The 17 Best Museums in Paris

The range of museums and cultural offerings in Paris is one of the largest in Europe, so much so that sometimes you need a guideline to avoid getting lost among so much variety and to be able to make a better selection. It's impossible to choose just one, but as I imagine your time in Paris won't be infinite, here's a list of the city's most important museums so you can choose which one or ones to spend your time in.

It needs no introduction; it is the museum par excellence of Paris and one of the largest art collections in Europe. That's why I advise you to book your skip-the-line tickets in advance. Otherwise, you run the risk of the Louvre tickets being sold out due to the influx of visitors.

Types of tickets

In addition to general admission, there are various ticket options for exploring the museum. Here are the best ones:

• Guided tour: without a doubt, the most recommended. To fully enjoy the visual spectacle in front of you, I 100% recommend you book a guided tour of the Louvre Museum; when a professional explains the main works of the museum, you enjoy and learn twice as much and in half the time.
• Family option: If you're travelling with your family and you're thinking of skipping the Louvre because you're going with children: don't! You have the option of hiring a private guided tour for children that will awaken their interest in art and culture.

Interesting details

I find it hard to be objective about this museum because, of all the museums in Paris, it is my favourite. The size of the museum, divided into two floors, and the lateral and orderly layout of the rooms allow you to enjoy it without stress and calmly. In addition, the light that bathes the main gallery and the peaceful atmosphere make this a very special place.

Types of entrances

• General admission: To see both the permanent and temporary collections, the best option is to book your digital ticket to the Musée d'Orsay.
• Guided tour: In my case, I prefer to enjoy it on my own, but don't rule out taking a guided tour of the Musée D'Orsay, which will give you the information you need to fall in love with the museum itself and the works of art it contains.

Interesting details

The Pompidou Centre in Paris is one of the most original you can see in Europe and one of the largest collections of contemporary art in the world. With a very particular architecture, the Pompidou Museum is divided into four floors (there are two more dedicated to temporary exhibitions) where you can see works by Duchamp, Kandinsky, Picasso and Matisse.

Organise your visit

The spaciousness of the rooms of the Pompidou Museum allows you to experience a visit away from the crowds. If you are travelling with children and you have to choose only one museum to take them to, choose the Pompidou; the contact with art will be much more fun and closer to them than in "conventional" museums and will awaken their curiosity.

Although it is unusual to find long queues at the Pompidou, you can also buy tickets for the Pompidou Centre in advance.

Interesting details

Whether you are familiar with Rodin's work or have never seen one of his sculptures, you must visit this museum. The collection of 400 works of art housed inside a historic 18th-century mansion is mixed with the works on display in the beautiful gardens, where you can stroll around uncrowded and unhurried.

As always, I recommend that you get your ticket to the Rodin Museum in advance so that you can simply arrive and enjoy yourself.

Interesting details

If you like impressionist painting, this is the museum where you can enjoy impressionist and post-impressionist works by Matisse, Picasso, Renoir and Cézanne. Located near the Louvre, in the Tuileries garden, the Orangerie is a small and specialised museum (you will recognise it by its appearance of a Greek temple), but it is still one of the most visited museums in Paris and one of the most outstanding in the city.

You may have seen Monet' s painting of the water lilies (the one he painted up to 250 times in his quest for perfection); eight of those works are in this museum. To make sure you don't miss out, make sure you buy your ticket to the Musée de l'Orangerie in advance.

Interesting details

The Spanish artist, a reference in Cubism, always had Paris as his second home. If you take a guided tour of the Montmartre district, you will discover the places he frequented during his stay in the French capital and more than one anecdote about the artist. For this reason, there could not fail to be a museum dedicated to his figure in Paris, specifically in the Marais neighbourhood (a neighbourhood which, by the way, is well worth a visit).

Although it is not the largest existing collection of this artist, the works and documentation collected in this museum are still a window into the life and work of the Spanish genius. In addition, with your ticket to the Picasso Museum you can also admire pieces by Matisse, Miró, Derain and Cézanne that were part of the artist's own collection.

Interesting details

France is a country that places great importance on its military history, the achievements of which are embodied in the figure of Napoleon. On a visit to the Musée des Invalides, located in the hotel of the same name, you will learn about the European political landscape while viewing the collection of armour, war paintings, weapons and other objects related to the French Revolution and the Second World War.

The visit also includes the Dome Church where Napoleon's tomb is located.

Interesting details

Every major city has a wax museum in which the great personalities who are part of the history of the city are represented. Paris is not to be outdone, and in its case, the wax museum (Musée Grevin) is quite successful, with the spectacle that you'll find in the Galerie des Mirages.

Ryan Gosling, Marilyn Monroe, Louis XIV and Mozart are some of the figures represented in the museum. This is one of the most fun family visits, but I recommend you book your tickets to the Grevin Museum in advance to avoid the queues at the entrance.

Interesting details

In this museum you won't see works of art or learn about history. In this museum you will have a good time and you will be amazed by what your own senses can deceive you. The museum of illusions is, as its name suggests, focused on optical phenomena and intellectual challenges.

This experience, which can also be enjoyed in cities such as New York, Shanghai, Toronto and Dubai, is ideal for sharing with friends or children. If you want to take a break between visits on your trip to Paris, book your tickets to the Musée des Illusions and enjoy a different experience.

Interesting details

You'd better not go to this museum hungry, because you run the risk of getting a sugar rush. A visit to the Musée du Chocolat in Paris includes a tasting of all the chocolate you want and will help you learn about the history of what is one of France's most famous treats and, of course, how it is made.

