Everything here is under a roof and costs nothing. Check the free day on each card: some of these museums are free only at certain hours.
Always free in Paris12
Open to everyone, every day they are open. No ticket to buy.
Notre-Dame Cathedral
Île de la Cité
Always freeBooking recommendedIndoorGood with kids
The cathedral reopened in December 2024 with cleaned stone that is paler than anyone alive remembers. The nave, the rose windows and the new liturgical furniture are all free to see.
Free when
Always · Mon–Wed and Fri 7:45–19:00, Thu 7:45–22:00, Sat–Sun 8:15–19:30
Free for whom
Everyone. The Treasury (€12) and the towers are separate paid visits.
Reservation
Optional free time slot on notredamedeparis.fr or the official app. Without one, join the walk-up line on the square.
Time needed
45 min to 1h
How to get there
Metro 4 to Cité, or RER B/C to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame
Worth it? Yes.Worth it, and Thursday evening is the calm slot since it stays open until 22:00. Anyone selling you a cathedral entry ticket on the square is selling nothing.
A white basilica on the highest hill in Paris, with a huge gold mosaic inside and the whole city laid out below the front steps. The view from the steps costs nothing; only the dome climb is paid.
Free when
Always · every day 6:30–22:30
Free for whom
Everyone. The dome is a separate paid visit.
Reservation
Not needed. Expect a 10 to 15 minute wait between 10:30 and 17:00.
Time needed
1h with the view
How to get there
Metro 2 to Anvers then the stairs, or Metro 12 to Abbesses and a 10 minute climb. The funicular costs one transit ticket.
Worth it? Yes.Go before 9:30 or after 19:00. Midday the steps are packed and the bracelet sellers at the bottom of the stairs are persistent, so keep your hands in your pockets and keep walking.
The city's fine arts museum, in a 1900 exhibition palace with painted ceilings and a courtyard garden. Monet, Courbet, Rembrandt and a full Guimard dining room, with no ticket.
Free when
Always · Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00, last entry to the permanent collection 17:15. Closed Mondays, 1 Jan, 1 May, 14 July, 11 Nov, 25 Dec.
Free for whom
Everyone, permanent collection and garden. Temporary exhibitions are paid.
Reservation
Not needed for the permanent collection
Time needed
1h30
How to get there
Metro 1 or 13 to Champs-Élysées Clemenceau
Worth it? Yes.The best free museum in Paris, and the building alone justifies the stop. Friday and Saturday late openings cover the paid exhibitions only, so come in the daytime.
The museum of the history of Paris, spread through two Marais mansions. Old shop signs, Revolution relics, Proust's bedroom and an entire Art Nouveau jewellery shop rebuilt inside.
Free when
Always · Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00, last entry 17:15. Closed Mondays, 1 Jan, 1 May, 25 Dec.
Free for whom
Everyone, permanent collection. Temporary exhibitions are paid.
Reservation
Not needed for the permanent collection
Time needed
2h
How to get there
Metro 1 to Saint-Paul or Metro 8 to Chemin Vert
Worth it? Yes.It is big, so pick a period instead of trying to walk it all. The shop sign gallery on the ground floor and the Revolution rooms upstairs are the two to keep.
The city's modern art collection in the east wing of the Palais de Tokyo building. Two versions of Matisse's La Danse and Dufy's room-sized mural on electricity are the reasons to come.
Everyone, permanent collection. Temporary exhibitions are paid.
Reservation
Not needed for the permanent collection. Some rooms can be closed.
Time needed
1h
How to get there
Metro 9 to Iéna or Alma-Marceau
Worth it? Yes.With the Centre Pompidou shut for renovation, this is where to see twentieth-century art in Paris for free. Walk out onto the terrace afterwards for a side view of the Eiffel Tower.
The studios and gardens where sculptor Antoine Bourdelle worked, left much as they were, with monumental bronzes standing among the trees. Rodin's assistant, a fraction of Rodin's crowds.
Everyone, permanent collection. Temporary exhibitions are paid.
