Spending the weekend in Paris, and really want to visit these two. What is the best time of day to visit? Right at opening? Afternoon during lunch time? Later in the day? Thanks!
Get the City Pass if you are visiting more than just these two museums. You will not have to wait in the ticket line.
Go to the Louvre slightly before it opens, not at opening time. If you arrive at the Louvre 10 or 15 minutes after it opens the lines will be quite long.
We purchased the pass at a different site the first day so we had it in hand before we got to the Louvre. Check the Rick Steves forum. He has great information on how to beat lines;)
We went to Muee D’orsay and early is better, Allow at least 2-3 hours. You can get your ticket in advance so you don’t need to wait in the ticket line, just the security line. When we were there the Louvre was closed due to flooding. Trip Advisor has a QA area on each of the museums.
You can use the credit card machines to buy tickets to the Louvre, almost no lines. And the security line is much shorter if you come in from the underground mall. But this is from a couple years ago.
Early in the day for both and both are fabulous - enjoy!
I’ll go a different way – on Thursdays the Musee D’Orsay is open late (until 9:15 pm) and there are neiher tour groups nor school kids. We loved it. We bought our entrance ticket ahead on the Tiqets app, which gives you a ticket right on your cellphone and instructions to go to a separate entrance with a minimal line.
I’d avoid the Musée d’Orsay on Tuesdays when the Louvre is closed, and the Louvre on Monday when the Musée d’Orsay is closed. But just realized you will be there on a weekend, so not an issue!
If you have limited time, consider a small tour with Context or Paris Muse.
S & DIL were there in March and did a tour with Paris Muse and thought it was a great experience. I passed along the recommendation to a colleague traveling to France in late May and she used them as well and was pleased.
Definitely use the underground entrance (By the Inverse Pyramid and the shopping area). The line was much shorter there when I went. Also make sure to use/check the map regularly as the Louvre is very big and very confusing.
If it is raining the line at the underground entrance will be much longer at the Louvre.
Those are my two favorite museums in the world. Have fun!!
Also l’Orangerie for Monet’s Nympheas.
^That is my favorite museum in Paris.
TBH, I’d skip the Louvre completely. By the time you get out of the floors of antiquities it’s time for happy hour at a sidewalk cafe.
More important than your arrival time, plan what you want to see since your time is limited. I recommend starting with the on-line info, especially for the Louvre. http://www.louvre.fr/en/plan and http://www.louvre.fr/sites/default/files/medias/medias_fichiers/fichiers/pdf/louvre-plan-information-english.pdf
It can be fun to wander, but frustrating if you later realize you missed something you’ve always wanted to see!
Musee d’Orsay is smaller and easier easy to navigate - but it is not “small” in its collection. You may want to research that one also.
Enjoy!!
We bought our Louvre tickets (and Catacombs tickets) at the Fnac across the street from our hotel.
For a little extra for the Catacombs tickets, you could get a time slot that let you jump the line. Time >> money any day. Can’t remember if that was an option for the Louvre.
The Louvre is so huge, it is pretty much impossible to do in one day. There will be a huge mob around the Mona Lisa, which has a lot of entertainment value but the painting itself is a bit of a letdown, it’s tiny and you can’t get within 15-20 feet of it. Their Egyptian collection is amazing, a few centuries of looting antiquities makes for a good exhibit I guess.
Didn’t get to Musee d’Orsay, but Musee Rodin was fabulous.
Tourism in France (Paris especially) is way down because of their terrorism problem. So the lines weren’t that bad when we were there in March.
Hi everyone! Thanks for the advice. I went to the Louvre at 9 am sharp down at the bottom level from the metro; there was a long line for security but there was no one in line for tickets. I assumed the Louvre would be crowded as heck but outside of the Mona Lisa, half of the time I had a private viewing with the security guards.