated very close to one another: Musee Carnavalet and Musee Cognacq-Jay.
I haven't had the chance to visit Musee du Petit Palais since it reopened and am looking forward to going to this (free) museum on my next visit.

- Visit the beautiful churches and spend some time looking closely at the stained glass windows.
- The City of Paris museums are free:
. Zadkine
. Deportation Memorial (behind Notre Dame)
. Balzac's House
. Cognacq-Jay
. Romantic Life
. Carnavalet (except for special exhibits)
. Victor Hugo's House
. Palace of Justice
. Modern Art
. Petit Palais
- The Louvre is free to under 26 YO on Friday evening
- Notre Dame gives a wonderful free tour 3 times per week. Half the tour is outside the cathedral exploring the facade; the remainder is inside looking at the choir, Gothic vaulting, and windows.
- Check Pariscope magazine (only 40cents) every Wednesday or look at the church notice boards for free church concerts/vespers
- Paris is full of lovely fountains. Spend a day wandering the arrondisements looking for these gems and simultaneously experience this beautiful city
- The Luxembourg Gardens offers foot paths, flowers, fountains, statues, men playing boules, a children's playground, and a memorial to 9-11
- Connect with the Paris Greeter service; volunteers who guide visitors for 2-3 hours.
- There are free walking tours (an overview of Paris and Montmartre)
- Street markets offer hours of delight, looking at (and sampling) the wonderful foods combined with fabulous people watching
- Three major cemetaries are free - Pere Lachaise, Montparnasse, and Montmartre. The tombstones are works of art.

Every Sunday at noon, music and dancing at the bottom of rue Mouffetard - free and fabulous!!

Lectures at the College de France. You must understand French. http://www.college-de-france.fr/default/EN/all/college_english/index.htm

Several museums incl the Louvre, Musee Rodin and d'Orsay are free first Sunday of the month.

Just standing on Pont Neuf and enjoying the 360' view of Paris. Formidable!

Take a walk on the Promenade Plantee at Bastille.

Visit the Pavillon de l'Arsenal near Bastille, for history of development and planning of Paris. NOT boring !

Use one's Carte Orange or Paris Visite to take rides in Bus No. 69 and 42. See all the sights.

At the rond-point of the Champs Elysees, there is a beautiful mansion with lots of gold trim on the gates and a sign outside (a discreet sign) that reads ARTCURIAL. This is an auction house and you are permitted to enter and see what will be up for auction. It is a grand opportunity to see the inside of a great Paris mansion gratis.

Many Friday evenings there is a skate around Paris with locals - hundreds i guess participate - gratis - bring skates and go thru the streets of Paris

Saint-Vincent Garden
Bercy Park
Deyrolles
Jardin Atlantique
Paris Plage
Parc St-Cloud

I loved strolling around Ile St. Louis, although really strolling around any part of Paris was lovely.

Tracy

I've borrowing some thoughts from an article I read.

For music lovers, check the churches. The Val de Grâce church in the Fifth Arrondissement, for example, offers a free classical music and organ concert at 7 p.m. on the first Saturday of each month; the Madeleine Church in the Eighth Arrondissement offers free organ and choral concerts two or three Sundays a month at 4 p.m.

For the last 10 years, a group of hard-core dancers have gathered on the Seine every evening from mid-May through September. They do the tango, salsa and rock-swing. Free lessons start at 7:30 p.m. (a hat for tips is passed), followed by dancing until midnight. It all happens at Square Tino Rossi at 9, quai St.-Bernard in front of the University of Paris at Jussieu just a few steps from the Cathedral of Notre-Dame (“Paris Danses en Seine,” tangoargentin-eric.site.voila.fr/page3.html).

(I've seen them while taking Seine River cruise and wondered who they were)

The iconic restaurant Taillevent has one of the best wine cellars in the world, and every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. it offers a free tasting. Visit the www.taillevent.com and click on “Les Caves Taillevent,” then “Nos Prestations” and then “Les Dégustations” for information (in French only) on the schedule and theme of the tasting.



Mike

The gardens of Versailles are free. You could spend an entire day here, just strolling, taking pictures, picnicking, etc.