A one-and-a-half hour audio-guided tour, which you can book online, will make your mouth water during this visit.

Interesting details

You have to travel away from the centre of Paris to see this museum dedicated to the First World War, but if you're particularly interested in this part of history it's worth buying a ticket to the Musée de la Grande Guerre, where you can see a total of 70,000 historical objects and documents.

The collection was started by a private historian, Jean-Pierre Verney, who collected the objects over a period of 50 years, which were then bought by the community of Pays de Meaux, which now houses the museum. One of the advantages of this museum is that it is adapted for children to visit and, in an interactive way, learn a little more about this important period in the history of Europe.

Interesting details

Not all the works of art in Paris are displayed on a pedestal or in a frame. The city's cultural legacy is also something to admire, and within this legacy is the French wine tradition. In this museum you will learn more about wine, how it is made and its importance in the French capital. Admission to the Wine Museum also includes a wine tasting.

The wine museum is located in the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower and its galleries are built over the old quarries of Passy.

Interesting details

Impressionist painter Auguste Renoir lived in what is now the Musée Montmartre, which is why the stunning gardens surrounding the museum (overlooking a secret vineyard) still bear his name. This museum is dedicated to nostalgia; nostalgia divided between Renoir's life and the essence of the Montmartre neighbourhood that inspired the artist during one of the most important artistic periods of his career.

In the Montmartre Museum, the most important thing is not the works of art (which are also there) but the history of a neighbourhood and an era, the history of the artistic bohemia of Paris. If you have fallen in love with the stories of this place and the people who lived there, I recommend you visit the Montmartre Museum and take the time to assimilate everything this museum has to tell you.

Interesting details

The Petit Palais building, at the beginning of the Avenue des Champs Elysées, houses works of art from antiquity to the beginning of the 20th century and is known as the Musée des Beaux-Arts of the city of Paris.

Admission to the permanent collection is free, but the most interesting part of the museum is the temporary exhibitions. It is also worth taking a look at the building itself and strolling through the peaceful central garden.

Interesting details

There are gastronomic museums, museums of works of art, museums of the history of those who inhabited the city, museums of war... Of course, there had to be one that tells the story of the evolution of the city of Paris itself from its birth to the present day.

This is the Carnavalet Museum, located in the Marais district, and it houses all kinds of works of art, models, furniture and other objects related to the history of the French capital. A recommended visit for anyone curious about how the City of Light came to be the way it is today.

Interesting details

Don't let the name confuse you; in this museum you won't be learning about the history of Japan, but you will still experience key pieces of modern and contemporary art similar to those in the Pompidou Museum. The Palais de Tokyo houses a smaller collection than its big brother, but is just as interesting.

The Palais de Tokyo museum is a centre for artistic creation, where visual arts, fashion and music all have their place. One of the most original and necessary visits for art lovers looking for something new and out of the norm.

Interesting details

Access to the permanent collection of this museum, in one of the wings of the Palais de Tokyo, is free of charge. The Musée d'Art Moderne focuses on 20th century painting and therefore on trends such as surrealism, Dadaism, Fauvism and Cubism by artists such as Modigliani, Picasso, Matisse and Braque.

The Museum of Modern Art tends to go unnoticed by most people, but I assure you that it is well worth a visit.

Interesting details

Paris is the great capital of the arts, which is why it has so many cultural centres where you can enjoy discovering the heritage of its artists. If, in addition to visiting its monuments, you have decided to make your visit a real experience of French art and culture, here are some other exhibitions to complete your cultural agenda:

• The World of Banksy exhibition in Paris: the mysterious graffiti artist Banksy has a large number of murals around the world that leave no one indifferent. In this immersive exhibition about his work you can learn more about the satire and social activism that this well-known British artist tries to convey.
• Marmottan Monet Museum in Paris: if you like Monet's work, this is the museum for you. It is the largest collection of paintings by the impressionist artist. Among all the paintings housed in the museum you can explore the mythical 'Impression, rising sun'
• Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac in Paris: this is a collection of works of art from all over the world that show the cultural diversity of the five continents. From masks to weapons, from musical instruments to tapestries, a suggestive collection that will surprise you.
• Hotel de la Marine in Paris: although it is not a museum as such, this iconic 18th century monument that preserves the impressive decoration of the period, also has a collection of works that shows the evolution of art from ancient civilisations to the present day...

If you're a museum lover and after reading this list you've already pencilled several into your travel plan, I recommend you invest in the Paris Museum Pass, a city pass that includes free, skip-the-line entry to all museums for 2, 4 or 6 consecutive days depending on which option you choose.

Organise yourself according to the amount of time you have to see the city (the museums on offer are only part of what there is to see in Paris), the size of the museums you want to see and the areas in which each one is located. Once you have this clear, I think the Paris Museum Pass can compensate you if you have several museums on your list to see during your visit.

For more information about this tourist pass I leave you our post, very useful to know if it is worth the Paris tourist pass.

If you want to complete your visit to the City of Light with a more relaxed attraction, a good icing on the cake is always to go up the Eiffel Tower and enjoy the incredible views of the city from the top. I leave you with this article I wrote about Eiffel Tower Tickets and Tours so you can read all the details you need to know when planning your visit.

If, on the other hand, you feel like relaxing while you see the city's most incredible buildings, a cruise on the Seine is a great option. I have also written a guide on Seine River Cruises in Paris to tell you everything you need to know. Bon voyage!