My Paris Museum Pass thoughts based on experience over the last month

Continued....ran out of room lol!

-Take a look at what museums you will want to visit and plan which days will work best for the Museum Pass. Once you take out the Louvre, Cluny and Orangerie and d’Orsay on a Tuesday, it might not work for you. If you are doing something like the Atelier Lumieres try to work your Museum Pass so you don’t have that day on a Pass day. It may be hard to do a big museum on the other half of the day if you are going to the Atelier Lumieres.

-I suggest on the bigger museums you make targeted visits and plan to stay just 2-3 hours. Use the museum websites and choose which areas will be of most interest to you. I hadn’t been to the Army Museum in a couple of years so used the pass there. I planned ahead of time to do just the WWI and WWII galleries. These are my favorites anyway and really that took about 2.5 hours so I’ve got museum fatigue at that point any way. This also was a plus for the prior multiple visits scheme as you could do part one day and part another day. On my last day in Paris I had paid for my Louvre entrance (plus the DaVinci exhibition). I really overdid – was there from 930 entrance (well actually got in line about 9A) and walked out at 230. That is way too long for me and I knew it but it was my last day in Paris and my only visit to the Louvre. I figured I could rest my feet and legs on the long flight home the next day.

-The Museum Pass is very clear that it limits you to one visit per museum. They are also very clear that the time frame is “XX” HOURS, even though the pass says 6 days or whatever. For the 6 day pass it’s 144 hours and the time starts when you tag in to your first museum. To me this says you may get 7 “partial” days out of your 6 day pass. If you tag in to your first museum after lunch on Day 1 you could conceivably do your last museum on the AM of Day 7. I’m horrible at math so let me know if this is not a correct assumption!

-This takes more thought that it used to!

I’ve used the MP before a few times and found it useful , however it does not sound like it’s worth it anymore , I won’t bother next time

Pat, I think the more times you've been the less it is helpful now. I did get to a few of the smaller museums covered by the pass that have been on my list (Arts and Metiers, Nissim Camondo, Jewish Art and History Museum), but I'll also have to think hard about a purchase next time.

Thanks for this helpful review on the Museum Pass given the new constraints, especially as regards the Louvre.

I agree with you and Pat that it may be less useful these days for folks who have seen everything and are just revisiting some favorites.

Also to note is that many people may not care at all that the Orangerie bottom level is closed — they are there to see the Water Lilies, which are of course still on display in their big round gallery.

Unless there are separately-ticketed exhibitions running, I wouldn't expect a pass or ticket to be checked other than at the time of initial entry. At least once I entered a museum (not in Paris) 30 or 60 minutes before a pass was due to expire and stayed for many hours. If you don't activate the pass at museum opening time or get hung up in a long line at your last museum, I don't see any reason why a 6-day pass couldn't be used for most of Day 1, all of Days 2-6 and many hours on Day 7--though the pass will have expired early that day and you'd have to use all that time in a single museum.

Thanks for the update on the current situation with the Museum Pass in Paris, Pam! I agree with others that the Museum Pass was very helpful the first time we were in Paris several years ago, seeing so many museums. After that, I purchased the combo D'Orsay & Orangerie during a couple of trips. This last trip, the only museum I went through in Paris was the Museum Jacquemart Andre, arriving when it first opened in the morning. Loved that one, and it was almost empty until I was leaving.

that is really helpful -- we used it for multiple entries because we don't like to spend hours in a museum to get our money's worth -- we enjoy dropping in for a couple of hours 2 or 3 times. It is interesting that you can still move from wing to wing without having to re-enter at the entry of the wing -- which means that for a regular ticket this will allow coming and going during that same day.

I have never seen a line more than 30 or 40 people long at door C of the Musee d'Orsay -- and this is now late October -- we always go at least once a trip and get a ticket -- we can just come by later if there are lines but haven't had to do it yet -- interesting that it is so difficult now to enter even with a ticket ahead.

Very helpful report.

Happy this is helpful to folks!

Janet, to be clear, you can't leave the museum and re-enter but you can leave a wing if you want to go to one of the food kiosks on that mezzanine area and sit for a bit, then re-enter another wing. I, too, used to enjoy doing several 2 hour or so visits and then get out in the fresh air for a rest.

