There are loads of Free Museums in Paris

In Paris (and indeed the rest of France), many museums are free year-round. And, if you’re thinking that the free museums are only for hanging out in when its raining and you need a place to shelter, you couldn’t be more wrong. We’re talking top museums that you’d want to go to anyway including the gorgeous Petit Palais and wonderful Museum of Modern Art.

Many paid museums can additionally be visited free on the first Sunday of the month including the Musée d’Orsay, and even the world’s most popular museum, the Louvre. Note some of the museums may not offer free access during summer months. Most museums are free to those under 26 years old from EU countries, simply show your passport for access.

To find out if a museum is free, just click on its website and you’ll find the information under the tickets and hours of access space.

Here’s our pick of the best free museums in Paris:

Free permanent museum collections in Paris

Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, 11 avenue President Wilson (16th Arr.) Metro Jena

Balzac House (free admission to the collections, except during temporary exhibition periods), 47 rue Raynouard (16th Arr). Metro Passy

Bourdelle Museum (free admission to only one part of the collections during exhibitions), 16 rue Antoine Bourdelle (15th Arr). Metro Montparnasse – Bienvenüe

Carnavalet Museum – History of Paris (closed for renovation work until October 2019), 23 rue de Sevigne (3rd Arr). Metro Saint-Paul Green Road

Cernuschi Museum, 7 avenue Velasquez (8th Arr). Metro Villiers

Cognacq-Jay Museum (free admission to a part of the collections during exhibitions), Hotel Donon – 8 rue Elzevir, Paris 3th – Metro Saint-Paul

Petit Palais, Museum of Fine Arts of the City of Paris, Winston Churchill Avenue, Paris 8th – Metro Champs-Elysées – Clemenceau. Also has a very nice garden and café.

Victor Hugo’s house, Rohan-Guéménée Hotel – 6 Place des Vosges, Paris 4th – Metro Bastille

Museum of Romantic Life, 16, rue Chaptal, Paris 9th – Metro Pigalle. Read our review

Free entry year Museums in Paris year round

National Museum of the Legion of Honor and Orders of Knighthood, 2 rue de la Legion of Honor, Paris 7th. It’s opposite the Musée d’Orsay and well worth stopping off to see all the medals and Napoleonic memorabilia. Metro Solferino

Museum – Companion Bookshop, 10 rue Mabillon, Paris 6th – Metro Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Curie Museum (Radium Institute), 11 rue Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris 5th – Metro Cardinal Lemoine / Monge Square

Fragonard perfume museum, 3-5 square of the Louis-Jouvet Opera, Paris 9th – Metro Opéra. Read our review

Museum of the Prefecture of Police, Police Hotel of the 5th arrondissement – 4 rue de la Montagne Sainte-Genevieve, Paris 5th – Metro Maubert – Mutualité

Arenas of Lutetia, 47 rue Monge, Paris 5th – Metro Cardinal Lemoine

Atelier Brancusi – National Museum of Modern Art – Pompidou Center, Place Georges Pompidou / Saint Martin Street, Paris 4th – Metro Rambuteau

Le Plateau – Center for Contemporary Art, Hannah Arendt Place, Corner of Alouettes and Carducci Streets, Paris 19th – Metro Buttes-Chaumont Jourdain

Zadkine Museum (free admission to the collections, except during temporary exhibition periods); 100 bis Assas Street, Paris 6th – Metro Notre-Dame-des-Champs

Holocaust Memorial, 17 Geoffroy l’Asnier Street, Paris 4th – Metro Saint-Paul

Ennery Museum (free entry (advance booking required) on Saturdays), 59 avenue Foch, Paris 16th – Metro Porte Dauphine

National Museum of Air and Space, Le Bourget Airport, 93 – RER Le Bourget

The EESC – Social and Environmental Economic Council, 9 place of Jena, Paris 16th – Metro Jena