Le Marais Self-Guided Audio Walk: Place des Vosges, Hôtel de Sully and Rue des Rosiers
1 hour and 30 minutes
About this experience
Le Marais keeps Paris in layers: a city wall from the 1190s, timber houses, an archbishop's castle-like mansion, the great town houses built between courtyard and garden, a royal square and the old Jewish quarter. Its mansions became workshops, a laundry and factories before the City and the State bought them. Start at the Hôtel de Ville, rebuilt as a copy after 1871, then pass Saint-Gervais and its elm, two timber houses uncovered in the 1960s, the Hôtel de Sens and the longest standing stretch of Philippe Auguste's wall. Stop at the Hôtel de Sully, step into the Place des Vosges through the King's Pavilion, see the Carnavalet and the Hôtel de Lamoignon, look up at Hector Guimard's synagogue, and end on Rue des Rosiers. Eleven stops, about 2.6 km and 90 minutes, at your own pace, in English. The Carnavalet museum and the Sully courtyard are free; guided tours inside are not included.
- Experience type
- Day tour or activity
- Duration
- 1 hour and 30 minutes
- Guide
- English
- Audio guide
- English
- Categories
- Walking tour · Cultural and theme tours · City tours
What's included
Self-guided audio tour in English: 11 stops, 2.6 km, 1.5 hours Stops at Saint-Gervais, two timber houses, Hôtel de Sens GPS map and walking directions in your phone browser, no app needed Lifetime access: start any day, at any hour, and replay it
What's not included
A live guide: you set the pace and the pauses A fixed start time: begin whenever you arrive Museum and monument tickets, all optional extras Tip or gratuity Food and drinks Entry or admission fee
Please note
To start the tour, enter the ticket code from your confirmation on the Roamer redemption page linked there. Do this before you set off, while you still have signal. The tour then opens in your phone browser, with no app to download. Bring a charged phone and earphones. Mobile data helps; if you have none, open the tour on wifi before you set off. Best time: A weekday from Tuesday to Friday, starting between about 10am and 2pm. The Carnavalet museum is free and open Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 6pm; the Hôtel de Sully's courtyard and garden are open daily 9am to 7pm; the Forney library's exhibition rooms open in the afternoon, Tuesday to Saturday. Rue des Rosiers is crowded at lunchtime and on Sundays. The Place des Vosges garden closes at 7.30pm until 24 October 2026, earlier in winter; its arcades stay open, and the route never needs the garden. Checked 7 October 2026. Getting to the start: Hôtel de Ville Metro (lines 1 and 11) is beside the square; Châtelet (many Metro lines and the RER) is about ten minutes' walk west. The walk ends near Saint-Paul Metro (line 1); Pont Marie (line 7), Chemin Vert (line 8) and Bréguet-Sabin (line 5) are a little further. Checked 7 October 2026. Hôtel de Sully (stop 6): the courtyard and garden are free, daily 9am to 7pm, and you can walk straight through them to the Place des Vosges instead of going round by the street. Closed 1 January, 1 May, 1 and 11 November and 25 December. Checked 7 October 2026 at hotel-de-sully.fr. Musée Carnavalet (stop 8): the permanent collections are free, Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 6pm (ticket desk until 5.15pm), closed Mondays. The entrance is at 23 Rue de Sévigné, round the corner from the stop. Checked 7 October 2026 at carnavalet.paris.fr. Bibliothèque Forney (stop 4): the exhibition rooms are free and open in the afternoons, Tuesday to Saturday. The garden behind the Hôtel de Sens, the Jardin Monica Vitti, is open until 24 October 2026 Monday to Friday 8am to 6.50pm and at weekends 9am to 6.50pm, with shorter winter hours after that. Checked 7 October 2026. Place des Vosges (stop 7): the garden is open until 24 October 2026 Monday to Friday 8am to 7.30pm and at weekends 9am to 7.30pm (shorter in winter), and has public toilets. Victor Hugo's apartment at number 6 is a museum; check its official site for hours. Checked 7 October 2026. The garden of the Hôtel de Lamoignon (stop 9), entered at 25 Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, is a public garden, open until 24 October 2026 daily from 8am (9am at weekends) to 6.30pm, shorter in winter, and closed in high wind. Checked 7 October 2026. Saint-Gervais (stop 2) is free to enter outside services and holds organ recitals; one is listed for Saturday 10 October 2026 at 7.30pm. Checked 7 October 2026. Between stops 1 and 2 the route crosses Rue de Lobau at a zebra crossing with no lights; it has three lanes and buses use it, so look both ways and wait for a clear gap. Before that, the route runs along the pavement beside the busy riverside road and crosses a narrow one-way service lane with no markings: watch for buses. Step-free note: just before stop 2 the route can drop down two short flights of steps with handrails into Place Saint-Gervais; to avoid them, stay on the pavement of Rue de Brosse into the square. Under the arch into the Place des Vosges (stop 7), Rue de Birague runs through the pavilion: for a few metres walkers share it with one-way traffic. Keep to the narrow arcade footways. Just before stop 9, the route crosses Rue des Francs-Bourgeois at the Rue Pavée corner, where there are no lights. Look both ways. The Hôtel de Sully's courtyard and garden close at 7pm and on five public holidays, and bags are checked at the gate. After hours, take the street route by Rue Saint-Antoine and Rue de Birague. The synagogue on Rue Pavée (stop 10) is an active place of worship under guard. Look from the pavement, keep your voice down and do not photograph the guards; it is not open to visitors as part of this walk. Rue des Rosiers (stop 11) is narrow and very crowded at lunchtime and on Sundays, and many shops may be closed on Saturdays. Watch your bags in the queues and on the Hôtel de Ville square. The Hôtel de Ville square is sometimes fenced for events; if it is, start from its edge. Do not sightsee inside Saint-Gervais during a service. Public transportation nearby
Itinerary
- 1Day 0
Hôtel de Ville: The City Hall That Is a Copy
Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, on the esplanade facing the City Hall, 75004 Paris, Paris
City Hall rebuilt as a copy of itself. Begun in 1533 and burned in 1871, it was rebuilt in the 1870s and 1880s with its Renaissance front remade as it had been.
