How to beat the crowds at Paris's most popular museums and attractions

Those pandemic-era tourism doldrums? They’re long gone. Paris's sidewalk cafés are buzzing, parks are filling up with sun-seekers, and the energy is back in the French capital. Of course that also means museums are filled to capacity and waiting times to enter top attractions could set you back a few unexpected hours. But if you go in with a game plan, you can often find ways to escape the crowds, from visiting popular museums at night to booking pre-opening tours.

Here, a hassle-free, eight-point guide that'll have you maximizing your time and minimizing your stress.

The world’s largest and most-visited museum welcomed 7.8 million art lovers last year, which translates to crushing hordes at the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. To skip some of the crowds, opt for timed-entry tickets on Friday nights, when the doors remain open until 9:45 p.m. and many of your fellow travelers are busy at city's hottest restaurants.

But even if you come during the crowded weekends, there are ways to alleviate your stress a bit, starting with which entrance you choose: Most people queue at the Pyramid entrance, next to I.M. Pei’s eponymous glass structure, but if you’ve pre-purchased a ticket online, you can find much shorter wait times at the Carrousel du Louvre entrance, which is part of an underground shopping center.

Once inside, the museum comprises three wings: The Denon, which is home to show-stopping paintings by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Eugène Delacroix, and Jacques-Louis David; the Sully, which includes Egyptian, Roman, and Greek antiquities; and the slightly more off-the-beaten-path Richelieu, where you’ll find the Napoleon III apartments, decorative arts collection, and Near Eastern antiquities. If you need some breathing room, the Richelieu is often your best bet.

Tip: A ticket to the Louvre also includes access to the Musée National Eugène Delacroix, which is located in the final apartment of the great Romantic painter and is much, much less crowded than its big sister across the Seine.

It goes without saying, but one of the beauties of Gustave Eiffel’s 1889 architectural triumph is that you don’t have to be a paying customer to enjoy its majesty: It was designed to be marveled at and gazed upon from all over the city, day or night. If you’re hoping to visit without a crowd, they’ve removed the guess work with a handy online guide that breaks down crowd levels by hours of the day, days of the week, and months of the year. By their estimates, the best chance to skip queues is morning (9–11 a.m.) or after dark (8–10:30 p.m.), mid-week (Tuesdays through Thursdays), and the winter (January to February) and fall (October to November), barring holidays.

And remember that the times of day when the natural light is most beautiful—namely, the softly lit morning hours and the pre-sunset golden hour—are precisely the times when you don’t want to be on the tower. Why? It’s best to capture it in all its glory from an artistic vantage point below, like the Parc du Champ de Mars or Le Trocadéro.

Europe’s largest collection of modern and contemporary art is known almost as much for its Warhols and Rothkos and Pollocks as it is for its eye-popping architecture: Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, and Gianfranco Franchini designed the building inside-out, with all the guts—plumbing, air vents, electric cables—on the exterior. While other museums have one day a week they stay open late, the Pompidou keeps the party going until 9 p.m. every day (except when it’s closed on Tuesdays), meaning you can often avoid the crowds if you show up in the evenings. On Thursdays, the exhibition spaces on level 6 stay open until 11 p.m., and you can break up your nighttime visit with dinner at the rooftop Restaurant Georges.

Tip: One of the hidden gems nearby is L’Atelier Brancusi, a painstaking recreation of the legendary Romanian sculptor’s studio with 137 sculptures, 41 drawings, and two paintings, located in the Pompidou’s courtyard. Although it’s completely free, many visitors don’t even know it exists, making this subterranean hideaway the spot to have a few quiet minutes to yourself.

Located in the Marais district (a neighborhood which is well worth a private walking tour) in a 1650s hôtel particulier—a grand old townhouse—the Musée Picasso generally attracts much smaller crowds than its peers. But if you’re a real Cubist connoisseur and don’t mind a splurge, you can have the place all to yourself by booking a pre-opening tour. Groups of up to six can gain access as early as 8:30 a.m. (two hours before opening on weekdays) at a cost of €500 if you bring your own external guide or €700 if you use one of the museum’s guides.

