Musée d'OrsayTours & Tickets
Paris · 7th arrondissement

Musée d'Orsay Tours

Guided visits and skip-the-line tickets for the world's greatest Impressionist collection

Musée d'Orsay tours take you into a Beaux-Arts railway station that now holds the largest collection of Impressionist painting in the world. Compare guided visits and entry tickets side by side, check what each one includes, and book the option that fits the day you have in Paris.

Hours, prices and access verified by the Musée d'Orsay Tours team — last checked August 12, 2026.

Check availability Plan your visit
1900Station opened
1848–1914Collection span
From $23Entry included
Musée d'Orsay Tours› Tours & Tickets 2026 Updated: August 12, 2026
Most booked

Top Musée d'Orsay Tours for 2026

The three that suit most visits: the volume leader, the cheapest way in, and the highest-rated small group.

BEST SELLER Musée d'Orsay Skip-the-Line Tour with Expert Guide

Musée d'Orsay Skip-the-Line Tour with Expert Guide

★ 4.7 · 1,196 reviews

Entry includedHeadsets1 hr 45 min

Step inside on a skip the line tour that spends all of its one hour forty-five minutes in the museum rather than in a queue. Pre-reserved entry through a dedicated door is included, along with headsets that keep the guide audible in the busiest Impressionist rooms. The route runs Monet, Manet, Renoir and Van Gogh in the order the period actually developed, so the shift from scandal to canon becomes visible rather than asserted. Best for a first visit where you want the collection edited down for you, with the group capped at twenty and your entry still valid afterwards.

From $82 per person

View details Check Availability
BEST VALUE Musée d'Orsay Daily Entry Ticket

Musée d'Orsay Daily Entry Ticket

★ 4.28 · 864 reviews

Open entry timeExhibitions includedDedicated entrance

Open entry is the appeal here, because these Musée d'Orsay tickets stay valid across opening hours instead of locking you to a thirty-minute slot. Admission runs through a dedicated entrance and covers the permanent collection and the temporary exhibition alike. An open time also means a late flight or a slow breakfast does not cost you the visit, which a fixed slot would have ruled out. Best for repeat visitors and anyone happy to navigate the building alone, at the lowest price here.

From $23 per person

View details Check Availability
TOP RATED Musée d'Orsay Semi-Private Guided Tour

Musée d'Orsay Semi-Private Guided Tour

★ 4.97 · 1,041 reviews

Max 6 guestsEntry includedReserved entry

Six travellers is the hard cap on these Musée d'Orsay private guided tours, and the group is never larger than that. That size turns the format from broadcast into conversation, so you can ask questions and get close to a canvas in a crowded room. All entrance fees and reserved entry are included, and the route covers Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, Cézanne and Gauguin. Temporary exhibitions sit outside this tour, and the route is best suited to travellers who are comfortable on their feet.

From $73 per person

View details Check Availability
Why book with us

Trusted by Thousands of Visitors

Every Musée d'Orsay tour and ticket here comes from an established operator, with the ratings shown exactly as travellers left them.

Best Guides

The guides on these tours are named again and again in the reviews, by travellers who arrived with no interest in art and left wishing they had studied it.

Book With Confidence

Every tour and ticket refunds in full if you cancel at least 24 hours ahead, so you can hold a place now and decide later.

Experience of a Lifetime

Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas and Van Gogh hang together on one floor here, in a building that was a working railway station when they were painted.

Tripadvisor Travellers' Choice
FREE CANCELLATION up to 24 hours in advance on every tour and ticket listed here
The full list

All Musée d'Orsay Tours & Tickets

Guided visits, semi-private small groups, private departures and plain admission — every Musée d'Orsay tours and tickets option, compared in one place. All of them run as Musée d'Orsay tours in English and include entry, and several work well as a Musée d'Orsay family tour, with under-18s admitted free.

