Best Paris Museums: Which to Book, Closing Days, Free Entry and Time Needed (2026)

The best museums in Paris are not hard to choose. Getting through their doors is the hard part. The decision that shapes a museum trip in 2026 is the calendar: which day each one closes, which ones demand a time slot, and what the new price tiers cost a visitor from outside Europe. A ranked top ten is no help on a Tuesday, when the Louvre is shut, or a Monday, when Orsay and most of the rest are.

Most current search results still miss the 2026 changes. The Louvre’s non-EEA price rose to €32 on January 14. Orsay has required a booked slot for everyone since March 10. The Centre Pompidou is closed until 2030, yet it still turns up in itineraries. Many guides also repeat that the Orangerie closes on Monday, when it closes on Tuesday, and that every museum is free on the first Sunday, which the Louvre no longer is. This guide covers fourteen museums with closing days, booking rules, prices and the time each one takes, then runs the Paris Museum Pass math with this year’s prices. It belongs to the museums hub, alongside the landmarks and monuments guide for the Eiffel Tower, Sainte-Chapelle and the Arc de Triomphe.

Prices, hours and booking rules below were checked against official websites in November 2026.

The Calendar Decides Before Taste Does

The single most useful fact about Paris museums is that they do not share a day off. The national and city museums split between Monday and Tuesday closures. That split decides an itinerary more than any ranking does.

Closed on Mondays: the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée Rodin, the Musée Picasso, the Musée de Cluny, the Musée du quai Branly, the Musée Marmottan Monet, the Musée Carnavalet and the Petit Palais. Closed on Tuesdays: the Louvre, the Musée de l’Orangerie, the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the Bourse de Commerce. Open seven days: the Musée de l’Armée and the Musée Jacquemart-André.

Two consequences follow. A Monday is the day for the Louvre, the Orangerie and the Bourse de Commerce, all in the 1st arrondissement and all walkable from one another. A Tuesday is the day for Orsay, Rodin and the Army Museum, all in the 7th, with Picasso across the river in the Marais. Put the two days in the wrong order and the trip loses its best morning.

The second filter is the time slot. Only two museums on this list really sell out: the Louvre and Orsay. Both now work on timed entry, and both apply it to Paris Museum Pass holders, who must reserve a slot like anyone else. Everything else on this list can usually be bought the same day, or at the door. The third filter is price, and in 2026 that means asking whether a museum charges non-EEA visitors more. Among the museums here, only the Louvre does. Orsay, Rodin, Picasso and the rest charge one price to everyone.

Last comes time. The Louvre and the Army Museum take half a day each. Orsay takes most of a morning. The Orangerie, Rodin, Marmottan, the Petit Palais and the Bourse de Commerce each take about an hour or ninety minutes, which is why they pair well with a large museum rather than with each other.

The Big Two: Louvre and Orsay

These are the two museums worth building a day around, and the two where a missing booking costs the most.

Musée du Louvre

Worth it for every first visit, and the one museum on this list where the 2026 price change matters. The Louvre is in the Palais du Louvre in the 1st arrondissement, at Palais-Royal-Musée du Louvre on lines 1 and 7, or Pyramides on lines 7 and 14. It opens 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays. It is closed on Tuesdays and on January 1, May 1 and December 25. Last entry is one hour before closing, and rooms start clearing 30 minutes before.

Since January 14, 2026, an adult from outside the European Economic Area pays €32 and an EEA adult pays €22. The audio guide adds €6. Under-18s of every nationality enter free, as do EEA citizens and long-term residents under 26 with ID. Everyone enters free on the first Friday of each month after 6:00 p.m., except in July and August, and on July 14. The first Sunday of the month is not free at the Louvre.

The museum recommends a time slot for every visitor, free entries included, on ticket.louvre.fr. Tickets are sold on site only when attendance is low. The Paris Museum Pass operator states that only a reserved slot guarantees Pass holders’ entry, and that once the daily quota is gone, Pass holders join a queue that can be very long or simply closed. The Louvre tickets guide covers how slots open and what to do when a day is full.