This April marks 50 years since the great artist’s death in 1973, and if you’re not the type to normally pay the extra fee for a special exhibit, make an exception for “Picasso Celebration: The Collection in a New Light,” which runs through August 27, 2023. British designer Sir Paul Smith jazzed up the Baroque digs with whimsically creative galleries painted with bold stripes, carpeted with turf, soundtracked by Thelonius Monk music, and hung with striped Breton shirts like the kind favored by Pablo.

Just how beloved is this collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, housed in a 1900 Beaux-Arts train station? It outranks the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre as the top attraction in Paris among our readers. Of course that popularity means that you’ll often encounter snaking queues in the courtyard out front, though you can avoid them by securing a timed-entry ticket online before you arrive. Much like the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay offers late closing hours one night of the week—until 9:45 p.m. on Thursdays—and if you arrive after 6 p.m., tickets are €12 instead of €16.

Once inside, not all galleries are created equal in terms of crowds. The fifth floor is home to masterworks by the likes of Monet, Renoir, van Gogh, Gauguin, and Seurat, but the galleries are rather narrow and all lined up in a row; as a result, it can feel a bit like you’re a wildebeest in a herd, moving mindlessly through packed rooms. For a respite, check out the Art Nouveau collections on the third and fourth floors, where you’ll often have room to roam.

There’s something magical about climbing the 284 steps to the top of the iconic triumphal arch to take in the 360-degree view of the city. Nab a €13 timed-entry ticket for the evening, as crowds tend to thin out at night and you can time your climb with the daily 6:30 p.m. rekindling of the flame of the unknown soldier. Keep in mind that the last entry is at 9:45 p.m.

Tip: It’s quite possible to enjoy the arch from street level, and while many visitors will aim for a perfectly framed shot from the center median of the Champs-Élysées, you’ll have fewer tourists blocking your shot if you go around to the landmark’s “backside” on the Avenue de la Grand Armée.

Weekends and Tuesday mornings—when the Louvre is closed and Versailles's palace opens back up after being closed on Mondays—are the most crowded, so weekdays are always a better bet. If you pre-book your ticket online, you can skip the queue for the ticket office and go straight to entrance A. Note that the palace grounds include not only the royal residence but also nearly 2,000 acres of manicured gardens, including the Queen’s Hamlet, a fairytale-like rustic retreat built in the 1780s for Marie Antoinette. Admission to the palace costs €19.50, but for an additional €2, you’ll have access to the entire grounds.

Think of this so-called Passport ticket as an invitation to choose your own adventure: If the palace is getting too crowded, you can head out to the Queen’s Hamlet to hang with the farm animals; if it starts to rain in the gardens, you can duck into the Grand Trianon, which was designed as a breezy retreat from the pomp and circumstance of the royal court. As your fellow travelers clamor for the perfect shot of the Hall of Mirrors back in the palace, you’ll find yourself in relatively crowd-free bliss exploring the Grand Trianon’s pink-marble colonnade and comparatively unfussy apartments.

Those willing to shell out a few Euros can avoid the notoriously long queues: Disney Premier Access Ultimate lets you skip to the front of the line, once per ride, on all eligible attractions, while Disney Premier Access One is an à la carte option, which you can purchase on the official Disneyland Paris app throughout the day. With the Ultimate option, you don’t need to pre-plan—simply hop on the fast lane when you’re ready—while Premier Access One requires you to pre-book an allocated time slot. Guest numbers tend to be at their lowest mid-week from mid-January through mid-March and later from mid-April through mid-May.

Tip: It pays to stay in an on-property hotel here, like the recently rebranded Disney Hotel New York — The Art of Marvel. Overnight guests can take advantage of Extra Magic Time, which allows you access to the parks before opening. It’s usually an hour of additional time, but check the online calendar for official start times.