Entry to Notre Dame Cathedral is free, so the only paid Notre Dame Cathedral tickets are for extras: the cheapest is an $11 French-speaking guided tour, and the cheapest reserved-entry listing is $18. The most-reviewed is that $11 tour, rated 4.6 from 651 reviews. The official site says no ticket is needed, and the towers are sold separately for 16 euros. If you want a guide in English, I’d book the $89 Memories France tour, rated 4.8 from 433 reviews.
Tour
From
Rating
Length
Free cancellation
Book
Notre Dame Cathedral Tour with French-Speaking Guide
I looked at all eight Notre Dame Cathedral listings I could find on GetYourGuide, and I want to be plain about what they are. None is a ticket to a paid attraction. Seven are guided tours that include entry, and one is a reserved timed-entry listing. All prices are in US dollars, taken from the listings in November 2026. The buttons open GetYourGuide through affiliate links, which I explain on my about page.
Notre Dame Cathedral Tickets at a Glance
The cathedral reopened on 7 December 2024 after the 15 April 2019 fire, according to Wikipedia, and it has been free to enter since. That changes what Notre Dame Cathedral tickets mean today, so here is every option side by side.
What
Details
Listings compared
7 guided tours that include entry, 1 timed-entry listing
The cathedral interior and exterior; none includes the towers
Official entry
Free, with an optional free time slot (notredamedeparis.fr)
Towers
Separate ticket, 16 euros, 424 steps (tours-notre-dame-de-paris.fr)
Time to allow
45 minutes to 1.5 hours for the tours
Address
6 Parvis Notre-Dame, Place Jean-Paul II, 75004 Paris (per Google Maps)
Google Maps hours today
Saturday, 8:15 am to 7:30 pm
Whichever Notre Dame Cathedral tickets you choose, Google Maps gives Notre-Dame 4.7 stars from 103,342 reviews, which is a fair sign that the building delivers whatever you book. What differs between the listings is the person, the group size and the entrance, not the nave. The voucher on your phone gets you to a meeting point near the cathedral, usually the Charlemagne statue in front of the west facade.
Skip-the-Line Notre Dame Cathedral Tickets
Skip-the-line Notre Dame Cathedral tickets is the phrase most people search, but the honest version is a reserved group entrance. The cathedral’s own free time slots serve the same purpose, so a paid listing earns its price through the guide who walks you in. Two listings fit best here, and both are English-language tours with reserved access.
The one I’d choose is the Memories France tour at $89: a 1.5-hour guided visit by a licensed guide, headsets, and reserved access, rated 4.8 from 433 reviews. You meet at the Paris Today agency on Quai de Gesvres, a few minutes’ walk away, and the listing warns you not to go to the cathedral entrance. Cancellation is free up to 24 hours ahead. Reviewers praise the guide’s liveliness, which is the thing you are paying for.
Memories France
Paris Notre Dame Cathedral Guided Tour with Scheduled Access
★4.8 (433 reviews)
1.5 hours
Free cancellation
My pick: My pick for English: a licensed guide, headsets and reserved access for 1.5 hours, 4.8 from 433 reviews.
What you get, where you meet, what reviewers say
Included
✓ 1.5-hour guided tour
✓ Reserved access to Notre Dame Cathedral
✓ Expert, fully licensed English-speaking guide
✓ Headsets so you can always hear your guide
Not included / not suitable
✕ Hotel pickup and drop-off
Meeting point: Meet your guide at the Paris Today agency. We are a few minutes’ walk away from the cathedral.
The nearest metro is Hotel de Ville.
Please do not go to the cathedral entrance! It can get very crowded and we will not be able to find you there. 2 Quai de Gesvres, 75004 Paris, France
Languages: English
Duration: 1.5 hours
Cancellation: Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
“Excellent, so informative and presented in a lively, interesting manner. I highly recommend Carolina!” – GetYourGuide review
The second is a semi-private tour from The Tour Guy at $70. It covers the interior and exterior with reserved group access, runs 1.5 hours and meets at the Charlemagne statue on the Parvis. It has a single review, a 5-star one, so I can’t tell you a pattern, and I’d treat that rating as unproven rather than excellent.
the tour guy
Notre Dame Cathedral Semi-Private Guided Tour
★5.0 (1 reviews)
1.5 hours
Free cancellation
My pick: A semi-private alternative at $70, but only one review so far, so the 5 stars prove little.
