Coco Chanel’s Paris

(38 reviews)

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

Coco Chanel has been the subject of biographies, movies, television programs, and even books like “The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World’s Most Elegant Woman.”

Born Gabrielle Chanel, she defied humble origins to mingle with Europe's elite, include a few very notable lovers. She also transformed women's fashion with light fabrics and simple design, including the now iconic little black dress.

This walk takes in the major sites associated with Coco Chanel's life, fashions, jewellery, and perfumes, as well as areas that were central to the fashion industry of the 19th and early to mid 20th centuries.

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.

Preview Location

Location 1

Metro Tuileries

You’re standing on the rue de Rivoli, a shopping street that Coco Chanel knew well, although it was more elegant and less touristy in her day. Between you and the river lie the Tuileries Gardens. They were first laid out in the 18th century and are today filled with sculptures... You’re standing on the rue de Rivoli, a shopping street that Coco Chanel knew well, although it was more elegant and less touristy in her day. Between you and the river lie the Tuileries Gardens. They were first laid out in the 18th century and are today filled with sculptures both traditional and modern. The Tuileries have always been a gracious and calm green space in the middle of a bustling city.

If you visit during Spring or Fall Fashion Week in Paris, these gardens are usually full of tents where the major fashion houses hold special events. Welcome to Fashion Central!

Hello, my name is Philippa Campsie, and I'm going to take you to some of the places in the city associated with Coco Chanel. For many years, she lived not far from here, at the Ritz Hotel, close to her business headquarters and to the centre of the fashion industry during her lifetime.

Coco Chanel, who was born Gabrielle Chanel, has been the subject of biographies, movies, television programs, and even books like “The Gospel According to Coco Chanel: Life Lessons from the World’s Most Elegant Woman.” It seems, however, that the more we know about her, the more mysterious she becomes.

There are mysteries about her early life, because she described it in different ways to different people. There are mysteries about her activities during the war, when she might have been a collaborator with the Germans or she might have been a double agent for the Allies. There are mysteries about how an unsuccessful singer who worked in cheap bars came to be considered the world’s most elegant woman. I’m not convinced that she was, but there is no question that she was among a handful of designers who forever changed women’s fashion in the years after the First World War.

What we do know for sure is that she was a self-made woman from a very humble background at a time when businesswomen were rare and were usually the widows of successful businessmen. She was also one of the first fashion celebrities, a woman who not only created clothes for her wealthy and famous patrons, but also socialized with them.

She was proud of her achievement. When the Duke of Westminster wanted her to marry him, she turned him down, saying, “There have been many Duchesses of Westminster. There is only one Coco Chanel.” That we can all agree on.

Let's start walking now. Cross the rue de Rivoli at the crosswalk right beside the Metro and turn left into the arcade. As we walk, let me explain how this works. VoiceMap uses your location to play commentary automatically. There may be some silence along the way, and that's normal. You can just put your phone in your pocket, and focus on your surroundings. You’ll hear my voice again when you reach each destination, and I'll give you directions to keep you on track.

In the first block of the arcades, it’s mainly souvenir shops, but after you cross the rue d’Alger, you will find more elegant boutiques selling jewellery. A little past the Hotel Brighton (which sounds very much like a stopping place for Coco’s many British clients), you will see the Galignani English-language bookshop, a long-standing institution, and then we come to Angelina’s. Read More

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Major Landmarks

Place Vendôme
Place de l'Opéra

Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

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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App Store Review

“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.”

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Questions and Reviews

4.1 / 5

38 Ratings

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