20 challenges off the beaten track

In the app, every challenge you complete is ticked off in your Paris passport — and added to your trip in one tap.Download

• View1er

  La Samaritaine rooftop

  The renovated department store hides a terrace where you can take in the zinc rooftops, the Seine and, in the distance, the Eiffel Tower.

  The challenge

  Go up to the terrace and spot the Eiffel Tower among the zinc rooftops, without paying a cent.

  30 minFree

• Offbeat2e

  Passage des Panoramas

  The oldest covered passage in Paris (1799): glass roofs, stamp dealers, bistros and a light out of time.

  The challenge

  Walk the passage from end to end and find the oldest stamp-collector's shop still in business.

  30 minFree

• View20e

  View from Parc de Belleville

  Perched on a hill in eastern Paris, this park offers one of the finest free views over the city, Eiffel Tower included.

  The challenge

  Climb to the park's upper terrace and spot the Eiffel Tower lined up along the city's axis.

  1 hFree

• Taste12e

  Aligre market

  A lively, working-class market: greengrocers shouting their prices, the covered Beauvau hall and a flea market on the square.

  The challenge

  Build your picnic from three products bought from three different vendors, and haggle at least once.

  1 h€

• Photo12e

  Rue Crémieux

  A cobbled lane lined with pastel-fronted houses, the most colourful and photogenic corner of Paris.

  The challenge

  Frame a photo where two differently coloured façades echo each other, with no car in the shot.

  20 minFree

• Offbeat3e

  The oldest house in Paris

  At 51 Rue de Montmorency, Nicolas Flamel's house (1407) is the capital's oldest dwelling, carved with a Gothic inscription.

  The challenge

  Find the Gothic inscription carved on the façade and read one line of it aloud.

  20 minFree

• Stroll1er

  Square du Vert-Galant

  At the western tip of the Île de la Cité, this small square at water level is one of the best spots to picnic facing the Seine.

  The challenge

  Settle at the tip of the square and watch a bateau-mouche glide by without moving from your spot.

  45 minFree

• View18e

  Sunset at Sacré-Cœur

  From the steps of Sacré-Cœur, all of Paris spreads at your feet: the city's most famous free viewpoint.

  The challenge

  Grab a spot on the steps at least thirty minutes before sunset and stay until the lights come on.

  1 hFree

• Stroll12e

  Coulée verte René-Dumont

  A planted walkway built on a former railway viaduct: 4.5 km of gardens suspended above the street, from Bastille to the Bois de Vincennes.

  The challenge

  Walk at least one kilometre along the viaduct, above the cars, and count the flowering roof terraces you pass.

  1–2 hFree

• Stroll10e

  Canal Saint-Martin banks

  Iron footbridges, locks and plane trees: the canal's banks are the bohemian hangout of north-east Paris, perfect for a stroll.

  The challenge

  Stand on a footbridge and watch a barge pass through a lock as the water rises.

  1 hFree

• Offbeat5e

  Arènes de Lutèce

  A 1st-century Gallo-Roman amphitheatre hidden behind a discreet doorway: today people play pétanque where gladiators once fought.

  The challenge

  Enter through the Rue Monge doorway, climb to the top of the tiers and picture the ancient crowd below.

  30 minFree

• Taste11e

  Coffee at the counter

  The quintessential Parisian ritual: an espresso downed standing at the zinc counter, at the 'counter' price, far from tourist terraces.

  The challenge

  Order 'un café' at the counter and drink it standing, without sitting down on the terrace.

  15 min€

• Taste7e

  Tasting on Rue Cler

  A pedestrian market street in the 7th: cheesemongers, bakers and greengrocers in a row, the ideal place to taste Paris by the piece.

  The challenge

  Step into a cheese shop, ask the monger to recommend a seasonal cheese and have just one slice cut to take away.

  30 min€€

• Photo2e

  Galerie Vivienne

  The most elegant of the covered passages (1823): floor mosaics, a glass roof, a rotunda and old shops under a golden light.

  The challenge

  Stand at the centre of the rotunda and photograph the glass roof and the floor mosaic in a single frame.

  20 minFree

• Photo18e

  Montmartre's Maison Rose

  On the corner of Rue de l'Abreuvoir, the little pink house painted by Utrillo is Montmartre's most beloved photo.

  The challenge

  Walk down Rue de l'Abreuvoir and photograph the Maison Rose, framing the cobbled lane that dips towards the city.

  20 minFree

• Stroll6e

  Luxembourg toy sailboats

  Around the great pond of the Luxembourg Gardens, since 1927 you can rent little wooden sailboats and push them along with a stick, watched over by the Senate palace.

  The challenge

  Rent a sailboat, launch it with a push and wait for the wind to carry it all the way across the pond to the far edge.

  45 min€

• Photo8e

  Pont Alexandre III

  The most flamboyant bridge in Paris (1900): Art Nouveau lamps, bronze cherubs and columns crowned with gilded Fames, lined up with the Invalides.

  The challenge

  Stand in the middle of the bridge and frame one gilded column with the dome of the Invalides lined up behind it.

  30 minFree

• Offbeat5e

  Shakespeare and Company

  Facing Notre-Dame, this legendary English-language bookshop has since 1951 sheltered wandering writers among its overflowing shelves and the little piano upstairs.

  The challenge

  Go upstairs, find the reading nook with the old piano and spot the words stitched above the doorway: 'Be not inhospitable to strangers.'

  30 minFree

• View5e

  Institut du Monde Arabe rooftop

  Behind its façade of light-sensitive mashrabiya diaphragms, the Institut hides a ninth-floor terrace overlooking the Seine, the Île Saint-Louis and the apse of Notre-Dame.

  The challenge

  Take the lift to the ninth-floor terrace and pick out the apse of Notre-Dame across the Seine, without paying for a ticket.

  45 minFree

• Stroll13e

  Butte-aux-Cailles

  Perched on a hill in the 13th, this village of cobbled lanes and low houses has kept a rebellious spirit: artists' studios, street murals and cheap bistros.

  The challenge

  Get lost in the lanes around the Place de la Butte-aux-Cailles and count at least five different street murals.

  1 hFree