The Galerie d’Apollon, closed after eight pieces of the Crown Jewels were stolen in October 2025, reopened on July 22, 2026. It has no display cases and no jewels. The surviving pieces are in secure storage, and the museum plans to show part of the gem collection again in the Richelieu wing once a high-security room is built. No date was given in November 2026.

Time needed: three hours for a first visit. A tighter route that avoids the Mona Lisa crowd is in the Louvre in two hours, and the Wednesday and Friday evenings are covered in the Louvre at night. The limitation is scale: the building has more galleries than any visitor can take in, and a morning slot can still mean thirty minutes of security and crowds in the Pyramid hall.

Musée d’Orsay

Worth it for anyone who cares about impressionism, and easier to enjoy than the Louvre because it ends. Orsay is on the Esplanade Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, on the Seine in the 7th arrondissement. The RER C stops at Musée d’Orsay and line 12 at Solférino. Pass holders enter on the river side, at the Quai entrance. It opens Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with last entry at 5:00 p.m., and until 9:45 p.m. on Thursdays, last entry 9:00 p.m. It is closed on Mondays, May 1 and December 25.

Since March 10, 2026, a time slot is mandatory for everyone, during renovation work on the entrance areas that runs until summer 2028. Pass holders book a free time-stamped voucher on the museum’s ticketing site. Full price is €16, with no separate non-EEA rate, and €12 on Thursdays from 6:00 p.m. A combined Orsay and Rodin ticket costs €25. The first Sunday of each month is free, and so are under-18s and EU and EEA visitors under 26. To mark its 40th anniversary, Orsay is free for everyone on Saturday, December 5, and Sunday, December 6, 2026, with a booked slot.

The admission includes the current exhibitions: Auguste Bartholdi and the Statue of Liberty until January 31, 2027, and Mary Cassatt from October 6, 2026, to January 31, 2027. The virtual reality experience is sold separately.

Time needed: two and a half to three hours. The Orsay tickets guide covers the Thursday evening and the clock windows. The limitation: renovation has closed some galleries, and the museum publishes a floor plan of closed rooms that is worth checking before a visit built around one painting.

Monet, Sculpture and Picasso: The One-Hour Museums

These are the museums to pair with a big one. Each takes an hour or two and none sells out the way the Louvre does.

Musée de l’Orangerie

Worth it for Monet’s Water Lilies, two oval rooms that take twenty minutes and stay with people for years. The Orangerie is in the Jardin des Tuileries in the 1st, at Concorde on lines 1, 8 and 12. It opens 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with last entry at 5:15 p.m., every day except Tuesday. It closes on May 1, the morning of July 14 and December 25, and was closed on September 26, 2026, when the Tuileries closed.

The museum strongly recommends a time slot for all visitors. Full price is €12.50 for a timed ticket online and €11 at the desk. The first Sunday of each month is free for everyone, with a mandatory booked slot. Under-18s and EU and EEA visitors under 26 enter free. Through winter 2026-27, the ticket also covers the temporary exhibitions, including Monet, peindre le temps. Their end dates differ between sources, so check them on the museum’s site.

Time needed: one hour, ninety minutes with the lower floor of Renoir, Cézanne, Modigliani and Matisse. The Orangerie guide covers combined tickets and the best hour for the oval rooms. The limitation: there is little beyond the Water Lilies and the lower galleries, so it rarely justifies a separate trip across the city.

Musée Rodin

Worth it for the garden alone on a dry day, and for The Thinker and The Gates of Hell in the open air. The museum is at 77 rue de Varenne in the 7th, at Varenne on line 13 or Invalides on lines 8 and 13 and the RER C. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., last entry 5:45 p.m. It is closed on Mondays, January 1, May 1 and December 25, and closes at 5:30 p.m. on December 24 and 31. From October to February, the garden closes earlier, following sunset.

