The Top 10 Museums in Paris

The Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and Centre Pompidou may be the biggest names on Paris’s prestigious roll call of museums, but there are scores of others – some mainstream, other niche, all intriguing and enriching – awaiting discovery in the French capital. Whether your fascination lies with medieval tapestries, Parisian haute couture, masterpieces by Manet or out-there art installations, here’s how to navigate some of the best museums in Paris. 

Tucked away in the northwest corner of leafy Bois de Boulogne, the Fondation Louis Vuitton is famous for its Frank Gehry design, which resembles glass sails floating among icebergs. Don’t go looking for anything with a Louis Vuitton logo on it, however. This museum is not a fashion retrospective but a paean to extraordinary art, displayed on six storeys of glass halls and light-filled terraces. Recent high-profile temporary exhibitions have featured the work of Mark Rothko, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.

8 avenue du Mahatma Gandhi, 75116. Métro line 1 to Les Sablons. Open Wed–Mon 11am–8pm (Fri 9pm). 

Christian Dior resonates through the fashion world as the embodiment of French élan. Today, this legendary couture house has opened its hallowed portals for a breathtaking wander through its rich archive. Expect immediate visual impact the moment you walk into the Paris Dior museum; as you're greeted by a magnificent spiral staircase lined with a rainbow of hats, scarves, bags and shoes, morphing from red to yellow, green to blue as you wend your way up. 

Gorgeously colour-co-ordinated, the displays showcase fine bespoke evening gowns, the 1940s ‘New Look’ tailoring of the great man himself and even delicate designs by likes of Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano. Seminal moments on the red carpet are represented by extravagant dresses worn by style icons Marilyn Monroe, Nicole Kidman and Rihanna, and the frenzied pace of catwalk shows is captured by archive videos and movie clips. 

11 Rue François 1er, 75008. Métro line 1 to Franklin Roosevelt, or line 9 to Alma-Marceau. Open 11am–7pm Wed–Mon. Reservations must be booked online.

The Hôtel de la Marine is the best museum to visit in Paris for a peek inside the world of 18th-century French aristocracy. With its splendid pillared façade flanking Place de la Concorde, this mini Palace of Versailles was formerly the domain of the French Navy, whose masters left behind a legacy of ornate apartments with dazzling gilding, marble and shimmering chandeliers. Look out for dining halls laid out for indulgent feasts, hand-crafted silks adorning four-poster beds, Flemish tapestries… and don’t miss the unique perspective of Place de la Concorde from the first-floor balcony!

And there’s more. A museum-within-the-museum, the Al Thani Collection presents the best of centuries of eclectic decorative arts – a bust of Emperor Hadrian, a Han Dynasty bronze bear, an Ottoman tunic embellished with quotes from the Koran – in galleries festooned with shimmering gold. 

2 place de la Concorde, 75008. Métro lines 1, 8 and 12 to Concorde. Open daily 10:30am–7pm (Fri 9:30pm). 

Founded in the late 18th century and reputedly the oldest science museum in the world, the Musée des Arts et Métiers features a cornucopia of gadgets and prototypes housed in the equally fascinating precincts of a medieval abbey.

Standing guard by the museum entrance is a scale replica of Auguste Bertholdi’s Statue of Liberty, donated by France to the USA in 1885. Divided into seven themed collections, the museum all but overflows with technological innovations, from the original Foucault’s Pendulum – exhibited amid stained-glass windows in the former chapel – to the planes of pioneering aviator Lous Blériot, vintage cars and early computers.

60 rue Réaumur, 75003. Métro lines 3 and 11 to Arts et Métiers. Open Tue–Sun 10am–6pm (Fri 9pm). 

A museum overlooking the Seine and set among the formal plantings and statuary of the Jardin des Tuileries (a lovely spot for a lunchtime Paris picnic), the bijou Musée de l’Orangerie draws in art connoisseurs for the eight panels that comprise Claude Monet’s sublime Nymphéas series of water-lily paintings. In dreamy blues and greens, the panels are displayed in the round across two rooms flooded with natural light – just as Monet intended.  

When you visit, don’t neglect the powerhouse Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume collection on the first floor: a wonderful mixed bag of work by giants of Impressionism and beyond, including Renoir, Picasso, Rousseau and Modigliani.

Jardin des Tuileries, 75001. Métro lines 1, 8 and 12 to Concorde. Open Wed–Mon 9am–6pm. 

