Île de la Cité Self-Guided Audio Walk: Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle and Pont Neuf
1 hour and 30 minutes
About this experience
Paris began on the Île de la Cité, and the island has been rebuilt again and again: by a king's stone bridge and brick square, by the town houses of Île Saint-Louis, and by the nineteenth century, which cleared most of the medieval city around Notre-Dame. Start on the Pont Neuf beside Henri IV, cross Place Dauphine, follow the Conciergerie's towers to the Sainte-Chapelle's spire and the flower market, then stand before Notre-Dame's west front. Walk along the cathedral's north side, through the lanes that survived, past the plaque of Héloïse and Abélard, and look back from the footbridge at the flying buttresses under repair before ending among the quiet quays of Île Saint-Louis. Twelve stops, about 2.1 km and 90 minutes, at your own pace, in English. Entry to the Sainte-Chapelle, the Conciergerie, the Notre-Dame towers and the crypt is not included; the cathedral is free.
- 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: 12 stops, 2.1 km, 1.5 hours Stops at Notre-Dame's front and side, Sainte-Chapelle's spire, Conciergerie 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 morning, starting by about 9.30am. The Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie open at 9am and 9.30am and close at 5pm and 6pm from October to March, and the Sainte-Chapelle's security queue grows through the day, so book a slot early. A free slot reserved on Notre-Dame's official site can shorten the wait. The walk is all on the street and works at any hour in daylight; the island's quays are quiet in the evening. Getting to the start: Pont Neuf Metro (line 7) is a short walk across the bridge; Cité (line 4) and Châtelet (lines 1, 4, 7, 11 and 14) are five to ten minutes away, and Saint-Michel Notre-Dame RER (B and C) a little more. The walk ends near Pont Marie Metro (line 7), with Saint-Paul (line 1) a little further. Checked 7 October 2026. Sainte-Chapelle (stop 4): 22 EUR, 16 EUR for EEA nationals and residents; 9am to 5pm from 1 October to 31 March, last access 30 minutes before closing. Book a time slot: the entrance is the law courts' security check and can take a long time. Checked 7 October 2026 at sainte-chapelle.fr. Conciergerie (stop 3): 13 EUR; daily 9.30am to 6pm, last access 5.30pm. A combined ticket with the Sainte-Chapelle costs 30 EUR (23 EUR EEA). Checked 7 October 2026 at paris-conciergerie.fr. Notre-Dame (stop 6): free to enter since it reopened; the cathedral's official site offers an optional free time slot that can shorten the wait, so check it for current hours. Only the official site takes reservations. The towers cost 16 EUR, online only, with a reserved slot. Checked 7 October 2026. The archaeological crypt under the Notre-Dame square (entrance on the square, passed after stop 6): Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 6pm, 11 EUR or 9 EUR reduced, free under 18. Checked 7 October 2026 at crypte.paris.fr. Under 18s, and EU nationals and regular residents of France aged 18 to 25, enter the Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie free; both are also free on the first Sunday of January, February, March and November. Checked 7 October 2026. Saint-Louis-en-l'Île (stop 11) is free to enter when open; do not visit during a service. On the Pont Neuf (stop 1) the route crosses the bridge's own roadway, the Quai des Orfèvres and Rue Henri-Robert at zebra crossings with no traffic lights; traffic is busy, so wait for a clear gap. The Sainte-Chapelle and Conciergerie queues stand on the Boulevard du Palais pavement at stop 4, and in late 2025 a works hoarding narrowed part of that pavement; keep to the kerb edge and do not block the line. The Notre-Dame square is crowded. Pickpockets work the queues, and people offering bracelets or petitions to sign are a common scam: say no and keep walking. Nobody but the cathedral's official site sells or books entry. The City of Paris plans to rebuild the Notre-Dame square from summer 2027 to the end of 2028. Expect fences and diversions on and around it; follow the signs. Between stops 8 and 9, the crossings of the Rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame and the Quai de l'Archevêché are in a works zone until about June 2027, with narrowed roads and widened pavements. Cross only at the lights and follow any diversion. Notre-Dame's east end is under scaffolding for the restoration of its flying buttresses, and the great rose windows are due to be scaffolded from early 2027, so views at stops 7 and 9 may be partly hidden. The Square Jean XXIII behind the cathedral is closed for the works, and the Square de l'Île-de-France at the island's tip is closed from 24 August 2026 to June 2027; the Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation is meant to stay open except during particular works. Rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île (stops 10 and 11) is narrow, with cars and delivery vans and a long ice-cream queue near the church; keep to the pavement. The Quai d'Anjou (stop 12) carries one-way traffic; keep to the house-side pavement the route uses. The Hôtel de Lauzun is closed to the public. The Place Dauphine garden is closed by the City in high winds and storms; if it is, walk round its edge. The Conciergerie and Sainte-Chapelle sometimes close early or all day at short notice; check their official sites before you go. Public transportation nearby
Itinerary
- 1Day 0
Pont Neuf and Henri IV: The Oldest New Bridge
Pont Neuf, at the statue of Henri IV, 75001 Paris, Paris
The oldest standing bridge over the Seine, begun in 1578 in stone, with no houses on it, and the bronze Henri IV that Parisians hauled into place in 1818.
