Skip the Line: Notre Dame Cathedral, Tower and Ile de la Cite Half-Day Walking Tour

Paris, France

Skip the line to climb the Notre Dame Cathedral Bell Towers and explore 2000 years of tumultuous Parisian history from the dark ages to the City of Light. By booking ahead, you won't waste any time waiting in line! Numbers are limited to a maximum of 25 people on this small group walking tour, ensuring you'll receive personalized attention from your guide.

At Notre Dame Cathedral you will not only visit the interior of the church, but will also have the opportunity to climb the famous bell towers for astounding views of Paris alongside the gargoyles that have protected the Notre Dame for centuries.

Your small group tour begins with a fascinating walking tour of the famous Ile de la Cité, in the heart of the Seine River, home to kings, revolutionaries and those famous gargoyles.

Here you will see why Victor Hugo selected Notre Dame as the setting for his widely acclaimed novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The flying buttresses, menacing gargoyles, soaring spires, monumental organ and imposing bell towers are as beautiful as they are ominous.

Experience history unfold as your expert guide recounts the amazing history of Notre Dame from antiquity to today on this incredible journey into the heart of medieval and Gothic Paris. For a dramatic finish, we will skip the long line to climb the 411 steps to the Notre Dame Bell Towers for a gargoyle's-eye view of Paris. The long queues can last up to two hours, so skip the line and go to the head of the tour.

USD $49.80

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Brian M	April 2012
This tour needs wispers technology (headsets and mic) so the guide can be heard. Traffic outside and the need to wisper inside ensured most did not hear any of the information delivered by the guide.

Review by: Bruce K	November 2011
Guide, an American Fulbright scholar, was fantastic. She was wonderful and deeply knowledgable.

Review by: toulouse2k	November 2011
The tour guide was extremely well-informed and gave us bits of history that I had never heard. If you decide to take the stairs be sure you are in decent shape and don't have a fear of heights. Oh, the view is magnificent!!

Review by: richard w	November 2011
Very enjoyable, excellent tour guide and allowed me to "tick off" some of my must do things in a very efficient way.

Review by: Hal & Lynn	November 2011
Excellent tour guide was knowledgable and easy to understand. Might want to warn people about the number of steps in the spiral staircases!

Review by: Ana	November 2011
Unique experience....

Review by: Elena	October 2011
It was a great visit but very overpriced. The views from Notre Dame are great. The guide's commentary was rather poor because she (Ruta) does not speak good English. More historical facts in the commentary would have been appreciated.

Review by: Glen B	October 2011
Enter your review hThis was pretty good. In addition to the Cathedral, you tour the Cite and get some addtional info concerning its beginnings. If you are only interested in the Cathedral, just show up. This lines are short. HOWEVER, if you wish to get to the tower, this tour lets you skip the line - that line is LONG! Overall, we enjoyedere.

Review by: christineprosser	October 2011
just great the guide was lovelya nd she was so entertaining gave you a real background to the area. skipping the 4 hr line to climb the tower is whorth it on its own

Review by: Brett	October 2011
Ok

Review by: Sandra T	September 2011
really wonderful tour,guide was billiant

Review by: Frances S	August 2011
Our Canadian tour guide was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the tour of Notre Dame Cathedral. It was obvious he had a passion for the city. He offered many interesting facts and answered questions with intelligent answers. Skipping the line for the bell tower was a must, since it was the length of one side of the cathedral and we've heard it can be a long as a 2 hours wait. The view was amazing and well worth the climb, you'll get great photos from there. This is a good tour to book.

Review by: jodie f	August 2011
Great Tour!!! Walking the stairs to the top was extra time...good but took longer than expected.

Review by: Obispo	August 2011
The guide was very knowledgeable. Had a great time

Review by: Fabian	August 2011
Nice tour and very informative. The line to get into Notre Dame towers was ridiculously long, so this was well worth it. The views around the cathedral are stunning. As an aside, Sacre Couer has very small lines to get into the tower and you can get some great views there as well.

