Art
You don't need to spend your whole trip inside museums
Choose one great museum or exhibition, then go back outside.
If you only do one
First time in Paris
The building is almost as good as the collection. Go for the Impressionists, stay for the clock.
If you'd rather be calm
Smaller, quieter, and there's a garden you can sit in. Sometimes that's the better afternoon.
Where
Left Bank, 7e, on the river opposite the Tuileries
Give it
Two to three hours
Closed
Mondays
Worth knowing
The combined Orsay–Rodin ticket is €25, good for one visit to each within three months
The calmer alternative, and the one I'd send you to on a warm afternoon. Buy the garden-only ticket if you just want to sit among the sculpture. If you're doing both museums, the combined Orsay–Rodin ticket is €25 and gives you one visit to each within three months. Bought separately, each needs its own standard entry.
Where
7e, a short walk from the Orsay
Tickets
There's a cheaper garden-only ticket
Give it
An hour and a half, longer in the garden
If you want more, or something newer
Paris is an amazing town for museums, and you don't need to see all of these.
Musée du Louvre
Louvre · 1er
Too big to see in a day, so don't try. Pick two or three things you actually want to stand in front of and leave when you've seen them.
Maps ↗
Musée de l'Orangerie
Tuileries · 1er
Monet's waterlilies in two oval rooms built for them. Small enough to do properly in an hour.
Maps ↗
Musée Carnavalet
Marais · 3e
The history of the city itself, and free to enter. The right museum to fold into a Marais walk.
Maps ↗
Musée Picasso
Marais · 3e
In a seventeenth-century hôtel particulier, which is half the pleasure. Another one that folds into the Marais walk.
Maps ↗
Institut Suédois
Marais · 3e
Free, no booking, and a cute Swedish café in the courtyard called Fika. One of the calmest corners of the Marais.
Maps ↗
Bourse de Commerce
Les Halles · 1er
Contemporary work in a rotunda Tadao Ando rebuilt from the inside. Go for the building as much as the art.
Maps ↗
Palais de Tokyo
Trocadéro · 16e
Raw, unfinished, often strange, and open late, which makes it a good evening. The restaurant is genuinely good, and it looks straight at the Eiffel Tower.
Maps ↗
Grand Palais
Champs-Élysées · 8e
Great shows when the program is right, under that glass roof. Check what's on before you go.
Maps ↗
Fondation Cartier
Palais-Royal · 1er
Now on the place du Palais-Royal, in a Jean Nouvel building. One show at a time, done properly.
Maps ↗
Musée de Montmartre
Montmartre · 18e
Its gardens look straight onto the vineyard. Fold it into the Montmartre walk rather than making a trip of it.
Maps ↗
One to skip for now
The Centre Pompidou is closed for a major renovation, so don't build a day around it. Parts of the collection are showing elsewhere in the city while the work goes on.
Ticket prices change and exhibitions change faster, so check the official sites before you go. Closing days vary, but most are Monday or Tuesday.
