Explore the streets of Paris at your own pace with these free self-guided Paris walking tours, covering Montmartre, Le Marais, St Germain and film locations – with maps and directions included.
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One of the things that makes Paris so special is how easy it is to explore on foot. There’s no better place to be a flâneur, strolling around the city streets soaking up the atmosphere. Beyond the grand boulevards and famous landmarks, you’ll find the quiet courtyards, cobbled backstreets and pavement cafés that reveal the city’s real character.
And the good news? You don’t need a guide or tour group to find them. After many trips to Paris, I’ve put together free self-guided Paris walking tours for three of my favourite neighbourhoods, as well as locations from movies and TV shows filmed in Paris.
Each features a mix of popular sights and lesser-known spots, with a map and directions so they’re easy to follow at your own pace. They’re designed to help you uncover different sides of the city, with plenty of opportunities to stop for a coffee or watch the world go by.
Free self-guided Paris walking tours
1. Montmartre
Follow in the footsteps of legendary artists on this self-guided walk through one of Paris’ best-known neighbourhoods – Montmartre. Until 1860, Montmartre was outside Paris’ city limits, and its low rents, clear light and bohemian feel (plus the cheap alcohol) attracted artists to live and work there. And it still feels like a separate village today.
The walk starts near the Moulin Rouge cabaret and climbs uphill through Montmartre’s steep, cobbled streets towards Sacré-Cœur Basilica. Along the way you’ll pass the Bateau-Lavoir artists’ commune where Picasso and Matisse once worked, the house Vincent Van Gogh lived in and the Moulin de la Galette dance hall painted by Renoir.
You can also see today’s artists at work in the Place du Tertre, a pretty square surrounded by cafés. The walk includes a mix of iconic photo spots like the pink Maison Rose, Le mur des je t’aime (Wall of Love) and hilltop Sacré-Cœur Basilica, combined with more unusual locations like Montmartre’s hidden vineyard and the Place de Dalida.
- Distance: 2.5km (1.6 miles)
- Time: 35 minutes to walk straight through, but allow a couple of hours to include stops
- Starting point: Blanche Métro station (Line 2)
- Map and directions
2. Le Marais
This free Paris walk takes you on a trip back in time to the medieval heart of Paris – Le Marais. Once the home of 17th-century aristocrats, the area mostly escaped Baron Haussman’s modernisation of Paris in the 19th century. So it has some of the city’s oldest buildings, along with elegant squares, churches, museums and art galleries.
The route starts at Hôtel de Ville, Paris’ city hall which has survived wars, riots and being burnt to the ground. It takes you in a loop around the Marais – down one of the oldest streets in Paris, past the castle-like Hôtel de Sens, along a stretch of Paris’ 12th-century city wall and through the beautifully manicured gardens of the Place des Vosges.
There’s a whole host of museums and galleries along the route which you can visit too, including the Maison de Victor Hugo, Musée Carnavalet, Musée Picasso and Musée Cognacq–Jay. Then the walk finishes at the Pompidou Centre, known for its quirky, inside-out architecture, with pipes and escalators on the outside of the building.
- Distance: 3.8km (2.4 miles)
- Time: One hour to walk straight through, but allow a couple of hours to include stops
- Starting point: Outside the Hôtel de Ville (closest Métro station Hôtel de Ville on Lines 1 and 11)
- Map and directions
3. Saint-Germain-des-Prés
The third Paris walk explores Saint-Germain-des-Prés on the Left Bank of the Seine. Once the haunt of intellectuals, writers, musicians and artists – from Eugène Delacroix and Édouard Manet to Jean-Paul Sartre and Oscar Wilde – it’s now an upscale neighbourhood with boutique shops and galleries. It’s also my home away from home in Paris.
The walk begins at the Pont des Arts, looking across the river towards the Louvre. It runs past the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts), whose past pupil Eugène Delacroix’s house nearby is now a museum. You also see one of Paris’ oldest churches, the Église de Saint Germain des Prés, and grand Église Saint-Sulpice.
There are a few sweet treats along the way too, with macarons from Ladurée and rich hot chocolate at Les Deux Magots or the Café de Flore. Then the route ends in the Luxembourg Gardens, with 23 hectares of parkland surrounding a 17th-century palace, built for Italian-born queen Marie de Medicis and modelled on Palazzo Pitti in Florence.
- Distance: 3.5km (2.2 miles)
- Time: 45 minutes to walk straight through, but allow a couple of hours to include stops
- Starting point: Pont des Arts bridge (closest Métro stations Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre on Lines 1 and 7, or Pont Neuf on Line 7)
- Map and directions
4. Paris film and TV locations
Our final self-guided Paris walking tour is a bit different – instead of focusing on one neighbourhood it takes you through the Paris seen on screen, from classic black and white films to big-budget modern blockbuster movies. It’s the longest walk at 4.7 miles, but you can take the Métro for one section if you want to cut it down to 3.1 miles.
The route starts at the Pont de Bir-Hakeim, which featured in Christopher Nolan film Inception and Marlon Brando’s Last Tango in Paris. It heads east along the Seine, passing famous Parisian landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde, Jardin des Tuileries, Louvre art gallery, Ritz hotel, Pont des Arts and Notre Dame Cathedral.
You can see the bridge James Bond (Roger Moore) jumps off in A View to a Kill, the bookshop where Jesse (Ethan Hawke) does a reading in Before Sunset, the fountain Andy (Anne Hathaway) throws her phone into in The Devil Wear’s Prada, the gardens where Audrey Hepburn poses with a bunch of balloons in Funny Face, and many more.
- Distance: 7.6km (4.7 miles), or 5km (3.1 miles) with a Métro short cut
- Time: 1 hour 40 minutes to walk straight through, but allow 2–3 hours including stops
- Starting point: Pont de Bir-Hakeim (closest Métro station Bir-Hakeim on Line 6)
- Map and directions
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