Experience the beauty and history of one of the River Seine's last two natural islands—Ile de la Cité—on a private 3-hour walking tour with a visit to Notre Dame Cathedral. Admire the stunning gothic architecture of this centuries-old church, see its iconic gargoyles and step inside to view its towering vaulted ceilings and learn about its legendary bell ringer from your art historian guide. Then enjoy exclusive skip-the-line access into Sainte-Chapelle—known for its incredible stained glass windows—and the Conciergerie, a once-torturous prison where Marie Antoinette served time.

See Ile de la Cité on a private walking tour
Get personalized attention from your art historian guide
Marvel at the Gothic architecture of Notre Dame Cathedral
Enjoy VIP access to the Conciergerie prison and Sainte-Chapelle

What's Included

Private Art Historian

Food and drinks
Gratuities
Hotel pickup and drop-off

Meeting And Pickup

Meeting point

Cité
75004 Paris, France
Meet your guide just outside the “Cité” metro station on line 4. There is only one exit when leaving the station. The exact address of the station is “Place Louis-Lépine” on rue de Lutèce. Your guide will be wearing a special badge with the Localers logo, you can't miss it!

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Save valuable time by skipping lines at certain key monuments
Private interaction with your guide
Turn back the clock to Parisian life during the Middle Ages

Take in breathtaking views of the Seine River and Ile de la Cité
Not wheelchair accessible
Most travellers can participate
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Reviews

4.5

19 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travellers.

Showing 1-10 of 19 reviews

Worst Paris Experience! Do not pay for this tour!

Cathy_C, Oct 2022

Terrible! We waited at designated Departure spot for an hour. Called and texted provided contact numbers…no response! Have not heard a word and we paid over $1000 for the tour! Completed ghosted!

Guide was a no show

Kristina_C, Sept 2022

Total no show. Waited over 45 minutes, called tour operator twice, no answer. Called Viator who also could not get a hold of them. We set off on our own, Sainte Chappelle was not accepting ANY tickets bought through Viator. Total disaster.

No guide

HoracioR_C, July 2022

The guide never showed up. The local agency Tour like a Local, did not answer. Awful experience. Stay away!

If you want to go Medieval, this is the way

Margot_D, July 2021

We learned SO much on this tour and really enjoyed ourselves. We loved our Greek named guide which I'm ashamed not to remember his name. He knew his stuff and brought St. Chapelle and the Conciergerie to life. He was obviously so knowledgeable and friendly; it made it so great.

Our first Paris tour! Solene had a...

Scott K, Apr 2018

Our first Paris tour! Solene had a wonderful ability to put things in context so we could understand the historical era we were visiting. It was a cold Spring Saturday but we gladly stood in the cold as she talked and pointed and asked us what we saw. And then embellished on our comments. By the end we had a feel for the history and art that we had seen. Little things like taking onto a bridge of an overview of the Conciegerie before we entered made the tour special. Make sure you look for the internal flying buttresses in the base of the Sainte Chapell!

Very nice and well worth the cost...

Dennis A, Feb 2018

Very nice and well worth the cost. Our guide was Russian and, surprisingly, knew in depth- the history of these times. I would do it again just to retain more of the history.

The guide was great and the information...

Kathleen_L, Oct 2017

The guide was great and the information was wonderful

This was such an amazing tour with a...

Rudy_R, May 2017

This was such an amazing tour with a highly knowledgeable tour guide. She was just so happy to teach us about the history and intrigue of the places we visited. And the attention to the details was amazing. I would have never guessed this would be such an enriching tour. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Really good, four hours was just a...

Jenny B, Apr 2017

Really good, four hours was just a little long on a very cold day, our guide was very knowledgeable and we learned and saw a lot.

Anna was the perfect guide. She...

Gary R, Dec 2016

Anna was the perfect guide. She tailored the tour to suit us and interesting, well informed and fun to spend time with. Thank you anna. We had a great morning and have a much better appreciation of Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle and the Conciergerie.We were surprised by how much of the information we reatined and we're inspired us to learn more.

Our tour guide, Johanna, was amazing...

Margaret L, July 2016

Our tour guide, Johanna, was amazing. We learned so much about history and building.

This private tour was exactly what...

Paula T, Oct 2015

This private tour was exactly what we wanted and expected! Our tour guide was very attentive to our needs and interests. She thoroughly answered every one of our questions, some of which were not related to the exact sights that we were seeing, giving us plenty of background information about Paris and France in general. She was so very knowledgeable about the history, art and architecture of these 3 sights that we felt the tour was worth every penny! Starting the tour promptly and fairly early and having a private tour helped us avoid many of the crowds that we observed were lining up to enter Notre Dame just as we were finishing and going to the next sight.

Our tour with Vanessa was wonderful...

Gretchen Hibler H, Aug 2015

Our tour with Vanessa was wonderful. She was very kind, and knowledgeable, beyond things we already knew about Paris. We were traveling with our two teenage daughters, and she kept things intersting and real.....it was definitly not a canned tour. We loved it.