The Catacombes in Paris are an interesting site, but an odd one if you research.
Reviews will say the place is claustrophobic, the stairs up & down are horrendous and could possibly take your life, the walkway is spacious, and the queues to get in can be hours long.
Ummmmm…..
So my experience.
I booked online and paid 27 euro via a popped p window off what appeared to be the official website. This seemed a little clunky, and suspicious, but I later confirmed it was all legitimate.
2 euro is pretty expensive for an attraction, but it came with a designated hour to enter, so no queues. I paid the price, got a confirmation email in french, but no ticket attachment. I had to find a link in that email, go back to the booking site, and fathom where I could download my PDF ticket. It was there, but nothing easy about directions to find it. Again, all felt suspicious.
I get to the entry position, and see a massive queue to the left all the way around the block. I front up to the entry ignoring the long queue, show my ticket and entry time, and am escorted in to get my audio guide. I at that point see the price on the front door, 17 euro. Ummmm… Someone else arrived with their confirmation email on their phone, but was told that was not their ticket, they could not enter. Ummmm….
The stairs down (photo below) were enclosed, so not a big deal, just a lot of them, but felt secure and safe. You listen to a couple of audio guides at the bottom, read some wall plaques, and then start a very long walk along tunnels, to the catacombs. Quite a long walk, during which you start to wonder are you in the right place ? Also, given the amount of people outside, you expect t to be crowded inside, but no, hardly anyone down there, ran into maybe 20 people in about an hour.
The floor is uneven, tunnels are wide enough, but anyone over 6′ tall will bang their head on the ceiling in many positions. So much for spacious, and claustrophobic reviews….
You finally get to the catacombes, and as you will see below, it’s not really what I expected either. Bones and skulls, positioned to create art. Ummmmm…..
The stairs back up are nothing more than what you would find at many tower vantage places, but at least enclosed and solid, so it’s a bit of effort to climb, but not as bad as many cathedrals i have visited along the way.
So, the booking website is awful, the pricing exorbitant and inconsistent, organisation hopeless, reviews are exaggerated, and was it really all worth it ?
