Towers of Notre-Dame de Paris visitor guide — everything you need to know before visiting

At a glance

Address

Towers of Notre-Dame de Paris, 6 Parvis Notre-Dame – Place Jean-Paul II, 75004 Paris, France

Operator

Centre des monuments nationaux — a public body of the French state, which manages the tower climb

Reopening

The towers reopened to climbers in September 2025, after the cathedral reopened in December 2024

The climb

424 steps up a narrow spiral staircase, no lift, rising about 69 metres above the Île de la Cité

Highlights

The Galerie des Chimères (the grotesques), the great bourdon bell 'Emmanuel', and the rooftop panorama over Paris

Ticket type

Timed climb slot — small groups, sold online only, no on-the-day sales; e-ticket accepted on the phone

Cathedral entry

Free of charge and reserved separately — this ticket covers the tower climb only

Free places

Under-18s climb free; EU residents aged 18–25 climb free with ID; not suitable for children under 6

Fitness

A physical climb; narrow (45 cm) and low passages; not recommended for heart conditions, vertigo or pregnancy

Typical visit

About 45 minutes to an hour for the climb, one-way up and down; arrive a few minutes before your slot

What are the towers of Notre-Dame?

The towers are the twin western towers of Notre-Dame de Paris, the medieval Gothic cathedral begun in 1163 on the Île de la Cité. Rising above the famous west front with its rose window and rows of sculpture, they have crowned the Paris skyline for some 750 years, and climbing them — up among the gargoyles and the bells, out onto the roof of the city — has long been one of the definitive things to do in Paris, immortalised by Victor Hugo in 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'.

The 2019 fire, which destroyed the spire and the timber roof, spared the two western towers, but the whole monument was closed for years of restoration. The cathedral reopened in December 2024 and the towers followed in September 2025, with a reimagined visitor route. This ticket covers that tower climb — a paid, timed experience — while entry to the cathedral itself, at ground level, is free and booked through a separate system. Our role is to secure the scarce climb slot for you.

The climb: 424 steps to the roof of Paris

The climb begins in the North Tower and winds up a tight medieval spiral staircase — 424 steps in all, with no lift — before crossing to the South Tower and coming back down. It rises about 69 metres above the parvis, and the staircase is genuinely narrow, with some passages only around 45 centimetres wide and low enough that you stoop. It is a physical experience, and part of its magic: you feel the age and the scale of the building in your legs as you climb.

Because of that, the climb is not for everyone. It is not recommended for those with heart conditions or a strong fear of heights, for pregnant women, or for children under 6, and there is no step-free option — the spiral stair is the only way up. Anyone reasonably fit who can manage stairs will be fine with a pause or two, and comfortable shoes make all the difference. Allow around 45 minutes to an hour for the whole up-and-down route.

The chimeras, the grotesques and the great bell

The most famous stop on the climb is the Galerie des Chimères, the gallery that runs between the two towers, lined with the brooding stone creatures that have become symbols of Paris. These grotesques and chimeras — the pensive, chin-in-hand Stryge the most celebrated of all — were not medieval but were added in the 19th century by the restorer Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, who reimagined the towers' decoration. Standing among them, with the city framed between wings and horns, is one of the great photographic moments in Paris.

Higher in the South Tower hangs the bourdon 'Emmanuel', the cathedral's largest and oldest great bell, cast in the 17th century and famous for the deep, pure note that rings out on the most solemn occasions. The route lets you see this colossal bell up close before the final ascent to the top. Between the grotesques and the bell, the climb is as much a journey through the cathedral's fabric and legend as it is a route to a viewpoint.

The view from the top

The reward at the summit is a rooftop panorama that few other viewpoints in Paris can match for atmosphere. From nearly 70 metres up you look out over the Seine as it wraps around the Île de la Cité, across the roofs of the Latin Quarter and the Marais, to the Eiffel Tower, the dome of the Panthéon and Sacré-Cœur on its distant hill. Unlike the view from the Eiffel Tower, this one places you in the medieval heart of the city, among the stonework, rather than looking in from outside it.

Most striking of all is the view straight down onto the cathedral itself — the rebuilt spire, faithfully recreated after the fire, and the freshly restored roof and flying buttresses, seen from an angle that was hidden from the public throughout the years of restoration. For anyone who followed the fire and the rebuilding, this close-up of the resurrected Notre-Dame is a genuinely moving sight, and it is unique to the tower climb.

Towers or cathedral? What this ticket covers

It is worth being clear about the two separate visits. Entry to the cathedral of Notre-Dame — the nave, the aisles, the great rose windows at ground level — is free of charge and reserved through the cathedral's own booking system, which releases short-notice time slots. The tower climb, by contrast, is a paid, ticketed experience up among the gargoyles and bells, and it is this climb that our ticket secures. The two are entirely separate bookings with separate entrances.

Many visitors do both on the same day, and it makes for a wonderful combination — the soaring interior at ground level and the rooftop climb above. Because the free cathedral slots and the paid tower slots are released and managed differently, a little planning helps, and our concierge team is happy to explain how to line up a free cathedral reservation around the tower slot we secure for you, so the day runs smoothly.

How booking works — and why slots are so scarce

Since the reopening, the tower climb has been one of the most in-demand experiences in Paris. Slots are timed and small — only a handful of climbers per departure, to protect the narrow staircase — and they are sold online only, with no tickets available on the day at the door. In practice, popular dates and times sell out days ahead, and travellers who wait until they arrive in Paris frequently find nothing left.

This is exactly where a concierge booking earns its place. We monitor the release calendar, know when and how slots come available, and secure your chosen date and time before they vanish — then deliver the e-ticket to your inbox. The displayed price includes our service fee, disclosed inline at checkout, with no foreign-exchange markup at your bank. For those who prefer to book the climb directly, the official site is tours-notre-dame-de-paris.fr; our role is simply to take the scramble for a scarce slot off your hands.

How do you get to the towers?

Notre-Dame stands on the Île de la Cité, in the very centre of Paris. The nearest Métro stations are Cité (line 4) and Saint-Michel (line 4), both a short walk, while RER lines B and C stop at Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame just across the river. Numerous buses serve the island and the neighbouring Left Bank quays. The whole area is walkable from the Latin Quarter, the Louvre and the Marais.

Importantly, the tower entrance is not the same as the cathedral entrance. The climb starts from the north side of the cathedral, outside, while the free cathedral visit begins at the west front. We send clear directions and a map with your ticket so you arrive at the right door for your climb slot with time to spare — arriving a few minutes early is wise, as the timed entry is strict.

Notre-Dame after the fire: what has changed

The fire of 15 April 2019 destroyed Notre-Dame's 19th-century spire and its medieval timber roof and threatened the whole structure, but the stone vaults largely held and the two western towers survived. What followed was a vast, closely watched restoration, culminating in the cathedral's reopening in December 2024 — its interior cleaned to a brightness few living visitors had ever seen — and the reopening of the towers in September 2025.

For visitors today, the climb carries an added resonance. From the towers you look down on a spire and roof that have been painstakingly rebuilt, and across a monument brought back from the brink. The reimagined tower route is part of that renewal, and climbing it is not only one of the best views in Paris but also a way of witnessing, up close, the restoration of one of the world's most beloved buildings.

Frequently asked questions