Louvre Museum
The world's largest art museum — overwhelming, and home to the Mona Lisa scrum.
The call
Worth it if you are watching the budget and you are traveling as a couple.
Why
- 01
Endless, magnificent, and impossible to 'do' in a day.
Our read - 02
The fit call is which wing to surrender to, not whether to 'see it all': Denon for the marquee hits (Mona Lisa scrum, Italian painting, the Winged Victory) if it's your only visit; Richelieu's French painting and the calm Cour Marly sculpture courts if you want masterpieces nearly alone; the Egyptian and Near Eastern antiquities in Sully if you've got kids who'd rather have mummies than Madonnas.
Our read
Is it a fit?
Go if
This is your first trip to Paris
If it's your one visit, do Denon — Mona Lisa, the Italian Renaissance, the Winged Victory of Samothrace — book a timed e-ticket and enter via the Carrousel, not the Pyramid.
You are watching the budget
Louvre Museum earns the spend, even on a tight budget.
You are traveling as a couple
As a couple, Louvre Museum is an easy yes.
You are traveling solo
Solo, Louvre Museum is an easy yes.
Think twice if
You only have one day
Keep Louvre Museum only when it outranks a half-day elsewhere.
You are traveling with kids
With kids, Louvre Museum needs the right timing and tolerance.
Plan it well
- Cost
- €22 online (free under 18 / EU under 26)
- Timing
- Wed/Fri late openings after 6pm, or Wed/Thu mornings; ~3pm queues subside.
- Booking
- Timed e-ticket guarantees a 30-min entry window and priority queues at both Pyramid and Carrousel.
- Allow
- 3–4 hrs (could be all day)
- Getting there
- Enter via the Carrousel du Louvre (underground mall) or Porte des Lions to dodge the Pyramid line.
Consider instead
Sources and method (4)
- Welcomed nearly 9 million visitors in 2024, the most-visited museum in the world news.artnet.com ↗
- Standard admission is €22 for EU residents and €32 for non-EU/EEA visitors under a differentiated-pricing policy lesfrenchiestravel.com ↗
- news.artnet.com ↗
- parispass.com ↗