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Père Lachaise Walks

Private walk

Private Père Lachaise tour

Your group, your guide, your route — built around the people you have actually come to see, at a pace that suits whoever is walking slowest.

Duration
2 to 3 hours, as you prefer
Group size
Up to 20 people
Language
English
Meeting point
Any gate you choose
Price
€219 per group
A narrow gravel path running between family vaults away from the main avenues
A visitor photographing a moss-covered family vault on a narrow path between tombs
A guide talking to a small group in front of Chopin's monument, a seated muse in white marble
Family vaults and a stone cross among dried grasses in late summer
The colonnade of the columbarium, ranks of glazed niches behind stone columns
Graves and monuments among trees on the slope of the cemetery
A narrow gravel path running between the walls of family vaults
A visitor sitting alone on a stone bench among family vaults
A stone chest tomb with a bronze wreath emblem, a yucca growing behind it

What you’ll see

There is no fixed itinerary, which is the point. What follows is how a private walk is actually put together.

  1. We ask what you have come for

    Before the walk we send you two questions: who do you want to see, and how far can you comfortably walk? Almost everyone answers the first one with a name we can build a route around — a composer, a novelist, a relative — and the second one changes the route more than people expect.

  2. A route built backwards from that answer

    If it is Chopin, we spend real time in the lower divisions and the 1817 story of how this cemetery filled up. If it is the Commune, we start at the Mur des Fédérés in division 76 and work outwards through the deportation memorials on the eastern wall. If it is 19th-century sculpture, we barely mention the famous names at all.

  3. The pace of the slowest person in the group

    This is the actual difference between a private walk and a group one. Nobody is being hurried, nobody is straining to hear at the back, and if someone needs to sit down on a wall for five minutes, we sit down on a wall for five minutes.

  4. A step-free option, if you need one

    The cemetery is not fully accessible and we will not pretend otherwise. But the main avenues are surfaced, and a private walk can be routed along them. We will tell you in advance exactly which graves that route reaches and which it does not.

  5. Family research

    If you are here to find a relative's grave, tell us when you book and send the name. We will do the work with the conservation office in advance rather than spending your two hours searching. We cannot promise to find every grave — records from certain periods are incomplete — and we will tell you what we found before you pay.

What's included

  • A licensed guide for your group alone, for two to three hours
  • A route planned around the graves you name
  • A printed division map, marked up for the route we walked
  • Advance work with the conservation office if you are looking for a family grave

What's not

  • Cemetery admission — entry is free for everyone, every day
  • Transport to the meeting point
  • Food and drink
  • Groups larger than six, which we quote separately

Where we meet

Any gate you choose. We confirm the exact gate by email once we know the route you want.

From métro Gambetta (lines 3 and 3bis)
For a route that runs downhill, meet at the Porte Gambetta, 55–57 rue des Rondeaux — five minutes from the station, and the top of the hill.
From métro Père Lachaise (lines 2 and 3) or Philippe Auguste (line 2)
For a route concentrated on the lower divisions — Chopin, Molière, Héloïse and Abélard, Morrison — meet at the main gate, 28 ter boulevard de Ménilmontant. Philippe Auguste is the closer of the two stations.
From your hotel
We do not do hotel pick-ups, but tell us where you are staying and we will send the exact métro route and how long it takes, rather than leaving you to work it out.

Accessibility, honestly

  • A private walk is the accessible option, within the limits of the site itself.
  • The main avenues are surfaced and can be walked with a stick or a frame; a self-propelled wheelchair will find the gradients hard and the side paths impossible.
  • Tell us what you need when you book and we will send you a route in writing, naming the graves it reaches, before you commit.
  • The Porte des Amandiers and Porte de la Réunion both have steps; we will not route you through either.

More detail on the terrain, the gradients and which gates have steps is on our page about getting there and getting around.

Cancellation

  • Free cancellation up to 48 hours before the start time, for a full refund.
  • Inside 48 hours we cannot refund — a private guide's day has been held for you.
  • If the City of Paris closes the cemetery for high winds, you are moved or refunded in full, your choice.

Your guide

Private walks are led by the same licensed guides as the small-group walk, each holding the French carte professionnelle de guide-conférencier. Guide biographies will be published here once the team is confirmed.

More about who runs these walks.

Questions about this walk

Is a private tour worth it for two people?
It depends what you want. If you want a good general introduction, the small-group walk gives you the same guide for far less. A private walk is worth it when you have a specific reason to be here — one grave, one subject, a mobility limit, or a family name.
Can you find my relative's grave?
Often, yes. Send the name and any dates when you book and we will check with the cemetery's conservation office before your walk. Records are incomplete for some periods, and concessions that expired have in many cases been reused, so we cannot promise. We will tell you what we found before you pay.
How long is a private walk?
Two hours as standard, extended to three at no extra cost if the route you have asked for needs it. Tell us which you want when you book.
Can you do a step-free route?
We can route you along the surfaced main avenues, which avoids steps. It does not avoid gradients — the cemetery climbs about 30 metres from the boulevard to the Gambetta gate — and it cannot reach graves that sit off the avenues. We will send you the route in writing first.
Can we start at a particular time?
Any time that finishes comfortably before the cemetery clears, which begins fifteen minutes before the posted closing time. In winter that means starting no later than about 14:30.
What if there are more than six of us?
Write to us with the number and the date. Above six we usually split the group between two guides rather than shouting across a path, and we quote accordingly.
Do you run tours in French or other languages?
Currently we guide in English. Ask when you enquire — if we can cover another language for your date we will say so, and if we cannot we will say that instead.
Can we visit a funeral or a memorial service?
No. Père-Lachaise holds around ten thousand ceremonies a year and they are private. If we pass one on the walk we stop, step aside and wait.

€219 per group

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