The museum’s own page lists standard admission at €14, while the Paris Museum Pass list gives €15. Combined tickets cost €25 with Orsay, €23 with the quai Branly and €26 with the Musée de l’Armée. The audio guide is €6.50. The first Sunday of each month is free from October to March only. Visitors entitled to free entry do not need to book.

Time needed: ninety minutes, a little more in good weather. The Rodin guide settles whether the garden or the full house is the better use of an hour. The limitation: in heavy rain the garden, which is half the point, can close.

Musée Picasso Paris

Worth it for anyone who wants to see Picasso’s own collection in a 17th-century mansion rather than one painting in a crowd. The museum is in the Hôtel Salé, 5 rue de Thorigny, in the 3rd arrondissement, a short walk from Saint-Paul on line 1 or Saint-Sébastien-Froissart and Chemin Vert on line 8. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., last entry 5:15 p.m., and is closed on Mondays, January 1, May 1 and December 25.

Full price is €16, and €12 per adult for one or two adults with a child. The audio guide costs €5. Under-18s and EU residents under 26 enter free, and the first Sunday of each month is free for everyone, without booking. A slot is recommended but not required, and priority is held for half an hour after the booked time.

Time needed: ninety minutes to two hours. It pairs with the Carnavalet, ten minutes away on foot, and with a walk through the Marais. The limitation: the hang changes often, so a specific painting may be in storage or on loan.

Musée Marmottan Monet

Worth it as the quiet Monet museum, home to Impression, Sunrise, the painting that gave impressionism its name. It is at 2 rue Louis-Boilly in the 16th arrondissement, at La Muette or Ranelagh on line 9, or Boulainvilliers on the RER C. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with last entry at 5:00 p.m., and until 9:00 p.m. on Thursdays, last entry 8:00 p.m. It is closed on Mondays, January 1, May 1 and December 25.

Full price is €14. The reduced rate of €9 applies to under-18s and students under 25. Children under 7 enter free. This is a private museum and does not follow the national free-entry rules. The audio guide costs €4. A double ticket with the Fondation Monet in Giverny costs €27. The museum says no reservation is needed.

Time needed: ninety minutes. The Marmottan guide explains why it suits travelers who found the Orangerie too crowded. The limitation: the 16th is a 25-minute metro ride from the center, and nothing else on this list is near it except the Fondation Louis Vuitton.

History, Middle Ages and the World

Musée de Cluny

Worth it for The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries and for a Roman bath building still standing in the Latin Quarter. The museum is at 28 rue du Sommerard in the 5th arrondissement, at Cluny-La Sorbonne on line 10, Saint-Michel on line 4 or the RER B and C. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 6:15 p.m., last entry 5:30 p.m., and until 9:00 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month. It is closed on Mondays, January 1, May 1 and December 25.

Full price is €14. The first Sunday of each month is free, and so are under-18s and EU and EEA visitors under 26. No booking is needed. Until January 24, 2027, an exhibition on Nicolas Flamel, the Paris scribe who became an alchemy legend, is included.

Time needed: ninety minutes. The limitation: the collections are medieval objects in small rooms, rewarding for a curious visitor and slow for a child.

Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac

Worth it for its collections from Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas, a short walk from the Eiffel Tower. It is at 37 quai Branly in the 7th, at Alma-Marceau or Iéna on line 9, Bir-Hakeim on line 6, or Pont de l’Alma on the RER C. It opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., last entry 6:00 p.m., and until 10:00 p.m. on Thursdays, last entry 9:00 p.m. It is closed on Mondays, May 1 and December 25.

Full price is €14, reduced €11, covering the permanent collections and the temporary exhibitions. The first Sunday of each month is free, but timed tickets are required for all visitors on those days. Under-18s and EU and EEA visitors under 26 enter free.

Time needed: two hours. The limitation: the dim, winding main gallery is designed for slow looking, which some visitors love and others find disorienting.