TOP RATED Musée d'Orsay Premium Guided Tour, 6 Guests Max

Musée d'Orsay Premium Guided Tour, 6 Guests Max

★ 4.94 · 634 reviews

Private partyMax 6 guestsEntry included

Private departure for your own party, capped at six guests, with reserved museum entry included in the price. What you gain is exclusivity, because the group is yours alone and the pace belongs to whoever you brought with you. The visit runs two to two and a half hours through the collection's defining works, from Manet through to Van Gogh. Best for a family or a small group who would rather not share a guide with strangers.

From $73 per person

Check Availability
Musée d'Orsay Private or Small Group Guided Tour

Musée d'Orsay Private or Small Group Guided Tour

★ 4.15 · 400 reviews

Private party90 minutesSkip-the-line

Ninety minutes is the shortest guided format available, which suits a tight Paris itinerary better than a half-day commitment. Booked as an Orsay Museum private tour, it runs for your party alone with skip-the-line entry included. The compressed length means the guide picks a narrower set of works and stays on them rather than sweeping the whole building. Best for travellers with one free morning who still want the Impressionist floor explained properly.

From $99 per person

Check Availability
Musée d'Orsay Admission with Optional Private Guide

Musée d'Orsay Admission with Optional Private Guide

★ 4.01 · 388 reviews

Entry includedGuide optionalFlexible length

Admission with an optional private guide, which makes this the flexible middle of the range between a bare ticket and a fully guided visit. The base product is entry to the museum, with a guide available as an add-on rather than built into the price. Duration is left open, from one hour to four, so you set the length of the visit rather than the operator. Best for travellers who want the option of commentary without committing to it when they book.

From $41 per person

Check Availability
Musée d'Orsay Masterpieces Guided Tour

Musée d'Orsay Masterpieces Guided Tour

★ 4.46 · 124 reviews

Entry included2 hoursHighlights route

Two hours on the Musée d'Orsay highlights tour, aimed squarely at the works most visitors arrive wanting to see. A named guide leads the route, so for you this format lives or dies on the person rather than on the itinerary. The group runs to twenty, so it is a following experience rather than a conversational one. Best for a first visit on a fixed budget, where the major paintings matter more than depth.

From $69 per person

Check Availability
Musée d'Orsay and Rodin Museum Combo Ticket

Musée d'Orsay and Rodin Museum Combo Ticket

★ 4.08 · 48 reviews

Two museumsEntry includedCovers children

Both museums on a single booking, pairing the Orsay with the Rodin a short walk away on the same bank of the Seine. The itinerary allows around two hours at the Orsay and an hour at the Rodin, which is a realistic split rather than an optimistic one. One booking also covers children, so a family clears both entrances without a second reservation to manage. Best for a short Paris trip where you want sculpture and painting in one afternoon.

From $52 per person

Check Availability

Compare Musée d'Orsay guided tours

The destination

About the Musée d'Orsay

Join us on the left bank of the Seine, in a Beaux-Arts railway station that opened for the 1900 World's Fair and reopened as a museum in 1986. The holdings run from 1848 to 1914, and the Impressionist collection here is the largest anywhere, alongside the Post-Impressionists: Manet's Olympia, Renoir's Bal du moulin de la Galette, Van Gogh's self-portrait, Whistler's Mother. Sculpture lines the vaulted nave where the platforms once stood, and the great glass clock still looks out across the river.

History

Victor Laloux built the Gare d'Orsay in 1900 as the first electrified urban terminal in the world. Its platforms were too short within forty years, it closed to mainline traffic in 1939, and it came close to demolition before opening as a museum in December 1986.

Planning your visit

The museum opens Tuesday to Sunday and stays open late on Thursdays, closing every Monday. Last admission is 5 p.m., or 9 p.m. on the late night. Under-18s enter free, and so do under-26s who are EU nationals or long-term residents.

Collections

Painting fills the upper level, sculpture the nave, and Art Nouveau the floor between. Around three thousand works are shown at a time, out of a far larger holding, so rotation is constant and a specific pastel may not be on the wall the day you come.

What you will see

Six things the Musée d'Orsay actually puts in front of you

Named, so you know what a ticket buys before you buy one.

  • Van Gogh's self-portrait of 1889

    Painted at Saint-Rémy in the year before he died, and the work most visitors come up to the fifth level to stand in front of.

  • Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe

    The 1863 canvas rejected by the Salon and shown at the Salon des Refusés, where it caused the scandal that started everything.

  • Monet's Rouen Cathedral series

    The same façade painted again and again in different light, hung together so you can watch the experiment happen.

  • Degas's Little Dancer Aged Fourteen

    The wax original in a real gauze tutu, which unnerved the critics of 1881 as thoroughly as any painting in the building.

  • The clock face over the nave

    The station's own giant glass clock, still keeping time, with the Sacré-Cœur visible through the numerals on the fifth level.

  • The 1900 station hall itself

    Victor Laloux's Beaux-Arts train shed, built for the Exposition Universelle and nearly demolished in the 1970s.

Before you book anything

Do you need a guided tour, or just a ticket?

Sometimes just a ticket, and it is worth knowing which case you are in.

You may not need to pay at all. Admission is free for under-18s, for EU residents under 26, and for a disabled visitor with one companion. It is also free for everyone on the first Sunday of each month, which is the busiest day of the museum's month by a wide margin. If any of those describe you, book nothing and walk in.

A plain ticket is enough if you already know what you want. The museum sells admission direct through musee-orsay.fr, and an open-entry admission ticket does the same job with a dedicated entrance and no fixed arrival slot. Neither skips security screening — nothing does — so allow about fifteen minutes either way.

Pay for a guide when you want the collection edited. Around three thousand works are on show at once, and the case for a guide is that somebody picks the thirty that carry the story and puts them in the order that makes it visible. That is what the guided skip-the-line tour and the semi-private tour sell — reserved entry is the smaller half of it.

Visiting the Musée d'Orsay sets out hours, free-entry rules and the quiet slots in full, whichever way you decide to go.

Plan your visit

Five decisions that shape a Musée d'Orsay visit

The questions that stall a booking, answered in one place.

When to go

Closed every Monday. The two calmest windows are the first hour after opening and the Thursday late night, when an evening ticket costs €12 from 6 p.m. Avoid the free first Sunday unless the fee matters more than the crowd.

Musée d'Orsay tickets and opening hours

Getting in

Entry is by timed slot, and security screening applies to everyone regardless of what you booked. Arrive about fifteen minutes early and the queue stops being a factor. Save the ticket itself rather than the confirmation email.

Musée d'Orsay booking questions answered

Who goes free

Under-18s enter free whatever their nationality. Under-26s enter free if they are EU nationals or non-EU long-term residents staying over three months. The first Sunday of each month is free for all, with a mandatory timed reservation.

Musée d'Orsay ticket prices and free entry

Two hours, done properly

Go straight up to the Impressionist level before it fills, then work down through the Art Nouveau rooms and finish along the sculpture nave. Stop at the clock on the way. That is a complete visit rather than a partial one.

Musée d'Orsay highlights

Accessibility

Every floor is served by lifts or ramps. A disabled visitor and one companion enter free through priority Entrance C on proof of eligibility, with no advance reservation needed, and wheelchairs are lent free of charge.

Musée d'Orsay accessibility

Musée d'Orsay guided tours

Compare

Which Musée d'Orsay Tour Is Right for You?

Rating, price, length and who each one actually suits.

TourRatingPriceDurationBest for Book
Musée d'Orsay Skip-the-Line Tour with Expert Guide4.7From $821 hr 45 minFirst-timers who want the collection edited down for themCheck availability
Musée d'Orsay Semi-Private Guided Tour4.97From $732 hours – 2 hr 30 minAnyone who wants to ask questions, not just listenCheck availability
Musée d'Orsay Daily Entry Ticket4.28From $232 hours – 4 hoursConfident visitors who would rather set their own paceCheck availability
Musée d'Orsay Premium Guided Tour, 6 Guests Max4.94From $732 hours – 2 hr 30 minFamilies and small groups wanting a guide to themselvesCheck availability
Musée d'Orsay Private or Small Group Guided Tour4.15From $991 hr 30 minTravellers with one free morning and a tight scheduleCheck availability
Musée d'Orsay Admission with Optional Private Guide4.01From $411 hour – 4 hoursVisitors who want commentary kept optionalCheck availability
Musée d'Orsay Masterpieces Guided Tour4.46From $692 hoursFirst visits on a budget, focused on the major worksCheck availability
Musée d'Orsay and Rodin Museum Combo Ticket4.08From $522 hours – 6 hoursShort trips pairing sculpture with painting in one dayCheck availability
What to expect

How a visit runs

1

Book a slot

Choose a tour or a ticket and pick your date. Full refund up to 24 hours ahead.