I reiterate that a visit to The Park of Bercy in rue de Bercy 75012 ,Paris ( catch the metro to Bercy ) is worth a trip in warmer months if you love gardens and flowers .FREE and delightful .There is a labryinth ,rose garden , a perfumed garden , vegetable gardens and flower gardens and all wonderful to admire. Your search engine will bring up a number of sites that describe it and have photographs of some of it .All the community gardens and flower beds are quite untypical of most Parisian public gardens .

Stroll the side streets in St Germain (6th Arr) and window gaze at the fantastic and out-of-this-world artworks. Most windows are lit in the evenings, so this can be done at any time.

At the weekend there are fabulous buskers on the little bridge at the back of Notre Dame (sorry I can't remember the name of the bridge).

Passage Jouffray and the other Passages.

There are frequently very entertaining street performers in the plaza outside the Pompidou Center.

Also next to the Pompidou Center is the colorful and whimsical Stravinsky fountain.

Visit art galleries during the day; find out when there are gallery openings (vernissages) in the evening. There are many galleries clustered in the Marais, in Saint Germain, and near the Louvre that are described on this website that lists (and maps) galleries, exhibits, and openings: http://www.associationdesgaleries.org/sgi/galeries.html

There are also galleries clustered around the rue Louise Weiss in the 13th arrondissement.

Sitting (and just "being" in Paris) in a little pocket garden or square that you have just discovered.

Strolling along the quais of the Seine.

Gazing at the doors of Paris.
Gazing at the flower boxes of Paris.
Gazing at the architectural details of Paris.

Strolling through a street market feasting your eyes on all the eye candy!

Walking along the Canal St. Martin.

People watching at a cafe for as long as you want(however, you would have to purchase a vin or cafe creme!).

Sitting for an afternoon in the Jardin Luxembourg.

Sitting on the steps of the Trocadero looking at the Tour Eiffel.

Walking through the flower market (or just enjoying all the fleurists on the streets).

I'm sure there are 1000's more, so let's keep this going!

Enjoy!
joy/luvparee

For the part-time artists and secret poets...take your sketchbook/journal down to the Seine and plop yourself down next to the other lined along the wall. Dangle your feet over and draw or write for 30 minutes. I know, I know... time is precious--- but taking a few minutes to soak in the scene and record your observations or expressions might just be the moment you look back most fondly on a year later when you're leafing through that old notebook.

These are all in the 14th.

Musee de la Poste
Musee Bourdelle
Musee Zadkine
Musee du Montparnasse
Musee Jean Moulin & Jardin Atlantique
Cimetiere Montparnasse

Musee de la Poste has an admission charge (5 euro I believe).

You are correct. The same applies to Musee du Montparnasse, 5 Euros.

On the first day of summer, enjoy the Fete de Musique -- all kinds of music played by terrific young musicians -- performances are indoors and outdoors, all day long and all free. May introduce you to delightful parts of Paris you might otherwise miss. A delight!

I second the thought on Ile Saint Louis, but I would do it around the island on the walkways down on the Seine. And in the evening when the lights are just coming on -- great photos.

And, of course, June 21 when it is light until 10:30 and every street corner has music.

Visit the Musee de Prefecture de Police (Police Museum). It is easily acessible, free and fascinating. Paris once led the world in forensic science and this tells the tale. Especially useful if you have to maintain the interest of cranky 11-year-old boys who have seen one too Degas' dancers!

The only thing better than sitting on the steps of the Trocadero and gazing at the Eiffel Tower is to <a href="http://www.1955design.com/view.jpg">sit at a table</a> at the restaurant on the Trocadaero and gaze at the Eiffel Tower!

http://www.1955design.com/view.jpg

Whoa Nellie! This thread is great, but: has anyone seen the pictures on Fodors.com proper, the page where free New York vs. free Paris in compared? It's here: http://www.fodors.com/news/story_3075.html?ref=news&name=080717newsletter (scroll down)

Yes, that's right: it's a (stock?) photo of a guy in shorts, with his bare feet up on a second chair, in the Luxembourg Gardens. This raises so many questions, I'll leave it to others to untangle the implications.

Did Fodor's put this photo there on purpose to encourage a lively discussion? Have any of you actually put your bare feet up on a chair in a Paris park? Mon dieu!