What you get, where you meet, what reviewers say
Included
✓ Expert English-speaking licensed guide
✓ Reserved group access to Notre Dame Cathedral
✓ Guided tour of the cathedral's interior and exterior
✓ Fascinating storytelling
✓ Semi-private experience
Not included / not suitable
✕ Guide tips
✕ Hotel pickup and drop-off
Meeting point: Please arrive 15 minutes early to check in for your tour. Look for Notre-Dame Cathedral on the Île de la Cité. The equestrian statue of Charlemagne et ses Leudes is located on the Parvis Notre-Dame – Place Jean-Paul II, directly in front of the cathedral. Parvis Notre Dame - Place Jean-Paul II, 75004 Paris, France
Languages: English
Duration: 1.5 hours
Cancellation: Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
“Die Führung wurde von einem sehr erfahrenen und sympathischen Mann durchgeführt. Hat sich wirklich gelohnt.” – GetYourGuide review
Notre Dame Cathedral entry tickets in the plain sense are the free slots, but one GetYourGuide listing sells exactly that kind of service. The HandMedinaCo Tours listing at $18 is the only one that calls itself a timed entry: a reserved group entrance for an hour-long visit, with an optional guided version and a phone-based audio guide. It scores 3.8 from 407 reviews, the lowest rating among the well-reviewed options.
HandMedinaCo Tours
Notre Dame Cathedral with Skip the Line Timed Entry
★3.8 (407 reviews)
1 hour
Free cancellation
My pick: The closest thing to an entry ticket at $18: reserved timed entry, 3.8 from 407 reviews, bring your own headphones.
What you get, where you meet, what reviewers say
Included
✓ Reserved timed group entrance if this option selected
✓ Guided tour if option selected
✓ Audio guide for the interior of Notre Dame if guided tour option selected
Not included / not suitable
✕ Hotel pick-up or drop-off
✕ Live tour guide inside Notre Dame
✕ Device or headphones for the interior audio guide; you must use your phone and bring your own headphones. The audio guide is downloaded via an app onto your phone
✕ Entry to Notre Dame Bell Towers
Meeting point: This activity has 2 meeting points. Your meeting point depends on the option you select. 75004 Île de la Cité, France
Languages: English
Duration: 1 hour
Cancellation: Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
“When we arrived at Notre-Dame, we found a long line of about 100 people. However, with these tickets, we were able to skip the line and get inside within just a few minutes. It was very convenient!” – GetYourGuide review
The exclusions are worth reading: no live guide inside Notre-Dame, no device or headphones for the audio guide, and no towers. Meeting point depends on the option you pick, so check the voucher. One reviewer said they saw a line of about 100 people and got in within minutes.
“When we arrived at Notre-Dame, we found a long line of about 100 people. However, with these tickets, we were able to skip the line and get inside within just a few minutes.”
— GetYourGuide reviewer
Because the free official slot does the same job as paid tickets for Notre Dame Cathedral entry, I’d choose this listing only if you want the audio guide or a guided version bundled in one purchase.
Notre Dame Cathedral Tour
A Notre Dame Cathedral tour is the product category that makes sense among Notre Dame Cathedral tickets, because the building rewards explanation: the fire, the restoration and 860 years of Gothic detail. The first listing is the Smart City tour in French at $11, the cheapest on this page and the most reviewed with 651 reviews at 4.6 stars. It lasts 45 minutes, meets at the Cité metro exit on Place Louis Lépine, and includes free entry plus a guide. It does not include skip-the-line access, and the listing says so. It is in French only.
SMART CITY TOUR
Notre Dame Cathedral Tour with French-Speaking Guide
★4.6 (651 reviews)
45 minutes
Free cancellation
My pick: By far the best value if you speak French: $11, 45 minutes, 4.6 from 651 reviews.
What you get, where you meet, what reviewers say
Included
✓ Qualified live guide
✓ Access to Notre-Dame Cathedral (free of charge)
✓ Guided visit of the exterior and/or interior (depending on option selected)
Not included / not suitable
✕ Hotel pick-ups/drop-offs
✕ Skip-the-line access
✕ Free items
Meeting point: Please meet us in front of the "Cité" metro station exit on Place Louis Lépine. Place Louis Lépine, 75004 Paris, France
Languages: French
Duration: 45 minutes
Cancellation: Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
“Guide très intéressante et qui connaît très bien son sujet !! Plusieurs anecdotes et renseignement sur le trajet en allant à la cathédrale . Un grand merci , nous avons passés un bon moment . Je recommande” – GetYourGuide review
One English reviewer praised the guide for keeping the group in the shade on a hot day, and a French reviewer enjoyed the anecdotes along the way. For English speakers the other card here is the italypasstours small-group tour at $45. It includes a licensed guide, headphones and skip-the-line entrance, and runs one hour. The catch is its evidence: 4 stars from just 3 reviews, and one reviewer said the guide never showed up. I’d treat it as a leftover rather than a recommendation, and look to the $89 option or the $36 italypasstours tour below instead. I compare every guided tour on my Notre Dame Cathedral tours page.
italypasstours
Notre Dame Cathedral Small Group Guided Tour
★4.0 (3 reviews)
1 hour
Free cancellation
My pick: A leftover, not a match: small group at $45, but only 3 reviews and one reports a guide who never appeared.