Musée Carnavalet

Worth it as the free museum that explains the city, from Roman Lutetia to shop signs from Montmartre cabarets. It is at 23 rue Madame de Sévigné in the 3rd, at Saint-Paul on line 1 or Chemin Vert on line 8. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with last entry to the permanent collections at 5:15 p.m. It is closed on Mondays, January 1, May 1 and December 25.

The permanent collections are free and need no booking. Temporary exhibitions charge, and a timed ticket is the only guarantee of entry to them. Until February 14, 2027, Fragments of Paris shows Jacques Villeglé and urban art. Only handbag-size bags are allowed, and luggage is refused.

Time needed: ninety minutes to two hours. The free museums guide lists the other city museums with free collections. The limitation: the rooms follow history in sequence, so a short visit tends to stop around the Revolution.

Petit Palais

Worth it as the free fine arts museum across from the Grand Palais, with Monet, Carpeaux and a Guimard dining room, and a garden café. It is on avenue Winston-Churchill in the 8th arrondissement, at Champs-Élysées-Clemenceau on lines 1 and 13, Franklin D. Roosevelt on line 9, or Invalides on the RER C. It opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., last entry to the permanent collections 5:15 p.m. It is closed on Mondays, January 1, May 1, July 14 and December 25.

The permanent collections are free without booking. Temporary exhibitions charge, and booking is strongly recommended. On Fridays and Saturdays the museum stays open until 8:00 p.m. for the temporary exhibitions only, while the permanent collections close at 6:00 p.m. Current exhibitions include Brussels 1900 from November 10, 2026, to April 25, 2027, and Eva Gonzalès until January 24, 2027. The interior garden is free during opening hours.

Time needed: one hour to ninety minutes for the collections. The limitation: the Friday and Saturday evenings do not include the free collections, a detail that catches visitors who arrive at 6:30 p.m.

Musée de l’Armée and Napoleon’s Tomb

Worth it for Napoleon’s tomb under the gilded Dôme and for one of the largest military collections anywhere, and the only big museum on this list open every day. It is in the Hôtel des Invalides, 129 rue de Grenelle, in the 7th, at La Tour-Maubourg on line 8, Varenne on line 13, or Invalides on lines 8 and 13 and the RER C. It opens daily from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and closes on January 1, May 1 and December 25. Ticket sales stop 30 minutes before closing. On the first Friday of each month it reopens from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The museum and exhibitions ticket costs €17 full price, €12 reduced, and €10 for the first Friday evening. It includes the permanent collections, the Dôme church with the tomb of Napoleon I, the current exhibition, the Musée de l’Ordre de la Libération and the Musée des Plans-Reliefs. EU and EEA nationals and residents aged 18 to 25 have free access to the permanent collections and the Dôme, and pay €5 for the ticket that includes exhibitions. Visitors entitled to free entry still collect a ticket at the desk. Pass holders enter without booking.

Time needed: two to three hours, or forty-five minutes for the tomb alone. The Invalides and Napoleon’s tomb guide explains how to split the site. The limitation: the armor and weapons galleries are long, and a visitor who came only for Napoleon can feel the ticket is mostly corridors.

Foundations and Private Collections

These four do not follow the national free-entry rules. Under-18s pay at most of them, and the Paris Museum Pass covers none.

Fondation Louis Vuitton

Worth it for Frank Gehry’s glass building and for exhibitions that rival the national museums, not for a quick visit. It is at 8 avenue du Mahatma Gandhi in the Bois de Boulogne, 16th arrondissement. The nearest metro is Les Sablons on line 1, about 950 meters away. A shuttle runs every 20 minutes from 44 avenue de Friedland, at exit 2 of Charles de Gaulle-Étoile. It is closed on Tuesdays. Hours vary by day and exhibition: in mid-November 2026, Monday ran 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Full price is €18. Visitors aged 18 to 26, students and French teachers pay €10. Under-18s pay €5. Under-3s enter free. A family ticket for two adults and up to four children under 18 costs €36. Students in higher education enter free on Thursdays. The ticket includes all open spaces and the Jardin d’Acclimatation next door. Every ticket carries a time, and entry happens within about 30 minutes of it. Water bottles are not allowed inside.