I guess the feet on the chair is inappropriate---at first glance to me it looks relaxing but that isn't to say I would do it myself.

In any case, the photo wasn't meant to start a debate. It's actually from flickr, which is a photo sharing website. You can link to it at the bottom in the photo credits.

Michel Paris - I thought those dancers were only on the Seine on Friday evenings...good to know that I could see them on any night.

bookmarking

The day's of whistle toting and blowing park guadiens in Paris are long gone

I see nothing inappropriate with bare feet on the edge, yes edge it appears of a chair - fussy folks would wipe the chair off anyway

I think that is way over reacting in today's practice.

Of course if he were taking up a chair and folks wanted one it would be different - it's much ado about nothing IMO

ttt

I don't think we've quite hit 100 yet...

I was in the Luxembourg Park last year in April when it had been cold but one day suddenly became a beautiful sunny hot day. Absolutely there were people who had taken two chairs, one to sit and another to stretch their feet and legs out on.

With no shoes and socks? Uh - no.

I like this website:
http://en.parisinfo.com/guide-paris/money/free-admission-and-good-deals/guide/free-admission-and-good-deals
It lists all the museums which are free every day and links to other pages with those which are free on Sundays, the first Sunday of the month, wednesday nights, etc.

"I guess the feet on the chair is inappropriate---at first glance to me it looks relaxing but that isn't to say I would do it myself"

I was in the gardens a few summers ago at lunch time.

The folks with thier shoes off and feet on the chairs... were NOT tourists. They were the locals. Now seeing them do it, I joined in LOL!

Thank you, thank you for this thread!!!

I will be in Paris in October, can't wait - it's my first time! - and will definitely try to do some of the suggestions in this thread.

Free weekend concerts here:

Accueil Musical
Église Saint-Merri
76 rue de la Verrerie
75004 Paris
France
www.accueilmusical.com
Tél/Fax : + 33 (0)1 42 71 40 75

Then there is the Marche des Fleurs and, on Sundays, the Marche des Oiseaux, the markets of flowers and birds, respectively, on the Iles de Cite. (sorry there should be 'accents' on all these words, but I still don't know how to do that.)

These are free, colourful and very different from what you will see in other parts of the world. Bring your camera!

What about the free fashion shows at Printemps and Galerie Lafayette?
You do however need to make reservations!

Michel_Paris: I went to the website you were telling us about (www.taillevent.com) and was unable to find out anything more than there are wine tastings on Saturday from 10am to 6:30pm. Do you need a reservation?

There was nothing that I could find to mention the calendar of events. Do they post the "theme announced in advance" on the website? We will be in Paris Saturday, September 27th and this sounds like a fun activity to check out.

Thanks for all the great tips for free activities in Paris.

Climbing to the top of the hill to Sacre Coeur on a cold winter morning and watching the sunrise. I loved the quiet peacefulness of the sleepy city just waking up.

Plus, no (or very small) crowds.

Seems as no one has mentioned the Velib' bikes where the first 30 minutes of rental are free i believe

Unfortunately American tourists may not have credit cards that will free up the bikes but Europeans at least will.

In August there is a free beach - the Paris Plage set up along the Seine

and in August i believe parking is even free everywhere in the city - during the annual month holiday that many Parisians take and get out of town

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ttt.

Having just returned from Paris, I loved reading all of these suggestions and agree with all of them.

I thought I'd quote from my report(Paris again, beginning report on 9/18).

Paris is like a Faberge Egg. The first time you rush around, but all you see is the outside of the egg. Then every time you return, you unfold another layer inside. You go a bit slower and find something new around every corner.

When I tell people that we don't spend much money during the day in Paris, they find it hard to believe. But there are so many things to enjoy that are free, and this thread gives you a good idea of them.

Saving this thread for our next trip to Paris May 09,
Schnauzer

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Free wine tasting at Le Dernier Goutte wine shop on Saturday mornings in St Germain de Pres.

Free band playing in Jardin du Luxembourg and they often have art exhibits in L'Orangerie free too.

Read the messages about the feet on the chairs. These selfish people tend to take two chairs, one for their butt, one for their feet leaving other visitors looking for chairs and not finding any spare.

Same as when people go to the cinema when their is a popular movie and put their jackets on the spare chair next to them. Totally selfish!

