Louvre without a guide?

Paris has so much to offer, there is no rule that you must visit the Louvre.

If you want to go to the Louvre, book your tickets in advance. You will still have to go through the security line, but it will be minutes, not hours.

If you are looking for a way to see the museum's highlights efficiently, consider booking the 90 minute English guided "Welcome to the Louvre" tour.

If that is too long of a commitment, take a look at the Louvre' s website. Is there a style or period of art you are interested in? Pick and choose a few things to see, study the website's floor plan so you can navigate yourself around the Louvre.

By the way, you could spend weeks at the Louvre and not see everything.

We have previously visited the Louvre with a guide on a group tour. We will be going again late this month on our own with our 28 year old son. We also do not want a guided tour this time. We have a reserved time entry and are going to use the Rick Steves walking tour of the Louvre on the app.

I have visited the Louvre at least three times at without a guide. I found the information desk to be quite helpful. I noticed they had a map/brochure of the more popular works that many want to see. Or use the tour in the RS guidebook, but just go to the parts of the museum that interest you and your sons. Also, look beyond that Louvre is a museum. It is a former palace so note the architecture and decor.

You need to get into the Louvre early, before 10, because the lines for security back up. I enter at 9, the opening time.

Here are two ways to visit offered by the Louvre:
You have "Welcome to the Louvre" guided tour of the highlights in English at 11 everyday. Otherwise, you could try going in the evening on Wednesdays or Fridays and take this tour at 7 pm. There are still security lines, but shorter. These tours fill up fast.

Otherwise, you can have a very effective self-tour following the The Louvre's Masterpieces Visitor Trail. It's only twelve works, but the really good part is that you can read all about what you are going to see in advance, so when you look at the Masterpiece, you understand it right away. This seems to be very effective.
Have a good visit.

I second slbdaisy’s recommendation to arrange your timed entry tickets and the use Rick’s audio tour.
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/paris
My husband and I did this and have commented several times since on how this was the perfect introduction to what can be an overwhelming museum. At just about an hour, it kept our attention and led us through the high points - delivered in Rick’s inimitable style! Obviously, you can stop and start it at your pleasure if you find you want to spend extra time in any one area.

For that matter, we have used Rick’s Audio app for many city walks/museums/churches. We always check it out when we visit somewhere new. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/rick-steves-audio-europe/id414357125

I love the Louvre and do what Elizabeth does...I get there 1st thing in the AM. The lines are for the security to get into the building.

Is there anything in particular you would like to see? This link gets you to the maps of the Louvre. One is the paper map you can pick up at the kiosk after you enter the Louvre, the other is interactive.

https://www.louvre.fr/en/visit/map-entrances-directions#museum-map

IF you have people pick out some things ahead of time it's fairly easy to figure out a route if you don't want to use one of the routes on the Louvre website or to use Rick's route.

If you don't particularly care about the Mona Lisa, you can avoid the worst crowds. Code of Hammurabi? Rembrandt and Vermeer? Greek or Egyptian antiquities? There are actually some Impressionist paintings in one gallery (2nd floor of the Sully wing). The "NIKE" - Winged Victory of Samothrace?

My limit is about 2.5-3 hours in the Louvre, then I get into overload. It's crowded in some areas, it's hot and the amount of treasures is amazing.