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Paris for Free (Sometimes)
Sights that are sometimes free—often on the first Sunday of the month—in Paris: the galleries of the Louvre, Orsay, and Pompidou, the palaces of Versailles and Fontainebleau, and museums devoted to Rodin, Picasso, and Delacroix and others
From the Louvre to Arc de Triomphe, the Rodin Museum to the Picasso Museum, dozens of Paris's top sights are free of charge—you just have to know when to go. Many waive admission charges on the first Sunday of the month; others are free only in winter. Here's a cheat sheet on how (or, rather, when) to get into the biggies for free.
The Louvre — Quite simply one of the world's greatest museums, from ancient statuary—much more than just the armless Venus de Milo—to Renaissance paintings—Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is but the beginning... » Full Story TIPFree
on the first Sunday of each month
Any day on which
entrance to a normally pricey sight is free is never a secret. Expect
a crush of visitors, especially of schools on class trips and other cash-strapped
groups. Sure you get in for free, but the crowds may not make it worth
your while. At the very least, try to show up when the doors open so you
can be at the head of the surging masses. Caveat emptor.
Note that
many of these sights are already covered on the Carte Musées et Monuments, described in the DISCOUNTS section, so you may not have to brave those first-Sunday
crowds to get in free.
Musée d'Orsay — French art from 18th to early 20th centuries in a converted rail station; this includes the world's greatest and largest collection of those crowd-pleasin' Impressionists and post-Impressionists, like Monet, Degas, and Renoir... » Full Story
Centre Georges
Pompidou (Pompidou Museum) — A stellar collection of modern art in a giant building that must have looked cutting edge in the 1970s and bears a striking resemblance to a hamster's Habitrail set... » Full Story
Musée National
du Moyen Ages - Thermes de Cluny — This museum to the Middle Ages in Paris is partially installed in the city's ancient
Roman baths... » Full Story
Musée Picasso —
A
charming mix of the great artist's works and personal effects—even the master's paint-spattered chair... » Full Story
Rodin Museum —
The sculptor's studio and home, the house and its surrounding gardens filled with his greatest masterpieces... » Full Story
Musée
de l'Orangerie — One of my favorite hidden sights in Paris, packed with Impressionist paintings and preserving in its basement two rooms fitted with 360 degrees of Monet waterlillies... » Full Story
Musée de l'Assistance Publque - Hôpitaux de Paris — Celebrating the glories of French medical care, from the Middle Ages to modern socialized medicine in a 17th century mansion, with a courtyard garden of medicinal plants. (www.aphp.fr/site/histoire/musee.htm)
Musée des
Arts d'Afrique et d'Oceanie — The Museum of African and Oceanic Arts offers a nice break from all that wall-to-wall European art, architecture, and history that you are subjected to nby almsot every other Paris institution. (www.musee-afriqueoceanie.fr)
Musée National des
Arts Asiatiques Guimet — One of Europe's greatest collections of Asian art make for a nice break from all those Western masterpieces. (www.museeguimet.fr)
Musée National
Eugene Delacroix — A museum
devoted to the works of 19th-century Romantic master Delacroix in his former studio and home (www.musee-delacroix.fr)
Musée Gustave Moreau —Museum devoted to a frankly forgettable 19th-century symbolist painter. Still, if you're into it, the place is free this one day a month. (www.parisinfo.com)
Musée des Plans relief — One of the collections within Les Invalides, this is a weirdly delightful gathering of teensy models—at 1/600th scale—of fortified twns and palaces from the 17th to 19th centuries. (www.parisinfo.com)
Château de Fontainebleau — Not in Paris, technically, but this is one of the best châteaux in the surrounding region and well worth a daytrip... » Full Story Free
on Sundays from 10am to 1pm
Crypt Archéologique de Parvis de Notre Dame (The Archeological Crypt of Notre Dame Square)
— The archaeological excavations
beneath Notre Dame's square date back to the Roman and Celtic eras, yet few of the hundreds of thousands of tourists who flock to the cathedral even know it's there... » Full story
With the cold come savings: Free November to March
To corrupt a cliché, I love Paris in the wintertime. No crowds, low hotel rates, the square in front of Hôtel de Ville becomes a public skating rink, and hot crepes from sidewalk stands taste that much better when it's chill.
What's more, the slow winter months (October through March) add more sights to the list of first-Sunday freebies.
You can climb the Arc de Triomphe; tour the Conciergerie (www.parisinfo.com); commune with gargoyles on the towers of Notre-Dame; pay homage to dead French greats at the Panthéon (www.parisinfo.com); and step into the stained-glass jewel box of Sainte Chapelle (make sure you go on a sunny day—even if it means paying).
But you needn't wait until that Sunday to sightsee without spending. Dozens of Parisian sights are admission free year-round—and I'm not talking about the obvious ones, like churches, parks, and markets. You could spend a week in Paris without spending a single Euro on sightseeing.
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This article was last updated in December 2006. All information was accurate at the time.
Copyright © 1998–2010 by Reid Bramblett. All rights reserved.