Oh before I forget, anyone under 18 years of age are free in most museums.

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ttt

bookmarking... this will come in so handy in a month's time!

Does anyone know if Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris is still free? I found it listed on a 2006 post, but I'm curious for an upcoming trip.

I'm interested in a Raoul Dufy installation, so it might be a situation where there is a charge anyway for that specific exhibit. I'm more curious about the entrance to the actual museum.

Thanks!

Sorry for being a bit off-topic, but Kyliebaby3, if you are a Dufy fan you may be interested in a reference in a book about western Provence I have just mentioned in another post. In Alexander Maitland's Wild Thyme and Saladelle; Journeys round western Provence he mentions (at p.100) "Perhaps the most attractive edition of [Alphonse Daudet's Quixote-like] Les Aventures prodigieuses de Tartarin de Tarascon was published in 1937, illustrated by seventy superb lithographs from drawings by Raoul Dufy made over six years from 1931." (And just btw, a Dufy graces the cover of Robert Kanigel's High Season: How One French Riviera Town [Nice] has Seduced Travellers for Two Thousand Years.)

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Still have not got to 100

The Maison de la RATP (sp?) - just opposite the Gare du Lyon - the HQs of the Paris transport system - metro, buses, trams, funicular - at times they have old vehicles on display and futuristic ones as well in the display area (and at other times very little but always something of interest)

also the place to get the series of Paris maps put out by the RATP that cover each area in great details - free.

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The Cluny Museum (which we loved) was free, but I spent $97 on 'stuff' while I was in there!

The Trocadero, opposite the Eifel Tower is a venue for skate boarders doing tricks as well as break dancers - great free entertainment with the Eiffel Tower and the Seine as a backdrop. A great picnic place in good weather.

The Cluny Museum was free for a period earlier this year along with several other museums, as a temporary experiment. There is an admission fee again now, however.

Oh come on guys!! You're leaving a good one on the table.

Girl / fashion watching.

Yup - buckeye boy - and the Faubourg St Denis, near Les Halles, is hopping with hookers - sometimes hundreds lurking everywhere - to look is free at this longtime Parisian affair.

Great FREE views - take the escalators to the top of the Pompidou Center (no admission fee for those) - or head to the tops of the Au Primtemps or Galleries Lafayette department stores - they used to at least have cafes up there in the open air - and see all of Paris swirl around you.

And, while at these department stores take advantage of the Free Fashion shows they stage for tourists. Coupons on practically every map you get.

head thru th Tuileries gardens (free) and at the western end there are some great benches perched right above the Place du Concord (sp?) - and then enjoy a free show of Parisian traffic at its most obnoxious - zillions of lanes of traffic merging at random it seems - small cars scooting between buses, etc. I never tired of watching that show. Great picnique spot.

STREET BUSKERS

Paris has long been a mecca for street buskers - given the European penchant for quickly dropping coins into hats to encourage street entertainers. Great places are in front of the Pompidou Center and on the Boul Mich or Boulevard St Michel - Latin Quarter area and scattered about any busy place - including inside metro stations - those these are licensed by ratp and folks fight for lucrative places - some are said to make great wages in the metro.

You are likely to see the old accordion players on metros as well.

And this all is free - even though buskers depend on backsheesh to survive.

And many of those buskers are no-talent bums. There was an accordion player on the Metro with me a few weeks ago and you should have see the looks on the riders faces when he started to play. Lots of eye rolling and children snickering.

Thin

Well yes those, like the ubiquitous tattered old men playing tattered accordions, are ones you pay to NOT play.

The least talented busker i've seen front of the Pompidou Center and he was a big fat guy - a shirtless fat fat guy who then offered to let people throw darts into his prodigious belly, for a fee. There were many darts sticking into his fat belly before long.

Boule (Petanque) Matches

Another interesting free thing to do in Paris is to go to a Boules pit and watch the locals engage in this very typical French sport - where the throw those heavy metal balls at the tiny couchon someone haphazardly tosses out to start the round.

Some animated Boule pits i know are along the Canal just south of the Bastille and also, i believe, at Place Nation - but you will see dirt boule pits all over the city.

