I really thought finding Jim to be a little difficult. I think the maps they sell at the flower shop outside of Pere Lachaise are worthless. I also believe that the Pere Lachaise metro stop/enterance to the cemetery alot easier than the Gambetta metro stop.

What are your thoughts?

P.S. anyone going and would like good directions, I wrote them down in detail you can email me at [email protected] and I will email you a copy. I don't want to post it here incase someone would like to "hunt" for Mr. Morrison.

I suppose it depends on which entrance you use to the cemetary, but we found him without any hitch whatsoever. Of course, the crowds, and the smell were dead giveaways.

I didn't have any problems finding his grave either-and the crowds ARE a dead giveaway (pardon the pun!) Now Chopin, on the other hand, was difficult for me to find...I had to ask some Germans how to get there.

Hi katkat..
We had no trouble finding Jim Morrisons grave, but we almost walked past Piaf.
And who could ever miss Oscar Wildes grave!

We used the map and had no trouble.

I recommend everyone make a point of seeing the Holocaust Memorials near the entrance, it is both beautiful and heartbreaking.

I think Jim Morrison's grave was disappointing, and just seeing his grave isn't worth a trip to Pere Lachaise. Finding it wasn't too hard, as that seems to have been where most visitors were headed. But the cemetery itself is very worth a visit - I visited on both of my trips to Paris. It's a huge place and some of the big tombs are amazing. I visited Oscar Wilde's gravesite twice but not Morrison's (enjoy the music of the Doors but not a rabid fan).

Andrew

At the time of my visit you couldn't miss it. Kids (I presume) had painted big arrows on the paths and some stones accompanied with the words, "This way to Jim" and "Follow to Jim."

Guess it's been cleaned up.

Jim Morrison was not difficult to find with a map in hand. Some of the others (like Chopin) were more difficult to locate, but still locatable.
Pere Lachaise was definitely one of the highlights of our two weeks in Paris.

For me the difficult find was Samuel Beckett's grave in Montparnasse. I couldn't find it the first trip to Paris, and only found it with help the second time.

I agree the maps in the flower shops or bars are worthless.

Does anyone know a good map source with some biographical information? In June we luckily stumbled upon Chopin's grave. It is impressive. Note that the cemetery is not in a very nice neighborhood.

I don't think Morrison's grave is difficult to find, although I never was searching for it. It's pretty obvious if you are in that part of the cemetery as there are all these people going to see it and it's really trashy looking. I didn't particularly like him that much, even though that's my era, and didn't think he was that admirable a person), so I don't really understand why all these people want to go see this old rock star's grave. A lot of these people are too young that he would have been alive when they were younger and listening to music. The Doors didn't even have that many good albums and he did a lot of not-very-nice things.

I think Chopin's grave is easy to find, also, but I did have trouble with a couple more obscure composers because I think their graves were not right next to the paths. For some in the middle of the areas, they aren't that easy to find.

It was 10yrs ago I visited the cemetery and Morrison was at the very bottom of my list (Bizet was #1, I just love Carmen).

I am a Hippie-era adult and liked his music when I was young and still do to some extent but he wasn't a very nice person in real life.

Anyway, I have very long hair and it was a windy winter day when I was there, so I was wearing a red bandanna to keep my hair in place.
I must have been stopped at least a dozen times by teenagers+ and asked where Morrison's grave was.
I felt like I was the "Ask the old Hippie dude he'll know for sure where it is" guy . Regards, Walter

Agree, the maps suck! Last time i was there there were "Jim" signs with arrows desecrating other tombs - i just followed these and then when i saw the younger folk hanging out there and the empty whisky bottles 'decorating' the grave i knew i was there.

We had a small map from a Paris guidebook (it might have been DK Eyewitness), and found Jim Morrison's grave without any difficulty. Just look for the crowd of people.

Woody

Our visit to Pere Lachaise last month was one of the best things we did on our one-week visit. It's beautiful, fascinating and definitely worth going a little out of your way.

We had maps and didn't have too much trouble. Found everyone we went there to see (#1 was Chopin!). Care nothing for Jim Morrison but wanted to check out this most-visited grave in the cemetery. As others have said, get to the general area he's located in and watch for the biggest crowd. It's off the main path, crowded in between other tombs, and totally undistinguished. It really would be difficult to find if no one else was there!

I think a lot of people don't seek out the tomb of Heloise and Abelard, the medieval star-crossed lovers. It's the most gorgeous one there IMO and very large. Oh, and Victor Noir's is a classic....not to be missed.

Can you tell I'm a huge fan of this place? We were there on Sunday afternoon. Didn't allow quite enough time for out visit and were herded out just before 6:00 with the others.

I liked the spooky wife of François Vincent Raspail, who is covered in drapes including her head and trying to reach up into the tomb's window. I haven't been there in years but back at that time there were so many cats draped over tombstones. They were fed by locals and hung out at the cemetary.

Well I guess my problem was I took the Gambetta metro stop and the other enterance. Also there wasn't any markings, and like two people at his grave
I did find it tho c'est la vie!

I just liked wandering around and finding special graves and places with no specific plan in mind !

Everybody sojourns to see where Jim resides in <i>death</i>, but how many trace the places where he actually <i>lived</i> day-to-day during his short time in Paris?

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip...9/jimparis.htm

http://www.gargl.net/lachaise/ has printable maps of each section of the cemetery

my only visit to Pere Lachaise was about 15 years ago and I had no problem at all finding Jim Morrison's grave. It's hard to miss actually.

Nimrod, good idea!