Louvre Museum Tour

Short answer: on a first visit with limited time, a small-group or private guide is the most useful money you will spend inside the Louvre. On a second visit, or if you like to stand in front of one painting for twenty minutes, go alone with a plan.

The reason is the building. The Louvre is a former royal palace in three wings, and its layout defeats most people within an hour. A good guide knows the short cuts between the Denon and Sully wings, times the Mona Lisa room for a quieter moment, and gives the Winged Victory and the Venus de Milo some background beyond the name on the label. Our Louvre guide covers the visit itself; here the question is only whether to hire someone to lead it.

Which kind of tour?

The museum's own guided visits are run by the Louvre and focus on a theme or a wing. They are serious, well-paced and usually small, but English sessions are fewer than French ones.

Small-group tours sold by agencies are the most common. They bundle a timed entry with a two-hour "masterpieces" route and headsets. Group size matters more than anything else here: at twelve people it works, at twenty-five you spend the tour looking at the back of someone's head.

A private guide costs more but lets you shape the route: Egyptian galleries for children, Napoleon III's apartments for lovers of excess, Dutch painting for a quiet hour.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

The museum has had a turbulent year. In October 2025 thieves broke into the Apollo Gallery and stole pieces of the French crown jewels. The gallery reopened in July 2026 as a painted ceremonial hall, with no jewels on show; the surviving pieces are to go on display elsewhere in the museum. Staff strikes over overcrowding and working conditions closed the museum on several days in December 2025 and January 2026, and delayed openings on others. From January 2026, visitors from outside the European Economic Area pay a higher ticket price than EU residents.

The Mona Lisa is still in the Salle des États in the Denon wing. Under the long-term Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance plan she will move to a new room beneath the Cour Carrée, with its own entrance and ticket, but not before the end of the decade. Museum rules also limit what guides may do in her room, so expect your guide to talk before you go in, not in front of the painting.

Who should skip a tour

Families with young children, who will want the mummies and little else, and anyone who has been before. For them a self-planned visit of three or four rooms is better, and the Musée d'Orsay, covered in our things to do guide, may be the better museum anyway.

Every visitor, guided or not, needs a timed entry, and slots sell out in spring, summer and school holidays. Most tours include it; check that yours does, and which entrance you meet at. The Pyramid and the Carrousel du Louvre entrance are several minutes' walk apart, and missing the meeting point means missing the slot.

Before you book, look for:

• a stated maximum group size, ideally in single figures or low teens
• headsets included, since guides cannot raise their voices in the galleries
• a licensed guide (in France, guides for national museums hold an official guide-conférencier card)
• a clear policy if the museum closes on the day. During the recent strikes the Louvre refunded its own tickets automatically, but an agency's refund terms are its own

The museum is closed on Tuesdays, so a Tuesday tour is not a Louvre tour. Check the official site the day before for any sudden closure or change of hours.

• Book the first slot of the day or an evening one. A tour at midday in August is the Louvre at its worst.
• Stay on afterwards. Your ticket normally lets you remain in the museum after the guide leaves. Go back to the room you liked most.
• Tell the guide your priorities at the start. A good one will adjust the route for a specific painting or wing.
• Carry only a small bag. Large bags have to be checked at the cloakroom, and the security line is slower with them.
• Look behind you in the Mona Lisa room. The Wedding at Cana on the opposite wall is the biggest painting in the museum.
• Keep the rest of the day easy. Our 3-day itinerary puts the Marais after the Louvre, a walk rather than another museum.