2.5 Hour Walking Tour of Père Lachaise Cemetery from Paris

This is a unique, magnificent experience -- a history tour of epic proportions. Max, the guide, weaves in a fascinating odyssey of human adventures and misadventures. Along with all the ultra famous landmarks, we discover lesser known eccentrics, achievers, warmongerers, and artists. The cemetery is beautiful, and the stories bring the whole place, ironically, to life. Max is funny, thoughtful, attentive, and also tailors his tour to include any preferences you may have (musicians, artists, politicians, etc). All in all, stunning. Next time we're in Paris, we'll be going back for a part two...

Max went above and beyond to make this a fantastic tour of Père Lachaise. What was supposed to be a 2.5-hour tour, to my curiosity’s delight, became 3.5 hours (with an enjoyable break). There were just two of us, and Max took the time to understand what interested us and tailor the tour accordingly — making it wonderfully personalised experience. Highly knowledgeable about the cemetery’s history, he shared fascinating stories and anecdotes, taking us from famous graves to lesser-known paths. With the intrigue and revelations continually flowing, Max’s passion, knowledge and upbeat style did a great job of bringing this place of death to vibrant life. We only stopped because the closing bell rang! I came away more informed, even more curious, and would, without hesitation, take another tour with Max.

Our guide, Max, was fantastic. He lead us all over the cemetery with fantastic stories, insights, and humour. He was prepared to endure the tour met our criteria and took time to talk to each of us about what we thought or saw. I highly recommend Max!

Our original guide was no longer available on the day we had booked, so he offered either to reschedule the tour or to have it with another guide he recommended. Since all our other days in Paris were already planned and we had other tours booked, we chose the recommended guide. Unfortunately, our expectations for the tour were quite different. We were interested not only in seeing the graves of famous people, but also in understanding who they were, why they were important, and their place in French and European culture. Simply saying that this is where Honoré de Balzac, Oscar Wilde, Molière or Édith Piaf is buried did not give us much. We were travelling with our 12-year-old son, to whom many of these names meant absolutely nothing. We ended up explaining ourselves who Oscar Wilde, Balzac and Molière were and what they had written. We also felt that the guide was more interested in telling sensational or unusual stories, while what interested us most was the cultural and historical side of Père-Lachaise: the people buried there, their work, their significance and the stories that explain why they are remembered today. So perhaps it was simply a mismatch of expectations. Père-Lachaise is an extraordinary place, and we would have preferred a tour focused much more on its cultural history and the people who made it such an important part of Paris.

We had a guided tour of the cemetery in Paris with Max yesterday, and it was an amazing experience. Max was a fantastic guide with an incredible amount of knowledge about the cemetery and the many famous graves. He shared fascinating stories and historical background in a very engaging and entertaining way. My son and I thoroughly enjoyed the tour from start to finish. If you’re visiting Paris and are interested in history, culture, or simply want a unique experience, I highly recommend this tour with Max. It was one of the highlights of our trip!

Had a great first time tour of Père Lachaise cemetery. What a treat with Max. Very knowledgeable, personable, and would have kept going had the cemetery not been closing! So many stories! Highly recommend visiting the beautiful, sprawling cemetery with Max. Wear your good walking shoes. Lots to see and history to learn.

Wow! What a fantastic guided tour of Pere Lachaise cemetery. The establishment of the first individual burial sites in Paris was intimately related to the history and politics of the French Revolution. Max was very knowledgeable , and we were able to ask lots of questions. There were also lots of fun facts learning about the more unusual grave sites. Well worth it. Thank you Max for expanding our knowledge of French history and culture, and all the interesting stories. Marian and John Shaw, Australia

Max is the perfect tour guide! We ended up having a private tour as we were the only ones who booked that day. He made sure we saw all the graves on my list as well as other lesser known ones. All the sites he showed us had such interesting and informative stories. Max is so personable and knowledgeable! He gave us an extra 45 minute tour and would have gone longer, but we had a lunch reservation to go to. He made sure we got a taxi after the tour. Amazing morning spent on our last full day in Paris!

Pere Lachaise cemetery is a wonderful distillation of Paris: contemplative and wild, beautiful and crumbling, a place where anything goes. And Max Wolf is the perfect person to show it to you: he’s full of history and stories, and makes it all fascinating and enjoyable; truly an expert on the subject and very well-informed. Very highly recommended.

My wife and I spent a week in Paris in June (in the heat!), and this was an absolute highlight of our time there. We've wanted visit this iconic cemetary for some time, and our experience with Max as our guide exceeded our expectations. He contacted us before the tour telling us exactly where and where it would start and finish, including photos so we knew exactly what to look for. I identified Max from his photo as soon as we approached the start. From the outset he was engaging, wonderfully friendly and personable, and very keen to make this tour unique for us. He asked us our general interest in Pere Lachaise, any specific tombs or graves we wanted to see, and was very keen to personalise our experience. He knows the cemetary like the back of his hand and carefully guided us through it, highlighting a lot of really interesting sights, annotated with his amazing knowledge and research. We saw all the key places that we all know about, but so much more too. This was as much an engaging social history of France as it was a walking tour, really brought to life (no pun intended). But it was also highly accessible and comfortable. Max is such a friendly, authentic and passionate guide. He does this as a hobby and it's so clear how much he wants others to enjoy what he clearly does. I highly recommend Max!