Le Musee des Egouts de Paris (The Paris Sewer Museum)

Pros: It's very....interesting. You'll get plenty of conversational mileage out of this one.
Cons: Aromatically challenging. Well, what did you expect? Lilacs?

I made two short trips to Paris this past summer. Needless to say, Paris is pretty well blanketed with reviews here at epinions. So I had to look a bit far afield to find something I thought I could contribute original material for. That's when I ...

Pros: Creates a conversational talking point for many years afterwards...
Cons: ...gift shop sadly disappointing.

There is a certain impish glee in admitting that you not only visited Paris' sewers, but in fact paid for the pleasure. There is a certain charm in when regaling pals with your Parisian adventures in being able to say 'oh and then I went to the Eiffel ...

Pros: fun and interesting, away from the crowds
Cons: a little smelly

The "gouts de Paris" or "sewers of Paris" is a museum set in working sewers underneath Paris. The museum gives a chronological history of the development and adaptations of the Parisian sewers.

I visited Paris over...

Pros: educational, not arty
Cons: slightly smelly

Get your mind into the gutter for a few hours and escape from the endless barrage of paintings, architecture and food that will make up the rest of your stay in Paris. This is a fun few hours, although you will see real sewage and it is kind of smelly --...

Pros: great for a cold rainy day
Cons: too short you want to know more when the tour is finished

Not many people think of visiting the Egouts (the sewer system) when they are in Paris, but they do not know what they are missing.
A friend and I were in Paris last March, it was raining and we asked the concierge of our hotel for "off the...

Pros: Interesting and very different window onto the history of Paris.
Cons: Not for the claustrophobic

I agree with most of the lyagushka's review but I want to say that the Paris sewers you visit are not sewers for 'human waste' but for waste water and storm drains. When you are in Paris you will notice that the streets are cleaned by jets of water which flow along the gutters down into drains along the sides of the roads. These drains also collect rain water from the streets. Now this system uses and collects huge quantities of water, and over the centuries Paris has developed a complex management and processing system. The museum shows how this system developed and gives a new perspective to how the city grew and changed over the years.
The museum is located in the actual sewers so its not the cleanest place in the world but the smells are dank musty ones not anything worse. It can be kind of cold if you visit in summer as I did but well worth a visit. Its certainly a change from the usual art galleries and tourist sites.