Paris might be the capital of luxury, but it is possible do the city on the cheap. Walking, of course, is one of the most enjoyable ways to experience Paris, and can be done for next-to-no-Euros (notwithstanding the gastronomic temptations you’ll pass as you stroll along). But if you’re hoping to stretch your Parisian budget to a little culture, you’re in luck, because Paris is dotted with museums that are free to enter. (Some, too, such as the Louvre and Centre Pompidou, are gratis on the first Sunday of each month; and keep in mind that most Parisian museums don’t charge children). The following five complimentary museums are spread across the city, so get those aforementioned steps up as you go from one museum to the next, and you’ll have yourself a doubly cheap & chic Parisian time!
Le Petit Palais
First up, spend a while swooning at the towering gilded door and exuberantly domed Beaux-Arts architecture, but then devote at least an hour to what’s inside. And even then, it’s a giddying experience before you get to the art — what with the elaborately tiled floors, soaring ceilings of beautiful mouldings and frescoes, charming courtyard garden, and two of the best staircases in Paris! Unveiled in 1900 for the Universal Exposition, Le Petit Palais now houses the City of Paris’s Museum of Fine Arts, and two of its finest works are Monet’s Sunset on the Seine at Lavacourt, Winter Effect and Georges Clairin’s luscious Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt.
Avenue Winston-Churchill 75008; open 10am-6pm Tuesday to Sunday; click here for more information.
Musée Carnavalet
Devoted to the story of Paris, this recently renovated rabbit hole of a museum is a must-visit for anyone who loves this city, as well as aficionados of history, art, and architecture. Set within a complex of historic townhouses, the sublime rooms — saved when their original addresses were demolished — walk you through an evolution of Parisian interior decoration, while the displayed art and artefacts brilliantly give life and colour to how Paris has changed culturally through the centuries.
23 Rue Madame de Sevigné, 75003; open 10am-6pm Tuesday to Sunday; click here for more information.
Musée Cognacq-Jay
Just around the corner from the Carnavalet, this gem of a museum is devoted to eighteenth-century French style, having been based on the collection bequeathed to the State by the couple who founded the Samaritaine department store. It’s worth a visit for the ‘Polish-style’ bed alone, with its gilded-wood crown and blue-taffeta canopy, but you’ll find gorgeous portraits, sculptures, and bibelots to sigh over, too.
8 Rue Elzévir, 75003; open 10am-6pm Tuesday to Sunday; click here for more information.
Musée de la Libération de Paris
There are many great books on the Liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation, but if you want to go deeper in your understanding of this momentous global event, this museum best does justice to its memory. An inspired selection of photos and mementoes gives visitors good political and cultural background to the Second World War; introduces the key players of the war and celebrates the Resistance; displays the horror and terror of occupation; and, takes us back to the exhilaration that was Liberation. There’s a lot to take in (and warning: it can be an emotional experience), so give yourself a few hours here, and make sure to add on a visit to the basement shelter, which was the command post of Resistance hero Colonel Rol and his FFI staff during the insurrection.
Place Denfert-Rochereau 75014; open 10am-6pm Tuesday to Sunday; click here for more information.
Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris
Set within the Palais de Tokyo, which was built for the 1937 International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life, this museum fittingly celebrates twentieth-century French art, covering all the major movements (Cubism, Fauvism …) and the starriest names, too, such as Matisse, Chagall, Picasso, and the Delaunays. The highlight: Raoul Dufy’s monumental masterpiece La Fée Électricité, which was originally commissioned for the Expo, for the entrance to the Pavilion of Light and Electricity.
11 Avenue du Président Wilson, 75116; open 10am-6pm Tuesday to Sunday (until 9:30pm Thursday); click here for more information.