Paris · Self-guided audio walk

The Triumphal Way

From the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe along the city's grandest sightline.

6Stops
4.6 kmDistance
65+ minTime

Photo by Alexander Baxevanis from London, UK on Wikimedia Commons

This walk follows the axe historique, the straight line that runs from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe and beyond. Henri IV traced this route westward in 1599. Le Nôtre laid the Tuileries gardens along it. Napoleon built two triumphal arches on it, one at each end. The walk is three and a half kilometers, flat, and takes about two hours. You start in the Cour Carrée, the oldest courtyard of the Louvre, pass Napoleon's smaller arch, cross the Tuileries and the Place de la Concorde with its 3,300-year-old obelisk, pause at the Petit Palais whose permanent collection is free, climb the Champs-Élysées, and finish at the foot of the Arc de Triomphe. The great axis of Paris, one step at a time.

Hear it on the street

Get the turn-by-turn audio guide in the app. The narration plays itself as you reach each stop, hands-free and offline.

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Stop by stop

The route

Interactive map of the route. The full stop list below works without it.

Must see

Photo by DiscoA340 on Wikimedia Commons

Cour Carrée

0:00

The oldest courtyard of the Louvre, and Napoleon's smaller triumphal arch.

You are standing in the Cour Carrée, the oldest courtyard of the Louvre. The wing facing you, with its richly carved Renaissance façade, was begun in 1546 for Francis I. Beneath the paving stones lie the foundations of the twelfth-century fortress of Philip Augustus. Now walk through the archway on your left into the Place du Carrousel.

The triumphal arch ahead was built by Napoleon between 1806 and 1808, modeled on the Arch of Constantine in Rome. It was the ceremonial gateway to the Tuileries Palace, which burned during the Commune of 1871. Look up: the quadriga of Peace riding a chariot replaced the original Horses of Saint Mark that Napoleon looted from Venice. Now step back and look through the arch.

You are seeing the axe historique: the Tuileries gardens, the obelisk on the Place de la Concorde, and in the distance, the Arc de Triomphe. Henri IV had this road traced westward from the Louvre in 1599. You are about to walk its full length.

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≈17 min walk to the next stop

Must see

Photo by Yiwen on Unsplash

Jardin des Tuileries

0:00

Le Nôtre's royal garden, the green heart of the great axis.

The Tuileries garden opens before you, a green corridor aimed straight at the horizon. André Le Nôtre, the gardener of Louis XIV, laid out this axis in 1664. He took his cue from the palace that once stood where you entered, the Tuileries Palace, burned in 1871 and never rebuilt. The garden survived.

Walk the central path: the two round ponds, the octagonal basin, the ranks of chestnut trees clipped into straight lines. The green metal chairs around the ponds are free. Grab one, sit for a few minutes, and look back at the Louvre, then forward toward the obelisk. The whole axis reveals itself from here.

When the sun is low, the light through the trees is worth the walk.

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≈7 min walk to the next stop

Must see

Photo by Делфина on Wikimedia Commons

Place de la Concorde

0:00

The grandest square in Paris, anchored by a 3,300-year-old obelisk.

Step out of the garden and you are on the Place de la Concorde. At its center stands the Luxor Obelisk, a single block of pink granite twenty-three meters tall. It is roughly 3,300 years old, carved under Ramesses II around 1250 BC at the temple of Luxor in Egypt. It arrived here in 1836, a gift from the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt.

The hieroglyphs on its faces celebrate the pharaoh's reign. Stand at the base and look back east, up the line you have walked: the obelisk, the Tuileries, the Arc du Carrousel, the Louvre. Now turn west: the Champs-Élysées rises toward the Arc de Triomphe. This square was once called Place de la Révolution.

The guillotine stood here. Today the axis runs straight through it, indifferent.

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≈8 min walk to the next stop

Free preview ends here · stops 4 to 6 continue in the app

Petit Palais

The free fine-arts museum most visitors walk straight past.

in app

Avenue des Champs-Élysées

The grand boulevard that gives the great axis its scale.

in app

Arc de Triomphe

The great triumphal arch that crowns the axis, fifty meters of stone and names.

in app

Good to know

Before you go

How long is the Triumphal Way walk?

The walk is flat and follows a straight line. Allow about two hours at a steady pace, or two and a half with a stop at the Petit Palais and the climb up the Arc de Triomphe. The route is entirely paved and wheelchair accessible except for the Arc's 284-step staircase to the terrace.

Do I need to book the Arc de Triomphe in advance?

The Arc de Triomphe rarely sells out and you can usually buy a ticket at the counter on the day. Booking online saves a few minutes at busy times. The rooftop closes at 10:30 PM or 11:00 PM depending on the season, and the last entry is 45 minutes before closing. Sunset from the terrace is the best time to go.

SourceArc de Triomphe official site

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Provenance · last verified August 20, 2026

Built from the Wayside route itself: the stops, their order, and the walk between them.

Photo by Alexander Baxevanis from London, UK on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Photo by DiscoA340 on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo by Yiwen on Unsplash

Photo by Делфина on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo by Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

Photo by DimiTalen on Wikimedia Commons · CC0

Photo by Moonik on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Photo by Basile Morin on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo by Simon Infanger on Unsplash

Photo by Claude Attard from Toulouse, France on Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0