Before arriving in Paris, given that the forecast wasn’t looking great, we had a list of rainy day activities planned. Top of that list was a trip The Paris Catacombs, an ossuary containing the remains of more than 6 million people. So as our fourth day in the city was one of those rainy days, we made plans to go there.

The location of the Catacombs was originally one of a number of mines in Left Bank of Paris, which was in operation since the fifteenth century and subsequently abandoned. From 1785, the mine was put into use for the storing of bones from various cemeteries of Paris, as they were closed.

The practice of storing bones from cemeteries continued until 1860, following the urban development undertaken by Haussmann. The Catacombs were opened to the public in 1809, originally by appointment, but nowadays, no appointment is required.

Riding to the Marais

Before making our way to the Catacombs, we decided to go for a wander round the Marais, the historic district in the 3rd and 4th arrondissements. As usual, I’d be cycling there, while the others took the Métro.

Setting off from our Airbnb apartment, I took the usual route along Avenue de Clichy, through Place de Clichy and onto Boulevard de Clichy. From there, I turned onto Boulevard de Magenta, with its footway-level cycle path, which is good, but a little narrow. It’s painted as well, which I’m not a big fan of.

After crossing Place de la République, I continued onto Rue du Temple, which turned into Rue de Turbigo. This has a nice bidirectional kerb-protected cycle lane that unfortunately ended, but there was ongoing construction work to extend it, which is good.

Turning right, I carried on onto Rue Beaubourg, initially riding in the bus lane. Further on, there was a kerb-protected cycle lane, which would have been great, except for all the vehicles parking in it.

Clearly, the kerb wasn’t enough to stop them. At one point, a coach passed me as it mounted the kerb, which was pretty disconcerting.

Not long after Rue Beaubourg turned into Rue du Renard, I found a dock to park up my Vélib bike and went off to find the others.

Wandering round the Marais

After meeting up with the others, we set off on a wander round the Marais on a slightly damp morning. We didn’t have any major plans, other than to have a look round, grab a coffee and check out a few shops.

Our wander took us around The Centre Pompidou and the square in front, Place Georges Pompidou. We also checked out some of the older building, street art and many Paris Invaders.

For coffee, we went with another recommendation from Jay Swanson, the fantastic Partisan Café Artisanal, which is both a coffee roasters and coffee shop. It was a lovely café, with huge windows that open out onto the street and really nice coffee, as you’d probably expect.

Riding to the Paris Catacombs

Following our wander round the Marais, we set off for the Catacombs, with me jumping on another Vélib bike. Getting there was largely a straight route heading south across the river, to the 14th arrondissement.

While it was a pretty straight route, the cycling infrastructure varied massively. There was everything from bus lanes, painted and pop-up cycle lanes to wide bidirectional cycle lanes. I guess this symptomatic of a city that’s rapidly changing to provide safe space for cycling.

In the Paris Catacombs

Arriving at the Catacombs, we descended into the tunnels, with the trusty audio guide in hand. Walking round, there’s a significant number of tunnels to go through as you learn about the history.

I can imagine it’s not for everyone, as some might feel a little uncomfortable being surrounded with so many skulls and bones, but we enjoyed learning about the Catacombs and exploring.

The skulls and bones have been sensitively arranged and grouped by the cemetery they were removed from, with gravestones denoting which cemetery they were removed from. The lighting adds to the atmosphere, highlighting the contents well.

We enjoyed our visit to the Catacombs, it was definitely a good choice for a rainy day in Paris,

Returning home

After our visit to the Catacombs, we made our way back to the Porte de Clichy neighbourhood, where our Airbnb apartment was, to find somewhere to eat.

This involved getting on a Line 6 Métro train at Saint-Jacques, then changing to a Line 13 train at Montparnasse – Bienvenüe, before getting off at Brochant.