What you get, where you meet
Included
✓ Guided tour of Notre-Dame Cathedral
✓ Professional licensed guide
✓ Skip the Line Entrance
✓ Headphones for clear audio
Not included / not suitable
✕ Transportation to the cathedral
✕ Food and drinks
Meeting point: Our Host will be standing infront of Statue 75004 Île de la Cité, France
Languages: English
Duration: 1 hour
Cancellation: Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
For skip the line at Notre-Dame, the listing that comes up is the Bon Journey Tours guided visit at $17, rated 3.9 from 286 reviews. It is a one-hour English walk covering the cathedral’s architecture, history and restoration, with a self-guided interior visit on the exterior option. Despite the title in search results, its exclusions say skip the line is not included, and one reviewer wrote that they had misunderstood this and everything worked out fine anyway.
Bon Journey Tours
Notre Dame Cathedral Guided Tour with Free Entry
★3.9 (286 reviews)
1 hour
Free cancellation
My pick: Cheap English guide at $17, but the listing excludes skip-the-line, so don't buy it for the queue.
What you get, where you meet, what reviewers say
Included
✓ Professional English-speaking guide
✓ Guided walking tour of Notre-Dame Cathedral
✓ Expert insights into the cathedral’s architecture, history, and restoration
✓ Self-guided interior visit with the exterior option
Not included / not suitable
✕ Access to the cathedral towers
✕ Skip the line
✕ Food and beverages
✕ Transportation
Meeting point: Please arrive 15 minutes before your selected start time at the Statue of Charlemagne and his Paladins (large green statue in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral). Your guide will be holding our sign that reads 'Bonjour'. 75004 Île de la Cité, France
Languages: English
Duration: 1 hour
Cancellation: Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
“Tatiana the guide for our trip was very knowledgeable and was clear” – GetYourGuide review
That mismatch is the main lesson of this section, and it applies to many tickets for Notre Dame Cathedral. Several listings use skip-the-line in the title and exclude it in the small print, so I read the included and not-included lists before comparing prices. If a short queue is what you care about, the reserved slot on the cathedral’s own system, or the $18 timed-entry listing above, answers it directly.
Notre Dame De Paris Tickets
People who search for Notre Dame de Paris tickets often mean the French name of the same cathedral, and the answer is the same: no entry ticket, plenty of guides. The italypasstours guided tour at $36 is the mid-priced English option, rated 4.5 from 65 reviews. It runs one hour with a licensed guide and headphones, and skip the line only if the option is selected. The meeting point is the Charlemagne statue behind the cathedral, and you should arrive 20 minutes before your entry time.
italypasstours
Notre Dame Cathedral Guided Tour
★4.5 (65 reviews)
1 hour
Free cancellation
My pick: The mid-priced English tour: $36, one hour, headphones, 4.5 from 65 reviews, skip the line only if you choose that option.
What you get, where you meet, what reviewers say
Included
✓ Guided tour of Notre-Dame Cathedral
✓ Professional licensed guide
✓ If Option Selected: Skip the Line
✓ Headphones for clear audio
Not included / not suitable
✕ Transportation to the cathedral
✕ Food and drinks
Meeting point: Meeting Point: Statue de Charlemagne et ses leudes
75004 Île de la Cité, France
Please meet your guide at the statue of Charlemagne and his guards, located just next to Notre Dame Cathedral.
The statue is in the square behind Notre Dame. Look for the large statue with a horse and riders.
Please arrive 20 minutes before your scheduled entry time so the guide can organize the group and take you inside the Cathedral. 75004 Île de la Cité, France
Languages: English
Duration: 1 hour
Cancellation: Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
“the guide was very knowledgable. i really liked him. he did a fantastic job (and even delt with the rude Americans that were nasty to him with grace and firmness)” – GetYourGuide review
Reviewers of these Notre Dame de Paris tickets describe the guide as knowledgeable and professional. One mentions a guide who handled rude visitors with grace, which tells me the group can feel crowded at peak times. Compared with the $89 Memories France tour, you give up a track record of 433 reviews and a headset-led visit in exchange for a price roughly 60 percent lower.