Review by: Jana	July 2011
Pleasnat walk around the island, worth the price not to stand in line

Review by: Amanda P	July 2011
brilliant tour. Our guide was again fantastic and knew so much about the Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame. Recommend this walking tour too.

Review by: Carin Marais	July 2011
I would recommend that this tour should also be done with headsets. We couldn't hear our tourguide and missed a lot of information. We loved the skip the line to the Bell tower and it was a beautifull day to see Paris from such a height - well worth the climb.

Review by: Terry J	July 2011
if you plan to climb the tower,this is the only way to go.people in line could not believe we had an appointment,walked right in .

Review by: Judy K	July 2011
Excellent tour. Guide was knowledgable English speaking. Skipping the line is an excellent thing to do.

Review by: Mark T	July 2011
Tour took us all over the island seeing things that were not that interesting and the highlight of the tour--Notre Dame and the Tower were so rushed. We walked into ND and speed walked through. Tour guide said she could not talk inside and we would meet back up outside. However, she said she would "go slowly". We fell behind the group by perhaps 2 if not 3 minutes and when we walked out, the group was gone. By sheer luck, and waiting and around at line for 30 min, we were able to catch back up with group to go up to the Tower. Very disappointing. I felt like it was a complete waste of money.

Review by: TRACY M	July 2011
Notre dame cathedral was amazing and we went straight in, no ques! The tower is a hard climb 422 narrow steps and very steep but really worth it, a must do if visiting the cathedral. If you don't intend to climb the tower the cathedral is free. Our guide for the walking tour was very quietly spoken and with the traffic noise we couldn't hear her which was a shame. But all in all I recommend this tour.

Review by: Corinna D	July 2011
Very friendly and informative tour. Spectacular view from the towers. It is really worth its money.

Review by: Michelle T	June 2011
Adam the tour guide was exceptional, made the experience well worth while. The overall tour was informative and we'd recommend it to others

Review by: Erin O	June 2011
Ile de la Cite is a very small island and Notre Dame is its highlight. One can easily do this tour without benefit of a guide. I would recommend changing the "Skip the Line" to Notre Dame's Tower, to "Skip the Line" for Sainte Chapelle.

Review by: cindy	June 2011
The staff was on strike and we couldn't go up to the top. Paid to walk through the cathedral with a tour guide, could have done that by myself for free.

Review by: Kathleen B	May 2011
Interesting tour, interesting guide. Great views worth the climb.

Review by: Mick	May 2011
This was a very enjoyable and informative tour. Our guide was very thorough and if she did not know the answer to a question said she would go away and find out the answer so she would have the answer for the next group who took the tour. A thoroughtly enjoyable tour and the guide was very pleasant.

Review by: Judith B	May 2011
Enjoyed the walk and the sites

Review by: Gary S	May 2011
Emily was lovely. interesting tour well worth it

Review by: Laurie S	April 2011
I do NOT recommend this tour! I give it one star for the guide showing up on time. Otherwise it would get no stars. We did not recieve headsets and it was often hard to hear our guide, Sophia. Sophia walked us around Ile de Cite, sharing information that was simply incorrect. My husband was a history major and was aware that the info was wrong. Upon arriving at the Cathedral, we were informed that because it was Easter Monday, the line was long and that we could either go inside the cathedral or climb up to the tower. The line, honestly, was not that long - I got in it later, when it was 4-5 times the length and was inside the cathedral within 15 minutes. In any case, our tour did not include the inside of the cathedral. Note that "skip the line" refers only to the tower. Instead, Sophia walked us around the outside for another 30-45 minutes while awaiting our tower reservation time. She was unable to answer who was buried in the crypt on site, stating "I think think a pope was bured there, but I'm not sure which one." She also did not know who the bust statue in the churchyard represented, but read the name and said "I don't know who that is." We were able to skip the line to the tower. Sophia got us the tickets, told us to walk up the the first floor, and then disappeared. Literally. We were left on the first floor unsure what to do. We never saw Sophia again. This tour was simply poorly executed. I'd recommend getting in the tower line early to avoid a major wait, and taking the free Paris City walking tour of Notre Dame instead.

