Inside the climb
What you actually see climbing the towers of Notre-Dame
The south tower rooms, the Quadrilobe Room, the new staircase, the bells and the terrace, stop by stop.
Check the walking tour on Viator ↗Starting in the south tower
The climb begins at the foot of the south tower, entered to the right of the west front. The first rooms set out models tracing how the cathedral was built, and chimera figures you can study at eye level.
The Quadrilobe Room
At the foot of the belfry, the Quadrilobe Room puts the tower's old wooden beams on show, cleaned during the restoration, with a soundscape of the cathedral's bells and organ.
Up the double-helix staircase
A new oak staircase of 178 steps, built during the restoration, rises 21 metres through the belfry's timber frame. Its two intertwined flights mean climbers going up and coming down never cross.
The belfry and the bell Emmanuel
The south tower holds the cathedral's two largest bells. Emmanuel, completed in 1686, is one of the few bells that survived the Revolution, when most of the others were melted down; Marie, cast in 2012, hangs beside it.
The chimeras
The carved creatures on the towers were added in the 19th century by the restorer Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Most visitors call them gargoyles, though true gargoyles are specifically waterspouts; on the reopened route, chimera figures are displayed in the rooms at the start of the climb.
The terrace, then the way down
The climb ends on the open terrace at the top of the south tower, 69 metres up, with the Seine, the Left Bank and the rebuilt spire laid out below. The descent crosses the courtyard of the cisterns between the towers, with a view onto the restored roof of the nave, and comes down through the north tower.