Dark Paris Free Tour: Tales of the Underworld at Night

When the lights come on along the Seine, Paris tells a different story. Behind the elegant façades of the City of Light lie centuries of public executions, thieves' kingdoms, plague pits, and legends that Parisians have whispered since the Middle Ages.

This night walking tour takes you through the oldest streets of the city to the places where that history happened. Your local guide shows you where crowds once gathered for public executions near today's Hôtel de Ville, how the Conciergerie became a prison for the condemned during the French Revolution, and where medieval Paris's legendary Cour des Miracles of beggars and thieves is said to have stood.

You'll also hear how overflowing cemeteries led to bones being moved into the old quarries beneath the city, the origin of the Paris ossuaries. Along the way, your guide separates documented history from folklore, so you know which tales are true, which are embellished, and which are pure legend.

It's a dark history tour in Paris that is atmospheric, a little macabre, and never gory, so it works for curious adults, history lovers, and anyone who likes a good ghost story.