Notre Dame Cathedral Price
The price of the cathedral is zero, and the interesting number is what a guide costs. The cheapest English option among all the Notre Dame Cathedral tickets I found is the Uncle Sam Tours guided walk at $13: 45 minutes with an English-speaking guide, rated 4.6 from 49 reviews. It is the one listing where the guided part is limited. Per its listing, it covers the exterior only, you visit the inside on your own, and skip-the-line access is not included.
Uncle Sam Tours
Notre Dame Cathedral Guided Tour
★4.6 (49 reviews)
45 minutes
Free cancellation
My pick: A leftover, but a cheap one: $13 for an English exterior walk, with the interior on your own.
What you get, where you meet, what reviewers say
Included
✓ Expert English-speaking guide
✓ Exterior guided tour
✓ Independent visit inside Notre-Dame Cathedral
Not included / not suitable
✕ Interior Guided Tour
✕ Skip the line access
✕ Food & drinks
✕ Personal expenses
Meeting point: ND Meeting point - At the Charlemagne statue, located right in front of the cathedral. It’s the large statue of Charlemagne on a horse, near the entrance square. 75004 Île de la Cité, France
Languages: English
Duration: 45 minutes
Cancellation: Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
“Our guide, Monte, helped us to learn many new aspects of this marvelous edifice. We had visited previously but because of him we have a much better appreciation for the history of the entire structure.” – GetYourGuide review
So the price spread across Notre Dame Cathedral tickets runs from $11 to $89 for the same free building. I’d read the gap like this: under $20 buys a short walk and your own entry, around $36 to $45 adds headphones and an entrance option, and $70 to $89 buys a licensed guide for 90 minutes with reserved access. The group price is worked out below.
Calculator
What will it cost for your group?
–
from per person, before any child or group discount
Prices are the lowest per-person prices on GetYourGuide when I last checked; the final price depends on the date, time slot and age.
Notre Dame Cathedral Tickets Tower
The towers are the one place where Notre Dame Cathedral tickets cost real money, and none of the eight GetYourGuide listings sells them. The official towers site, run by the Centre des monuments nationaux, lists a price of 16 euros, free admission for EU residents under 26, and a route of 424 steps with heritage treasures and views. It sends you to its own booking page, not to the Notre Dame Cathedral tickets on this page.
The listings say so in their own words. The $18 listing excludes entry to the bell towers, and the $17 tour excludes access to the cathedral towers. So if climbing is why you came, book the tower ticket on the official site and treat any guided tour here as a separate activity on the same day. Anyone who wants the climb should book it separately from other Notre Dame Cathedral tickets. Wikipedia describes ten bells, with the two largest, Emmanuel and Marie, in the south tower. I couldn’t verify whether the tower visit needs a time slot, so check the booking page for the slot rules.
Official Entry or a GetYourGuide Listing
The official route is free, and it is the right answer for anyone who only wants to see the inside. The official site describes the cathedral as open to all, with no ticket, and offers a free time slot you can reserve to shorten the wait. A paid listing adds a human being, a reserved group entrance or a flexible cancellation, and all eight cancel free up to 24 hours before.
The cost of Notre Dame Cathedral tickets is not trivial for a family. A group of four on the $89 tour pays $356 for the same building a walk-in sees for nothing, so I’d only buy Notre Dame Cathedral tickets like this when the guide matters to you. For first-timers who want context from their Notre Dame Cathedral tickets, the guide explains the facade sculpture, the rose windows and the restoration after the fire. For repeat visitors, the free slot is the better use of money.
Opening Hours and Getting There
The building sits at the east end of the Île de la Cité, which is why the tours all start within a minute or two of the Parvis. Arriving from the metro, you cross the square in front of the west facade, where the Charlemagne statue marks most meeting points.
Google Maps lists the cathedral open 7:50 am to 7 pm Monday to Wednesday and Friday, until 10 pm on Thursday, and 8:15 am to 7:30 pm at weekends. Check the official site before you go, because services and events change the hours. The nearest metro stop is Cité, about a 6-minute walk by my estimate. My Notre Dame Cathedral opening hours and visitor guide has the day table, the best time to go and the bag rules.
Which Ticket Fits You
All the Notre Dame Cathedral tickets below open the same free building, so the choice is about guide, language and entrance. The sections above give the detail on each of these tickets for Notre Dame Cathedral.