Tucked into a peaceful corner of Pigalle, the Musée de la Vie Romantique is one of the best free museums in Paris. Once home to much-feted painter Ary Scheffer, a lynchpin of the French Romantic movement, this quaint, green-shuttered villa saw A-list celebrities of the 19th-century art scene pass through its doors. Regular soirée attendees included artists Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix, author Charles Dickens, Romantic composer Frédéric Chopin and his long-term lover, prolific writer George Sand.

The ground floor is dedicated to portraits of Sand, her sketches and jewellery. Other beguiling exhibits include Scheffer’s literary canvases – many inspired by the works of Shakespeare, Byron and Faust – and a bizarre plaster cast of Chopin’s left hand.

Hotel Scheffer-Renan, 16 rue Chaptal, 75009. Métro line 12 to Saint-Georges, or line 2 to Pigalle. Open Tue–Sun 10am–6pm. Admission free.

Musée de Cluny’s setting is as unique as the treasures it displays, for it straddles Gallo-Roman remains and incorporates a medieval mansion, later rebuilt in a fantasy blend of Gothic and Renaissance styling. Once inside, expect to time-travel from the 3rd-century Roman bathhouse past jewel-encrusted gold crowns from Spain’s Treasure of Guarrazar hoard to glittering medieval stained glass. 

But the most famous artefact at the Cluny is the magnificent, hand-woven tapestry in shades of blue, red and gold entitled Lady and the Unicorn. Regarded as the Mona Lisa of tapestries, the elaborate, six-panel Flemish masterpiece dates from the early 16th century and depicts mythical beasts, ethereal princesses, animals of the forests and intricate flowers. It’s displayed in its own low-lit room, and many people choose to spend 15 minutes or so simply admiring in its incomparable beauty. 

28 rue du Sommerard, 75005. Métro line 10 to Cluny-La Sorbonne. Open Tue–Sun 9:30am–6:15pm. 

A talented pupil of Rodin and mentor to Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti, Antoine Bourdelle lived for much of his adult life in central Paris. Recently rediscovered after decades of obscurity, you can now admire his work at his former atelier. The 19th-century workshop and gardens have been beautifully transformed by his gargantuan bronzes and life-size neoclassical sculptures, returning Bourdelle to the forefront of early 20th-century sculpture.

Among the cluster of busts, plaster moulds, sketches and photographs, be sure to see the art deco friezes he designed for the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (controversial dancer Isadora Duncan was his muse) and the monumental bronze horse, an early casting for an equestrian statue now gracing Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

18 rue Antoine Bourdelle, 75015. Métro lines 4, 6, 12 and 13 to Montparnasse. Open Tue–Sun 10am–6pm. Admission free.

Paying tribute to the father of modern sculpture, Musée Rodin is universally known as the home of countless versions of Rodin’s most iconic, graceful and emotive sculptures – The Thinker, The Age of Bronze and The Kiss just for starters – all displayed in the rotunda and charming apartments of a majestic rococo mansion. Head outside to see his dark, twisted Gates of Hell, which depicts satanic figures plunging into the underworld, and take a stroll through the formal water gardens to contemplate more of his powerful works. 

Travelling with kids? Treat them to some messy family fun at the museum’s Atelier Rodin, which welcomes all-comers (without booking) for sessions of modelling in clay.

77 rue de Varenne, 75007. Métro line 13 to Varenne or Invalides. Open Tue–Sun 10am–6:30pm. 

Opened in 2006 to celebrate the diverse cultures of the world, the Jean Nouvel-designed Musée du Quai Branly is almost as renowned for its ‘living green wall’ of vegetation (designed by botanist Patrick Blanc) as for its spectacularly colourful collection. Prepare yourself for a dizzying array of elaborate kimonos, African death masks, traditional Chinese costumes, traditional Aboriginal paintings and Native American headdresses as you journey around the world in miniature. A happy victim of its own success, the museum gets rammed at the weekend, so we suggest visiting during the week, if your stay in a Paris hotel permits.

37 quai Jacques Chirac, 75007. Métro line 6 to Bir Hakeim, or line 9 to Alma-Marceau. Open Tue–Wed, Fri–Sun 10:30am–7pm; Thur 10:30am–10pm. 

So which is the best museum in Paris? We’ve listed all our favourites – now it’s time for you to make up your mind!