Start here
The Louvre for first-timers: a route, not a list
The museum is roughly eight hectares of galleries holding 35,000 objects on display. Nobody sees it, and trying is the single reason people leave disappointed. This is the route we would give a friend with three hours and no plan.
Written by Claire Benoit Updated
Guided routes through the Louvre
See live pricesAt a glance
- Time needed
- 3 hours for the highlights; 2 for one wing
- Admission
- €22 EEA · €32 non-EEA louvre.fr, checked 26 August 2026
- Best entrance
- Carrousel du Louvre, 99 rue de Rivoli
- Best times
- 09:00 Thursday, or after 18:30 Wednesday
- Closed
- Tuesday, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December
- On display
- Roughly 35,000 objects across three wings
The one decision that matters
Before anything else, decide how long you are staying, and then plan for less than that. Museum fatigue at the Louvre is not a failure of stamina; it is a failure of scope. The building is a palace, distances are long, and there is almost nowhere to sit.
| What you can cover | Verdict | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 hour | Three objects in the Denon wing | Only if you are passing through Paris |
| 2 hours | One wing, properly | Better than most people’s three |
| 3 hours | The highlights route across two wings, with a sit-down | The sweet spot |
| Half a day | Two wings, or one wing plus a department you care about | Good, if you have a list |
| A full day | Genuine depth in two or three departments | Only with a plan. Otherwise counterproductive. |
The three-hour route
This runs backwards against the standard flow, which is the whole point. Enter at the Carrousel du Louvre, not the pyramid.
- 09:00–09:20 — straight to the Mona Lisa. Denon, first floor, Salle des États. Do not stop for anything on the way. At 09:15 the room holds tens of people rather than hundreds. Then turn around and look at Veronese’s Wedding at Cana on the opposite wall, ten metres wide and ignored by everybody.
- 09:20–09:50 — the Grande Galerie, walked slowly. Coming back out of the Salle des États you are at one end of Henri IV’s quarter-mile corridor. Four of the museum’s five Leonardos hang here, including La Belle Ferronnière. Everyone else is hurrying the other way.
- 09:50–10:20 — the French large formats. Still Denon, first floor. Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa, David’s Coronation of Napoleon. Stand five metres back from each. These rooms are enormous and rarely crowded.
- 10:20–10:35 — the Galerie d’Apollon. A short detour on the same floor. Crown jewels, a Le Brun ceiling, a Delacroix central panel. Five minutes, high return.
- 10:35–10:50 — down the Daru staircase. The Winged Victory of Samothrace from below, which is the angle it was carved for. By now the staircase is filling, so keep moving.
- 10:50–11:20 — Sully: Venus de Milo and Egypt. Cross into the Sully wing. Greek sculpture on the ground floor, then the Egyptian department — sarcophagi, the Great Sphinx of Tanis, and the rooms that hold every child’s attention.
- 11:20–11:50 — Richelieu, for the quiet. The winged bulls of Khorsabad, the Code of Hammurabi, and if energy allows the Napoleon III apartments. You will have this wing close to yourself.
- 11:50 — stop. Go and eat. Do not attempt Northern painting on tired legs.
If this is your second visit
Skip Denon entirely. It is the most crowded wing and you have already seen its famous things.
- Richelieu, half a day. Near Eastern antiquities, Northern European painting, the sculpture courtyards under their glass roofs, and the Napoleon III apartments.
- Sully basement. The medieval fortress foundations — see the history page. Twenty minutes, almost empty, and it reframes the whole building.
- Objets d’art, Richelieu first floor. Furniture, tapestry, metalwork. Consistently the emptiest galleries in the museum.
- The Musée Eugène-Delacroix, included on the same ticket, ten minutes across the river.
Mistakes that cost people the visit
- Arriving without a time slot. Every ticket carries one and they sell out. See tickets.
- Using the pyramid entrance. Outdoor security, longest queue. The Carrousel is faster and indoors.
- Coming on a Monday or Sunday. The Tuesday closure pushes that crowd onto neighbouring days.
- Carrying everything. The cloakroom under the pyramid is free.
- Trying to see all three wings in two hours. This is the big one. Pick one.
- Saving the Mona Lisa for last. By then the room is at its worst and you are tired.
- Expecting Van Gogh. There is none. The collection stops around 1848 — see masterpieces.
Guide, audio guide, or neither?
Three honest options, and the cheapest is not the worst.
- Neither. Admission plus the museum’s free app and a printed plan. Works well if you have half a day and like exploring. Costs €22–€32.
- An orientation tour. Around €40 with reserved entry: a guide walks you in, explains the geography, and leaves. Solves the two hard problems and hands the day back.
