5 Best Sights in Paris, France

Many of the neighborhood's most illustrious residents rest here, a stone's throw from where they lived and loved: Charles Baudelaire, Frédéric Bartholdi (who designed the Statue of Liberty), Alfred Dreyfus, and Guy de Maupassant as well as photographer Man Ray, playwright Samuel Beckett, writers Susan Sontag, Marguerite Duras, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir, actress Jean Seberg, and singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Opened in 1824, the ancient farmland is the second-largest burial ground in Paris and is spread over 47 acres—so if you go late in the day, give yourself plenty of time to get back to the gate before the exits are locked. Note that this is not the largest cemetery in Paris—that honor goes to the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, in eastern Paris.

Bring a red rose for "the Little Sparrow" Edith Piaf when you visit the cobblestone avenues and towering trees that make this 118-acre oasis of green perhaps the world's most famous cemetery. Named for Père François de la Chaise, Louis XIV's confessor, Père-Lachaise is more than just a who's who of celebrities. The Paris Commune's final battle took place here on May 28, 1871, when 147 rebels were lined up and shot against the Mur des Fédérés (Federalists' Wall) in the southeast corner. Aside from the sheer aesthetic beauty of the cemetery, the main attraction is what (or who, more accurately) is belowground.

Two of the biggest draws are Jim Morrison's grave (with its own guard to keep Doors fans under control) and the life-size bronze figure of French journalist Victor Noir, whose alleged fertility-enhancing power accounts for the patches of bronze rubbed smooth by hopeful hands. Other significant grave sites include those of 12th-century French philosopher Pierre Abélard and his lover Héloïse; French writers Colette, Honoré de Balzac, and Marcel Proust; American writers Richard Wright, Gertrude Stein, and Alice B. Toklas; Irish writer Oscar Wilde; French actress Sarah Bernhardt; French composer Georges Bizet; Greek-American opera singer Maria Callas; Franco-Polish composer Frédéric Chopin; painters of various nationalities including Georges-Pierre Seurat, Camille Pissaro, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Jacques-Louis David, Eugène Delacroix, Théodore Géricault, Amedeo Clemente Modigliani, and Max Ernst; French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli; French civic planner Baron Haussmann; French playwright and actor Molière; and French singer Edith Piaf. (To visit the grave sites of a few other famous French men and women, head south to Cimetière du Montparnasse, north to Cimetière de Montmartre, or west to Passy Cemetery.)

Pinpoint grave sites on the website before you come, but buy a map anyway outside the entrances—you'll still get lost, but that's part of the fun.

One of the best days to visit is on All Saints' Day (November 1), when Parisians bring flowers to adorn the graves of loved ones or favorite celebrities.

The catacombs are a fascinating haunt for anyone with morbid interests. A visit starts with a descent through dark, clammy passages that bring you to Paris's principal ossuary, which also once served as a hideout maze for the French Resistance. Bones from the defunct Cimetière des Innocents were the first to arrive in 1786, when decomposing bodies started seeping into the cellars of the market at Les Halles, drawing swarms of ravenous rats. The legions of bones were dumped here over the course of several decades by parish and by type—rows of skulls, packs of tibias, and piles of spinal disks, often rather artfully arranged. Among the nameless six million or so are the bones of Madame de Pompadour (1721–64), laid to rest with the riffraff after a lifetime spent as the mistress of Louis XV. One of the most interesting aspects of the catacombs is one you probably won't see: so-called cataphiles, or urban explorers, mostly art students, have found alternate entrances into the 300 km (186 miles) of tunnels and come to make art, party, and purportedly raise hell. Advance reservations are required (tickets are not refundable) and the line is always long to get in, as only 200 people can enter at a time. It's not recommended for claustrophobes or young children. Note that the exit and gift shop are at 21 bis avenue Rene Coty, about a half-mile from the entrance.

Overshadowed by better-known Père-Lachaise, this cemetery is just as picturesque. It's the final resting place of a host of luminaries, including painters Degas and Fragonard; Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone; dancer Vaslav Nijinsky; filmmaker François Truffaut; and composers Hector Berlioz and Jacques Offenbach. The Art Nouveau tomb of novelist Émile Zola (1840–1902) lords over a lawn near the entrance—though Zola's remains were moved to the Panthéon in 1908.

Visiting graveyards in Paris can become addictive. The Passy Cemetery dates from 1821 and sits in the shadows of Trocadéro. Here you'll find the tombstones of famous aristocrats and artists, such as composer Claude Debussy and Impressionist painters Édouard Manet and Berthe Morisot.