Reservation
Not needed
Time needed
1h
How to get there
Metro 4, 6, 12 or 13 to Montparnasse-Bienvenüe, or Metro 12 to Falguière
Worth it? Yes.Go if the Rodin museum's ticket price puts you off. The old wooden studio at the back, with its stove and plaster dust, is the room to find.
The Occupation and the August 1944 uprising, told through General Leclerc and Jean Moulin, in a pavilion across the square from the Catacombs entrance. Twenty metres below sits the bunker that served as the Resistance command post.
Free when
Always · Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00, last entry 17:30. Closed Mondays.
Free for whom
Everyone, permanent collection. The underground command post needs a separate ticket; ask at the desk.
Reservation
Not needed for the museum
Time needed
1h30
How to get there
Metro 4 or 6, or RER B, to Denfert-Rochereau
Worth it? Yes.A serious, well-made museum that most people walk past on the way to the Catacombs queue. The command post is reached by about a hundred steps and no lift.
A green-shuttered 1830s house at the end of a cobbled lane, once painter Ary Scheffer's home, where Chopin and George Sand came on Fridays. It reopened in February 2026 after a full restoration.
France's Holocaust museum and archive. The Wall of Names in the forecourt lists the 76,000 Jews deported from France, and the permanent exhibition below follows what happened to them.
Free when
Always · Sun–Fri 10:00–18:00, Thursdays until 22:00. Closed Saturdays, 1 Jan, 1 May, 14 July, 15 Aug, 25 Dec and some Jewish holidays.
Free for whom
Everyone
Reservation
Not needed. Free guided tour in French on Sundays at 15:00, in English on the second Sunday of the month.
Time needed
1h30
How to get there
Metro 1 to Saint-Paul or Metro 7 to Pont Marie
Worth it? Yes.Heavy and worth the time. It is one of the few museums open on Monday, and there is an airport-style security check at the door.
The great oval reading room of the old National Library, glass roof, iron columns and open shelves that include a large comics collection. Since the 2022 restoration anyone can walk in and sit down.
Free when
Always · Tue 10:00–20:00, Wed–Sun 10:00–18:00. Closed Mondays and most public holidays.
Free for whom
Everyone, no reader card, no age limit. The museum upstairs is paid.
Reservation
Not needed
Time needed
30 min
How to get there
Metro 3 to Bourse, or Metro 7 and 14 to Pyramides. Enter at 5 Rue Vivienne or 58 Rue de Richelieu.
Worth it? Yes.The best rainy-hour stop in central Paris. It is a working library, so keep your voice down and expect a short line at the door on weekend afternoons.
Glass-roofed shopping arcades from the early 1800s. Galerie Vivienne (1823) has the mosaic floor and the old bookshop; ten minutes north, Passage des Panoramas (1799), Jouffroy and Verdeau run end to end across the boulevard.
Free when
Always · Galerie Vivienne every day 8:30–20:30. The other passages are generally open daily, and some shut at night or on Sundays.
Free for whom
Everyone
Reservation
Not needed
Time needed
1h for the full chain
How to get there
Metro 3 to Bourse for Galerie Vivienne (4 Rue des Petits-Champs); Metro 8 or 9 to Grands Boulevards for Panoramas and Jouffroy
Worth it? Yes.A dry walk on a wet day. Do Vivienne first, then go up Rue Vivienne to Panoramas and carry straight on through Jouffroy and Verdeau. Many shops close on Sunday, which makes for clearer photos and less to look at.
The eighteenth-century art collection of the founders of La Samaritaine, hung in a Marais townhouse: Fragonard, Boucher, Canaletto, snuffboxes and panelled salons.
Free when
Always · Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00. Closed Mondays.
Free for whom
Everyone, permanent collection. Temporary exhibitions are paid.
Reservation
Not needed
Time needed
45 min
How to get there
Metro 1 to Saint-Paul or Metro 8 to Chemin Vert, then 8 Rue Elzévir
Worth it? Depends.Lovely if you like Rococo, skippable if you do not. It is three minutes from Carnavalet, so look in only if you still have energy. No lift, stairs throughout.