I've seen that line at d'Orsay a time or two before but thought by 3P in the afternoon I thought it would have worked it's way down. I just looked back at the area on googlemaps and the line went all the way down Rue de Lille almost to the Rue Solferino cross street.

Hi all,
I'm maybe reading your comments incorrectly. My husband and I are going to Paris over US thanksgiving. His first time, my second--he's really wanting to do the big touristy things--Versailles, Louvre--I want to do some of the smaller museums--mostly covered by the museum pass--as well. Financially, the pass makes sense for us. But are you saying that once we use it for the Louvre, that's it, we can't go back to the Louvre? We like the idea of doing it in chunks--likely starting with the RS guided audio tour, then leaving for lunch and sitting in a cafe followed by something that we wanted to revisit in one of the galleries. I'm particularly interested as I'm trying to plan our first day, knowing that we'll hit a wall around 15.00 and need to hit the hotel for a much needed nap before hitting the streets in search of food.

Also--anyone with experience traveling to Paris late Nov/early Dec--how are the crowds? We did London a few years ago in December, and walked straight into every site we wanted to see.

Thanks
Jodi

"But are you saying that once we use it for the Louvre, that's it, we can't go back to the Louvre?"

Yes, exactly. Once you use it for ANY museum you can't re-enter that museum.

From the official site:

"The Paris Museum Pass grants 1 entry per site, whatever the duration of the pass."
https://booking.parisinfo.com/il4-offer_i148-paris-museum-pass.aspx

Inside the Louvre your pass (or ticket) is scanned for each wing if you enter from the entrance hall under the pyramid. You CAN get from wing to wing going around the galleries. I had gotten into the habit of going from wing to wing by exiting thru the pyramid hall and then re-entering whichever wing I next wanted to see. Now it's better to plan your strategy and work thru by going from wing to wing via the galleries.

TBH, especially if you want to see the Leonardo exhibition, I'd just reserve entry times online and pay separately for your Louvre visit. You can print out tickets at home.

Thanks so much for the update, Pam. It's extremely helpful, especially since the rules for the pass changed recently (certainly since the last time I reviewed them). If you're not doing any special exhibits at the Louvre, can you still just use the Pass? Our plan was to be ready to enter right at the opening time and not leave until evening (we're okay with using the museum's dining facilities and such to rejuvenate ourselves).

Cloos64, even with the Museum Pass for the Louvre you still need a reservation for an entry time. Some are having the pass shipped to them at an exorbitant fee so they can have the pass number to reserve online. Some are just trying to reserve a time without the pass number. Some are waiting to try and get a reserved time until they buy the pass when they get to Paris.

Personally, for this museum only, I’d just purchase a timed entry online and not try to use the Museum Pass on this day. How many days will you be in Paris and plan to use the pass?

I’d still enter early and plan to take breaks within the secure area to extend your time for the entry.

Hi Pam, thank you for posting this excellent info based on your recent experiences. Very helpful!

Thanks, Pam -- based on the experience of you and other posters I decided to pass on the Paris Museum Pass this December (hoping it gets revised back to the multi-visit status) and bought da Vinci exhibition tickets online.

Good plan Laura, especially with the DaVinci ticket. If you change your mind you can always purchase at the first museum you visit or in the past I've always purchased it at the Tabac down the street from my hotel.

But Barbra, in my opinion there previously was value added benefit with the pass (re-entry, possibilities for comfort stops even if you didn't see the exhibits, ease of use, skipping ticket line) which may or may not exist for people now. Probably less value added benefit for repeat visitors over new visitors. Plus I usually ducked in to museums I wouldn't have thought about going to because they were on the pass.

Still, I think there is more to it that just adding up the various entry prices.

This post will be most helpful for newbies and for many of us that have used the pass for years. I also am at the point where I won't be getting it on my solo trips. However, as a teacher, I take students every few years and always get one for each chaperone so that we can take our students into museums with little fuss. Since they're free, the cost is only for the adults. It has proven to be worth it.