A quickie in the lift up the Eiffel Tower? (You said free - not illegal)

The Bookinistes - or fabled book stalls along the Seine - stroll by these to see old books, comics or to buy old postcards, etc. A Paris tradition - Left Bank of Seine (south) near Notre-Dame Cathedral. great photo opp.

Toilets are gratuit or free - hundreds of public toilets in Paris are as on last year i believe now free. Unlike cities like Rome where you have to flee into a McDonalds or caffe in Paris so such problems.

Pere Lachaise is a great free thing to do IMO

Paris' most famous cemetery itself is a trip but check out some of the famous tombs - like that of Jimmy Morrison of the Doors - often graffitied up with younger folk partying around it - and several other legendary folk - like Oscar Wilde, whose life-size body on top of his tomb has a member that is shiny from being stroked by so many visitors. (May have gotten Wilde mixed up with someone else.) Get a map from the office to navigate this bizarre maze-like place.

ttt

Paris is famous for Jazz and excellent Jazz Bands (not buskers) play for free on Place des Vosges and Rue Montorgueil on Sunday afternoons. Don't miss them

Oscar's penis is gone. Someone chipped it off.

Thin

Thin - what did you do with Oscar's penis? Sell it on E-Bay? Make a bong out of it?

A bong? Please, darling, pot is for poor people. As if.

I only do A-list drugs.

Thin,
Betty Ford Alum

Pal- Betty Ford Drop Out

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MONMARTRE AND THE PLACE DE TERTE (sp?)

Great people watching up on Montmartre and it's main square the Pl Terte (sp?) where there are usually dozens of artists sketching sidewalk portraits of tourists.

And the views of Paris laid out below from the steps of the Sacre-Coeur Church (also free to enter) are marvelous.

May have been mentioned by me or others before but Toilets - the hundreds of public toilets on the streets are now free. Those modernistic toilets where the door slides open and after you're done the whole thing is somehow flushed clean, in theory at least.

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Free- The TGB or Tres Grande Biblioteque - the Mitterand National Library that lies on the Seine just upstream from the Austerlitz train station.

The library is visually striking from outside - featuring four tall corners that look like books - but the part of the library for tourists is down below - there are changing exhibits involving literature, comics, posters, etc. from French and Parisian history.

It's all free (except possible some big special exhibitions)

bookmarking

bookmarking.

Free is my kind of price, and hope to use this thread for a fall 2009 trip.

I attended a free noon hour concert at the Musee de Cluny-a contra tenor. Do they still have those wonderful concerts?

It appears that they now charge for the concerts. They used to be free with admission to the museum but the Cluny web site shows a price for the concert ticket.

I went to one of those concerts too and really enjoyed it.

Thanks so much for all the ideas,we are leaving for Paris may 10th,I LOVE THAT CITY,this will be trip # 5 ,so looking for different things to try.Thanks everyone

bookmarking

Watch the Eiffel Tower twinkle up at 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. with all the Parisians at the Mars Garden.
Pakc a picnic lunch and enjoy all the treats of Paris on the Pont du Arts.

Can we add four replies for an even 100?

We've been to Paris before, so I'm using "free" as my guide to discover new (and some old) favorites. March 2010!

We didn't get to try "Velib". It's the bicycle ride you see almost everywhere in Paris. First 1/2 hour is free. But you can just just keep hopping on each station every 1/2 hour. For some reason, our credit card won't work. If you can use this, you'll enjoy Paris a lot and quickly. We'll definitely try this next time we come back.

iloveParis_2:

You need a credit card with a chip in it. Most (if not all) US debit/credit cards don't have them, so we can't use Velib. Although, I have heard that some people have used their AMEX cards and gotten it to work.

You could always find someone on the street and pay them to let you use their card.

How odd that the posts stopped at 99 almost 2 years ago. I'm sitting in a Paris apartment right now, sipping my tea and watching the street life below. Then it's out for a walk around the Marais. Next week will be all about museums and tours, but this is a blissfully relaxing start to the vacation.

brisky, I think you are enjoying one of the best free things to do in Paris. It takes me back to our apartment on Ile St. Louis over Christmas & New Year's - enjoying our Seine river view while sipping champagne and enjoying macaroons.

Thanks for your post & enjoy your Paris vacation!