Take a Tour Through the Sewers of Paris

Paris, France, is known for its splendid architecture, beautiful scenery, delicious food and, of course, its fashion and museums. But what, exactly, keeps this city running? Sometimes a city’s best secrets lie beneath the ground.

Viator is offering an exclusive tour of Paris’ underbelly by taking you on an excursion to the underground sewers winding beneath the city. This 1.5-hour tour takes you down into the depth of the city’s 200-year-old sewer system that has at times been home to the raging floodwaters of the Siene River and gangs of criminals seeking asylum from up above. It’s a meandering labyrinth that serves as home to some of the world’s most ingenious engineering designs as well as some crazy stories from the past.

A photo posted by Darren (@drn.mc) on Mar 20, 2016 at 2:16pm PDT

Your guide will explain in detail how the sewers keep the city functioning by providing relief from floods to helping to purify the drinking water you probably had at lunch that day. You’ll start the day on the along the Siene, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and wander down into the dark corridors below.

If you’re up for it, you can also pay a visit to the underground Sewer Museum once the tour is done. While maybe not the most glamorous experience to be had in Paris, the sewer tour is a fantastic opportunity to find out what really makes the city tick.

It’s pretty affordable, too, so go ahead and book your trip today.