Louvre Timed Tickets

We used the Carousel entrance which was supposed to be a "secret". With our timed tickets, the wait was about an hour. We visited twice, so the second time we arrived an hour early and got in line. I have a video below to give you a sense of the line. At least the Carousel entrance has some shops and bathrooms, so if there are at least 2 of you then it is not a bad time. BTW, if you need a restroom while you are in the line, pay for the 2 euro ones. The 1 Euro bathrooms were terrible.

https://youtube.com/shorts/3HbpDlRMNyA?feature=share

Yes. We waited over an hour and missed "our" time slot (3:15pm), so we had less time in the museum. Show up well in advance!

I got the very first slot 9:00 AM and got right in. I was second in line though. I got there at least an hour ahead of time to stand in line. If you show up at the time of your slot, you'll have a huge line in front of you.

We had a 9:00 entry time the last week in May. I know we didn’t arrive that far ahead at the pyramid entrance so the line in front of us was fairly long but it only took 15 minutes to get in. It was a little tricky to find the line but there was staff there to ask.

all the tricks that let me avoid lines before COVID don't work anymore because everyone has timed tickets now and everyone knows the 'secret entrances' or tricks. We could literally walk into the Orsay by just getting a ticket at the newsstand outside while other waited an hour in line to get tickets -- now every line is long.

We now have a Louvre membership and went 3 times on our spring trip and will go a few times this fall; this is the only way we have found to avoid lines now. The Carte Blanche does this for the Orsay; it is worth it if you make several trips. I expect both of these 'tricks' will soon stop working.

About 20 years ago we had an 'Amici' card that covered Florence sites including the Academia and Uffizi and we could walk into the Academia to see David immediately while those with timed tickets waited an hour in line and those without even longer. all that changed and last fall when we were there, the Amici card was great for the Uffizi and Boboli Gardens and Pitti Palace but everything else was no longer available that way.

With the huge increase in tourism and the changes in reservation policy post COVID everything is harder for the savy traveler.

LOL Janettravels. Yes, the Richelieu for the members does get backed up sometimes, particularly in the afternoons. It's also the tour group entrance, and the school group entrance.

Well I don't know how we did it, but we had ordinary (no group, no membership) 9:30 tickets early this June and entered through the Richelieu entrance with about a 5 minute wait. No one in line seemed to be part of a group when I think about it. That's just security though; there was a line to enter the Denon wing and when we reentered the wing later, the line was longer. So early seems to be better. When we left through the shopping mall at 12:30 the line stretched pretty much through the whole mall until the stairs to exit to the Tuileries Gardens!

Leslie -- you should have been turned away from the Richelieu Entrance but lucky you. We had no lines there this spring, but I have walked through the passage there before when there have been long lines so we were lucky.

Does anyone know if there’s a separate line for museum Pass holders? Or did these long wait times apply to any kind of timed ticket.

there is no separate line for Museum Pass holders. you get in your timed half hour line at the pyramid which is admitted when the half hour tolls. or you enter at the Carousel which used to be a quick wait for security but not now that everyone knows about it. Maybe someone can give us their experience with the Port Lions entrance -- we have never tried it -- it is also not open every day.