Historic district in Paris
FreeCosts nothing to visit.
Montmartre is the hilltop quarter above central Paris where Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec, and the Impressionists once worked. It is the highest point in the city, and almost everything that makes it worth the trip is free. The Place du Tertre still has portrait artists at their easels, the vineyard on Rue des Saules is one of the last working vineyards in Paris, and the cobbled lanes feel like a different city from the boulevards below.
The whole hill costs nothing to explore. Budget travelers walk up from the foot of the hill through the backstreets, past Moulin Rouge Exterior in Pigalle, and climb the staircases instead of paying for the funicular. The funicular saves the legs for the price of a Metro ticket, but the free staircases give better views and are half the fun. At the top, Sacre-Coeur is free to enter, and the steps in front open onto the Sacre-Coeur Steps Panorama, one of the best free views over Paris. Save your money for a coffee or a crepe, and step a street or two away from the busiest squares where the cafes get cheaper.
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Other places worth the walk, and what each one costs.
The Arc de Triomphe is Napoleon's triumphal arch at the western end of the Champs-Elysees, the largest triumphal arch in the world at nearly 50 meters tall. Napoleon commissioned it in 1806 to honor the Grande Armee, and it was finished in 1836, long after his fall.
Canal Saint-Martin is a tree-lined waterway in the 10th arrondissement, threaded with arched iron footbridges and a chain of locks that still raise and lower passing boats. Napoleon ordered it dug to bring clean water into the city, and it opened in 1825.
The Avenue des Champs-Elysees runs from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe, the most famous boulevard in the world. It forms the central stretch of the historic axis that lines up with the Tuileries Garden and the Louvre Museum to the east. Free to walk.
The Eiffel Tower is the most recognized structure in the world, built for the 1889 World's Fair by Gustave Eiffel's engineering company and never taken down. It was meant to be temporary, a 20-year exhibit, but its usefulness as a radio and telegraph mast saved it and it has stood in the 7th arrondissement ever since.
The Grand Canal is a cruciform artificial lake at the western end of the Palace of Versailles Gardens, roughly 1.6 kilometers along its long arm. Andre Le Notre designed it as the vanishing point of the garden's central axis and as a mirror for the sky, so the whole layout pulls the eye toward the water.
Ile de la Cite is the island in the Seine where Paris began, the spot where the Gallic Parisii and then Roman Lutetia first took root before the city spread to both banks. It is the historic heart of Paris, and almost everything on it can be seen for free.
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The whole of Paris