Today, Paris is the City of Light – the home of fashion and the center of art and culture in France. But it wasn’t always that way. Paris has a long, tragic history of murder and execution, of rampant disease among the lower classes and of bitter wars fought against a corrupt monarchy.

This nighttime walking tour of Paris’ ghosts, mysteries and legends takes place under a cloak of darkness, winding down alleyways and cutting through the hushed silence of the night. You will go to the sites of some of Paris’ darkest hours – the Place de la Vert Gallant, St Germain de Auxerrois (where some say 30,000 were killed in the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre in 1572) and the Palais du Justice (where those found guilty by the court were routinely tortured and executed before live audiences).

You will travel through areas wracked by the plague, the French Revolution, the Paris Commune and Nazi rule. You will learn about the characters that molded the city, from Napoleon and Marie Antoinette to Henry IV and the serial killers that once stalked these very streets.

The Ghosts, Mysteries and Legends Night Walking Tour of Paris offers a rare opportunity to glimpse a side of Paris you won’t see advertised on postcards. It’s a chance to learn a little more about the City of Light and those who loved, hated, died and killed there.

Sites visited on the walking tour:

• Place de la Vert Gallant
• St Germain de Auxerrois
• La Fontaine de la Croix du Trahoir
• Rue de la Ferronnerie
• Square of the Innocents
• The Rat Trap Shop (as seen in the movie Ratatouille)
• Tour St Jacques
• La Fontaine du Palmier
• The River Seine
• The Conciergerie
• Ile de la Cité
• Palais du Justice
• Hotel Dieu
• Hotel de ville