Hotels near Pere Lachaise Cemetery

Pere Lachaise is the largest cemetery in Paris at 44 hectares, opened in 1804, and it functions as an arboretum as much as a burial ground: around 5,000 mature trees, mostly maple, ash, chestnut and lime, growing over cobbled avenues and 19th-century tombs. In the second half of October the canopy turns and the leaf fall across the stone is the reason to come rather than the famous graves, though Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Chopin and Edith Piaf are all here.

Entry is free and there are five gates. Free maps are handed out at the main entrance on Boulevard de Menilmontant, and you will want one because the numbering of the 97 divisions makes no intuitive sense. The cobbles are uneven and slick when wet. Closing time moves earlier through autumn, typically around 5.30pm from November.

Pro Tip: Enter at the Porte Gambetta gate at the top of the hill and walk downhill to the main entrance. The cemetery climbs steeply from Boulevard de Menilmontant, and doing it in reverse turns an hour of uphill cobbles into a downhill stroll.