Paris Catacombs

I'd bite the bullet and pay the exorbitant cost of a timed ticket rather than standing in line an hour or more. If you arrive early enough before it opens to be near the front, you will have to arrive at least an hour before opening so stand in line at least an hour anyway.

I figured I would be trading time for time...but at lease an early morning wait time is more predictable.

I didn't know they did the timed ticket so I will check that out.

I assume there is no 'discount' with a museum pass towards the timed ticket.

Museum Pass gets you nowhere for the Catacombs. It was painful for my wallet to buy the timed ticket, but it was worth it to maximize time in Paris. They only let a limited number of people in at a time, so if you didn't want to buy a timed ticket, I'd suggest getting there at least by 8am. I think the first entry is at 10.

Again, worth the 50+ Euro for the two of us to have 2+ hours back in our pocket in Paris. We had tickets for 11 and showed up at 10:45 and were walking in by 11:10. It does include the audio tour (a MUST!).

Awesome awesome.

Thank you both.

We did this about 6 years ago and there was no line at all; we had a bit of trouble finding it because we had counted on the line to show us where the entrance was. Times change.
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/catacombs-a-creepy-paris-stroll/

I opted for the timed entry tickets for our trip this August.

Definitely buy the timed ticket, so worthwhile! My son and I walked right up to the front of the very long line and got right in. Time IS money when you're on vacation.

I first did the Catacombs about 12 years ago - no line - was great

6 years ago we were in line for 1.5 hours

3 years ago we arrived 1/2 hour before opening and waited almost 3 hours !!!

Buy a timed ticket !

We visited the catacombs Sep 2018. We did not have time timed tickets but arrived 1 hour prior to opening. By opening time there were about 300 people (no kidding) in line behind us. We were admitted with the first group, took 2 minutes to buy tickets, and we were in.

We did not see an advantage to paying for timed tickets. The employee took a couple people from our line, then a couple from the timed tickets line. They didn't get in any sooner than we did.

Be aware that there are a number of steps to enter and exit the catacombs. We enjoyed our visit. Hope you have fun!

I did not know there was a timed ticket! We were there two years ago and were not planing on going. On our last night, we had nothing else to do and decided to try going. We got there about an hour before it closed and had to wait about 45 minutes. I think we got lucky as we were one of the last ones they allowed in.

In 2017 we tried to go to the Catacombs twice -- once about 1/2 hour after it opened (3-hr wait time) and once right when it opened (3-hr wait time). We decided to skip it that trip and will go this September with a pre-purchased timed-entry ticket to avoid all that nonsense. I hate how much more it costs but my time on vacation is worth more than waiting for 3 hours when I don't have to.

Have a great time!

We were there in March. And I bought tickets for the people in our group that were going. At 10:30 when their tickets let them in the line was over a block long. There was no place else the entire time we were in Paris that we stood in any line. And that includes the Louvre, even Versailles had a shorter line. Buying those tickets in advance was worth every penny

We booked the first tour group of the day and by the time we got in when it opened, the line was really long and imagine it would've taken a few hours to get in (and remember Aug. is peak Holiday travel time for Europeans and Americans).. For the one poster where they only had to wait an hour, that seems like a gamble that I wouldn't want to take on my vacation. I don't know if the audio guides that someone else mentioned are new (I didn't see anyone with one when we were there), but the interior is not signed well at all, except for an initial entry sign, so a tour offered us the opportunity to get more context about what we were looking at and the history around the catacombs.