Reviews of visits to Saint-Denis
One thing to know before reading: the nave of the basilique is open without a ticket, like any neighbourhood church. What requires booking is the royal necropolis — the choir, the ambulatory, the recumbent figures, and the crypt. The five bookings reviewed here revolve around this difference: the necropolis ticket, the same ticket with an audio guide, the pass that includes it, and two outings visitors often combine on the same day.
The five bookings reviewed
Admission ticket to the royal necropolis
The basic ticket, the one almost everyone needs. It opens access to the tombs, the crypt and the spire construction site. The included guided tour is the best thing about it, and no one knows it.
ticket valid for the dayRead the full review ›
Basilique de Saint-Denis ticket and smartphone audio tour
The same access, with commentary to listen to on your phone via the WeGoTrip app. Recent offer: only one review published, which doesn’t make an average.
1 hr 30, at your own paceRead the full review ›
Paris Museum Pass, 2, 4 or 6 consecutive days
Basilique de Saint-Denis is included. Useful for those visiting multiple Parisian monuments, but not for those coming just for the basilica. Physical pickup and day-counting issues lose it stars.
2, 4 or 6 daysRead the full review ›
Sainte-Chapelle and Conciergerie, combined ticket
The other royal Gothic site, on the Île de la Cité. Basilique de Saint-Denis invented the pointed arch and the glass wall in 1144; Sainte-Chapelle pushed the idea to its limit a century later.
ticket valid for the dayRead the full review ›
Behind the scenes at the Stade de France, guided tour
One tram stop away, in the same city. Locker rooms, players’ tunnel, pitch and museum. The outing families enjoy most after the recumbent statues.
1 hr 30, with guideRead the full review ›How I read the reviews
I live on rue Gabriel-Péri and pass the basilica every day. So I don’t need reviews to know what’s inside: I use them to understand what surprises visitors who come from afar. And what keeps coming up, review after review, is almost never the sculpture. It’s the logistics of the day: a mass that closes the monument on Sunday mornings, a metro taken on the wrong branch of line 13, a ticket bought thinking it gave access to the nave when the nave is free.
I quote first names and countries as they appear on GetYourGuide, without surnames, and I don’t rephrase sentences to make them prettier. When an offer has only one review, like the smartphone audio tour, I state it instead of talking about a consensus that doesn’t exist. A 5.0 rating from a single review means nothing more than: one person was happy.
What the reviews don’t say
They don’t say that the bodies are no longer there. The tombs were opened in 1793, the lead from the coffins was taken for war, and the remains ended up in two pits north of the church, then, in 1817, in an ossuary in the crypt where they are mixed together. What you visit are monuments and recumbent statues, not intact burials. The details are on the 1793 desecration and the crypt. Visitors who don’t know this sometimes leave disappointed, and that doesn’t show in the ratings.
They also don’t say that the best visit to the monument is free. A guided tour in French is included with the ticket, from Monday to Saturday at 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM, and on Sunday at 12:30 PM and 3:00 PM, for about 1 hr 30. Régis, who left a review on the necropolis ticket, puts it better than I can: « Remarkable guided tour. Skip the audio guides and wait for the free tour. » Times should be confirmed on the day; everything is explained on guided tours.
Where to start
If you only read one page, read the review of the necropolis ticket : this is the product that suits the vast majority of visitors, and the 442 published reviews finally allow you to see what it entails. If you're hesitating between a guide, an audioguide, or nothing at all, the comparison is on with a guide or alone. If you're coming for the whole day and looking for what to add, the Stade de France is a fifteen-minute walk away, and Montmartre is the other end of the same story—the hill where Denis was beheaded around 250.
The ratings and number of reviews shown here are those recorded at my last reading ; the booking modules, however, display today’s figures. To choose without reading five pages, everything is summarised in a table on the booking page, and the rest of what you need to know before coming is in the complete guide.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a ticket to enter the basilique ?
Not for the nave, which is an active church and remains freely open. The ticket is for the royal necropolis: the choir, the ambulatory, the recumbent figures in the transept, and the crypt. This is the most common confusion, detailed on what is free and the necropolis ticket.
Are these reviews independent ?
Yes. I am neither the monument nor a tour operator, and no one reviews these pages before publication. The site earns a commission on bookings made through its links, as explained in the affiliate disclosure. The ratings displayed are those of visitors, not mine.
Which booking should I choose if I’m only coming once ?
The necropolis ticket, and nothing else: arrive for the guided tour in French included in the ticket, at 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. My full review explains why, and how much time to allow gives the actual durations.