The Paris Museum Pass gives huge discounts and savings on tickets to sights, monuments, palaces, and galleries including the Louvre, D’Orsay, Pompidou, and Versailles.
Paris has some of the greatest museums and art galleries in the world. The Paris Museum Pass gives unlimited access to most permanent collections to make for a great deal for cultural sightseeing. Over 60 sights, museums, monuments, or galleries are included in the Paris Museum Pass including virtually all major sights in Paris including the popular Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, the Pompidou Center, and the Arc de Triomphe, as well as the popular day-trip destination – the Palace of Versailles. The Eifel Tower is not covered — book admission well in advance.
The Carte Musées, formerly the savings pass of choice for Paris museums, is no longer used. Also note that the Paris Museum Pass does not include transportation – a range of further “Paris Pass” products are available that cover transportation, further sights, and hop-on-hop-off buses.
Buying the Paris Museum Pass
The Paris Museum Pass gives a single admission to over 60 different sights for a period of two days / 48 hours, four days / 96 hours, or six days / 114 hours and costs €62, €77, or €92 respectively. (Children under 18 enter most museums in France for free so no discounted passes are offered.)
The Paris Museum Pass may be bought online but vouchers must often be exchanged at a specific office in Paris. It is easier, cheaper, and less hassle to buy the pass at Paris tourist information offices (including at Charles de Gaulle Airport and major Paris train stations) or even easier from participating museums or monuments. Smaller sights often have shorter queues. Some kiosks and souvenir shops also sell the pass.
An e-pass is now also available and may be bought online and activated on a mobile phone. The prices are the same for an e-pass or a physical paper card.
Using the Paris Museum Pass
Bearers of the Museum Pass may generally go directly to the museum or monument entrance without having to pass by the ticket counters. Skipping these lines is one of the best benefits of the museum pass – queues at ticket windows at top sights including the Musée d’Orsay and the Palace of Versailles are often notoriously long.
Free time-slot reservations are essential to visit the Louvre Museum — usefully, this may be made long before actually buying a museum pass, so reserve a time as soon as travel dates are known. The pass on its own does not guarantee a time slot at the Louvre.
Make free reservations at any museum with a time-slot option — currently including the Louvre, Orangerie, Sainte Chapelle, and the Chateau de Versailles.
The pass comes with a pamphlet listing the museums, opening hours, and transportation information. Note that the pass is generally not valid for temporary exhibitions and a surcharge is payable to visit the Gardens of Versailles on music days.
The Paris Museum Pass Offers Excellent Value for Money
For visitors over 18 to the cultural sights of Paris, the Paris Museum Pass can be excellent value for money. Of course, the more museums, monuments, and galleries the traveler visits (or can bear to visit) during the pass validity period, the better value the pass becomes. Savings are particularly easy on the four and six-day passes.
Seeing the Arc de Triomphe (€12), the Louvre (€17), Sainte-Chapelle (€10), Museé d’Orsay (€14), Picasso, Towers of Notre Dame (€10), Rodin Museum (€14), and the Palace of Versailles (€18) will have the traveler break even on the six-day card.
The Paris Museum Pass may be bought in advance. It is no longer necessary to enter the date of first use on the card, as the pass is automatically activated on first use.
In contrast to previous practice, the validity is no longer per calendar day but rather by 48, 96, and 114 hours.
Top Advantages of Buying the Paris Museum Pass
- Saving on admission fees – the more places the traveler visits, the better value the pass becomes.
- Bearers may generally go straight to the museum entrance without having to pass by the ticket window.
- The pass alleviates the need to see the whole museum — it is not a financial burden to enter a museum just to see a small section or even only a single item that may be of real interest.
- Similarly, there is no financial incentive to stay in a museum that disappoints or if the mood changes.
In contrast to previous practice, it is no longer possible to visit a museum a second time on a different day. Each sight may only be entered once for each card.
Read Before Buying
The Paris Museum Pass is not great value for all. Children under 18 get into most museums and cultural sights in Paris and France for free. European Union residents under 25 and students often get special discounts or free admission too.
It is valid for consecutive days — the pass is automatically activated when the first site is entered. No refunds are given for whatever reason including strikes.
Many museums are closed on Monday, so ensure sufficient sights of interest are open on Monday before including the first day of the week in the pass. Some museums are free on Sunday, or the first Sunday of the month, so once again check details before including Sunday in the pass.
All consecutive days are counted so avoid major holidays especially January 1, May 1, and Christmas (both December 24 and 25).
The Paris Museum Pass can be a great money saver and the value of not having to queue for tickets is immense, especially during busy periods when waiting time at sights such as the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre can be unbearable — make free time-slot reservations for these two top sights in advance, even before actually buying the pass.
