Louvre Museum Tickets: Which Entrance, Which Wing, Which Hours

Nobody finishes the Louvre, so the useful plan is one door, one wing and a booked hour. The ticket costs €32 outside the EEA and €22 inside it, the museum is shut on Tuesdays, and the entrance you choose decides how long you stand outside before you see a single painting.

Which Louvre ticket, and who pays what

Tickets are sold for a time slot, so book the hour online before you decide anything else. Visitors from outside the EEA pay €32, while EEA citizens and residents with a permit longer than 90 days pay €22. These prices apply from 14 January 2026. A slot is recommended all year, and this autumn it is compulsory for everyone, with a few exceptions, from 17 October to 1 November.

Resellers and authorised partners sell the same ticket at the same price as the museum, so buying elsewhere shortens no queue. The wait is set by the door you use and the hour you pick. Under 18s go in free, and so do EEA visitors under 26, both with ID. Everyone gets in free after 6 pm on the first Friday of the month except in July and August, and on 14 July, though a slot is still booked on those evenings.

Prices apply from 14 January 2026. From 17 October to 1 November 2026 a reservation is compulsory for all visitors, with a few exceptions.

When to come and which entrance to use

The galleries open at nine, and the last entry is an hour before closing, with the rooms emptying about half an hour before the end. On Wednesday and Friday evenings the museum stays open late and the crowd thins after 6 pm, which makes those nights the calmest of the week. Opening hours: Mon, Thu, Sat, Sun 9 am–6 pm; Wed and Fri 9 am–9 pm. Closed: Tuesday, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December.

The Pyramid in the Cour Napoléon has the longest queue, so most of the planning is about avoiding it. The Carrousel du Louvre is the underground passage from Rue de Rivoli, beside the Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre station, and its line is shorter, especially when it rains. The Porte des Lions, by the river, is the third door. The Passage Richelieu is for groups and members only.

One wing, not the whole museum

The museum has three wings, Denon, Sully and Richelieu, and the ordinary ticket covers all of them, temporary exhibitions included. One wing already fills half a day, so the honest plan is a single wing and then a walk in the Jardin des Tuileries to clear your head.

Denon holds the Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory, Sully has the Venus de Milo and the Egyptian collection, and Richelieu keeps the Code of Hammurabi and the apartments of Napoleon III. Pick the wing whose names you know from postcards, and let the other two wait for the next trip. A museum this size forgives a short visit far more easily than a tired one.

The Winged Victory, the Mona Lisa, the Venus: three stops

In Denon the order matters. The Winged Victory stands at the top of the Escalier Daru and deserves a pause before anything else. The Mona Lisa hangs in the Salle des États, room 711 on the first floor, opposite Veronese's Wedding at Cana, and the rooms there are busiest between 11 am and 3 pm. After that, cross into the Sully wing for the Venus de Milo. Standing at the back of the Mona Lisa's room still gives you the whole wall. Then sit down somewhere.

Hidden gemsThe Carrousel and the Porte des Lions are not the only way around the Pyramid, and the free first-Friday evening has its own tricks. The Paris tips page covers both.Paris past the postcards: the Arc on Wednesdays, free views →

When you only have an hour or two

With an hour or two even one wing is too much, so cut the visit down to the three stops above and leave while you still like the place.

• Take one wing and not three.
• Leave a large rucksack in the lockers by the Pyramid, because big bags do not go into the galleries.
• Re-entry on the same day is allowed with a valid ticket, so you can step out to the Tuileries and come back.
• If the crowd in the Mona Lisa's room is thick, take a wide shot from the back row.

3 daysIn the three-day plan the Louvre takes the first slot of the day, at nine, and the neighbourhood follows on foot.Paris in 3 days →