Museums with free admission in Paris, for everyone all year round! 

The Carnavalet museum

This is the living memory of the capital. Between two cobbled courtyards in the Marais, visitors journey from Neolithic dugout canoes retrieved from the Seine to shop signs from the last century. The highlight of the visit remains the rooms devoted to the French Revolution (with personal belongings belonging to the royal family and Robespierre), the reconstructed bedroom of Marcel Proust, and the incredible Fouquet jewelry shop, decorated by Mucha, one of the emblematic artists of Art Nouveau. Admission to the permanent collections is free and unrestricted, but booking a time slot is recommended at weekends.

⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Saint-Paul, Chemin Vert, Pont-Marie, or Bréguet-Sabin

The courtyard of the Carnavalet Museum and its statue of Louis XIV.

The Cognacq-Jay museum

Housed in a preserved private mansion, this museum brings together the collection of artworks belonging to Samaritaine founder Ernest Cognacq and his wife Marie-Louise Jay: paintings by Boucher and Fragonard, gilded bergère armchairs, gold boxes and fine porcelain that give the impression of entering the home of a private individual from the time of Louis XV. Admission is free and no reservation is required.

⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Saint-Paul, Chemin Vert, Rambuteau

The museum of the National Archives (hôtel de Soubise)

Visitors come as much for the setting as for the treasures it houses. The building reveals salons adorned with spectacular wood paneling and gilding, but above all, tangible pieces of our collective memory: letters from Marie Antoinette, the Tennis Court Oath, and Napoleon's will, displayed on a rotating basis. Admission is free.

⌚ Opening hours: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: 10:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday: 2:00–5:30 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays.

📍Getting there: Hôtel de Ville, Filles du Calvaire, Rambuteau

Victor Hugo's house

It was in this corner apartment on Place des Vosges that the author imagined Cosette and Jean Valjean. The tour follows his commitments and exiles through furniture he sculpted or sought out himself, dark ink drawings made by his own hand, and a succession of rooms that reveal the private man behind the literary giant. Admission is free.

⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Saint-Paul, Bastille

Victor Hugo's House.

The Shoah Memorial

A sober, powerful and essential place for understanding the history of the Second World War. As soon as they enter, visitors are struck by the Wall of Names. In the basement, the exhibition uses personal correspondence, period photographs and witness recordings to recount the history of persecution and the rescue efforts of the Righteous. Admission is free.

⌚ Opening hours: Sunday to Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (late opening on Thursdays until 10:00 p.m.). Closed on Saturdays.

📍Getting there: Saint-Paul or Hôtel de Ville, Pont Marie

The Pavillon de l'Arsenal

Beneath an impressive iron-and-glass framework, this venue explores the changing city. Visitors discover how Paris was built over the centuries and how it is adapting today to climate challenges. The giant scale model of the metropolitan area in the center of the hall is worth the trip alone, offering a chance to spot your neighborhood from above. Admission is free.

⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Sully-Morland or Pont Marie, Bastille

The Curie museum

In the shadow of the Panthéon, visitors enter the former Radium Institute, preserved just as it was in the 1930s. Here, they can discover Marie Curie's study, her quartz measuring instruments and chemistry flasks, with the added bonus of a direct view of the small garden where she liked to take a break between experiments. Admission is free. With registration, you can even take part in guided tours, which are also free.

⌚ Opening hours: Wednesday to Saturday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Closed Sunday to Tuesday.

📍Getting there: Cardinal Lemoine, Place Monge, Luxembourg

The Police Prefecture museum

For enthusiasts of true crime and criminal investigations, this collection housed in an active police station is a gold mine. Eighteenth-century jail registers, memorabilia belonging to Cartouche and the Bonnot Gang, counterfeiters and Bertillon's first fingerprint files: the whole history of Parisian crime fiction is here. As the museum is located in the police headquarters serving the 5th and 6th arrondissements, online booking is mandatory before your visit.

⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Closed Sunday and Monday.

📍Getting there: Maubert-Mutualité or Cardinal Lemoine

The Open-Air Sculpture museum

An artistic stroll with your feet almost in the water. Along Quai Saint-Bernard, around thirty blocks of stone, steel and bronze, by artists including Brancusi, César and Zadkine, punctuate the lawns. It is the perfect place to wander in the sunshine while encountering major names in 20th-century art. Free access.

⌚ Opening hours: 24/7, year-round, in the public park.

📍Getting there: Gare d'Austerlitz, Jussieu

The Zadkine museum

A verdant retreat just a stone's throw from the Luxembourg Gardens. Enter the glass-roofed studios where sculptor Ossip Zadkine worked. His elongated figures and angular faces in raw wood or stone still inhabit the rooms and emerge among the ferns in the garden. Free admission.

⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Vavin, Notre-Dame-des-Champs, Port-Royal

The museum of the Legion of Honor (hôtel de Salm)

Just opposite the Musée d'Orsay, this discreet palace houses a profusion of stars, jeweled crosses, and necklaces belonging to grand masters. From the collar of the Order of the Holy Spirit to the rarest international decorations, the visit offers an unusual perspective on the history of power and merit. Free admission.

⌚ Opening hours: Wednesday to Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

📍Getting there: Solférino, Musée d'Orsay

Le Petit Palais - City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts

Under its monumental vaulted ceilings, the museum offers a journey through art history without spending a penny: works by Rembrandt, nudes by Courbet, Impressionist paintings, and 1900 sculptures. After the visit, its hidden café beside the mosaic- and palm-lined basin is one of the most peaceful terraces in the neighborhood. Free admission.

⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Champs-Elysée - Clémenceau Franklin Roosevelt, or Invalides

Le Petit Palais, Museum of Fine Arts of Paris.

The Cernuschi museum - Museum of Asian Arts

Located directly opposite the gates of Parc Monceau, collector Henri Cernuschi's residence houses ancient Chinese bronzes, funerary terracottas, and Japanese prints. The centerpiece remains its monumental bronze Buddha, more than four meters tall, enthroned in the center of the grand salon. Free admission.

⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Monceau, Villiers

The Pharmacy museum - hôtel Menier

Behind the façade of this townhouse built by the Menier chocolate-making family, visitors can trace the origins of apothecaries. Surrounded by wood paneling and an unusual Moorish pavilion, the shelves display period earthenware jars and bizarre old remedies made from deer antler or rare plants. Registration is required before the visit.

⌚ Opening hours: visits available according to the schedule (regular time slots on Tuesday and Thursday mornings)

📍Getting there: Monceau, Saint-Philippe-du-Roule

The Musée de la Vie Romantique

A tree-lined cobbled path leads to this artist's house with pastel shutters. This is where painter Ary Scheffer welcomed Chopin, Delacroix, and George Sand. The ground floor houses the writer's personal mementos and jewelry, while the garden's glass-roofed gallery invites visitors to extend their visit in peace. Free admission.
⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Blanche, Saint-Georges or Pigalle

The Fragonard Perfume museum

A few steps from the Opéra, this former theater factory, now converted into a museum, tells the 3,000-year history of fragrances. Visitors wander among old copper stills, royal toiletry sets, and precious perfume bottles, while putting their sense of smell to the test through several olfactory stages. Free admission and guided tours.

⌚ Opening hours: Monday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Closed on Sundays.

📍Getting there: Opéra, Chaussée d'Antin - La Fayette, Auber

The museum of the Liberation of Paris

Located in one of the pavilions at Denfert-Rochereau, this museum recounts the intertwined stories of Jean Moulin, General Leclerc, and Parisians under the Occupation. Propaganda posters, clandestine radio sets, and uniforms tell the story of everyday resistance, with the option of descending into the former underground civil-defense shelter. Free access to the permanent collections and the underground shelter (by reservation, on site or online).

⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Denfert-Rochereau

The Bourdelle museum

Behind Montparnasse station, the large brick and wooden studios of Antoine Bourdelle still remain. The immense plaster casts of his heroic statues stand alongside period tools that have remained intact, extending into two peaceful gardens where monumental bronzes stand out against the greenery. Free access to the studio and garden.

⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Montparnasse - Bienvenüe, Falguière

The Bourdelle museum.

The Museum of Modern Art (MAM)

Facing the Seine, the east wing of the Palais de Tokyo houses some of the masterpieces of 20th-century art. Derain's Fauvist paintings stand alongside Matisse's Dance and the monumental fresco The Electricity Fairy, painted by Dufy across 600 sq. m, not to mention the great names of abstract art and pop art. Free access to the permanent collections.
⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Iéna or Alma-Marceau, Pont de l'Alma

The Museum of Modern Art of Paris, nestled in the Palais de Tokyo.

The Maison de Balzac

Clinging to the slopes of Passy, this rustic cottage served as a refuge for Honoré de Balzac as he sought to escape his creditors. It was in this study, equipped with his famous coffee pot and writing through entire nights, that he perfected La Comédie humaine. The adjoining garden offers the added bonus of a lovely unobstructed view of the Eiffel Tower. Free access to the permanent collections.

⌚ Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Closed on Mondays.

📍Getting there: Passy, La Muette, Boulainvilliers / Avenue du Président Kennedy.