Arc de Triomphe
Place Charles de Gaulle, 75008 Paris
Napoleon commissioned this arch in 1806, right after his victory at Austerlitz, but he never got to walk through it as Emperor.
Eiffel Tower
Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris
When Gustave Eiffel built this thing for the 1889 World's Fair, over 300 prominent Parisians — including Guy de Maupassant and Alexandre Dumas fils — signed a petition calling it a "metallic horror" that would disfigure Paris.
Notre-Dame Cathedral
6 Parvis Notre-dame-place Jean-paul II, 4th Arr., Paris, 75004, France
She burned on live television on April 15, 2019, and roughly a billion people watched, many of them weeping for a building they'd never set foot in.
Opéra Garnier
Place de l'Opéra, 9th Arr., Paris, 75009, France
Charles Garnier was a virtually unknown 35-year-old architect when he won the design competition for the new Paris opera house in 1861.
Palace of Versailles
Allée des Dames, 16th Arr., Paris, France
Louis XIV built this palace for one very clear reason: control.
Père Lachaise Cemetery
16 Rue du Repos, 20th Arr., Paris, 75020, France
This is the most visited cemetery in the world, and it has better residents than most cities.
Place de la Concorde
Place de la Concorde, 8th Arr., Paris, 75008, France
This is the largest square in Paris, and it has one of the bloodiest histories of any public space in Europe.
Pont Alexandre III
Quai d'Orsay, 8th Arr., Paris, 75008, France
This is the most extravagant bridge in Paris, and possibly the world.
Pont Neuf
Pont Neuf, 1st Arr., Paris, 75001, France
The "New Bridge" is the oldest standing bridge in Paris, which is exactly the kind of contradiction the French enjoy.
Sacré-Cœur Basilica
35 Rue du Chevalier de la Barre, 18th Arr., Paris, 75018, France
Sacré-Cœur is gorgeous, controversial, and impossible to ignore — it sits on the highest point in Paris like a giant meringue, visible from practically everywhere in the city.
Shakespeare and Company
37 Rue de la Bûcherie, 5th Arr., Paris, 75005, France
This tiny English-language bookshop across from Notre-Dame is arguably the most famous independent bookstore on the planet.
The Louvre
1st Arr., Paris, France
The numbers are staggering: 380,000 objects, 35,000 on display, 72,735 square meters of gallery space.
Explore iconic in Paris
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