Mostly museums. The free window, who it applies to and the booking rule are on each card.
Louvre, free for under-18s and under-26s from the EEA
Louvre
Free on certain daysBooking recommendedIndoorGood with kids
On any open day the Louvre is free for everyone under 18 and for 18 to 25 year olds from the European Economic Area. Orsay, the Orangerie and the other national museums apply the same rule.
Free when
Mon, Thu, Sat, Sun 9:00–18:00; Wed and Fri 9:00–21:00. Closed Tuesdays, 1 Jan, 1 May, 25 Dec.
Free for whom
Under-18s of any nationality with ID. Under-26s who are citizens of an EEA country, or who live in one with a residence permit, with photo ID. Other visitors aged 18 to 25 pay full price.
Reservation
A time slot is recommended even with free entry; choose the free ticket on the Louvre's own ticketing site.
Time needed
3h
How to get there
Metro 1 or 7 to Palais Royal Musée du Louvre
Worth it? Yes.If you qualify, this is the single biggest saving in Paris. Use the Wednesday or Friday late opening, when the galleries thin out after 18:00.
Rodin's sculptures in the mansion where he worked, with The Thinker and The Gates of Hell outdoors in a large garden.
Free when
First Sunday of the month from October to March only, 10:00–18:30, last entry 17:45
Free for whom
Everyone
Reservation
Not needed on free Sundays
Time needed
1h30
How to get there
Metro 13 to Varenne
Worth it? Yes.From April to September the first Sunday is a normal paid day, which catches people out. On a cold free Sunday the garden is nearly empty and the bronzes look better for it.
The Louvre no longer does free first Sundays. Its free slot for all visitors is the first Friday of the month from 18:00 until closing at 21:00.
Free when
First Friday of the month, 18:00–21:00, last entry 20:00. Not in July or August. Also free all day on 14 July.
Free for whom
Everyone
Reservation
The Louvre recommends booking a free time slot on its ticketing site. Slots for the free evening go fast.
Time needed
2h to 3h
How to get there
Metro 1 or 7 to Palais Royal Musée du Louvre
Worth it? Depends.Three hours is enough for one wing, and the Mona Lisa room is a scrum. Choose Richelieu for the Napoleon III apartments and the sculpture courts, and it becomes a good evening.
Free on certain daysBooking requiredIndoorGood with kids
The Impressionist collection in the old Orsay railway station: Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh's self-portrait. Free for all on the first Sunday of every month.
Free when
First Sunday of the month, 9:30–18:00, last entry 17:00
Free for whom
Everyone. Under-18s and under-26s from the EEA are free on any open day.
Reservation
Mandatory: reserve a free time slot on the museum's ticketing site. No slot, no entry.
Time needed
2h to 3h
How to get there
RER C to Musée d'Orsay or Metro 12 to Solférino
Worth it? Depends.The fifth floor is shoulder to shoulder on free Sundays. Take the earliest slot you can get and go straight up to the Impressionists before doing anything else.
The domed temple where France buries its heroes: Voltaire, Hugo, Marie Curie, Josephine Baker. Foucault's pendulum swings under the dome and the crypt runs beneath the whole building.
Free when
First Sunday of November, December, January, February and March, 10:00–18:00, last entry 17:15
Free for whom
Everyone on those Sundays. Under-18s, and 18 to 25 year olds who are EU nationals or legal residents of France, are free year-round.
Reservation
The official page does not require a booking for free Sundays
Time needed
1h
How to get there
RER B to Luxembourg or Metro 10 to Cardinal Lemoine
Worth it? Depends.The interior is grand and cold, and the crypt means more if the names mean something to you. Good free, a harder call at full price.
The free viewpoints all look at the tower, and none of them puts you inside the ironwork. Climbing the stairs is the cheapest ticket and the best way to see how the thing is built, with the city dropping away between the girders. Go near dusk and stay for the lights on the hour.
Everything above is free. This is the only paid pick on the page, chosen because no free option replaces it.
