Walk the full Champs-Élysées with a local guide, from Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. Decode Paris's historical axis: its 1900 palaces, revolutionary square and luxury houses.
This two-hour guided walk follows the entire Champs-Élysées, the line that organises the centre of Paris from end to end.
You start on Place de la Concorde, the largest square in the city. Your guide sets the scene: the 3,300-year-old Luxor Obelisk, the two 19th-century fountains, and the square's role during the French Revolution, when the guillotine stood here. From the centre you look along the historical axis running from the Louvre to the modern arch at La Défense.
Walking up the lower, garden half of the avenue, you pass the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais, both built for the 1900 World's Fair, the Grand Palais and its glass roof reopened in 2025 after a four-year restoration. At the Rond-Point the gardens give way to the commercial avenue, where your guide points out the historic houses and luxury storefronts and explains how the Champs-Élysées became France's stage for national events, from the 14 July parade to the finish of the Tour de France.
The walk ends at Place de l'Étoile, beneath the Arc de Triomphe commissioned by Napoleon. Your guide explains its sculptures, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its flame, and the twelve avenues that radiate from the square.
