Skip to content
TimeToStep

Paris guide

From the Opéra Garnier to the Champs-Élysées: A Short Walk

A two-hour walk from the Opéra Garnier through the Madeleine and Place de la Concorde to the Grand Palais and the Champs-Élysées. It suits first-time visitors who want Paris's grand nineteenth-century set pieces in one easy line.

This walk runs west from the Opéra, through the grand streets of the eighth arrondissement, and ends under the trees of the most famous avenue in France. Every stop is a building or a space made to impress, and each one hands you to the next. Wear comfortable shoes and keep your eyes up.

Opéra Garnier

Opéra Garnier was begun in 1861 and opened in January 1875, to the designs of Charles Garnier. Stand in the square first and take in the front, then go in if the doors are open to visitors. The marble grand staircase is the reason to enter.

Opéra Garnier
Opéra GarnierTheatreGo inside if you can: the white marble grand staircase, with its red and green balustrade, is the best of the building. Visits are not offered on days with afternoon performances.Photo: Peter Rivera, CC BY 2.0

Église de la Madeleine

Leave by the boulevard and head for the columns you can already see. Église de la Madeleine looks like a Greek temple with a church inside, and the story behind it is odd: Napoleon wanted it as a monument to his army, and it only became a church after his fall. Walk right round it and count the columns, fifty-two in all. Chopin's funeral was held here in 1849.

Église de la Madeleine
Église de la MadeleinePlace of worshipWalk all the way around the outside, then step in to see the fresco in the choir dome and the sculpture behind it. Look at the bronze doors on the south front, which carry the Ten Commandments. It is an active parish church, so keep voices low.Photo: Callaway Kosine – de Suzannet, CC BY 3.0

Place de la Concorde

Take Rue Royale straight down from the church steps. It opens onto Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris, where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed in 1793. Its centrepiece is an Egyptian obelisk about 3,300 years old, raised here in 1836.

Concorde SquareAttractionPause near the obelisk and look both ways: the Tuileries Garden lies to the east, the Champs-Élysées to the west. The two fountains by Hittorff, from around 1840, are worth a closer look. Cross with care, as the traffic is heavy.

Grand Palais

Cross toward the trees and head west to the Grand Palais, built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle. It reopened fully in 2025 after a long restoration, and the great glass roof over the nave is the point of the visit.

Grand Palais
Grand PalaisMuseumStep inside to see the glass roof over the nave, which was restored in the renovation that finished in 2025.Photo: daryl_mitchell from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0

Champs-Élysées

Walk up to the Champs-Élysées, laid out by André Le Nôtre in 1667 as an extension of the Tuileries Garden. The lower stretch runs through gardens rather than shops, and that is the best part to stroll.

Champs-Élysées
Champs-ÉlyséesAttractionWalk the tree-lined lower stretch toward the Rond-Point. Sit on a bench rather than rush to the shops.Photo: SoWhat, CC BY-SA 2.0

Where it leaves you

You started at a theatre built for a Second Empire audience and finish on an avenue planned two centuries earlier. Between them are a temple that became a church, a square that saw a revolution, and a glass hall made for a world's fair.

The Opéra Garnier does not take visitors on days with afternoon performances, so check its site the day before.

The walk from the Opéra Garnier to the Champs-Élysées