Louvre, Paris Museum Pass, and Leonardo da Vinci Exhibit

One more thought -- it's possible that a PMP holder needs only reserve for the Leonardo exhibit (i.e., not a separate museum admission time) since the Leonardo reservation MAY be sufficient to get you into the museum, but I wasn't sure, so I did both. It doesn't cost anything and the website isn't very clear about the process. Curious whether anyone else knows.

You did it right but need only make the Léonardo reservation.
I was in the queue today, too, but got right on around ten pm Eastern time last night. So nighttime seems to be better from the US.

Thank you Bets -- looking at it after the fact, I think you're correct but I originally figured better safe than sorry. As others on here have noted, it's really too bad that PMP holders need the serial number in order to reserve a time. This means you must buy the PMP ahead of time (and pay DHL shipping to the US) rather than just buying when you arrive in Paris.

After you print your tickets travel with them in a sheet protector. I went to the Louvre yesterday and the lady behind me in line to get scanned for entry to the Sully wing was having issues because she’d had her ticket in the back pocket of her jeans and part of the scan code was wearing off and wouldn’t read correctly. One of the others with her couldn’t get in to the Da Vinci exhibit because of the same issue. I chatted with them, looked at their tickets which looked like mine that I’d printed out at home so I don’t think they were trying to scam.

Since you’ve already bought, this advice isn’t for you but for anyone else I’d just recommend buying a regular entry for the Louvre and Leonardo and not trying to make this a Museum Pass day. I think it was 17€ for the entry and exhibit which was probably less than the shipping fee for the pass.

HMMM, no problems here in the Midwest in purchasing tix ( I have a da Vinci ticket for the AM and the PM on a Wed in late Nov).

At the most aggressive, I'd say that the da Vinici exhibit is perhaps 45% booked through November (although I didn't do a concise calculation). Mornings and eves do look strongly filled up.

Here are the things that I understand through my extensive online research:

You can expect to be admitted +/- 30 minutes of your reserved ticket time
The da Vinci ticket also includes access to the permanent collections
Re-entry is no longer granted after leaving the museum
PMP does not guarantee entry (per their website)
The Mona Lisa has a new queue based system since her return to her typical quarters in Room 711: viewers are given ?30 seconds? in front of Mona Lisa before being moved on, allowing the next visitor to queue up

Curious if any recent travelers can support this info, now that the da Vinci exhibit has opened.

(I'm also very curious to hear about the virtual Mona Lisa exhibit in the da Vinci section.)

Great tip Pam about the sheet protector. Thanks! What a shame for those who were not admitted!

I'm sorry, but I am thoroughly confused. We will be in Paris the last week of November. We are planning to buy our museum passes upon arrival. Does the PMP cover the Leonardo exhibit? If so, must we have the pass in hand before we can make Leonardo reservations? Does anyone have any input as to waiting that late to reserve....I'm concerned all reservations may be booked by then.

Secondly, one of our group is under 18. She qualifies for free entry to the museum. Will the Leonardo exhibition also be free for her?
Merci!!!

You are correct, under 18 year olds get in free but they must have a timed ticket for the Leonardo exhibit. You do not need to have the Paris Museum Pass in hand to order Leonardo tickets. I would reserve immediately as tickets are now going very fast. We booked tickets for a November date in July and then made our plane and lodging reservations. Good luck.

Contributing to the "heads up" about getting tickets. According to last night's news (10/25) 260,000 tickets have already been sold for this exhibit.

So, I take it our museum pass does NOT cover the Leonardo exhibit, right?

Correct. The Paris Museum Pass does not include the Leonardo exhibit. I ordered ours on line for 17 euros each.

At the risk of adding to the confusion I think the PMP DOES cover the Leonardo exhibit. When you book a time slot for Leonardo, the PMP is one of the items explicitly listed as a category of people who do not have to pay. I booked a time slot and did not pay -- just indicated I was a PMP holder.

We just bought tickets for the Louvre for Dec 30 & they didn’t go through. Then hopped back on & started with DaVinci tickets & bought, only a few times slots were still available! That did go through. Don’t know if we need two separate tickets for louvre €17 each & Davinci €17? 😬

thenicholsfam: Your 17 Euro Leonardo ticket includes access to the rest of the Louvre as well so no need for a separate ticket.

"Individual tickets for the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition
October 24, 2019–February 24, 2020. Reservation required.
Ticket and time slot reservation required for access to this exhibition. Admission to permanent collections included. "

Chicagoan: Well, I didn't see anything like that. The PMP site says the pass does NOT cover special exhibits and events. Well, anyway, I've already bought them now. Your post will at least be a pointer for others who come here looking for that information.

I was able to get a free ticket for the 17 year old.

I think the Louvre ticketing website is pretty clear that PMP holders do not need to pay for the Leonardo exhibit. When you go to the page where you actually book the Leonard exhibit, there are two choices: (1) The full fare 17 Euro ticket, and (2) the free one. Below is cut and pasted the language as to which visitors are eligible for the free pass:

Free
* Reservation required for:
- Visitors eligible for free admission: under-18s; under-26s living in the European Economic Area; individuals with disabilities and the person accompanying them; people on income support. Detailed list of eligible visitors on www.louvre.fr.
Proof of entitlement must be presented at the entrance to the exhibition.
- Patrons of the Louvre; “Louvre Professionnels” and “Paris Museum Pass” card holders

Curious how you determined the museum pass covers the Da Vinci exhibit. The website says special exhibits are not covered by a regular ticket, which I equate to be equivalent to a pass. There is no information on the museum pass section of the website about special exhibits, so I interpreted that as the pass not covering it, and I bought a separate ticket for the exhibit.

I determined that the PMP covers the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit because the official Louvre website (which I assume is authoritative) states that explicitly. Please see my post on 10/26.

Leo is covered with the pass, but you have to reserve a time. Here's what is confusing people: the pass says special exhibits aren't covered, but at the Louvre ALL exhibits are ALWAYS INCLUDED in the admission price. There is never a separate entry fee. All tixs are 17€ with or without an entrance time to the Leo exhibit reserved. So you have 2 choices:
1. Buy a timed entrance to the Louvre only and you don't have a reservation to enter the Leo exhibit.
2. Buy a Tix with the Leo exhibit time reserved, and you can go into the rest of the museum afterwards.
It's all crowd control. Clear, I hope.

PMP does cover the Leonardo exhibit. You need the timed reservation pass but you don't need the PMP to get it for free just click on the box that says you have one( or will have one). You just need it when you show up at the Louvre. I'm going to Paris in January and will pick up my PMP there ( no shipping charge). I got my timed reservation on the internet this morning in 5 minutes.