Review by: David D	January 2011
Extremely educational. Our tour guide, Eve, was a wealth of knowledge and very personable.

Review by: Neil W	December 2010
The tour was great. A pity about the towers being closed due to ice. The guide was excellent and I had a memorable experience.

Review by: Joseph D	December 2010
GUIDE WAS SO SWEET AND HELPFUL!!!!!

Review by: Katricia R	October 2010
Mathex was an amazing tour guide!

Review by: Robert S	October 2010
Not real value for the money..

Review by: Pru J	October 2010
Interesting and enjoyable

Review by: Carol M	October 2010
I'd have to say that overall I was disappointed with this tour. I don't feel that we received a tour of Ile de la Cite. Our guide was nice but I don't feel she was very well informed or informative. The meeting place was not easy to find and the guide herself was not easily recognizable (she was dressed in a plain jacket and held a small white sign: nothing especially official or bright to catch your eye as you're looking for someone). NotreDame itself is beautiful and the views from the top are wonderful

Review by: Rupert N	October 2010
Our guide met us promptly at the meeting place on Ile de la Cite and we skipped the massive queue outside the cathedral. He was very knowledgeable about Notre Dame and shared really interesting information about the façade as well as features inside the cathedral. We enjoyed the walk to the top of the cathedral. Half way up you stop to see the original bell which was last rung on 9/11. The view from the top was fantastic and our guide pointed out interesting landmarks and facts about Paris. We really enjoyed the afternoon.

Review by: Deborah B	August 2010
It was great to by-pass the crowds for the long climb up to the bell tower- but honestly- you might want to consider the physical demands of the climb up the bell tower. Folks with any kind of knee issues,. heart issues or high blood pressure should not try this. The tour in the cathedral after the bell tower was great.

Review by: Emily R	August 2010
Great - tour guide was an architectral history student and really knew her stuff, it was interesting and best of all no standing in line which some people we were travelling with did the next day and stood there for 45 mins. It is a hard climb to the top, but more than worth it, definately the best view in Paris - far better than going up the tower!!

Review by: Anonymous	August 2010
Our family of 5 really enjoyed this experience of being able to walk the 420 steps up to the top of Notre Dame Cathedral and take pictures of the gargoyles just a few feet away from us. Incredible views of the entire city too. The meeting point was a bit confusing for us but we finally found it . I think it would be much easier to meet at the Cathedral. Also, the tour discription is a little confusing as it isn't a 12 day walking tour. The only walking you do is around the corner to the Cathedral and in the Cathedral itself. All the rest of the walking is actually climbing of the small circular stairs up to the top. Had a great guide who was very knowledgeable about the area. A must do in Paris.

Review by: Fiona T	August 2010
Our tour guide so excellent.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	July 2010
This was a great tour! We had an awesome guide who was quite informative and friendly. We got to skip the lines to get into the cathedral & to walk upto the top of the cathedral.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	July 2010
Being able to skip the line is huge. The stairs to the top of Notre Dame are difficult but the view is well worth it when you get to the top. Our guide, an art history major, was excellent.

Review by: Anonymous, United States of America	June 2010
Due to scheduling problems we were unable to take this trip, but I am sure it would have been Highly Recommended.

Review by: Keith H, United States of America	June 2010
Good tour with good insightful information about Notre Dame. Be warned the trip to the top of the tower for the view of the Gargoles and paris includes a climb of 422 stone, spiral steps. There are people behind you and not much time to stop and catch your breath. Beautiful views when you get there but I am not in condition to climd like that and people should be made aware in advance.

Review by: LC R, United States of America	June 2010
The tour guide did a very good job, and knowledgable.