Until March 8, 2027, the main exhibition is Gustave Fayet, collector and designer. Time needed: two hours inside, plus 30 to 40 minutes of travel each way from the center. The Fondation Louis Vuitton guide covers the shuttle and whether the building is enough without the exhibition, and families can fold it into a day at the Jardin d’Acclimatation. The limitation: between exhibitions, galleries can be partly closed.

Bourse de Commerce

Worth it for Tadao Ando’s concrete cylinder inside the 19th-century grain exchange, and for the Pinault Collection’s contemporary art. It is at 2 rue de Viarmes in the 1st, at Louvre-Rivoli on line 1, Les Halles, or Châtelet-Les Halles on the RER. It opens 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with a late opening on Fridays until 9:00 p.m., and closes on Tuesdays and May 1.

Full price is €15. Ages 18 to 26 and other reductions pay €10. The first Saturday of each month is free from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Tickets are sold with a time slot online. The museum offers free 20-minute introductions and a 75-minute guided tour.

Time needed: one hour to ninety minutes. The Bourse de Commerce guide covers the dome and the free Saturday evening. The limitation: the collection rotates through exhibitions, so a visitor who disliked the current show has no permanent collection to fall back on.

Musée Jacquemart-André

Worth it as a 19th-century collector’s mansion kept as a house, with Italian Renaissance painting and a restaurant, Le Nélie. It is at 158 boulevard Haussmann in the 8th, at Saint-Augustin, Miromesnil or Saint-Philippe du Roule on lines 9 and 13. It opens every day: Monday to Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Friday until 10:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday until 7:00 p.m. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing.

During the exhibition Timeless Tintoretto, from September 11, 2026, to January 24, 2027, full price is €19, seniors over 65 pay €18, reduced €16, and ages 7 to 18 pay €10. A family ticket for two adults and two children costs €51. Under-7s enter free. During exhibitions, online tickets require a 15-minute slot, and exchanges cost €2.

Time needed: ninety minutes with the exhibition. The limitation: on weekend afternoons during a popular exhibition, the small rooms fill and the 15-minute slots sell out.

The Centre Pompidou Is Closed Until 2030

The Centre Pompidou in the 4th arrondissement is closed for a renovation scheduled from 2025 to 2030, and the Paris Museum Pass lists it as closed until 2030. Any itinerary that still sends a visitor to the Pompidou’s escalators is out of date.

Its program has moved to partner venues across the city. In November 2026, the Grand Palais shows Cezanne et nous until January 17, 2027. The Bibliothèque nationale de France on rue de Richelieu shows Louise Bourgeois, Extrême tension, until February 21, 2027. The Panthéon hosts Vies minuscules until January 31, 2027, and the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris shows the Prix Marcel Duchamp 2026 until February 7, 2027. The Centre Pompidou closure guide keeps the list of partner venues current.

For modern and contemporary art in a building that is open every week, the Bourse de Commerce and the Fondation Louis Vuitton are the main substitutes. The Musée Picasso covers the first half of the 20th century in depth, and the Orangerie’s lower floor holds Matisse, Modigliani and Picasso.

The Paris Museum Pass: The 2026 Math

The Paris Museum Pass is the official pass, sold on parismuseumpass.fr, at the desks of the main museums, at the tourist information points at Charles de Gaulle and Orly, and at Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy. It is not the same product as commercial city passes sold under similar names.

It costs €85 for 2 days, €105 for 4 days and €125 for 6 days. Validity runs in hours from the first entry: 48, 96 or 144 hours. A 2-day Pass first used at 3:00 p.m. on a Wednesday ends at 3:00 p.m. on Friday. It allows one entry per site, covers permanent collections but not temporary exhibitions, and cannot be refunded or exchanged. It covers more than 50 sites, including the Louvre, Orsay, the Orangerie, Rodin, Picasso, Cluny, the quai Branly, the Army Museum, Sainte-Chapelle, the Arc de Triomphe, the Notre-Dame towers and Versailles. It does not cover the Marmottan, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the Bourse de Commerce or Jacquemart-André.

