Paris 1944 Liberation Audio Walking Tour
Follow the Paris uprising of August 1944 from the Préfecture de Police past Notre-Dame and the Hôtel de Ville along the Rue de Rivoli to de Gaulle's statue.
- 8 stops and 15 minutes of stories, told as you reach each place
- The intro and stop 1 are free in the app: try before you buy
- Download before you go; the audio plays without signal (the street map needs a connection)
- Walking with friends? Pick 1 to 10 seats; everyone hears each stop on their own phone, at the same moment
30 seconds of the real narration
Plays in the free Walk With Me app on iPhone and Android.
The story in order
- 19 August 1944Préfecture de Police
Some two thousand policemen occupy their own headquarters and raise the tricolor; German tanks strike back the same day. - 20 August 1944Hôtel de Ville
At dawn, about two hundred Resistance fighters led by Léo Hamon take the city hall. - 22 August 1944Place Saint-Michel Fountain
With the truce collapsing, Rol-Tanguy calls everyone to the barricades; nearly six hundred go up across Paris. - 24 August 1944Notre-Dame
Around nine in the evening policemen ring the great bell, and half-tracks of La Nueve reach the city hall soon after. - 25 August 1944Hôtel Meurice
Lieutenant Karcher's men fight their way into the hotel and take the commander's surrender; he signs it at the Préfecture. - 26 August 1944De Gaulle Statue, Champs-Élysées
De Gaulle walks down the Champs-Élysées; shots ring out at the Concorde and at Notre-Dame, and who fired is still unknown.
About this tour
The whole liberation of central Paris fits into a walk of an hour. The Préfecture, the barricade square, the cathedral, the city hall and the general's hotel are all minutes apart, and the plaques let you stand exactly where people fell. If you'd like company along the river, open the Walk With Me live map to find other people out walking Paris.
The route
4.4 km in walking order from Préfecture de Police to De Gaulle Statue, Champs-Élysées. Stop 1 is free in the app.
- 1Préfecture de PoliceThe police headquarters on the Île de la Cité, where the August rising began, and an uneasy truth about the men who seized it.Free in the app
- 2Place Saint-Michel FountainAn 1860 fountain whose base carries two inscriptions from 1944, and the order that sent Parisians to build barricades across the city.
- 3Notre-DameThe cathedral square under the great bell Emmanuel, an order from Berlin to leave Paris in ruins, and a radio call one August evening.
- 4Hôtel de VilleThe city hall taken by the Resistance at dawn, and the half-tracks that rolled in after dark bearing names from another war.
- 5Rue de Rivoli at the LouvreA corner of the Rue de Rivoli beside the Louvre, where the fighting of 25 August passed and a very different column followed.
- 6Hôtel MeuriceThe Rivoli hotel that served as the German commander's headquarters, the doctor who went in first, and a legend put to the test.
- 7Rivoli Plaques, ConcordeA row of white marble plaques in the Tuileries wall, two names read aloud, and what the week of fighting really cost.
- 8De Gaulle Statue, Champs-ÉlyséesA bronze of de Gaulle modeled on a photograph from 26 August 1944, the speech carved on its plinth, and gunfire at the cathedral.
A taste of the narration
Stand on the Boulevard du Palais and look at the big building in front of you. This is still the headquarters of the Paris police, and on 19 August 1944 it is where the uprising began.Stop 1, Préfecture de Police
Nothing else to pay
Toilets and water on the way
13 public toilets (10 free) and 19 drinking fountains within 150 m of the route.
| Stop | Nearest toilet | Nearest water |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Préfecture de Police | 59 m, free | 152 m |
| 2. Place Saint-Michel Fountain | 216 m, free | 47 m |
| 3. Notre-Dame | 59 m, free | 152 m |
| 4. Hôtel de Ville | 168 m, free | 68 m |
| 5. Rue de Rivoli at the Louvre | 271 m, free | 269 m |
| 6. Hôtel Meurice | 225 m | 122 m |
| 7. Rivoli Plaques, Concorde | 34 m, free | 196 m |
| 8. De Gaulle Statue, Champs-Élysées | 222 m, free | 144 m |
The full map is in our Paris guide. Data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Cheaper in a bundle
Questions
How long does it really take?
1 h 02 of walking plus 15 minutes of stories, so plan for about 1 h 17 with stops.
How does this walk connect to the 1940 Occupation walk?
The 1940 walk follows Hitler's dawn tour of Paris in June 1940. This one picks up four years later, when Parisians rose against the occupation. Each works on its own, and they are sold together as a bundle.
Can I go inside Notre-Dame?
Yes, the cathedral has reopened after the 2019 fire. The story plays on the square outside, so going in is your choice; check entry times before you go.