- 2Day 0
Place Dauphine: The Square That Lost a Side
Place Dauphine, east end by the Rue de Harlay, 75001 Paris, Paris
A triangle that lost a side, opened up in 1874 so that the law courts' new front could close its wide end.
- 3Day 0
Quai de l'Horloge and the Conciergerie: A Palace Turned Prison
Quai de l'Horloge, by the Conciergerie's river towers, 75001 Paris, Paris
The first palace of the kings, seen from the river: a round tower in the long wall of a palace that became a prison and the Revolution's court.
- 4Day 0
Sainte-Chapelle: A Chapel Hidden in the Law Courts
Boulevard du Palais, outside the Palais de Justice railings (Sainte-Chapelle is inside at no. 10), 75001 Paris, Paris
Saint Louis's chapel for the Crown of Thorns, hidden inside the law courts: from the street you see only its seventy-five-metre spire.
- 5Day 0
Place Louis-Lépine: Flowers Among the Courts
Place Louis-Lépine, by the Tribunal de commerce, 75004 Paris, Paris
A flower market among the courts, where the island's nineteenth-century rebuilding shows in the commercial court's tall Second Empire roof.
- 6Day 0
Notre-Dame: The Front That Was Remade
Parvis Notre-Dame, Place Jean-Paul II, facing the cathedral's west front, 75004 Paris, Paris
A west front begun in 1163. Free to enter, it reopened in December 2024 after the 2019 fire.
- 7Day 0
Notre-Dame's North Side: The Cathedral at Work
Rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame, at the cathedral's north side, 75004 Paris, Paris
The north door and the great rose, seen close from Rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame, with the flying buttresses and the repairs still running along its side.
- 8Day 0
Rue Chanoinesse and the Quai aux Fleurs: Héloïse and Abélard
Rue Chanoinesse at the Quai aux Fleurs, by the Héloïse and Abélard plaque, 75004 Paris, Paris
A plaque for Héloïse and Abélard. Behind it lie the lanes of the one block beside the cathedral that the nineteenth-century demolitions spared.
- 9Day 0
Pont Saint-Louis: The Cathedral from Behind
Pont Saint-Louis, mid-span on the footbridge, 75004 Paris, Paris
The east end seen from behind. Scaffolding there wraps the twenty-two flying buttresses under repair.
- 10Day 0
Hôtel de Chenizot: A Tax Collector's Balcony
Rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île, opposite the Hôtel de Chenizot, 75004 Paris, Paris
A tax official gave it a balcony. It was later an archbishop's home, then a barracks, and is now private flats.
- 11Day 0
Saint-Louis-en-l'Île: The Church Without a Front
Rue Saint-Louis-en-l'Île, in front of the church of Saint-Louis-en-l'Île, 75004 Paris, Paris
A church begun in 1664. It was built as the parishioners could pay, with a bare wall where a front was never built and an openwork spire of 1765.
- 12Day 0
Quai d'Anjou and the Hôtel de Lauzun: A Plain Front, a Rich House
Quai d'Anjou, opposite the Hôtel de Lauzun (no. 17), 75004 Paris, Paris
A sober front hiding a rich house. Built in the 1650s, it was later rented by Baudelaire and has been owned by the City since 1928.
Meeting point
Pont Neuf and Henri IV, Paris Pont Neuf, at the statue of Henri IV, 75001 Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, FR
Pick up
Pickup is not provided.
Cancellation policy · Île de la Cité Self-Guided Audio Walk: Notre-Dame, Sainte-Chapelle and Pont Neuf
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.