The Pass does not skip time slots. Louvre and Orsay entries still require a reserved slot, free for Pass holders but limited in number. At Sainte-Chapelle, Pass holders still pass the Palais de Justice security check.

Break-even, using November 2026 prices

The Pass operator lists these single-entry prices in November 2026: Louvre €32, Sainte-Chapelle €22, Arc de Triomphe €22, Musée de l’Armée €17, Hôtel de la Marine €17, Orsay €16, Picasso €16, Notre-Dame towers €16, Rodin €15. For a non-EEA adult:

• 2-day Pass, €85. Louvre €32 plus Sainte-Chapelle €22 plus Arc de Triomphe €22 plus Orsay €16 comes to €92. Four sites in 48 hours save €7. Add the Army Museum and the saving reaches €24. Without the Louvre, Orsay, Rodin, Picasso, the Army Museum and Cluny come to €77, and the Pass loses €8.
• 4-day Pass, €105. Louvre, Sainte-Chapelle, Arc de Triomphe, Army Museum and Orsay come to €109, a €4 saving at five sites. Six sites, adding Picasso, reach €125 and a €20 saving.
• 6-day Pass, €125. The same six sites reach €125 and break even. Seven sites, adding the Notre-Dame towers, reach €141.

The Louvre’s 2026 increase makes the Pass better value for non-EEA visitors than it was in 2025, because the Pass price is the same for everyone and the Louvre alone is now 38 percent of a 2-day Pass. The rule of thumb: if the Louvre and three other paid sites fit into 48 hours, buy the 2-day Pass. If they do not, buy single tickets.

The Pass is pointless for under-18s and for EU and EEA residents under 26, who already enter the national museums and monuments free. A family of two non-EEA adults and two teenagers needs two Passes, not four. The full comparison by trip length is in is the Paris Museum Pass worth it, and the other 2026 price tiers are in Paris ticket prices for non-EU visitors.

Free Entry: The Rules That Actually Apply in 2026

Free entry in Paris follows three separate systems, and guides that merge them send people to the wrong door.

Under 18 and under 26. The national museums, including the Louvre, Orsay, the Orangerie, Rodin, Picasso, Cluny, the quai Branly and the Army Museum, admit every visitor under 18 free with proof of age. EU and EEA citizens and long-term residents under 26 also enter free, with photo ID and, for residents, a residence permit. A 20-year-old from Chicago pays full price. A 20-year-old from Lyon or Oslo does not. Private museums apply their own rules: under-18s pay €9 at the Marmottan, €10 at Jacquemart-André and €5 at the Fondation Louis Vuitton.

First Sundays and first evenings. The first Sunday of each month is free at Orsay, the Orangerie, Picasso, Cluny and the quai Branly, and at Rodin from October to March only. The Orangerie and the quai Branly still require a booked slot on those days. The Louvre has no free first Sunday. It is free instead on the first Friday of each month from 6:00 p.m., except in July and August, and on July 14. The Bourse de Commerce is free on the first Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The Army Museum has no free day, but its first Friday evening costs €10. Free days are the most crowded days of the month, and the free first Sundays and free things guide explains which are worth the queue.

City museums. The permanent collections of the City of Paris museums, run by Paris Musées, are free every open day. The Carnavalet and the Petit Palais are the two most useful for visitors. Their temporary exhibitions charge.

Planning by Day and by Neighborhood

A workable museum plan groups by closing day and by arrondissement, then fits one large museum and one small one into each day.

Monday: the 1st. The Louvre opens at 9:00 a.m. and the Orangerie at 9:00 a.m. Orsay is closed. A Louvre morning, lunch in the Tuileries, then the Orangerie in the afternoon, works well. The Bourse de Commerce is ten minutes on foot from the Louvre.

