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What can you do in Paris when it rains?

Paris · Updated 2026-09 · Official information

Paris has plenty of indoor places worth a visit on a rainy day:

  • Museums: Musée d'Orsay, Galerie Dior, Musée Rodin, Musée de l'Orangerie. Or sit in a café with a hot chocolate at Carette, Café de Flore, Café de la Paix or Les Deux Magots.
  • Wander the covered passages such as Passage des Panoramas and Galerie Vivienne, lined with boutiques, antique shops and tea rooms.
  • Churches: Sainte-Chapelle, Sacré-Cœur, La Madeleine and Notre-Dame. Or the Opéra Garnier with its grand staircase and painted ceiling.
  • Shopping at Galeries Lafayette, La Samaritaine and Le Bon Marché.
  • See Paris and the Eiffel Tower from the 56th-floor observation deck of Tour Montparnasse, usually quieter than other viewpoints. Or visit the Bibliothèque nationale (François-Mitterrand) and the Shakespeare & Company bookshop.

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