Père Lachaise: Paris's Most Famous Cemetery

Père Lachaise is the world's most visited cemetery and one of Paris's most extraordinary open spaces — a city within a city, covering 44 hectares of winding cobbled lanes and ornate mausoleums in the 20th arrondissement. More than one million people are interred here, including Édith Piaf, Jim Morrison, Frédéric Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and Marcel Proust. Each grave attracts its own kind of pilgrimage: Morrison's tomb is ringed by devotees from across the world, Wilde's monument is covered in lipstick kisses, and Piaf's grave is always freshly adorned with flowers.

Walking the cemetery requires no more than comfortable shoes and a printed map, available at the entrance on Boulevard de Ménilmontant. The terrain undulates dramatically, the sections dating from the early 1800s feeling almost like a lost village of ornate stone houses. Beyond the famous names, the cemetery is full of extraordinary sculpture — grieving angels, Art Nouveau monuments, and epic allegorical tableaux that rival any museum collection.

The Mur des Fédérés at the eastern end marks the spot where 147 Paris Commune fighters were shot and buried in 1871 — a sobering memorial that draws French visitors with particular reverence. The wall is still a site of annual commemorations. Allow two to three hours to explore fully. The cemetery is open every day and entry is free — one of the great cultural experiences in Paris that costs nothing.