visiting the Louvre

There is a wealth of information on the Louvre website - just Google it. It gives good information for making the best use of your time.

If you have a Paris Museum Pass, you can enter the museum as many times as you want, and I think a single ticket allows multiple entries on the same day. There are several dining options in the museum, so you can spend 3 hours, have lunch, rest your feet, and go back in.

If you love art, don't miss the d'Orsay and L'Orangerie. Also the Pompideou for modern/contemporary art.

Hi Sara -
One of the best guides is on the Louvre's own website: it offers 28 self-guided thematic "trails" to choose from:

http://www.louvre.fr/en/parcours?nrppage=30

Click on any of them for step-by-step directions and written narratives (click on the small arrows to the far right of each numbered piece) about what you'll see along the way.

The museum is too vast to cover in 3 hours. We did three separate visits and STILL didn't get it all done but by spending some time with the website before you go, you can certainly see what most interests you. :O)

Oh, and getting a handle on the floorplans will be helpful too:
http://www.louvre.fr/en/plan

I've been to the Louvre 3 times in 15 years. 1 time in May, 1 time in July, and 1 time in February
The busiest days are during summer June-September. I hope you as an art lover are not going at this time.
But if you are visiting after 3pm is the best time to visit IMO as you will not get through a 3 hour visit in comfort with the crowds.
Let your 1st experience advise whether or not you want to go back a 2nd time on the same trip to Paris.
Who knows, it may not live up to your expectations. Also since you are an art lover you may want to visit the smaller like the Orangerie, Musee D'orsay or the Pompidou Center as the Louvre collection (aside from the special exhibitions) only goes up to the 19th century if I'm not mistaken.

Three hours will exhaust you. Plan smaller chunks. The museum pass is your friend.

The Louvre offers guided tours (group tours). I recommend starting with one of them to get your feet wet.

We have found the Louvre to be exhausting and challenging. Last summer we toured with a good friend who wanted to go. We used the portion from Ricks' Paris book. It was absolutely terrific. We saw the biggies but, more importantly, we toured in a way that conserved our energy, as the museum is huge and you can spend much wasted time and effort getting from point A to B. It took discipline to pass through some galleries and not spend a whole lot of time (we took notes so we could come back-we didn't). We felt good enough to see the Orangerie that day. Beautiful collection, much less crowded.

I've been to the Louvre a half dozen times and still haven't seen every gallery. So a second visit on the same trip might not be out of the question, depending on the length of your stay in Paris. Especially if your main interest is in the "old masters" or antiquities. But if this is your first visit to Paris, don't do that at the expense of missing the other great attractions on the city. Who knows, maybe one of your days near the end of your stay will be rainy. That would be a great excuse to go back for a second look.

My husband and I made two trips to the Louvre on our last week-long trip to Paris in February. The second visit was spontaneous. We had just visited the Orsay and had extra time.

The best advice I can give you for the Louvre is to have a clear plan before you go!

If you have a museum pass, you can plan a number of relatively short visits, and hour or two, and view a different theme/section each time. I personally like to plan no more than two hours at a time so I don't get overwhelmed.

I have to remind myself that every piece in the place is a masterpiece in it's own right. It's easy to focus on the most famous pieces and forget to enjoy the rest.

The museum is way too big to cover everything in one visit. Pick the section that interests you most and start there.

Three hours will exhaust you.

LOL. We spent 5 hours on visit #1. I guess we have stamina when it comes to humongous museums. But I'd agree: use the Paris Museum Pass and break your visits down into your idea of palatable chunks.

That pass, BTW, is a gem if you have the time to use it and if you want to see enough of what it covers to make it pay off. We almost never buy tourist passes but that one was WELL worth what we paid for it. Our three visits to the Louvre alone (and we did a lot more) made good on 45 euros of the 74 euro (6-day pass) price.

If you're in Paris on a Wed. or Friday, the Louvre is open until 9:45 PM so we stopped in for a few hours one evening when most everything else was closed. A possibly for you?

Anyway, take a look at it if you haven't already, and don't confuse it with the exorbitantly priced Paris Pass. Passes can be purchased when you get to Paris.

http://en.parismuseumpass.com

Even if you don't have a pass, you could go for 2 or 3 hours in the morning then go out and get lunch, take a neighborhood walk, or whatever and then come back for the evening or late afternoon for another 2 or 3 hours. (The museum is open late on Weds and Fridays) Louvre tickets allow you to go in and out all day on the same ticket.

I have a funny story about the Louvre. It was two years ago in summer - and I arrived about 1/2 hour before opening time in the morning. I waited with other early birds in line outside the glass pyramid. Then security opened and scanned our bags. I didn't have a entry ticket at that time - so I figured I would buy one at a desk. When we all trooped downstairs - the ticket folks hadn't shown up yet for work. The security folks waved the confused circulating mass of tourists through the entry - saying "free today" in French. Lucky us!! Hours later, when I exited - it was back to normal. The other nice part of getting there early - is that all the famous spots (La Joconde aka Mona Lisa wasn't mobbed yet - just busy) were fairly free. I saw my favorites (e.g. Le Radeau de La Médus) and then disappeared into the Napoleon appartments - never crowded!

And carry a full water bottle -- there are no water fountains. Art touring is a thirsty business! (Water is available for purchase in the cafes -- but not at Monoprix prices.)

I can't believe no one mentioned that Rick's Paris guide has a self-guided tour of the Louvre. That's one option. There are free audio guides here:

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/audio-tours/paris

Rick's info in the Paris book is great. I have used it several times.

Yes, do go back if you wish. It is your holiday, do what you want.

I must sat my favourite museum is the Orsay though. The building is marvellous. The clocks amaze me. It is not so huge.

Enjoy Paris.

Kathy's thematic trails suggestion is exactly what I thought of while reading your question. The one I chose was "From Palace to Museum." It takes about 3 hours, if you breeze past tons of artwork . . . going through the Louvre with a purpose takes discipline ☺ This trail takes you past almost all the Louvre's top highlights, though it doesn't actually mention most of them. So you have look around you as you go.

Evenings are generally less crowded. Also, to avoid a long line for security, use the less-known Carousel entrance. I thought the audio guide was worthwhile (I used it on a different visit than when I took the "trail") if you want to go more in-depth. Pay attention to which kiosk you rent from - you'll have to go back to the same one to return it and get your photo ID back.