Is the museum worth 2 hours and do I have to get tickets in advance? I am going in mid May. Can the hotel concierge get them for me?
Is the Musee d’Orsay better?
Any ideas for a formal restaurant are appreciated.
I am staying at the Chateau Frontenac in Paris.
Whether or not the Orangerie Museum would be worthwhile depends on the type of art you appreciate. It is, of course, most famous for the Monet Waterlilies collection. There are also other permanent collections as well as temporary exhibitions. You can find the details of these on the Museum website, as well as their hours and ticket prices. It is recommended that you have an advance purchase timed ticket to avoid possibly long walk up lines. You can buy these yourself online from the official website.
I would say the Orsay is neither better or worse. It is different in size and scope and is an entirely different experience.
The Museum does not have a restaurant, only a small Cafe.
I recommend/suggest buying time-stamped tickets in advance. It makes for a much faster and smoother process when you arrive. You can buy the tickets online but if your hotel has concierge they probably do offer that service. Whether the Musee de l'Orangerie is better than the Musee d'Orsay is a question that I will leave for others to answer. My daughter loves the Orangerie because she loves Monet and loves the immersive feel. I love the Orsay because I love how big it is and the variety of artists and looking out through the clock window.
Check with your hotel on whether they can obtain tickets for you. Everyone is going to have a different opinion on whether one museum is better than the other. It all depends on what interests you and how long you like to look at masterpieces. I’m glad I was able to do both museums.
If I could only go to one of these, I would pick the Musee d’Orsay. But I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. I spent more time at the Orsay & it does have a small cafe for a coffee, etc. for a nice break.
Never been to Orangerie but unless you have a particular affinity to one of the artists there, I can't imagine it being better than Musee d’Orsay which to me is the best musuem in the world. It is a good size and all it has is great art; does not miss. I visited it 4 or 5 times and never get tired. I jusy pretend the modern art wing does not exist.
I love both. One is not better, they're different. The Orsay is much bigger and has a much larger variety of artists and art periods. The Orangerie has the enormous Monet water lily paintings. Its been a while, but it seems to me that both times I went to the Orangerie, there were quite a few works by Cezanne in one of the other galleries. There was a small exhibit with dioramas of a major art donor's apartment which were really fun to see, especially for my 20 yr old daughters. And the second time I was at the Orangerie there was a special exhibit of Grant Woods which we felt was funny because we live in Minnesota and at the time, both my daughers were students at Iowa colleges, where you can find MANY Grant Woods paintings. So to go to Paris to see paintings loaned from Iowa was amusing.
I can't speak to the tickets, I was in Paris preCovid and I think Paris is busier now, and the process for acquiring tickets likely different.
I'm glad I went to see the Monet murals, but having done that once I won't go back. It was way to crowded to sit and enjoy them. The Musee d'Orsay is one I keep going back to, even over the Louvre.
The Orsay is much larger, you can spend most of the day there.
The Orangerie is small, with just about ten rooms. Two of them (Renoir and Cézanne) are closed because the paintings are on loan. The Orangerie will take 45 minutes tops.
If you have to pick one, go to the Orsay for sure.
