Coco Chanel’s Paris: A Walking Tour

(44 reviews)

Paris audio tour: Coco Chanel’s Paris: A Walking Tour

This is a 1.2mi walking tour.

It takes an average of 45 mins to complete.

Paris

France

$6.99

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About the Tour

Paris gave Coco Chanel the stage she needed to reinvent herself – and women's fashion along with it. On this walking tour, you'll trace how an illegitimate girl from rural France became the most influential designer of the 20th century. You'll also explore the streets, hotels, and boutiques where she built her empire, her friendships, and her controversies.

The tour starts on the rue de Rivoli, near the Tuileries Gardens, before heading through the elegant arcades toward Angelina's, the tea room where Chanel once came for hot chocolate. From there, you'll pass through the rue de Castiglione to the rue Cambon, where Chanel's fashion house still stands at No. 31, its mirrored staircase intact. You'll hear how she created clothes on live models with scissors around her neck and a cigarette in her mouth, and why her return to fashion in 1954 was a direct challenge to Christian Dior's corseted New Look.

You'll circle the Ritz, where Chanel lived for decades and where the question of her wartime conduct – her German lover, her closed boutique, her continued perfume sales – remains genuinely unresolved. The tour continues through the Place Vendôme, past the jewellery boutique she opened in 1932, and along the rue de la Paix, once home to 19th-century couturiers. The tour ends at the Café de la Paix, beside the Opéra Garnier.

On this 45-minute tour, you'll have a chance to:

Sample Chanel No. 5 at Jovoy, the perfume boutique on the rue de Castiglione
Learn why Chanel's square-bottled perfume was the first truly modern fragrance
Hear how Karl Lagerfeld rescued the Chanel brand after her death in 1971
Discover Chanel's affair with Igor Stravinsky and her patronage of the Ballets Russes
Visit Harry's New York Bar, a favourite of Chanel and Hemingway
Understand the Little Black Dress – and why black was once the colour of servants

Whether you're a fashion enthusiast or simply curious about one of Paris's most complicated figures, this tour will leave you seeing the city through sharply different eyes.

Tour Producer

Philippa Campsie

4 tours

Philippa Campsie lived in Paris as a student, studying French history and literature at the Sorbonne, and staying in a chambre de bonne with a view of the tip of the Eiffel Tower. She never got the city out of her system after that and returns regularly with her husband, Norman Ball. Since 2010, she and Norman have written about Paris on a blog called "Parisian Fields" (https://parisianfields.com/). They like to get beyond basic tourist information, and draw on her experiences in urban planning and his knowledge as a historian of technology to explain features of the city's streets, and tell the stories of people who contributed to the life of the city. Philippa started creating tours for VoiceMap in 2015. Currently, she is carrying out research in Paris on the history of the education of blind people (the first school for the blind was founded in Paris) and the invention of braille. One day she hopes to create a tour for visually impaired visitors to the city.

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Preview Location

Location 15

Sergei Diaghilev, Igor Stravinsky, and the Ballets Russes

Take a right now, on the Avenue de l’Opéra.

As we walk, I should mention Coco Chanel’s involvement with the ballet impresario, Sergei Diaghilev, the composer Igor Stravinsky, and the Ballets Russes. Chanel had been a mediocre singer before she turned to fashion, and she to... Take a right now, on the Avenue de l’Opéra.

As we walk, I should mention Coco Chanel’s involvement with the ballet impresario, Sergei Diaghilev, the composer Igor Stravinsky, and the Ballets Russes. Chanel had been a mediocre singer before she turned to fashion, and she took dance classes until her teacher told her that she was wasting her time. But she enjoyed and appreciated music and dance.

In 1909, the Ballets Russes gave their first performance in Paris. This was a group of highly trained ballet dancers who had left Russia because of the Revolution. Diaghilev was their artistic director, and he introduced modern musical works by Russian composers and modern choreography that some audiences found shocking.

It is believed that Coco was present at the performance of Stravinsky’s "The Rite of Spring" at the Theatre des Champs-Elysées in 1913 in which the violence of the music and the eroticism of the dancing caused a riot among the audience members. At that point, she was only just getting established in her fashion career.

The Ballets Russes performed in a variety of venues, but from time to time they staged a ballet in the magnificent building in front of you. The Golden Cockerel and The Firebird were both presented here.

After the First World War, with her business well established, Coco became a patron of the Ballet Russes, and she had an affair with Igor Stravinsky. The affair ended after a few months, but she remained involved with the ballet company.

In 1924, she created the costumes for the ballet called Le Train Bleu, which is set in Deauville and in which the dancers play the roles of swimmers and tennis players. This, of course, was perfect for Chanel, and she outfitted them in her comfortable sportswear. Chanel also created costumes for a Stravinsky ballet in 1928.

In 1929, she was in Venice. Diaghilev had brought the Ballet Russes there to perform, but he suddenly fell ill and died. The company was bankrupt, and the dancers dispersed. Since there was nobody else to see to his affairs, Chanel ended up paying the funeral expenses. Many years later, when Stravinsky died in 1971, a few months after Chanel herself, he also chose to be buried in Venice, alongside his friend.

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Major Landmarks

Tuileries Garden
Angelina
Chanel
Ritz Paris
Place Vendôme
Hôtel Westminster
Harry's New York Bar
Palais Garnier
Café de la Paix

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Getting There

Route Overview

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Start location
75001 Paris, France
Total distance

2km
Final location
5 Pl. de l'Opéra, 75009 Paris, France
Distance back to start location

727.35m

Directions to Starting Point

The tour normally begins at the exit from the Tuileries Metro stop, but this part of Line 1 will be closed during the 2024 Paris Olympics, between June 17 and September 21.

Take Line 1 to the Palais Royal--Musee du Louvre station. Keeping the Louvre on your left and the arcades on your right, walk along the rue de Rivoli until you reach the Tuileries Gardens. The tour will begin when you reach the exit to the Metro stop on the left side of the street, near the gates into the gardens.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

Angelina's chocolate shop, Hemingway Bar (Hotel Ritz -- very expensive but the sort of thing one should do at least once in a lifetime), Cafe Alice (rue des Capucines), Harry's New York Bar (a unique institution), Cafe de la Paix (another unique institution with glorious decor)

Best time of day

The walk is best on a weekday, when the Chanel boutique is open.

Precautions

Always cross the road at a marked crossing.

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“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”