Places where children have room to move and something to look at, all free. Booking rules matter more with kids in tow, so check each card.
Always free in Paris14
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 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 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.
The roof of the department store, eight floors up, looks over the back of the Opéra Garnier to the Eiffel Tower and across to Sacré-Cœur. On the way, the 1912 stained-glass dome over the perfume hall is worth a stop of its own.
Free when
Always · Mon–Sat 10:00–20:00, Sun and public holidays 11:00–20:00. Can close in rain or strong wind.
Free for whom
Everyone, no ticket, no purchase
Reservation
Not needed
Time needed
30 min
How to get there
Metro 7 or 9 to Chaussée d'Antin La Fayette, main building at 40 Boulevard Haussmann, escalators to floor 8
Worth it? Yes.The easiest free view in the city. Part of the roof is given over to a seasonal bar, but the viewing side stays open; the last hour before closing has the best light.
The Senate's garden: a formal basin where children push wooden sailboats, the shaded Medici Fountain, an orchard, chess tables, and green metal chairs you can drag wherever you like.
Free when
Always · every day. Opens between 7:30 and 8:15, closes between 16:45 and 21:30 depending on the season; hours shift every two weeks with the sun.
Free for whom
Everyone. Boat hire, the playground and the puppet theatre are paid.
Reservation
Not needed
Time needed
1h
How to get there
RER B to Luxembourg, or Metro 4 to Saint-Sulpice
Worth it? Yes.The chairs are free and the lawns are mostly off limits, so take a chair by the Medici Fountain. Guards start whistling people out half an hour before the gates close.
An enclosed garden ringed by arcades, two minutes from the Louvre and far quieter. Daniel Buren's black and white striped columns fill the first courtyard and children climb all over them.
Free when
Always · every day. April to September 8:00–22:30, October to March 8:00–20:30.
Free for whom
Everyone
Reservation
Not needed
Time needed
30 to 45 min
How to get there
Metro 1 or 7 to Palais Royal Musée du Louvre, entrance on Place Colette
Worth it? Yes.The best bench break near the Louvre. Walk the full length under the lime trees and leave by the north end, which puts you in front of Galerie Vivienne.
A terraced park on the Belleville hill with a belvedere at the top that takes in the whole city, Eiffel Tower included. Locals outnumber visitors by a wide margin.
Free when
Always · every day. Opens 8:00 on weekdays and 9:00 at weekends; closes around 19:30 in October, later in summer, earlier in winter.
Free for whom
Everyone
Reservation
Not needed
Time needed
45 min
How to get there
Metro 11 to Pyrénées and walk down Rue Piat to the belvedere, or Metro 2 to Couronnes and climb
Worth it? Yes.Arrive from the top at Rue Piat so the view comes first and the walk is downhill. The belvedere terrace sits on the street, so the view is still there after the park gates shut.
A 4.5 km planted walkway on a disused railway line, opened in 1988, long before New York's High Line. The first stretch runs on a brick viaduct above Avenue Daumesnil at third-floor height.
Free when
Always · every day. Opens 8:00 on weekdays and 9:00 at weekends; closes around 19:30 in October, later in summer, earlier in winter.
Free for whom
Everyone
Reservation
Not needed
Time needed
45 min for the viaduct, 1h30 to the end
How to get there
Metro 1, 5 or 8 to Bastille, then the staircase on Avenue Daumesnil just behind the Opéra Bastille
Worth it? Yes.The viaduct section as far as Jardin de Reuilly is the part to walk; after that it drops to ground level and gets ordinary. Joggers own it before 9:00.
A canal finished in 1825, lined with plane trees and crossed by arched iron footbridges. Barges rise and fall through the locks while people sit along the edge with their legs over the water.
Free when
Always · open quays, any time. On Sundays the quays are closed to cars, 10:00–18:00 from October to March and 10:00–20:00 from April to September.
Free for whom
Everyone
Reservation
Not needed
Time needed
1h
How to get there
Metro 5 to Jacques Bonsergent, then down Rue de Lancry to Quai de Valmy
Worth it? Yes.Walk north from Rue de Lancry to the Bassin de la Villette and wait on a footbridge for a boat to come through a lock. Sunday is the day, with no traffic on either quay.
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.
A steep 25-hectare park built in 1867 in an old quarry, with cliffs, a lake and lawns you are allowed to lie on, which is rare in Paris.
Free when
Always · every day from 7:00, closing around 20:00 in October and later in summer
Free for whom
Everyone
Reservation
Not needed
Time needed
1h
How to get there
Metro 7bis to Buttes Chaumont or Botzaris, or Metro 5 to Laumière
Worth it? Depends.Check before you cross town: major works run until 2027 and the central island, the Temple de la Sibylle and the waterfall are closed, with part of the lake path too. The lawns and the hills are still good for a picnic.
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 terrace on top of the arch, 284 steps up, looks straight down twelve avenues with the Eiffel Tower to one side. Standing under the arch at street level is always free; the roof is free on five Sundays a year.
Free when
First Sunday of November, December, January, February and March, 10:00–22:30, last entry 45 minutes before closing
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. Expect a long line at the underpass.
Time needed
1h
How to get there
Metro 1, 2 or 6, or RER A, to Charles de Gaulle Étoile. Use the underpass, never cross the roundabout.
Worth it? Yes.The best paid view in Paris, free five times a year. Go at dusk, when the queue is shorter than at midday and the avenues light up.
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 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.