Tuesday: the 7th. The Louvre and the Orangerie are closed. Orsay opens at 9:30 a.m., Rodin at 10:00 a.m. and the Army Museum at 10:00 a.m. The three are within a 15-minute walk of one another. Orsay plus Rodin is a full day, and the combined €25 ticket saves €5.

Wednesday or Friday evening: the Louvre late. The Louvre stays open until 9:00 p.m. A 5:30 p.m. arrival gives two and a half hours with thinner crowds than the morning. Jacquemart-André stays open until 10:00 p.m. on Fridays.

Thursday evening: Orsay or the quai Branly. Orsay stays open until 9:45 p.m. at €12 after 6:00 p.m. The quai Branly stays open until 10:00 p.m., the Marmottan until 9:00 p.m.

A Marais morning. Picasso and the Carnavalet sit ten minutes apart in the 3rd, both closed on Mondays. The Paris 3-day itinerary builds this into a full day with lunch.

Public holidays. May 1 and December 25 close almost every museum on this list. January 1 closes the Louvre, Rodin, Picasso, Cluny, the Marmottan, the Carnavalet and the Petit Palais. The public holidays and closures guide has the full list for 2026 and 2027.

Getting between them: a single metro ticket costs €2.55 in 2026. The Louvre to Orsay is a 15-minute walk across the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor. The 1st to the 16th for the Marmottan or the Fondation Louis Vuitton takes 25 to 40 minutes. The Paris metro guide covers tickets and lines, and the pickpockets guide covers line 1, which serves the Louvre, the Bourse de Commerce and Les Sablons.

By Situation

You have one day and want the essentials

Choose by day of the week. On a Monday, do the Louvre in the morning and the Orangerie in the afternoon. On a Tuesday, do Orsay in the morning and Rodin’s garden in the afternoon. On any other day, the Louvre and the Orangerie are the shortest walk between two great collections. Book the Louvre slot first, since it is the one that sells out.

You are traveling with children or teenagers

Everyone under 18 enters the national museums free, so pay only for the adults. The quai Branly and the Army Museum hold children’s attention better than the Louvre’s painting galleries. The Fondation Louis Vuitton family ticket at €36 includes the Jardin d’Acclimatation. The Paris museums kids enjoy guide and the Paris with kids guide go further.

You are an EU or EEA resident under 26

Do not buy a Paris Museum Pass. The Louvre, Orsay, Rodin, Picasso, Cluny, the Orangerie and the quai Branly are free with photo ID. Bring a residence permit if not an EU or EEA citizen. Spend the money at the Bourse de Commerce, at €10 for ages 18 to 26, or the Fondation Louis Vuitton, at €10.

You love impressionism

Orsay, then the Orangerie, then the Marmottan, in that order. Orsay holds the broad story, the Orangerie the Water Lilies, the Marmottan Impression, Sunrise and Monet’s late work. Orsay and the Orangerie close on different days, so neither blocks the other. The Marmottan and Giverny share a €27 double ticket, and the Giverny day trip guide covers the garden season.

You want modern and contemporary art while the Pompidou is closed

The Bourse de Commerce, the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the Picasso museum cover the ground, and the Grand Palais carries part of the Pompidou’s program. The Bourse and the Fondation both close on Tuesdays. Picasso closes on Mondays.

You have a non-EEA passport and four museum days

Buy the 4-day Pass at €105 if the plan includes the Louvre, Sainte-Chapelle, the Arc de Triomphe, Orsay and the Army Museum. Reserve the free Louvre and Orsay slots the moment the Pass is bought. The what to book in advance guide gives the order to book them in.

What It Actually Costs

What the prices do not include. Audio guides cost extra: €6 at the Louvre, €6.50 at Rodin, €5 at Picasso, €4 at the Marmottan. Temporary exhibitions are included in the ticket at Orsay, the Orangerie, Cluny, the quai Branly and the Army Museum in November 2026, but not with the Paris Museum Pass at most sites. Large luggage is refused at the Carnavalet, Jacquemart-André and the Bourse de Commerce. Some Pass resellers add service fees, which the official site warns about. A single metro ticket costs €2.55 for each leg between museums.

