Louvre Museum Paris: Best tips for visiting & tickets (Guide 2024)

The Louvre Museum is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Paris. Unfortunately, it is also one of the most crowded places in the French capital. If you skip preparing for your visit in advance, you may not get the best experience. Let’s see how to visit the Louvre Museum and enjoy it. Discover all our best tips for visiting the Louvre Museum in Paris!

1. Best time to visit Louvre ?
2. TOP 10 things to see ?
3. Which entrance to use ?
4. How much time ?
5. What to see near the Louvre Museum ?
6. All the tips need to know ?

1. Best time to visit the Louvre Museum Paris

If it is your first trip to Paris, you will surely add the Louvre Museum to your bucket list. You will also need to know which day to visit this exceptional museum. Some days the visit could go more smoothly than others. Here are some tips:

• Saturday and Sunday are the most crowded days.
• Friday is also crowded, but not in the morning.
• The best days to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris are Mondays and Thursdays.
• Try to get there before 10 a.m., to take full advantage of your visit. If you are not an early bird, visit the Louvre Museum after 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
• The Louvre Museum is closed on Tuesdays.

Good to know! The Paris Louvre Museum is the world’s most-visited museum. And the number of visitors is limited. We highly recommend booking the tickets in advance: entrance tickets to the Louvre Museum.

2. TOP 10 things to see at Louvre

Here are the TOP most famous paintings, statues, and places to see at Louvre:

1. Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
2. Aphrodite (or the Venus de Milo)
3. The Victory of Samothrace
4. The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David
5. Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix
6. The Wedding at Cana by Paul Veronese
7. The Slaves by Michelangelo
8. Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss by Canova
9. The Caryatids
10. The Glass Pyramid (obviously!)

Good to know! As you can imagine, you won’t be alone near Mona Lisa. The best way to enjoy the Louvre Museum is to visit the less crowded places. For example, do not miss the Cour Marly. It is a charming place to see in Louvre.

Before visiting the Louvre Museum. Once inside the museum, you can easily find a museum map. Yet, you can already download the map from the Louvre museum website (download here).

3. Which entrance to use?

Before visiting the Louvre Museum in Paris, you need to know that there are several entrances and several queues to the Louvre Museum.

Several entrances. The Pyramid is the Louvre’s main entrance. However, at peak times, you can also enter by the Carrousel, Richelieu, or Porte des Lions entrances (depending on your ticket and category). In general, the Louvre’s main entrance is the most crowded one.

Several queues. There are 4 queues: visitors without tickets, visitors with tickets, visitors with membership cards, and priority access (disabled visitors, staff, etc.). If you have booked the ticket in advance, you can go directly to the queue for “visitors with tickets”.

4. How much time do you need at Louvre Paris?

One of the most prominent  museums in the world. If you want to see everything, you need at least 3 days! That’s a lot of time. And you can easily get lost in the museum during the visit. So,

Plan for at least 4 hours. If you visit the Louvre Museum Paris without a guide and without buying tickets in advance, plan for at least 4 hours. On average, purchasing tickets in advance will save you at least 30 minutes – 1 hour (find out more about tickets here).

Fast-track entry. One of the best ways to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris is to book a guided tour. The guided tours last about 3 hours and include the skip-the-line entrance (no time waste). Also, discovering the Louvre’s treasures with a guide is delightful. Find out more about this option: prices for a guided tour of the Louvre within a small group.

Audioguide. If you prefer a visit without a guide, an entry ticket with an audioguide is a good option (check prices here). But it costs more than a simple ticket.

5. What to see near the Louvre Museum

There are many must-sees near the Louvre Museum! Here are some of them you don’t want to miss (click on the name to open in Google Maps):

• Tuileries garden (indeed the most beautiful garden in Paris)
• Pont des Arts (the most romantic bridge in Paris)
• Comédie-Francaise (the oldest active theatre company in the world: founded in 1680)
• Royal Palace Garden (Jardin du Palais-Royal in French)

6. The best way to visit the Louvre Museum Paris: our tips

Free visit. Here are our best tips for visiting the Louvre Museum Paris as a self-guided visitor (without a guide).

1. First, book the entry tickets in advance by choosing the best day and time for you (buy the tickets here).
2. Then, look at the museum map and choose what you want to see (that will help you not get lost inside and save you time).
3. If too many people are at the main entrance, check the other entrances.

Fast-track entry + not getting lost inside + guide explanations. A guided tour is the best option for visiting the Paris Louvre Museum, which will save you time and help you learn more about the museum’s treasures. Find out more here: guided tours at Louvre Paris.

For a more comfortable experience. Whatever visit you prefer, with a guide or without, try to avoid Saturday and Sunday. And if you cannot, choose the morning time.

The Louvre Museum is one of the most stunning places to visit in Paris. Our tips should help you prepare for your visit and enjoy this splendid museum at its best!