France

15 Best Museums in France

If museums are your reason to travel, this is France sorted for you.

Ranked by traveler review volume across 1858 tracked places in France. Updated monthly.

  1. Louvre Museum

    Museum · Paris

    The Louvre is France's national art museum, housed in the Louvre Palace on the Right Bank of the Seine in central Paris.

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  2. Musée d'Orsay

    Museum · Paris

    The Musée d'Orsay is a Paris art museum on the Left Bank of the Seine, housed in the former Gare d'Orsay railway station.

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  3. Fondation Louis Vuitton

    Museum · Paris

    The Fondation Louis Vuitton is one of Paris's most striking modern buildings, a billowing 'cloud of glass' designed by Frank Gehry, rising from the greenery of the Bois de Boulogne.

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  4. Grevin Museum

    Museum · Paris

    Grévin is Paris's historic wax museum, a Parisian institution since 1882, set in a sumptuous Belle Époque building near the Grands Boulevards.

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  5. Atelier des Lumieres

    Museum · Paris

    The Atelier des Lumières is Paris's pioneering immersive digital-art centre, a former 19th-century iron foundry whose vast, raw industrial halls are transformed into a 360-degree canvas.

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  6. Petit Palais

    Museum · ParisFree entry

    The Petit Palais houses the City of Paris's Museum of Fine Arts, and remarkably, it's free to enter.

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  7. Grand Palais

    Museum · Paris

    The Grand Palais is one of Paris's most spectacular Belle Époque monuments, a vast exhibition hall built for the 1900 World's Fair, crowned by an immense glass-and-steel barrel-vaulted roof, the…

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  8. Musee Nissim de Camondo

    Museum · Paris

    The Musée Nissim de Camondo is one of Paris's most exquisite and moving house-museums, an elegant early-20th-century mansion near Parc Monceau, preserved exactly as its owner left it, filled with one…

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  9. Musee des Arts Decoratifs

    Museum · Paris

    The Musée des Arts Décoratifs is a treasure trove of design and craftsmanship, located in the Palais du Louvre's Rohan wing.

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  10. Musee des Arts et Metiers

    Museum · ParisFree entry

    The Musée des Arts et Métiers is a treasure trove for science and technology enthusiasts.

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  11. Palais de la Decouverte

    Museum · Paris

    Palais de la Découverte is a science museum located in the heart of Paris, within the Grand Palais complex on Avenue Franklin D.

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  12. Choco-Story Paris - Musee Du Chocolat

    Museum · Paris

    Choco-Story Paris, also known as the Musée du Chocolat, is a delightful museum dedicated to the history and art of chocolate making.

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  13. Musee Bartholdi

    Museum · ColmarFree entry

    The Musée Bartholdi is a must-visit for art and history enthusiasts in Colmar.

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  14. Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Nantes

    Museum · NantesFree entry

    The Museum d'Histoire Naturelle de Nantes is a natural history museum located in the city center, near the Place de la Monnaie.

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  15. Musee d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaisme

    Museum · ParisFree entry

    The Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme (MAHJ) is a cultural institution located in the historic Hôtel de Saint-Aignan in the Marais, Paris's traditional Jewish quarter.

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Good to know

What is the best-known of the museums in France?

Louvre Museum in Paris is the most reviewed, with 103,248 traveler reviews and a 4.6 rating. That makes it the safe choice if you are only fitting in one.

Which of France's museums is worth going out of your way for?

Musée d'Orsay in Paris rates highest at 4.7 out of 5 across 67,599 reviews. Smaller crowds than the headline entry usually explain the gap.

Which city in France has the most museums?

Paris, with 13 on this list, ahead of Colmar on 1. The list spans 3 cities in total, capped at three per city so one big city cannot crowd out the rest of the country.

Are any of these museums free to visit?

Yes, 5: Petit Palais, Musee des Arts et Metiers, Musee Bartholdi and others. That is based on each place's own visiting information, not an assumption about the category.

How is this list of museums ranked?

By how many travelers reviewed each place, filtered to those rated well enough to be worth your time, drawn from 1,858 tracked places in France. No one pays to appear on it, and the order is refreshed monthly as new reviews land.

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