Notre Dame Cathedral Guided Tour with Flexible Options
Badge of Excellence
Paris, France
+19
- 1 hour 10 minutes (approx.)
- Group discounts
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
Discover one of the most important landmarks in Paris from both inside and out–and take the guesswork out of sightseeing–on this tour of the iconic Notre-Dame Cathedral. Explore the outside to uncover the history of the building, discover its architectural highlights, and learn about its restoration from your guide. Inside, continue independently at your own pace and appreciate the sights more deeply thanks to your new knowledge.
- Opt for a group, small-group, or private tour of the exterior
- Guarantee your access to this top city attraction in advance
- Go beyond simple sightseeing with insights and stories from your guide
- Step inside and explore the monument without any time pressure
What's Included
- Expert English speaking Tour Guide
- Exterior Guided Tour with exterior Option With independent Interior Visit
- Semi Private Option: Maximum 12 guests tour for a more intimate experience
- Private tour option: One group only tour
- Transportation
- Food and Drinks
- Skip the line access
- Access to Cathedral Towers
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Statue de Charlemagne et ses leudes75004 Île de la Cité, France
Meet us in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral in front of statue of Charlemagne on horseback (Green Statue). Our guide will be holding a black sign saying 'Bonjour'. Please arrive 15 minutes before the start of your tour.
End point
- Notre-Dame Cathedral of Paris6 Parvis Notre-Dame - Pl. Jean-Paul II, 75004 Paris, France
Itinerary
1
Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris
1 hour • Admission Ticket Free
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Most travelers can participate
- Shoulders must be covered; shorts and skirts must be knee-length to enter the cathedral.
- Religious services: During Mass, guiding inside the cathedral is not permitted. Please consult the official Notre-Dame schedule, as services may impact your visit.
- Please arrive 15 minutes before the scheduled start time. Late arrivals risk missing the experience entirely.
- Exceptional closures: Notre-Dame Cathedral may close without prior notice. Please check the official website in advance. If the interior is unavailable, an extended exterior guided tour (approximately 1 hour) will be provided instead.
- The entrance to Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris is free and open to all. The services offered are independent of access to the interior of the building.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 200 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.5
based on 1,499 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Great tour. Covered the history of the cathedral and previous restorations. Spent a lot of time on the fire and continuing restoration work.
The guide was very informative and had photos to show fire damage and other events. It was sometimes had to hear and understand her.
Leo was wonderful — friendly, knowledgeable, kind and attentive. We learnt so much while also having lots of fun.
A special mention to Leo’s colleague, who noticed Mass had just finished and suggested we quickly go inside Notre-Dame before the huge queues formed. Perfect timing! We saw the beautiful interior and were back in time for the tour.
A fantastic experience and one of our Paris highlights. Highly recommend Leo! 🇫🇷❤️
It is not CLEAR that you do NOT get entrance to Notre Dame. After the tour you have to wait in the 1-2 hour line to enter. I would never recommend this tour unless the description is changed to this is not a skip the line tour.
Your tour did not specify that it did not include entrance to the cathedral. How do you do a tour without going inside? Absolutely ridiculous and I was not the only one who wondered why you did not explain that properly in the description. The tour guide was fine. She was knowledgeable about all things outside the cathedral.
That it is only an exterior tour of the building. I believe the description of the tour was not clear. Entry is already free for anyone.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
The tour description clearly states this. It also explains how the different options work so guests can choose the experience that best suits their expectations.
We strongly recommend taking a moment to read the full description and select the appropriate option before booking. The information is provided precisely to avoid this kind of misunderstanding.
This Notre Dame tour was wonderful and Diana was the perfect guide. She gave us excellent historical information, as well as what happened during the remodel.
Chaotic beginning. Needs better planning. Private tour guide was fine. He was pleasant and knowledgeable. The entire experience was tainted by the scrum at the beginning.
It was very informative and interesting to hear the history, however, our guide did not have a microphone and the fact is, she was hard to understand with her accent. A few people remarked of the same thing.
The tour guide met us on time in the courtyard of Notre Dame. We were unaware that the whole "tour" was outside, unfortunately on a very hot day with no shade. The guide proceeded to show us pictures on her iPad of various features of the exterior of the cathedral, which were impossible to see due to the reflection of sunlight on the screen. Anyone can look up pictures online themselves these days.
After half an hour we were shown to the lineup entering the cathedral, which is actually free to the public. The "tour" was over.
Read the fine print. It’s not an inside tour. Most of the participants were surprised when the guide told us. It was a nice experience and the guide was very informative but it’s not an inside. You have to go in on your own but it’s free. If that’s all you want, don’t pay the money.
Tour can only be done outside as no talking is allowed inside. For the price it is good learning experience.
We did not know we had to get into the long queue to go inside. This did not make us very happy, ans you should have told kid us that! Our other tour, Notre Dame inside and out, was cancelled and left us scrambling at the last min!
Very well read guide. She knew a lot about the outside of Notre Dame. She had lots of pictures to show from the past and of the fire. Great personality.
Dont bother with this tour. absolute waste of time and money. Entry to the Cathedral is free anyway and this tour in its entirety walked us 100mtr to the front of the building, told us a bit of the statues above the front entrance, then walked us to the back of the public queue. The guide assured us the queue was no more than 15 mins, She left us at the back of the queue, said goodbye and 45 mins later, not 15 we reached the front of the queue . As I said an absolute waste of time and money. I complained to Viator and got my money refunded
This tour was very well done. The history and significance that go along with it made it a very enjoyable experience.