- 2Day 0
Saint-Gervais: A Classical Front on a Gothic Church
Place Saint-Gervais, facing the church of Saint-Gervais, 75004 Paris, Paris
A classical front on a Gothic church. Saint-Gervais was begun in 1494, given its column-lined front from 1616 to 1621; the elm before it was planted in 1935.
- 3Day 0
Rue François-Miron: Two Timber Houses Uncovered
Rue François-Miron, opposite nos. 11 and 13, 75004 Paris, Paris
Two timber houses hidden under plaster. Numbers 11 and 13 date from about the early 1500s and were uncovered and heavily restored in 1967 and 1968.
- 4Day 0
Hôtel de Sens: An Archbishop's Medieval Mansion
Rue du Figuier, at the Hôtel de Sens (no. 1), 75004 Paris, Paris
A medieval mansion built like a castle. The Hôtel de Sens was built from 1475 to 1519 for the archbishops of Sens and is now a City of Paris library.
- 5Day 0
Philippe Auguste's Wall: Paris in the 1190s
Rue des Jardins-Saint-Paul, by the Philippe Auguste wall, 75004 Paris, Paris
About 60 metres of the 1190s wall. About 60 metres of King Philippe Auguste's rampart, cleared of the housing around it in 1946.
- 6Day 0
Hôtel de Sully: Between Courtyard and Garden
Rue Saint-Antoine, at the Hôtel de Sully entrance (no. 62), 75004 Paris, Paris
A 1620s mansion between court and garden. The Hôtel de Sully was bought in 1634 by Henri IV's former finance minister and opens onto the Place des Vosges.
- 7Day 0
Place des Vosges: A King's Square in Brick and Stone
Place des Vosges, at the Pavillon du Roi arch, 75004 Paris, Paris
A royal square of one design. Begun in 1605 and inaugurated in 1612, its thirty-six houses of brick and stone stand over a continuous arcade.
- 8Day 0
Musée Carnavalet: A Mansion Turned City Museum
Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, by the Musée Carnavalet gate (23 Rue de Sévigné), 75003 Paris, Paris
The City of Paris's own museum. The Hôtel Carnavalet was built from 1548 to 1560, bought by the City in 1866 and opened as a museum in 1880; it is free to enter today.
- 9Day 0
Hôtel de Lamoignon: The Turret on the Corner
Corner of Rue Pavée and Rue des Francs-Bourgeois, at the Hôtel de Lamoignon, 75004 Paris, Paris
A 1559 mansion now a library. The Hôtel de Lamoignon became a factory and shops, then the City's historical library.
- 10Day 0
Rue Pavée Synagogue: Hector Guimard's Curving Front
Rue Pavée, facing the synagogue at no. 10, 75004 Paris, Paris
Built in 1913 on a narrow plot. Hector Guimard built this synagogue in 1913 and 1914 on a narrow plot, in stone blocks on concrete.
- 11Day 0
Rue des Rosiers: The Heart of the Pletzl
Rue des Rosiers at Rue des Écouffes, 75004 Paris, Paris
A street named by 1230. Rue des Rosiers, named by 1230, became the center of the Pletzl and carries the memory of 1942 and 1982.
Meeting point
Hôtel de Ville, Paris Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, on the esplanade facing the City Hall, 75004 Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, FR
Pick up
Pickup is not provided.
Cancellation policy · Le Marais Self-Guided Audio Walk: Place des Vosges, Hôtel de Sully and Rue des Rosiers
Standard Viator policy
- Cancellation 0–24 hours before departure: 100% cancellation fee.
- Cancellation 24–24000 hours before departure: 0% cancellation fee.
Good to know
Operated by Roamer and sold by AGORA. Your voucher and booking reference arrive by email straight after payment.