Paris is home to the world’s most recognisable smile (well, smirk), but there’s much more to the City of Light’s museum offering than just Mona Lisa’s grin. And sure, you have to explore the Louvre’s sprawling collection at least once, but that shouldn’t mean missing out on the rest of the great museums Paris has to offer.
While there is still progress to be made around the promotion of young artists, when it comes to heritage, Paris knows what it’s doing: you’ll find over 100 museums that reflect this city’s obsession with artistic preservation. Below, you’ll see names you recognise, like the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, as well as smaller, more daring institutions that you’ve yet to discover. Time to get cultured à la française.
When’s the best day to visit a museum in Paris?
Some of the city’s biggest museums open their doors for free on the first Sunday of every month, including the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, as well as some of the less obvious options, such as the Musée National Gustave Moreau, the former home and museum of the Symbolist painter.
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This article was written by the editorial team at Time Out Paris. At Time Out, all of our travel guides are written by local writers who know their cities inside out. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines. This guide includes affiliate links, which have no influence on our editorial content. For more information, see our affiliate guidelines.