Paris is so saturated with museums, monuments and historic monuments that it is difficult to know where to start planning. But once you have booked your plane ticket and got a good price in a Paris hotel, it’s time to start thinking about funny things.
For those who seek to save euros, a place to start your research is to look at the museums and free attractions in Paris (or those with reduced admission).
After all, it is possible to consult a large part of the city’s culture without charging too much money. Here is a quick guide for some of our favorite free museums and advice to find admission at a reduced price.
In relation:
• 47 ways to save on your trip to Paris
• 8 best cheap hotels in Paris for 2025
Museums still free in Paris
Some museums and many public monuments are free every day. It’s great to know when you are caught in the rain and you don’t want to kill time in a coffee.
Note that some of them have a recommended “donation” ticket (sometimes strongly) recommended. Although giving something is not necessary, it is certainly a nice gesture.
Free museums include:
- The Museum of Modern Art, not far from the Eiffel Tower, is one of the two modern art museums in Paris. Its special exhibitions cost 5 to 12 euros, but the permanent collection is completely free.
- Notre Dame’s cathedral, and any church (other than Sainte Chapelle) by the way, is a fair game.
- The Carnavalet Museum in the Marais, allows you to visit the full story of the city for free. (“Donation Ticket” € 5) Temporary exhibitions can cost 10 to 13 euros.
- Arena of Lutèce, the former Roman amphitheater of the city, drags just in the Latin district while waiting for the visitors entering on a picnic while watching local children play football.
- You can also walk in the lessons and outdoor rooms of the Hôtel des Invalides and consult the canons keeping the tomb of Napoleon without paying to enter.
- The Brancusi workshop presents the sculptures of Constantin Brancusi, just outside the Center Pompidou, including the famous sculpture the bird in space. The workshop is completely free to visit.
- More museums that are free every day include: Victor Hugo’s house, Romantic Life Museum, Curie Museum, The Shoah Memorial, The Petit Palais-Museum of Beaux Arts, The Museum of Fragonard and More. Note that many of these load admission to special exhibits, but visiting the permanent collection is free.
With free fireworks on the Eiffel Tower, the Bastille day means a free entrance to many museums in the city. Photo: Yann Caradec
Sometimes free museums in Paris
If you plan your trip like a cheap, come to Paris a weekend for the first Sunday of the month when many national museums are open for free, such as Pompidou and the Musée d’Orsay.
Keep in mind that some museums will only offer the first Sunday a month free only during the dead. Look at the “Practical Information” section of the museum website you plan to visit and it should tell you.
To celebrate the national holiday, the Bastille day, the national museums, such as the Louvre, are also open for free on July 14 of each year. (This could also be to distract the revolutionary spirit of the assault of more prisons.)
Updated with a pass from the Paris Museum
The purchase of a pass of the Paris Museum (available for 2, 4 or 6 days) will provide entry to most national museums and monuments, including the Palais de Versailles and the Arc de Triomphe.
If you are a Buff in history and art, the pass will be easily paid for itself. All you have to do is plan your visits in advance.
For example, a two -day museum’s success costs 70 €. If you plan to visit both the converter prison (where Marie Antoinette has been imprisoned) and the adjacent admission Sainte Chapelle, admission will cost a total of € 26, if purchased independently. Add a ticket for the Louvre (€ 22), the Rodin Museum (€ 14) and the Center Pompidou (€ 15), and in two days, you saved a little money.
We don’t want to open the pass. However, if you devote yourself to visiting several museums, the pass can be a very good deal.
Free for visitors under the age of 26
- EU citizens under 26: All permanent collections of museums and national monuments are free for EU card holders under 26 years of age.
- Other residents under 26 (with stay card): Many Americans and Canadians may think that this law transmits them. But wait! Thousands of studies abroad, pairsAnd English assistants who have a legal residence in France or elsewhere in Europe are also covered by this law. So if you have less than 26 residence permitAnd you will get a free ticket.
- Children: Children often enter places for free. However, the ages vary considerably, so be sure to ask the counter.
And remember that free entry generally only applies to the permanent collections of a museum and often does not cover special exhibitions. However, these special exhibitions often offer youth tickets at reduced prices.
Hotel des Invalides offers daily admission rates late in the day. Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra
Discounts and other offers
If the entrance to a museum is not free, you can often find various discounts if you know where to look for. Find the courage to ask if the price seems high. Young people and visitors “under the age of 18” can usually obtain discounts even if you do not have EU paperwork, visitors can still benefit from discounts.
In addition, museums often operate in tandem to offer discounts. For example, if you present your Palais Garnier ticket when you visit the Orsay Museum, you will receive a discount (if you visit within 8 days). Obviously, right? Discover the offers published on the ticket office.
More information
Paris Tourism Office has an English website that can be useful for finding up -to -date information for any Paris museum. Search by museum name, and soon you will realize how much money you can save (and how much Here is Lisa Cups that you can finally buy at the Louvre gift shop!). They even have an incredibly complete list of all free and reduced museums and admission times.
Are you looking for more free ideas? Here is a list of 25 free things in Paris that we love and 7 things in Paris that are always free.