What Other Guides Get Wrong

1. “Orsay and the Orangerie both close on Monday.” Orsay closes on Monday. The Orangerie closes on Tuesday, the same day as the Louvre. The mistake costs a Tuesday visitor the Water Lilies and a Monday visitor nothing, which is why it survives.

2. “Every museum is free on the first Sunday.” The Louvre is not. It replaced its first Sunday with a free first Friday evening from 6:00 p.m., outside July and August. Rodin’s first Sunday is free only from October to March, and the Army Museum has no free day at all. Orsay, the Orangerie, Picasso, Cluny and the quai Branly are free on first Sundays, and two of them still need a booked slot.

3. “The Louvre costs €22.” That was the price for everyone in 2025. Since January 14, 2026, non-EEA adults pay €32. Orsay, Rodin, Picasso and the other museums here have not followed, so a guide that applies €32-style rises everywhere is as wrong as one that ignores the Louvre’s.

4. “The Paris Museum Pass skips the line.” It skips the ticket desk, not the time slot. The Louvre guarantees entry to Pass holders only with a reserved slot, and Orsay has required slots for everyone since March 10, 2026. Pass holders also still pass security. A Pass bought without booking the slots can mean a queue that closes before the door.

5. “Visit the Centre Pompidou for modern art.” It is closed for renovation from 2025 to 2030. Its program has moved to the Grand Palais, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Panthéon and other partners, and the Bourse de Commerce and the Fondation Louis Vuitton are open alternatives.

6. “Under-18s are free at Paris museums.” At the national museums, yes. At private ones, no. Teenagers pay €9 at the Marmottan, €10 at Jacquemart-André and €5 at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, and the Paris Museum Pass covers none of the three.

Detailed Guides

• Louvre tickets settles the 2026 time slots, the €32 non-EEA price, free entry rules and what to do when a date is sold out.
• The Louvre in two hours settles a route through the Denon wing that sees the Mona Lisa without losing the morning to it.
• The Louvre at night settles whether the Wednesday and Friday evenings until 9:00 p.m. are quieter and what closes early.
• Musée d’Orsay tickets settles the mandatory slot, the €12 Thursday evening and the Monday closure.
• Musée de l’Orangerie settles the best hour for the Water Lilies, the Tuesday closure and combined tickets.
• Musée Rodin settles whether the garden or the full museum is the better hour, and the October-to-March free Sundays.
• Musée Marmottan Monet settles why it is the quiet Monet alternative and how to pair it with Giverny.
• Fondation Louis Vuitton settles the shuttle, the Tuesday closure and whether the Gehry building is enough on its own.
• Bourse de Commerce settles the Pinault Collection ticket, the dome and the free first Saturday evening.
• Centre Pompidou closed until 2030 settles where its collection and program are shown during the works.
• Best small museums in Paris settles which of Jacquemart-André, Carnavalet, Picasso and the house museums suit which traveler.
• Free museums in Paris settles the city museums with free collections, the first Sundays and the under-26 rules.
• Is the Paris Museum Pass worth it settles the 2, 4 and 6-day math against single tickets.
• Paris ticket prices for non-EU visitors settles which museums and monuments charge non-EEA visitors more in 2026.
• Paris museums kids actually enjoy settles which collections hold a child’s attention and which to skip.

Where to Go Next

Museums are half of most Paris itineraries, and the other half is the monuments, which the landmarks and tickets guide covers with the same closing-day and time-slot logic, from Sainte-Chapelle to the Arc de Triomphe. For the exact Louvre booking steps, the Louvre tickets guide is the next read, and for the Pass decision in detail, is the Paris Museum Pass worth it runs the numbers by trip length. A wet afternoon is the best time for any of these, and Paris on a rainy day pairs them with covered passages and cafés.