Free things to do in Paris

How free Paris works

The trick to a free Paris is understanding two tiers of museum. The city-run Paris Musées museums — the Petit Palais, the Carnavalet and a dozen more — are free every day their doors are open. The national museums (the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay and the rest) charge, but each has a free day: the Louvre on the first Friday evening, the others on the first Sunday of the month.

Beyond the museums, an enormous amount of Paris is simply free to enjoy — the churches, the parks, the cemeteries, the riverbanks and the best rooftop views. Group these by neighbourhood and you can fill days without buying a single ticket.

Free museums

The museums you can walk into for free

Paris hides a whole tier of superb museums that are free every single day — the city-run Paris Musées network — plus free days at the big national museums. Learn the difference and you can see world-class art without ever paying admission.

• The Petit Palais

  A Belle Époque palace built for the 1900 World's Fair, with a 1,300-work permanent collection running from ancient Greek vases to Impressionist painting — and it's free every day, no booking. Most first-time visitors to Paris never find it; it's one of the best free museums in any European capital. Open Tuesday–Sunday, 10.00–18.00.

• The Musée Carnavalet & Maison de Victor Hugo

  The Carnavalet, Paris's own history museum, fills a pair of Marais mansions with the story of the city (including Proust's reconstructed bedroom) — free, always. A short walk away on the Place des Vosges, the Maison de Victor Hugo, the writer's former home, is free too. Two of the Marais's best sights cost nothing.

• The Paris Musées network

  Fourteen city-run museums have free permanent collections every day they open: as well as the above, the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, the Musée Cognacq-Jay, the Musée de la Vie Romantique, the Musée Bourdelle, the Maison de Balzac and the Musée Cernuschi. Only temporary exhibitions charge — the permanent collections never do.

• The national museums' free days

  The state museums have their own free windows. The Musée d'Orsay, the Orangerie, the Rodin, the Picasso and the Cluny (medieval) museum are free on the first Sunday of the month — year-round for some, November–March for others. The Louvre is the exception: it's free for everyone on the first Friday evening of the month (after 6 p.m., except July–August) and on Bastille Day. Book a free timed ticket, and expect crowds.

• Always-free extras

  A few more never charge at all: the Mémorial de la Shoah, the Musée Curie, the Fragonard perfume museum, and the sculpture garden and chapel at some sites. And under-18s — plus under-26 residents of the EU — get into all the national museums free, year-round, on any day.

The key distinction: the city (Paris Musées) museums are free every open day, while the national museums (Louvre, Orsay, etc.) are only free on specific days. The Louvre dropped its free-first-Sunday scheme in 2019 — its only regular free slot now is the first Friday evening. Always book a free ticket where required, especially for Sundays.

Free views

See Paris — and the Eiffel Tower — from above for free

You don't need to pay for the Eiffel Tower or Montparnasse Tower to get the view. Some of the best panoramas in Paris, including the classic Eiffel Tower shot, are completely free.

• The Galeries Lafayette rooftop

  The city's best-kept mainstream secret: the open-air 8th-floor terrace of the Galeries Lafayette department store (40 Boulevard Haussmann) is free, with no ticket or reservation. From it you get the Eiffel Tower, Sacré-Cœur and the Opéra Garnier's rooftop, plus a look down onto the store's Art Nouveau glass dome. Just walk in and go up during store hours.

• The Trocadéro esplanade

  The most-photographed viewpoint in Paris: the terrace at Place du Trocadéro, directly across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower, frames the tower perfectly above the Champ-de-Mars. Free and open 24/7, it's magical at sunset — and mobbed from about April to October, so come very early or off-season for space.

• The steps of Sacré-Cœur

  The parvis in front of the Sacré-Cœur basilica, at the top of Montmartre, gives a wide, free, south-facing panorama over the whole Paris basin — a classic sunset spot with buskers and picnickers. Free and open daily; watch your belongings, as the crowds attract pickpockets.

• Printemps rooftop, Belleville & the Institut du Monde Arabe

  For quieter free panoramas: the Printemps department store next to Galeries Lafayette has its own free rooftop; the Parc de Belleville terrace in the 20th looks west across the city; and the 9th-floor terrace of the Institut du Monde Arabe (free, closed Mondays) frames Notre-Dame and the Seine.

The department-store rooftops (Galeries Lafayette, Printemps) keep standard store hours and close in bad weather, but they're free, uncrowded and central. Trocadéro is the most spectacular free view but by far the busiest — arrive 45 minutes before sunset in summer if you want a clear sightline.

Free landmarks & churches

The free icons: Notre-Dame, Sacré-Cœur and more

Many of the landmarks people assume cost money are actually free to enter or admire — including two of the city's greatest churches, newly reopened and gleaming.

