Louvre Museum: visitor guide

The Louvre is the largest art museum in the world and sits in a former royal palace on the right bank of the Seine, in the 1st arrondissement. It holds roughly 35,000 works on display across eight departments, from Egyptian antiquities to French painting.

Tickets are sold online with a timed entry slot. Buying in advance is the single biggest time-saver: the walk-up queue at the Pyramid can exceed an hour from late morning through mid-afternoon in summer. Prices and free-admission rules change; confirm the current figure on the museum's own site before you travel.

The museum has three main entrances. The glass Pyramid in the main courtyard is the busiest and the one most visitors use. The Porte des Lions entrance, at the west end near the Seine, and the Carrousel du Louvre entrance, reached from the underground shopping mall on Rue de Rivoli, are usually quieter and worth knowing on a crowded day.

By metro, Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre on lines 1 and 7 puts you a two-minute walk from the Pyramid. Louvre–Rivoli on line 1 is similar. Several bus routes stop along Rue de Rivoli. From Gare du Nord, take line 4 to Châtelet and walk about 10 minutes, or a taxi for roughly 15–25 minutes depending on traffic.

If you are coming from the Eiffel Tower, it is a 35–45 minute walk along the Seine, or two metro stops on line 8 to Concorde then a short walk. Most central Paris hotels are within a 20-minute walk or a single metro ride.

The best time to visit is a weekday evening. The Louvre stays open late on Wednesday and Friday, and the galleries empty noticeably after 18:00 as day visitors leave. You get the same rooms with far more space, and the Mona Lisa viewing area is calmer.

If you can only come during the day, arrive at opening or in the last two hours before closing. Weekend mornings and the middle of the day in July and August are the worst: school groups, tour buses and heat in the glass-roofed halls. Rainy Paris days also push crowds indoors, so a wet Sunday is close to the busiest combination.

Seasonally, April to June and September to October are the most comfortable for Paris overall. Winter weekdays are the quietest of the year, and the museum is a good wet-weather plan then.

The Louvre sits in a dense, walkable part of central Paris. The Tuileries Garden starts immediately west of the museum and runs to Place de la Concorde, a 15-minute walk. The Palais Royal garden and its arcades are two minutes north. The Musée d'Orsay, across the river, is a 20-minute walk over the Pont du Carrousel or a short metro ride.

For food, the streets around Rue de Rivoli and Rue Saint-Honoré have everything from bakery counters to full restaurants; the area directly inside the Carrousel mall is convenient but pricier. Most visitors base themselves anywhere in the 1st, 2nd, 4th or 5th arrondissements and walk or take one metro line.

Enter through the least busy door rather than the Pyramid if the queue looks long. Once inside, pick two or three wings instead of trying to cover everything: the Denon wing holds the Mona Lisa and Italian painting, Sully has Egyptian and Greek antiquities, and Richelieu has French sculpture and the Napoleon III apartments.

Download the museum map before you arrive, since phone signal inside the stone galleries can be patchy. Large bags and backpacks are not allowed in the galleries; there are lockers and a cloakroom near the entrances. Wear comfortable shoes, as the walk from one end of the building to the other is genuinely long.

Photography without flash is generally allowed. Food and drink are restricted to designated areas, so plan a break at one of the cafés rather than snacking in the galleries.