Musée d'Orsay Tickets: Time Slot, Thursday Evenings and the Fifth Floor

At the Orsay you pick an hour, because the museum rewards people who arrive with one already booked. Online the ticket costs €16, and the desk sells it for €14 only if any slots are left, which in summer is almost never. The rest of the plan is simple: start on the fifth floor, where the Impressionists hang, then work your way down through the floors in order, and cross the river on foot afterwards if the Tuileries are calling.

There are three ways in. The first is the online ticket with a time slot, which is recommended and the safest way. The second is the desk, which works only when slots remain. The third is Thursday evening, when entry after 6 pm costs €12 and the museum stays open until 9:45 pm. Whatever you choose, reserve a slot, because the desk is a gamble.

Entry is free for everyone under 18, of any nationality, and on the first Sunday of the month with a booked free slot, which goes quickly. The Paris Museum Pass is valid here, but you book a time slot with it as well, so it saves you the ticket and not the planning.

The Paris Museum Pass is valid, but you book a time slot with it as well.

When to come

The Orsay has its own rhythm, and it differs from the Louvre's. Most days it closes in the early evening, while Thursday keeps the doors open much later, so the sensible visitor treats Thursday as the evening museum of the week. Opening hours: Tue–Sun 9:30 am–6 pm, Thursday to 9:45 pm. Closed: Monday, 1 May, 25 December.

One guide recommends Wednesday and Friday mornings, and says Thursday evening is quieter than the daytime hours. It also warns off Tuesday, when the Louvre is shut and many visitors cross the river to the Orsay instead. Take it as one guide's opinion.

Start on the fifth floor

The fifth floor is where the Impressionists hang, and it is the reason to come early. Go there first. Your legs are fresh, and the long rooms are still quiet.

The big clock on the same floor has a window that frames the Seine and, on the far side, the white domes of Sacré-Cœur. It is the place to stop for a minute.

The lower levels, and what to skip

Work your way down and the mood changes. Below the fifth floor, the middle levels hold the Post-Impressionists, Art Nouveau furniture and sculpture, and the ground floor has academic art from the middle of the nineteenth century and the earliest Impressionism. The building was a station in 1900 and has been a museum since 1986, and when time runs short these lower rooms are the ones to skip.

3 daysIn the three-day plan the Orsay sits between the Louvre and the Tuileries, a short walk across the gardens.Paris in 3 days →

When you only have an hour

An hour is enough for the fifth floor and a quick look at the clock window, and then you can leave without regret. The lower levels will still be there.

• Go straight to the fifth floor and leave from there.
• Choose a Thursday and enter after 6 pm.
• Skip Mondays, and skip Tuesdays too if the Orangerie is part of your plan.
• Afterwards, cross the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor into the Jardin des Tuileries.

Where to stayThe streets around the museum belong to Saint-Germain, the calm side of the city, and the where-to-stay page explains why it suits a slower trip.Where to stay in Paris →