The Paris Museum Pass – A Useful Tool For Savvy Travelers

If there's one truth about Paris it's this — there's so much to see, so little time. Paris museums and monuments are some of the most popular in the world, and for good reason. They're loaded with the treasures of art and history and culture.

But being popular has it price — long lines and long waiting times. That's why we say that museum passes are so beneficial. The Paris Museum Pass lets you skip the lines at virtually all of the museums in the City of Light. The museum pass is included with the Paris City Pass. Let's take a look at the what the museum pass offers and then determine if it's worth it.

Do You Want To Stand In The Long Lines?…

Any museum or monument in Paris is going to have a lineup of people waiting to buy a ticket, but you can be certain that applies particularly to the über-popular museums like the Louvre, d'Orsay, Pompidou, Versailles. The ones you really want to see!

We took the above photo of the ticket lineup at Door A of Musée d'Orsay. This was the lineup of people waiting to buy tickets on a normal weekday. Those people are going to be waiting for a long time. We hate waiting in lines, especially when it's wasting our precious time in Paris. So we do whatever we can to avoid it.

…Or Move To The Fast Lane?

This photo shows Door C at Musée d'Orsay on the same day. This is the entrance you use when you have a museum pass, and it's the door that we used. See those poor souls at the other end of the building, at Door A? They don't have a Museum Pass.

Also, we estimate that you can save around about $100 with a 4-day pass. (The savings on a Metro Pass, also included with the Paris City Pass, are calculated in that total.) So, you save money and you save time.

The best way to get a Paris Museum Pass is as part of the Paris City Pass package. Not only do you get the museum pass, but you get a Metro pass for unlimited rides on the Metro and buses, and other perks. And, as you'll read below, we've wrangled an additional 5% discount for our readers. Let's take a look at a few of the museums and monuments that the Paris Museum Pass covers.

Free Entry to Dozens of Museums & Monuments

With the Museum Pass you get free admission to dozens of museums, monuments, and other attractions. The pass is a one-time purchase — once you have it you can visit any museum, or all museums, as many times as you like.

The museums covered by the pass include the biggies — the Louvre, La Conciergerie, d'Orsay, etc — as well as the lesser-known museums — Museum of Air and Space, Paris Fashion Museum, Château de Vincennes. That's another benefit, having the opportunity to visit the fascinating small museums of Paris that you might not even had known about were it not for your pass.

How to Buy a Paris Museum Pass

The best deal is to buy the Paris Pass — it includes the Museum Pass plus free rides on the Metro & buses, as well as a Seine River cruise and a hop-on-hop-off bus pass.