• Notre-Dame de Paris

  Reopened in December 2024 after the fire, the cathedral is once again free to enter — the restored nave and its luminous stonework are breathtaking. Reserve a free timed slot online (recommended, especially at weekends). The treasury and the tower climb charge a fee; the interior itself does not.

• The Sacré-Cœur basilica

  The white Romano-Byzantine basilica crowning Montmartre is free to enter (open daily roughly 06.00–22.30), with its huge golden apse mosaic of Christ in Glory. Only the dome climb charges (around €8). Dress respectfully and keep quiet inside — it's an active place of worship.

• The city's great churches

  Every historic church in Paris is free: Saint-Eustache by Les Halles, Saint-Sulpice (with its Delacroix murals), the neoclassical Madeleine, and Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest church in Paris. Cool, quiet, art-filled and free — a good refuge on a hot or rainy day.

• Père Lachaise cemetery

  The most famous cemetery in the world is free to wander: a green, cobbled hillside of elaborate tombs where Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Édith Piaf, Chopin and Molière are buried. Pick up a map at the gate and lose an atmospheric hour or two among the avenues.

Notre-Dame is free but popular — the timed reservation is free and saves a long queue, so book it before you go. The exteriors of the Louvre (the glass pyramid and courtyards), the Eiffel Tower (from the Champ-de-Mars), the Arc de Triomphe and the Palais Garnier are all free to admire and photograph.

Parks & neighbourhoods

Parks, gardens and neighbourhoods to wander

The greatest free pleasure in Paris is simply walking it — through a formal garden, an elevated park, or a village-like quarter. Browsing costs nothing; you only spend if you sit down for a coffee.

• The gardens: Luxembourg & the Tuileries

  The Jardin du Luxembourg, with its palace, fountain, and green metal chairs for lounging, is the loveliest free park in central Paris; the Tuileries, between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde, is the grand formal stroll. Both are free, and both are made for an idle afternoon with a book.

• The Promenade Plantée & Canal Saint-Martin

  The Promenade Plantée (Coulée verte), the elevated railway-turned-park that inspired New York's High Line, runs free from near Bastille — open daily, sunrise to sunset. For a different mood, the tree-lined Canal Saint-Martin, with its iron footbridges and locks, is where young Paris picnics on a warm evening.

• The old quarters on foot

  Paris rewards aimless walking: the medieval Marais and the Place des Vosges, the artists' lanes and vineyard of Montmartre, the bookshops of the Latin Quarter (including Shakespeare and Company), and the islands of the Cité and Saint-Louis. A self-guided free walk through centuries of the city.

• The banks of the Seine & the markets

  The UNESCO-listed banks of the Seine, with the green boxes of the bouquinistes (secondhand booksellers), are free to stroll. So are the markets: the vast Saint-Ouen flea market, the food stalls of the Marché Bastille and Marché d'Aligre, and the pedestrian food street of Rue Cler. Browse for free, buy if you fancy.

Markets have their days and hours — the Saint-Ouen flea market runs Saturday to Monday, the Marché Bastille is Thursday and Sunday mornings — so check before you make a special trip. Otherwise, the parks, the Seine and the neighbourhoods are yours to wander any time, for free.

What's worth paying for

With so much free, you can afford to spend on the few sights that truly earn it. Each of these has a free counterpart nearby, so you can mix one or two paid highlights into an otherwise-free trip.

• The Louvre

  The world's largest museum earns its €22 — but if you can, go on the free first-Friday evening or Bastille Day, or free if you're an under-26 EU resident. The glass pyramid and courtyards are free to see any time.

• The Musée d'Orsay

  The greatest Impressionist collection in the world (Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir) in a former railway station — €16, or free on the first Sunday of the month. Often a better first-visit choice than the overwhelming Louvre.

• Sainte-Chapelle

  The 13th-century royal chapel on the Île de la Cité, walled almost entirely in stained glass — one of the most jaw-dropping interiors in Europe and worth every euro of the ticket. Nearby Notre-Dame is the free counterpart.

• The Eiffel Tower summit

  Going up the tower itself is a rite of passage (about €14.50–€36 depending on how high and whether you take the stairs). If it's the view you want rather than the tower, Trocadéro and the Galeries Lafayette rooftop give it to you free.

Free Paris FAQ

Sources

Free-entry rules, opening hours and prices in this guide were grounded in the following official sources (checked August 2026). Free days and booking rules change — verify before you travel.

• Ville de Paris — which museums and exhibitions are free (official)
• Paris je t'aime (official tourist office) — free museums & monuments
• Louvre — hours & admission, free days (official)
• Petit Palais — free permanent collection (official, Paris Musées)
• Galeries Lafayette — La Terrasse rooftop, free (official)
• Notre-Dame de Paris — free entry & reservation (official)