Ticket
Kind
Price from
Duration
Areas
Best for
Smart City, French
tour with entry
$11
45 minutes
Interior and exterior
French speakers on a budget
Uncle Sam Tours
tour with entry
$13
45 minutes
Exterior guided, interior alone
Cheapest in English
Bon Journey Tours
tour with entry
$17
1 hour
Guided walk, interior alone
Short English walk
HandMedinaCo Tours
ticket
$18
1 hour
Reserved timed entry
Skipping the queue
italypasstours
tour with entry
$36
1 hour
Interior guided
Mid-price guided tour
italypasstours small group
tour with entry
$45
1 hour
Interior guided, skip-the-line entrance
Not recommended yet
The Tour Guy
tour with entry
$70
1.5 hours
Interior and exterior
Semi-private
Memories France
tour with entry
$89
1.5 hours
Interior and exterior, headsets
Best English guide
Two of the eight cost under $15 and the most expensive is $89, which is a narrower range than at most big Paris sights. Seven of the eight are tours, so the real decision is whether to pay for a guide at all. My rule of thumb: pay nothing if you want to see the nave, pay $13 to $17 if you want a short walk and don’t mind doing the interior alone, and pay $89 for a proper guided visit. I haven’t found a Notre Dame Cathedral tickets option that includes the towers, so keep that separate.
Sainte-Chapelle is about a 7-minute walk, and the Panthéon roughly 13. The Place de la Bastille is about 23 minutes, the Tuileries Garden about 33, and the Place de la Concorde about 41. The Eiffel Tower is around 67 minutes on foot, so I’d take the metro.
How I’d Choose
These are my picks among the Notre Dame Cathedral tickets, one per kind of visitor.
Cheapest Notre Dame Cathedral tickets: nothing, if you queue or reserve the free slot; $11 for the French tour or $13 for an English exterior walk if you want a guide.
A real guide in English: the Memories France tour at $89, 4.8 from 433 reviews.
Skipping the queue: the free official slot, or the $18 timed-entry listing if you want the audio guide bundled in.
Families on a budget: the $17 Bon Journey walk, then let the children use the free interior visit.
Small group: the $70 Tour Guy semi-private tour, with the caveat of a single review.
The towers: book the 16 euro tower ticket on the official site; no listing here includes it.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need to pay for Notre-Dame cathedral?+
No. The official site describes the cathedral as a place of worship open to all, freely and free of charge, without any ticket, and Wikipedia notes the archdiocese must keep it open free of charge. What you can pay for is a guide, a reserved group entrance or the separate tower climb, which the towers site prices at 16 euros.
Can I enter Notre-Dame without a reservation?+
Yes. The official site says the cathedral is accessible with or without a booking, and that a free reservation of a time slot is optional. A slot shortens the wait because those visitors use their own entrance, while walk-ins queue. I'd reserve one in the official system if I wanted no guide.
Are there paid Notre Dame Cathedral tickets?+
Not for the cathedral itself. The paid items on GetYourGuide are guided tours, from $11 to $89 in the eight I compared, plus one $18 reserved-entry listing. Each includes entry that would otherwise cost nothing, so what you buy is the guide, the group entrance or the flexible booking.
How much does it cost to go up the towers?+
The towers have their own ticket, run separately from the cathedral. The towers site lists 16 euros, with free admission for EU residents under 26, and a route of 424 steps. None of the eight GetYourGuide listings I compared includes the towers, and several say so in their exclusions.
Can you go to Mass at Notre-Dame Paris?+
Notre-Dame is a working cathedral, and Mass is held there. I could not open the official schedule while writing this, so I won't print times that might be wrong. The official site has the current Mass and service times. Plan on Mass as separate from sightseeing, which is how the cathedral treats it.
Can you actually see the Crown of Thorns at Notre-Dame?+
Sometimes. Wikipedia says the relic returned to the cathedral on 13 December 2024 for public veneration, and that a piece is kept in the treasury. Veneration happens on set occasions, so it is not something a ticket or a tour guarantees. Check the official site for the next date.
How far is the walk from the Eiffel Tower to Notre-Dame?+
About 4.1 km in a straight line, which I estimate at 67 minutes on foot using a 1.3 detour factor at 4.8 km/h. I'd take the metro or walk along the Seine in sections. Notre-Dame sits on the Île de la Cité, at the opposite end of central Paris from the tower.
How long is the wait at Notre-Dame right now?+
I can't tell you live, and no source I used publishes waiting times. A reviewer of the $18 timed-entry listing wrote of a line of about 100 people that the reserved entrance let them skip within minutes. Free reservations and group entrances exist to avoid that queue.
Every Notre Dame Cathedral ticket and tour I compared
Notre Dame Cathedral Tour with French-Speaking Guide★ 4.6
Paris Notre Dame Cathedral Guided Tour with Scheduled Access★ 4.8
Notre Dame Cathedral with Skip the Line Timed Entry★ 3.8
Notre Dame Cathedral Guided Tour with Free Entry★ 3.9