The tour guide was really good but the overall experience is not worth it since we had to wait in line for over an hour to enter the cathedral
Very disappointed in this tour, the guide took us to the front of the cathedral for five minutes to show us the central point and then we stood in line for 15-20 minutes and she did not go into the cathdral with us. Unbelievable, all of us were stunned barely any information was give and then we were left to wander inside without information!!
Response from Host, Sep 2026
This is inaccurate. The option you booked clearly states exterior guided tour with an independent interior visit—not a guided visit inside. It also states the full duration, and by your own account, you did not stay for the entire experience. Our guide delivered exactly what was advertised.
I paid the money to Viator and was careful to print the receipt and another page about the event. The problem was that the receipt did not mention the tour operator and there were at least 7 there where we were supposed to meet. Finally the 7th said it had us listed. What a hassle!
As far as the tour itself, there was extremely little talk about the reconstruction work.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
We’re sorry the meeting point was confusing, but the voucher you received was issued by Viator, not us, and the lack of a clearly displayed operator name is outside our control.
As for the reconstruction, it is one part of a much broader historical tour. We appreciate your feedback, but the tour cannot reasonably be judged solely on one topic.
Our guide was very knowledgeable and it was nice to get the history of the building but it would have been nice to get a tour inside as well.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
Thank you for the kind words about our guide! Just to clarify, the option you selected was specifically an exterior guided tour followed by an independent visit inside—not a guided interior tour. A guided interior experience is available as a separate option for guests who prefer that format.
Great experience! Our guide, Sugar, gave us great information about Notre Dame after we had been in the cathedral for about 1/2 an hour. I strongly encourage people to go to Notre Dame as early as they can because it is not crowded then. We were able to walk right into the church without having to wade through a huge line. And after we had been inside, Sugar showed us pictures and explained about some of the external decorations. We then got to see two other churches in the area and heard about the fire in 2019. This was a great tour and good value for the money.
Title of the tour was misleading. I had previously booked a tour of the exterior and interior of Notre Dame, but Viator cancelled that. Viator suggested some optional dates and times to replace the cancelled tour. The one I picked, which was the only one that fit our schedule, was over an hour long. At the end we learned that it did NOT include the interior tour, nor any special admission benefits. The tour guide was friendly but extremely verbose. An altogether uncomfortable experience as we spent a long time standing in the sun listening to her graduate level architectural thesis presentation. She used a tablet device to show photos, but the screen was very smudged with fingerprints and hard to see as she held it up facing the sun, so the screen was near.y invisible.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
This review is not an accurate representation of the events. The tour you selected clearly states that it is an exterior guided tour followed by an independent interior visit. It never promises a guided interior tour or special admission benefits. Those are features of a different product.
Your original booking and its cancellation were handled by Viator. Our guide delivered the experience that was advertised, including detailed historical and architectural commentary. Calling that an “architectural thesis” simply because the guide provided substantial information is a matter of personal preference, not a failure to deliver the tour.
The total “tour” lasted just fifteen minutes from hello to goodbye. Our guide showed us the front entrance and a mark on the ground. She then took us to the back of the line and tried to show a group of fifteen people three pictures on her phone from inside Notre Dame, basically just saying “you should look for this inside.” She then said the line was moving very fast and left us at the entrance to the tipped portion of the line. There was nowhere near 45 minutes of time and minimal useful content. Do not waste your money. You can learn more from a five minute internet search.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
This review appears to concern a different provider. Our guides check in every guest before the tour begins, and according to our records, you were not checked in with our group. The experience described here therefore does not match our tour or our operating procedure.
Our tour lasts approximately 60 minutes and follows a clearly defined itinerary. Based on the details provided, it appears you may have mistakenly joined or reviewed another provider’s experience.
It’s a very nice tour of Notre Dame. Guides do not go inside the cathedral but you can tour yourself. I suggest going early. We got there at 9a and there was no line to get in. But when we were leaving around 10a there was a significant line. Our personal tour guide Ruth was very professional and did a good job telling us about the history of the church and a little about Paris. She customized the tour according to our other time restrictions.
This was well worth the time and cost. Leo was utterly excellent as a guide. He kept things moving and made the whole experience interesting and memorable,
Good tour, fantastic guide , Pierre, impossible to see all, definitely we need to come back to Paris ASAP ! Love the city!
Excellent for someone with limited time. I’m grateful to Diana, our tour guide, for being thoughtful
The guide was nice but the tour we booked was not properly described. It was an outside of the building architecture tour. We wanted to tour inside. That was not part of this tour. We could have waited on line for maybe an hour to get in for the "flexible" part of this tour. Viator you have to do better to describe what is being purchased.
Response from Host, Sep 2026
The option you booked is clearly labeled “Exterior” as the first word of the option, and the description explains that it covers Notre-Dame’s exterior architecture, history, and stories. The interior is a separate option, while guests on the exterior tour can enter independently afterward, subject to the cathedral’s queue. We recommend guests to read the description before booking.
This was a fascinating tour of the exterior and the symbolism of the cathedral, but go early as the queue to go inside (not part of the tour) gets longer as the day goes on.
The Notre Dame Catedral doesn’t charge for the entrance. This tour only gives you an explanation of the facade and history of the church. Nothing is explained about what you see inside and details about the fire and reconstruction.
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per personWas $34.20
up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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