Paris Metro Line 8 Must-Sees

The last of la Ville Lumière’s original metro lines, Paris Metro Line 8 opened in 1913 and connected Porte d’Auteuil, a station along the Petite Ceinture beltline, with Opéra. It’s changed a lot since then, with many more stations being added along with other modifications over the years.

Metro Line 8 History & Route Overview

Line 8 now makes something of a semi-circle around the southern part of Paris, extending from Balard in the extreme southwest, up to the center past Concorde, Opéra, and the Grand Boulevards, before heading back down, passing through the southeastern corner of Paris before ending in the suburb of Créteil.

Covering a grand total of 38 stops on its way through Paris, there’s much to see along this metro line. Let’s start in the southwest.

Balard to Concorde: Markets, Parks, & the Eiffel Tower

Balard is in fact a great starting point if you want to walk along the Petite Ceinture, with its raised walkways going all the way to Parc Georges Brassens and beyond.

Heading north, the stop La Motte-Picquet-Grenelle connects you with the lovely Marché Grenelle, one of the best markets in Paris, which stretches below the Metro Line 6 near the Eiffel Tower.

The stops La Tour Maubourg, Invalides, and Concorde barely need an introduction, allowing you access to the Eiffel Tower from the south, walking up along the Champs de Mars. You’ll find Napoleon’s Tomb and the Musée de l’Armee at Invalides.

Next, the gigantic Place de la Concorde, is the gateway to the Champs Elysées and the Tuileries Gardens.

Madeleine to République: Shopping, Covered Passages, & Canal St Martin

Further on, Madeleine and Opéra are also touristic hotspots, and the entire area around these stops is well worth exploring in greater detail.

See our guide to Paris’s Opéra neighborhood for all of our suggestions on what to see and do in the district.

On to Grand Boulevards to lose yourself in some of Paris’s best covered passages, the wax museum Musée Grévin, the bustling Rue du Faubourg-Montmartre, and the Folies Bergère.

Next stop, Place de la République leaves you within easy walking distance of the hip Haut Marais area and the cool Canal Saint-Martin.

Filles du Calvaire to Porte Dorée: Le Marais, Cocktails, & the Bois de Vincennes

Metro Line 8 then dips back south again passing through Filles du Calvaire, Saint-Sebastien-Froissart, and Chemin Vert which are great for venturing off into Le Marais before reaching Bastille.

Trundling along mostly residential areas after that, Line 8 then takes you past Daumesnil, from where you can walk back into the center of Paris along the Coulée Verte, Paris’s answer, and in fact predecessor, to New York City’s High Line, before reaching Porte Dorée with its Aquarium and Immigration Museum located in a superb example of Art Deco architecture.

Porte Dorée also lets you explore the vast Bois de Vincennes park and the Paris Zoo. From there, Line 8 passes through Porte de Charenton — its last stop in Paris proper.

Liberté to Créteil–Université: Crossing the Marne into the Suburbs

Outside the city limits, this line next takes you into the southern Parisian suburbs of Charenton-le-Pont and Maisons-Alfort.

The one real highlight: just past Charenton-Écoles, the tracks climb into open air to cross the Marne on an elevated viaduct before diving back underground at École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort.

The station’s named for the school next door — founded in 1766, it’s one of the oldest veterinary schools in the world, and home to the Musée Fragonard d’Alfort, a genuinely strange 18th-century anatomy museum.

From there, Line 8 meanders through a handful of quiet residential stops — Maisons-Alfort–Stade, Maisons-Alfort–Les Juilliottes, Créteil–L’Échat (subtitled for the Hôpital Henri Mondor next door) — before reaching Créteil–Université, at the doorstep of the UPEC campus, a fitting last stop before Line 8 wraps up its run.

Urbansider Tip: Ride to the Créteil–Pointe du Lac terminus and you can keep going — literally, up in the air. The Câble C1, the Paris region’s first urban cable car, opened there in December 2025, gliding out to Limeil-Brévannes, Valenton, and Villeneuve-Saint-Georges for the same fare as a bus ticket.

All the Stops on Metro Line 8

Here’s a list of all 38 stops on Paris’s Metro Line 8. Major hubs are in bold.

Wondering where the city’s other subway lines lead? Read our complete guide to the Paris metro lines.