- A full guided tour. €60–€130 depending on group size. Worth it under three hours, with children, or for a specific collection. See the comparison.
The honest balance
What works
- Almost every canonical object in Western art history is under one roof.
- Admission covers temporary exhibitions and the Musée Eugène-Delacroix the same day.
- Two late nights a week make an evening visit genuinely pleasant.
- Richelieu and the Sully basement are world-class and near-empty.
- The building itself is as interesting as most of what is in it.
What to watch for
- Distances are long and seating is scarce.
- The Salle des États is unpleasant for most of the day.
- Room closures happen daily with no notice.
- The floor plan is genuinely confusing — take a printed map.
- No re-entry, so a single visit has to carry the whole day.
If you would rather be guided
Live options with reserved entry, checked in August 2026.
-
01
Louvre Overview, Exploration Tour and Reserved Entry
The cheapest guided way in, and the most reviewed. The guide orients you and leaves; you keep the museum for the rest of the day.
-
02
Reserved Access: Guided Louvre Museum Tour with an Expert
Certified by GetYourGuide. The volume option for people who want a guide but not a private budget.
-
03
Louvre Museum Tour: Mona Lisa & Iconic Masterpieces
Meets at the Kiosque des Noctambules, not under the pyramid. Runs in English, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
-
04
Best of Louvre Semi-Private Guided Tour with Pre-booked Tickets
Small enough that you can ask questions in front of the painting rather than shouting over a headset.
Prices checked Aug 2026.
Questions people actually ask
How much time do you need at the Louvre?
Three hours covers the famous works without rushing. Two hours works if you commit to one wing. A full day only pays off if you already know which departments you want — undirected, it produces exhaustion rather than memory.
What are the best things to see at the Louvre?
The Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa, the Code of Hammurabi and the Great Sphinx of Tanis. Add the Galerie d’Apollon and the Napoleon III apartments if you have time — both are rooms rather than objects, and both are quiet.
Is the Louvre worth visiting?
Yes, with one condition: go with a plan. Visitors who arrive without one walk eight kilometres, see the Mona Lisa for thirty seconds and leave disappointed. Visitors with a route of a dozen objects across one or two wings almost always enjoy it.
Do you need a guide at the Louvre?
Not necessarily. A guide is genuinely valuable if you have under three hours, are visiting with children, or want a specific collection explained. If you have half a day and enjoy exploring, the museum’s own free app plus a route like the one on this page does the job.
What is the best order to see the Louvre?
Go against the flow. Almost everyone enters and walks Denon towards the Mona Lisa, which means that room peaks mid-morning. Enter at the Carrousel, go straight to the Mona Lisa at 09:15, then walk the highlights backwards. Every room will be quieter than for the people ahead of you.
Which Louvre wing is best?
Denon has the famous things and the crowds. Sully has Egyptian antiquities and the medieval foundations. Richelieu is the quietest and holds the Near Eastern collections and the Napoleon III apartments. For a first visit, Denon plus one other; for a second visit, skip Denon entirely.
Is there a free map of the Louvre?
Yes — printed plans are available free at the information desk under the pyramid, in several languages, and the museum’s own app has a navigable map. Pick one up on the way in; phone signal in the lower galleries is unreliable.
Can you see the Louvre in 2 hours?
You can see one wing in two hours. Take Denon: the Winged Victory, the Grande Galerie with its Leonardos, the Mona Lisa and the large French canvases. Attempting a second wing in the same two hours turns the visit into a march.
Read next
-
Masterpieces to find
The fifteen works worth crossing the building for, with rooms.
-
Hours, entrances, getting there
Hours, the four entrances ranked, métro stops and cloakrooms.
-
Louvre tickets
What admission costs and how far ahead to book.
-
Mona Lisa
The room everybody asks about, and when to be in it.
-
History of the Louvre
Why the floor plan makes no sense, and why that is interesting.
-
Best private tours compared
If you would rather someone else did the routing.
Sources
- Musée du Louvre Hours, admission, departments and visitor information. Checked 26 August 2026.
- Louvre collections database Where individual works are currently displayed.
- Official Louvre ticketing Timed entry slots.
Photo credits
- Wing victory Samothrace Louvre Ma2369 — Unknown artistUnknown artist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Grande Galerie, Louvre Museum, 25 September 2019 01 — Cheng-en Cheng from Taichung City, Taiwan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Louvre aile Richelieu — Jebulon, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The three wings
- Denon
- The famous works. The crowds.
- Sully
- Egypt, Greek sculpture, medieval foundations
- Richelieu
- Near East, Napoleon III, and quiet
- Free map
- Information desk under the pyramid