The Louvre. 🏛️
The largest art museum in the world. It is so vast that if you spent 30 seconds looking at each object, it would take you 100 days to see everything.
Secret Entrance
Avoid the massive line at the Pyramid. Enter via the "Carrousel du Louvre" shopping mall underground. It is usually empty.
Denon Wing
If you have limited time, head straight for the Denon Wing. This is where the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and Venus de Milo live.
Musée d'Orsay. 🚂
Housed in a stunning Beaux-Arts railway station built in 1900. It holds the world's largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces.
The Clock
Go to the top floor behind the massive clock face. You can look through the glass to see the Sacré-Cœur on the hill. It is a silhouette dream.
Van Gogh
See the "Starry Night Over the Rhône" and his haunting self-portraits up close. The texture of the paint is incredible.
The Light
Unlike the dark halls of the Louvre, the Orsay is flooded with natural light from the glass barrel-vaulted ceiling.
Bohemian Life
Place du Tertre
Montmartre Village. 🍷
Before it was a tourist trap, this was a cheap village where Picasso, Dali, and Van Gogh lived in poverty. The artistic spirit still lingers in the side streets.
Espace Dali:
A small, surreal museum hidden near the Place du Tertre dedicated to Salvador Dali. It contains his sculptures and sketches, often overlooked by crowds.
Centre Pompidou. 🔴
A high-tech architectural shock in the middle of historic Paris. All the plumbing, electrics, and escalators are on the outside of the building.
Modern Art
Home to the National Museum of Modern Art. Expect Picasso, Kandinsky, and Matisse. It is the antithesis of the Louvre.
The Escalator View
Take the external escalator ("caterpillar") to the top floor. The view over the rooftops of Paris is arguably the best free view in the city.