Travel Tips: Avoiding Paris Museum Queues
Sunday, 7 March 2010 -- 6:30 pmI promised to post this as a follow up to my Paris trip recap this week, and depending on which day you consider the first of the week, I may have actually made that deadline.
One of the problems with visiting popular destinations around the world is the crowds and the queues. Anyone who has stood in line to visit the Vatican or to view Michelangelo’s David likely understands this. And visiting Paris is no different. Many of the must-see destinations are on everyone’s must-see list, and even visiting in the middle of February we experienced a few long queues. Although the waits weren’t as long as I’ve seen at the peak of summer, the bitter temperatures made them just as unpleasant.
However, beginning with my first trip to Paris back in college, I started finding ways to avoid some of the worst waits, and on this most recent trip, we were able to add to this. Hopefully some of these ideas will prove useful to a few of my fellow travelers.
The Louvre
Just about everyone who visits Paris heads to the Louvre. When I lived in Paris over the summer, the winding queues stretching out of I.M. Pei’s famous pyramid were long and slow, and in the July heat, people actually walked the line selling overpriced bottles of water to the melting tourists.
Even before the 9/11 security increases, the Louvre had a tight security check to get inside. The long lines came not from backups at ticket counters but from the slow and painful process of getting through security. On our most recent visit, we were there outside of the peak visiting times (taking advantage of the late opening hours on Fridays), so the line at the central entrance was relatively short. I had decided that it was worth seeing the main entrance for the strange juxtaposition of the modern glass pyramids and the classic architecture of the palace, but if the line had been longer, I had a backup plan:
When the line at the main entrance is too long, or if it’s cold, hot, rainy, or otherwise unpleasant, there is actually a second public entrance through the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center. This spot is now slightly more well-known, thanks to its inverted glass pyramid made famous in Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, but the line is still generally shorter, and it has the advantage of being inside. So you can wait out the queue in a place that’s heated, air-conditioned, covered, or otherwise safe from inclement weather!
To reach the alternate entrance, head back out to Rue de Rivoli, and look for the entrance to the Carrousel du Louvre on the left. Walk straight through the shopping center, and you’ll reach the inverted pyramid. The security checkpoint for the Musée du Louvre is on the left (just before the post office and the Starbucks coffee shop).
Once you’re through security, you’ll end up back in the museum’s central atrium, along with all the masses from the main entrance. Consider bringing along a credit card that doesn’t charge a hefty international fee, and you can use the self-service kiosks which have multiple language options but still tend to attract fewer crowds and shorter lines.
Musée d’Orsay
We visited the Orsay on a Saturday, and despite the cold February weather, there was already quite a line when we arrived around 10 am. Since we planned to visit the Rodin Museum later that day, we decided to reorganize our schedule and head there first. There wasn’t much of a line at the Rodin Museum, and the two museums offer a shared 
ticket (Passeport Musée Rodin + Musée d’Orsay) that costs slightly less and allows you to use a separate entrance at the Orsay. Once again, it’s the security checkpoint that’s the bottleneck, so being able to use the pre-paid ticket entrance can save a lot of time.
The advantage of the combined ticket is that it costs less and allows you to use the alternate entrance. However, if you don’t want to visit the Rodin Museum, and you have your plans decided in advance, it’s possible to buy tickets to the Orsay online for a small service charge. This will also allow you to bypass the general queue and use the less-crowded advanced-purchase door.
Château de Versailles
Unlike the Louvre and the Orsay, Versailles has two lines. The first is to buy tickets, and the second is to get through security. First of all, make sure you realize which is which! I’ve heard multiple stories of people waiting in the entrance line only to find out half an hour later that they needed to buy tickets before joining that line.
To skip the ticket-buying line, it is possible to buy tickets online ahead of time. Unlike the Orsay, the price of advanced tickets is the same as buying them on site, and if you are unable to print them yourself (perhaps you bought them the night before using an iPhone and the hotel Wi-Fi), you can just take your booking number to the on-site Internet Client Service office to pick up your tickets.
As a last resort, if you arrive at Versailles without tickets, it may be possible to buy your tickets with a credit card at the ticket machines and skip the long ticket-purchasing queue. However, the ticket machines are inside the building with the ticket office, so you essentially have to jump the queue just to get inside to the machines. The people in line in front of us decided to try it and came back to tell us that there was no line for the machines, so Lucas went ahead and bought ours from the machine as well. I would have felt a little awkward walking past the waiting crowd, but Lucas reports that the line filed right past the unused ticket machines and into the staffed ticket office. So it wasn’t actually cutting per se.
Unfortunately, at Versailles both pre-purchased tickets and same-day ticket sales filter through the same security line, so you’ll probably be stuck in the second queue, regardless of how and when you buy your tickets. Still, one line is much better than two! As far as I know, the only way to avoid the line at the main entrance is to join a group tour.
Le Tour Eiffel
Although I have no personal experience with this, it does seem possible to buy tickets to the Tour Eiffel in advance. This could be a little risky (especially at certain times of year), since there is no refund offered if part of the Tower is closed for weather restrictions. In our case, the top level was inaccessible due to icy conditions, so I’m glad we didn’t have a pre-paid ticket all the way up!
March 16th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Thank you for your tips and also your recommendation on the Diana. They let me know it’s going to be getting a face lift as well – at least on the outside.
We decided to book it for my husband’s birthday, so we can spend more on all of the delicious foods. I have absolutely no issue in coming back a few pounds heavier!