Book

Les Misérables Walking Tour
Paris

Follow Valjean, Cosette, Marius and Javert through Victor Hugo's Paris, from the real streets of the 1832 uprising to the gardens, sewers and bridges of the novel and the musical.

11 stops

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GPS-guided · Works offline · No signal needed

Every Stop Has a Story

Where Hugo Began

Victor Hugo lived on this square for sixteen years and began writing Les Misérables here in November 1845.

Gavroche's Elephant

Gavroche makes his home inside a giant plaster elephant that once stood on this square, a model for a fountain that Napoleon never finished.

The Real Last Stand

The real June Rebellion of 1832 ended at the cloister of this church, where the last insurgents held out until the evening of June 6.

Where the Barricade Stood

Hugo built his fictional barricade across the rue de la Chanvrerie, a real street that disappeared into the rue Rambuteau just six years after the uprising.

Javert's Last Walk

Unable to reconcile his sense of duty with the mercy Valjean has shown him, Javert throws himself into the Seine beside this bridge.

Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

Hugo placed the Café Musain, where the students of the ABC Society plot their revolution, on this square, though no trace of it survives.

Into the Sewers

Valjean carries the wounded Marius through the sewers beneath Paris, and this museum lets you walk a short stretch of the real network.

The Garden in the Rue Plumet

Valjean and Cosette live in a hidden house with a walled garden on the rue Plumet, the old name of this street, where Marius slips through the railings to find her.

Love at First Sight

Marius first notices Cosette sitting beside Valjean on a bench in this garden, and comes back every day hoping to see her.

The Convent He Could Not Leave

Hugo's fictional convent of the Petit-Picpus, where Valjean and Cosette hide for years, was modeled on a real Benedictine convent on this street.

Hugo's Final Resting Place

More than two million people attended Victor Hugo's funeral in 1885, and he was buried here in the Panthéon's crypt.

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