Paris/France

The vast, legendary catacombs hold secrets much stranger than stacked bones.

The macabre collection of Jacques Sirgent, an expert scholar on the undead and all of their trappings.

France's most famous cemetery, with some of its most curious tombs.

The oldest stone house in Paris was built by its most famous alchemist.

This iconic Parisian bookstore doubles as the "Tumbleweed Hotel" for traveling writers.

This massive library holds what was once the largest book collection in the world.

A museum of carnival attractions where you are invited to ride the rides.

A horde of stray cats rule in this secluded Parisian cemetery under a bridge.

High atop the Eiffel Tower is a small apartment built exclusively to entertain the science elite and make the rest of Paris jealous.

Walk upon the mementos of the dead in this Parisian courtyard paved with medieval tombstones.

A museum of magic with a Sadist past.

A museum on the history of Paris, including a set of Napoleon's toiletries, Proust's room, and relics of the Revolution.

A Parisian cemetery where the elite and artistic are interred beneath an eccentric collection of tombs.

Egyptian Revival movie palace abandoned for decades and restored in 2013.

Medieval museum built over Roman baths that features famous tapestries of a lady and a unicorn.

Indents in the pavement are all that remain from a grisly death machine in Paris.

A favorite Paris bar for U.S. expats, including Gershwin, Hemingway, and James Bond.

The ruins of a Duke's bucolic dream, where camels once roamed alongside "Dutch" windmills and faux-Italian vineyards.

This charming cobbled backstreet is the most Instagramable street in Paris, much to the residents' annoyance.

This former “ante-chamber to the guillotine” has been refurbished to illustrate the brutal history of French justice.

Where the high court feasted, frolicked, and high courtesans put their royal lovers' diamonds to the test.

The subterranean "lake" below the Paris opera house inspired the Phantom of the Opera's lair.

Pitié-Salpêtrière was the dumping grounds for women who received the dreaded diagnosis of "hysterical."

The headless bodies of more than 1,300 guillotined victims of the Reign of Terror are buried here in mass graves.

The recovered bones of martyrs slaughtered during The Terror are on display in this church crypt.

Beggars were miraculously "cured" of their fake ailments when they returned home to this 17th century Paris slum each night.

One of the oldest masonic museums in Paris.

The Sun King's military models, saved from the Louvre.

An odd museum dedicated to French fakes.

The oldest and smallest cemetery in Paris is only open to the public twice a year.

A 16th-century fountain marks the site of a lost medieval cemetery once filled with mass graves.

The historic Masonic Lodge in which the first-ever female Mason was initiated.

Former hunting lodge of a duke who was an avid collector of impressionist works.

A 400-year-old church covered floor to ceiling in ex-voto offerings from the faithful.

A simple plaque on the facade is the only reminder that the treaty ending the American Revolution was signed inside.

This 1,300 year old monastery built atop a single rock was once only accessible depending on the whims of the tide.

This French ghost town from World War II has been left as a memorial to German atrocities during World War II.

Ancient paintings known as the "Sistine Chapel of Cave Art."

Sacked by Vikings, blessed by William the Conqueror, dealt a fatal blow during the French Revolution—these ruins have seen it all.

A cave dwelling that was started by the Celts, expanded by monks, and finished by knights.

Hundreds of hidden passageways weave through the old quarters of Lyon.

The largest underground church in Europe.

This natural French spring has been turned into a magical grotto by Roman and medieval constructions.

The famous winding walk at Chartres is surrounded in mystery and myth.

A Gothic cathedral created from volcanic rocks.

Historic medieval fortified city in southwest France.

At Monet's beloved home you can still see the Japanese bridge, waterlilies, and weeping willows that were the subjects of some of his most iconic paintings.

The mental institution where Van Gogh created some of his most famous work now allows guests to walk in the artist's footsteps.