10 museums you can visit for free

By Linda

March 11, 2024

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Things to do,

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In addition to the many galleries that are open to the public and generally free to visit, Paris has a number of museums that don’t charge admission. Here are our ten favorites:

Musée de la Vie Romantique

Despite its name, this is not a museum about love and romance, although there’s no better place for such a museum than Paris. Instead, it’s dedicated to the art and literature of the first half of the 19th century, and is housed in the former home of Dutch painter Ary Scheffer, where the artist’s living quarters, as well as those of his famous neighbor Georges Sand, have been recreated. We recommend a visit in the summer to enjoy a refreshment in the museum’s garden café.

Musée de la Vie Romantique
16 Rue Chaptal
9th arrondissement
Métro: Pigalle (2, 12)
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm

Maison de Balzac

See how Honoré de Balzac lived and worked by visiting his former home in the 16th arrondissement. The writer rented an apartment in this house from 1840 to 1847, when the Passy district was still a small village outside the city and long before the construction of the Eiffel Tower, which today can be admired from the garden. A visit is worthwhile for fans of Balzac’s novels as well as for architecture and history buffs, as the house dates back to the Middle Ages.

Maison de Balzac
47 Rue Raynouard
16th arrondissement
Métro: Passy (6)
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm

Honoré de Balzac's former home in Paris now houses the Maison de free Balzac museum.

Musée Curie

Visit Marie Curie’s former office, as well as her chemistry laboratory where her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie later discovered artificial radioactivity with her husband Frédéric (the lab has since been decontaminated). The Musée Curie is located in the Radium Institute. It takes about 45 minutes to see the scientific instruments, photographs and documents on the history of radioactivity and its medical applications, and to learn about the life of the brillant Curies – the family that won five Nobel prizes.

Musée Curie
11 Rue Pierre et Marie Curie
5th arrondissement
Métro: Place Monge (7)
Opening hours: Wed-Sat 1pm-5pm

Marie Curie's lab can be visited for free at the Curie Museum in Paris.

Musée Zadkine

When the Russian artist Ossip Zadkine came to Paris, he set up his studio and home at 100bis Rue d’Assas, which after his death became the Musée Zadkine, dedicated to his sculptures. Surrounded by the greenery of a garden full of sculptures, the museum takes you on a journey through Zadkine’s evolution as an artist, from the primitivism of his first sculptures to the strict geometry of Cubism, the fluidity of a revived Neoclassicism and the lyricism of his last years. One of the peculiarities of this museum is that it allows the visually impaired and the blind to touch the works, in accordance with the artist’s own wishes.

Musée Zadkine
100bis Rue d’Assas
6th arrondissement
Métro: Vavin (4) or Notre-Dame des Champs (12)
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm

A sculpture and painting by Ossip Zadkine exhibited in the Zadkine Museum in Paris, which can be visited for free.

Musée Carnavalet

Discover the history of Paris, from its origins to the present day. Housed in two Renaissance mansions (a rarity in Paris), it is at the same time an art museum, presenting old engravings, maps, photographs and numerous paintings of immense value that function as witnesses of the past. And while it’s all about history, it has become historical in itself, being the oldest museum managed by the city of Paris. Travel back in time in this seemingly endless museum, and enjoy the present in its beautiful park.

Musée Carnavalet
23 Rue de Sévigné
3rd arrondissement
Métro: Saint-Paul (1)
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm

The garden of the free Carnavalet museum in Paris.

Musée Cognacq-Jay

The founders of the La Samaritaine department store, Ernest Cognacq and his wife Marie-Louise Jaÿ, amassed a vast collection of valuable works of art during their lifetimes. As it was à la mode at the beginning of the 1900s, they were particularly fond of 18th century art. The paintings, furniture, porcelain and sculptures can now be admired in the museum that bears their name.

Musée Cognacq-Jay
8 Rue Elzevir
3rd arrondissement
Métro: Saint-Paul (1)
Opening hours: Tue-Sat 10am-6pm

An 18th century painting hanging in the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Paris.

Musée du Parfum

If you need a break from art museums, this one’s for you: The French perfume house Fragonard has created a museum dedicated entirely to fragrance, from its creation to the fascinating history of perfume from antiquity to the present day. The museum even offers a workshop where you can create your own scent (not for free, though).

Musée du Parfum
9 Rue Scribe
9th arrondissement
Métro: Opéra (3, 7, 8)
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 9am-5.30pm, Sun 9am-5pm

Hundreds of perfume bottles displayed at the Fragonard museum in Paris.

Petit Palais

Along with the Louvre, the Orangerie, and the Musée d’Orsay, the Petit Palais is one of our least favorite museums to visit – but that has nothing to do with the art on display, and everything to do with the fact that it has become a magnet for TikTok girlies and boys who shove their phone cameras in your face and shamelessly push in front of everyone to get their desired videos. Nonetheless, the museum contains many masterpieces that are not to be missed, including Léon Lhermitte’s colossal Les Halles. So try to go early in the morning and avoid weekends.

Petit Palais
Avenue Winston Churchill
8th arrondissement
Métro: Champs-Élysées – Clémenceau (1, 13)
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm

A mother and her two daughters made use of the free entry to the Petit Palais and admire a large painting.

Musée Bourdelle

The Musée Bourdelle welcomes visitors to the former studio, home and gardens of the sculptor and painter (who was Rodin’s assistant for many years and taught Matisse and Giacometti). Admission to the permanent collection is free and includes colossal works such as Hercules the Archer in the aptly named Great Hall. Once you’ve seen the various rooms, take a seat in the garden and enjoy the view of its many treasures – an activity that is both meditative and romantic.

Musée Bourdelle
18 Rue Antoine Bourdelle
15th arrondissement
Métro: Montparnasse (4, 6, 12, 13)
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm

The Musée Bourdelle is filled with visitors, marveling at the statues.

Musée Cernuschi

The Musée Cernuschi presents art from the Far East, especially from China, Japan and Korea. The 15,000-plus works of art once belonged to Henri Cernuschi, a French-Italian politician who bequeathed his collection to the city of Paris, with the biggest eye-catcher being the giant statue of Buddha that towers over the main exhibition hall.

Musée Cernuschi
7 Avenue Velasquez
8th arrondissement
Métro: Villiers (2, 3)
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm

Religious sculptures from East Asia on display at the Musée Cernuschi in Paris.

In addition to these examples, many museums offer free admission to members of the press, teachers, artists, job seekers and European citizens under the age of 26, and lots of crowd favorites are free on the first Sunday of the month.

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