Carnavalet Museum

I haven’t been since it was remodeled, but when I did go, I feel like I spent about 1 -- 1.5 hours there? I was mostly interested in the Belle Époque paintings :-) Beautiful collection.

I have been since it reopened after the re-model.

I probably spent 2 hours there but part of it is that it is a slightly confusing museum to navigate, lol. I kept getting turned around and not being able to get to where I thought I wanted to go. A friend had to have help from one of the security guards to find her way out, lol. The new bathrooms down on the basement level are very nice.

I particularly like the signs in the entry hall plus the prehistory exhibition on the basement level. I also loved the Early 19th century decorative arts.

https://www.carnavalet.paris.fr/en/le-nouveau-parcours

Lots of good food nearby if you need lunch afterward (or before!!)

I was there in April. I agree with Pam that it’s a bit difficult to navigate. I think we spent about an hour there, then returned a few days later to see the rest, maybe another hour? There is no charge for admission.

Andrea! I'm so glad you and J had difficulty navigating too. That makes me feel better about myself, lol. Honestly, I am pretty good with navigating but this museum which isn't all that big is just laid out "wrong", hahaha! And this is AFTER the reno!

And yeah, the good thing it's free and easy to access. I went in Oct 2021 when you needed a timed entry due to Covid.

When we visited it in May reservations were required but of course it is free. It is absolutely the most poorly signed confusing museum we have visited; we struggled to locate the special photo exhibit we had come to see. When we finally found it, it was magnificent. For something recently remodeled I am surprised that they apparently didn't use someone with expertise in traffic flow and signing to make it more navigable. They have also ruined the Proust exhibit. They used to have his cork room -- now it is a shadow of its former splendor. It is however a very interesting museum and well worth a visit.

janettravels44, interesting that they required a reservation in May, but not in April. Maybe it had gotten too busy, though Paris was plenty busy when we were there Easter week.

I will be visiting the Carnavalet Museum in later December. I became a bit concerned reading the comments about the layout causing confusion and taking up time. I just consulted my RS PARIS book in which Rick says, . . ."once you figure out the confusing floor plan." You're in good company!
He has a section "Visiting the Museum" which I plan to follow.

I love how he makes his guidebooks so user-friendly, e.g., "From the first room on the ground floor, climb the curvy wooden staircase". . .
Four weeks from today we head off to Paris!

LOL we were totally lost in there this past year! We got stuck on some sort of circular loop upstairs looking for the exit. No matter what we did, we ended up circling back around to Voltaire’s Chair - and it’s become a fun memory/useful phrase for us! Whenever we’re lost somewhere else - we refer to Voltaire’s Chair.

We finally found an exit when an employee took pity on us and showed us to the staircase to get back downstairs.

Despite the confusing layout, it’s a fun museum! We were there for about 2 hours - there’s more to see but I hit my limit at about 2 hours in a place like that.

I love the phrase "Voltaire's Chair"....too funny!! And you both probably crack up when you say it! I am going to have to go find it next time unless it's been sucked into a black hole...

We were there 2 mos ago, in Sept. I thought pre-reno it was very confusing but not this time. We loved it but only saw about half because after 3 hrs we were burned out. We thought it was wonderful and fascinating.
Btw, the café in the beautiful courtyard is very good.

Andrea -- It might have been in the previous October that a reservation was required. Our trips tend to blur --

janettravels44 - that’s because you have so many of them. 😉

I love the Carnavalet and can (and have) spent hours there but have it enjoyed it most when I go only for an hour or so - and then go back again. Since it's free, you can go again and again - leave, have a nice lunch in the Marais, maybe popping into another museum (Cognac-Jay, Picasso, Victor Hugo) or just sitting in the gardens and watching the world go by (there are several nearby, from the Place des Vosges to a small rose garden across from the museum, on France Bourgeois ).

I toured the museum in 2015. It was my third trip to Paris, so I'd hit all the biggies before. If you have the multi-day museum pass and are in the area, this is good for an hour or two, but I wouldn't go as a destination. I was walking around the Marais that day and popped in on the way back towards my hotel.