Six Hidden Attractions to Visit in Paris

Just about everyone knows they should visit the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe when they travel to Paris, and while these popular tourist destinations are often beautiful they can also be quite crowded and expensive. Paris has many other attractions and hidden gems worth finding aside from the typical tourist traps, from artistic displays to century-old places still steeped in mystery and uncertainty. We shine some light on seven hidden attractions that any tourist in Paris should visit.

Golem of the Paris Catacombs

While many have heard of Paris’ infamous catacombs, very few visitors to the city actually brave the journey down into them. Within these underground ossuaries, visitors can find all kinds of bone-filled rooms and abandoned residential spaces, with more than 200 miles of underground tunnels beneath the city. Whether its hidden murals on the walls of the catacombs or quietly organised underground raves, the catacombs have their fair share of surprises for those willing to explore them.

Right by one of the catacomb’s rooms known as “the beach”, intrepid explorers will find a large clay golem standing with its arms raised, seemingly holding up the weight of the city on its shoulders. While nobody knows who sculpted the golem or how long ago it was created, the golem stands as a testament to Paris’ hidden artists who prefer to create in the shadows of the catacombs.

Père Lachaise Cemetery

While many visitors to Paris aren’t usually interested in visiting a cemetery during their travels, the Père Lachaise cemetery offers an unforgettable set of star-studded graves belonging to celebrities across various disciplines and decades. Established by Napoleon Bonaparte, this garden cemetery first opened in 1804 and welcomed the remains of the French poet Jean de La Fontaine and French playwright Molière, causing many Parisians to want their own remains to be buried alongside the two 17th century writers.

Over time, the cemetery has slowly filled up with other notable writers like Oscar Wilde and Marcel Proust, along with singers and composers like Édith Piaf, Jim Morrison of The Doors, and legendary Polish composer Fréderic Chopin. Along with these celebrity graves, visitors to the Père Lachaise cemetery can find the Mur des Fédérés (Communards’ Wall), which marks the place where 147 combatants of the Paris Commune were shot and thrown into a trench at the foot of the wall. The wall stands in contrast to the celebrated artists that can be found in the cemetery, and as a reminder of those who died fighting for their liberty.

L’Atelier des Lumières (Workshop of Light)

Since opening in April of 2018, L’Atelier des Lumières is Paris’ first digital art centre which mixes traditional art with music and modern technology to immerse visitors in a complete sensory experience. Housed in an old iron foundry which dates back to 1835, l’Atelier des Lumières has made the most of the large space. With 140 video projectors and a spatialised sound system, projections cover the 10 meter high walls, ceilings, and floor, surrounding visitors in a curated selection of artwork.

Each exhibit goes through a lengthy preparative process, with images of traditional art animated and musically scored, breathing life into once still paintings and pieces of art. Beware that no tickets are sold at the venue, so one must purchase their tickets online before attending. Along with this, since the available exhibitions change every few months, it’s worth visiting their website to see if there’s currently one which interests you. 

Musée de Cluny

The Museé de Cluny is a Medieval museum that contains some of Paris’ oldest structures dating back to the 3rd century. Found inside one of the oldest buildings in Paris, a former townhouse which started construction in 1334, the museum presents a selection of art, sculptures, and manuscripts which give life to the medieval and middle ages. From admiring the gorgeous stained glass to the ancient Gallo-Roman thermal baths, visitors will find art and materials that date back centuries. 

While the museum contains all kinds of artwork and sculptures that date all the way back to the 7th century, Musée de Cluny’s most famous piece is Its collection of a set of tapestries from the Middle Ages entitled, “The Lady and the Unicorn”. The intricate weaving and gorgeous designs interpret our five human senses, with a sixth tapestry simply entitled, “À Mon Seul Désir” (To my only desire), which still puzzles art interpreters to this day. From its gorgeous building to the artifacts that can be found inside, the Musée de Cluny allows visitors to get lost in the art from the Medieval ages and eras before. 

Quai Branly Museum

The Quai Branly Museum conserves a historic collection of more than 300,000 works from four different continents of Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania. With a variety of artifacts ranging from photographs and textiles to sculptures and masks, the museum focuses on indigenous and non-Western artifacts that go all the way back to the Neolithic Age from more than 10,000 years ago. With continuously changing temporary exhibits, 3D presentations of collections, and storytelling tours, the Quai Branly Museum has lots for its visitors to explore. 

The Quai Branly Museum is also worth visiting simply for the building’s unique and entrancing architecture. Built specifically to challenge Western creative assumptions and expressions, the building’s design plays with light and nature, with large beautiful windows surrounded by overgrown walls of greenery. The Quai Branly Museum is just a 10 minute walk from the Eiffel tower, providing a sanctuary of indigenous artifacts to lose yourself within.  

Gustave Eiffel’s Secret Apartment 

While just about everyone visiting Paris will know of the Eiffel Tower, not a lot of travelers will be aware of the secret apartment within the tower that that belonged to the tower’s designer, Gustave Eiffel. This private apartment at the top of the tower was accessible only to Mr. Eiffel, and while many Parisians offered large sums of money to rent the space even for just a single night, Gustave Eiffel always refused. This being said, the Eiffel Tower’s designer did entertain close friends and guests within the apartment like the American inventor, Thomas Edison. 

While the apartment is housed in the iconic steel girders of the Eiffel Tower, it’s warmly furnished inside with decorative wallpaper, a grand piano, and even a phonograph gifted to Mr. Eiffel from his friend the inventor, Mr. Edison himself. Today, the apartment maintains Mr. Eiffel’s tradition of not allowing uninvited visitors, with visitors not permitted inside the apartment. This being said, if you buy a ticket to the top of the Eiffel tower, you’ll be able to look inside through a window and see what life was like for Mr. Eiffel living above the city of Paris.