Paris English Guided Louvre tours

Paris Muse is an outstanding group of expert guides, and they offer several Louvre itineraries, as well as other Paris topics. I’ve used them again and again.
https://parismuse.com/tours/attraction/musee-de-louvre/

@Cyn, thanks so much!

Viator and AirBnB experiences have several guided tours with reviews. I have not used either, but since you are so close to your trip I thought these might be options worth considering.

I'm going to be the lone outsider and say to go on your own. The Louvre used to have a "highlights" booklet that showed you where the famous art was at. My mom and I used it when we visited to Louvre. As a museum lover, my mom and I were overwhelmed at two and a half hours. The crowds and stimulation can be too much and we took time to rest.

I know some museums have audioguides as well. Perhaps you can look into that. Just be warned, the Louvre is enormous and there is a lot to see and most crowds are at the famous works. We were lucky to get in right when the doors opened and quickly went to the Mona Lisa room and got 5 minutes alone with a few other people. We couldn't even get close to the Venus de Milo half an hour later. I think my favorite part was the basement where the ancient Egyptian art was and where you could see the foundation of the palace.

We loved our private tour with Paris Muse.

Paris Walks does a Louvre tour every Friday from 3-5PM for a group limited to 6 people for 70EUR.

@Heather --- what time of the year did you experience those crowds? We are going next week and hoping it won't be so crowded. We are indeed considering the audio guide as well.

You're going to experience crowds at the Louvre whenever you go. Granted, at times it is worse. I find their night time hours was the worst I'd ever seen in crowds. At least if you go first thing, you can somewhat spread out.

I've not done the Paris Walks tour of the Louvre but have done a number of their other walks. I'd vote for that if you decide not to go on your own with the audio guide.

I'll add that Viator is a 3rd party consolidator of tours owned by Trip Advisor. They do not do tours. You can easily find out who the provider is for a tour listed on Viator and book directly with the company saving them the 20-25% fee Viator charges. Sometimes they pass that charge on to you, sometimes they eat it.

We used the audio guides in June, but they were more like Nintendo switches or smartphones. They had audio information on 1 or 2 pieces per gallery. They also had maps and information about which galleries were closed on which days.

Just this past December my husband and I used Paris Muse. Our guides’ name was Orane. She was great, the experience was wonderful. My husband and I were the only two on the tour. We chose a Friday at 4:30 as on the Paris Muse website, it states that Friday evenings are least crowded for the Louvre. There were not many people there, even in front of the Mona Lisa. It’s slightly pricier than some of the other tours but well worth the cost we thought. Have a great trip!