2

Arrive early

Fifteen minutes before your time. Security screening applies to every visitor.

3

Start at the top

Straight up to the Impressionist level before the floor fills.

4

Work down

Art Nouveau, the clock, then the sculpture nave on the way out.

Traveller reviews

Musée d'Orsay Tours Reviews

Rated 4.0 to 5.0 across more than four thousand traveller reviews on these tours' booking listings.

Walked into the Musée d'Orsay with no queue and no questions asked. The whole thing was about as stress-free as entry to a major museum gets.

Jane H. · August 2026 · solo traveller

The open entry time on this Musée d'Orsay ticket was what made it work. With a late flight out of Paris we could take breakfast first and still get a full visit in at our own pace. Allow two to three hours.

Yelena B. · August 2026 · couple

The cap is six and only three of us turned up for the Musée d'Orsay tour, so it ran almost like a private tour. Anatol knew the collection inside out and made the paintings come alive. We would have walked past most of it on our own.

Nora L. · July 2026 · small group

There were just four of us with Stan on the Musée d'Orsay tour, who was funny and genuinely knowledgeable. He steered us through a very crowded museum without any fuss and made sure nobody missed anything.

Kate K. · July 2026 · small group

Anthony took us through the Musée d'Orsay in time order, asked what we made of each work, and described the reaction each caused when it was first shown. It played like a compressed art class. He also drew out how the building was designed as a station and how close it came to demolition.

Anita E. · May 2026 · art enthusiast

A good guided run through the Musée d'Orsay highlights. There is a great deal to see, but unlike the Louvre it never tips over into overwhelming.

Jay M. · May 2026 · first-time visitor

The history of the Musée d'Orsay building was as interesting as the paintings hung inside it. Julie was engaging and knew her material well.

Trina C. · May 2026 · repeat visitor

The Musée d'Orsay is superb, but Florence was the reason this became our favourite thing in Paris. There were four of us, which was small enough for her to shape the tour around what we wanted.

Casey R. · May 2026 · small group

A sensible pairing. You could spend a whole day at the Musée d'Orsay in either museum, but if your time in Paris is short it is good to fit both in.

Sabrina M. · July 2026 · couple

Do the Musée d'Orsay first and go as early as you can, since it is the bigger and busier of the two. We had no trouble with queues.

Sarah W. · April 2026 · first-time visitor

Our downloaded Musée d'Orsay tickets were not recognised at the entrance and sorting it out took a while, which was stressful. We did get in eventually. Save the PDF ticket itself rather than relying on the confirmation email.

MaryAnn H. · April 2026 · couple

Read all reviews

Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to book Musée d'Orsay tickets in advance?
Yes, in practice. Entry is by timed slot, and the popular mid-morning slots go first in spring and summer. A Musée d'Orsay reservation also fixes your arrival hour, which is the single biggest thing that shortens a queue.
What time is last admission?
Last admission is 5pm on a standard day. Entry to the temporary exhibitions closes at 5:15pm, and the galleries begin clearing from 5:30pm. On the Thursday late night the last admission is 9pm and the galleries close at 9:15pm.
How much does a Musée d'Orsay ticket cost?
The museum publishes a €12 evening ticket valid from 6pm on Thursdays, and a reduced family rate for up to two EU-resident adults with a young person under 18. Check the museum's ticketing site for the current full rate before you book.
Who gets in free?
Under-18s enter free regardless of nationality. Under-26s enter free if they are EU nationals or non-EU long-term residents staying more than three months. The first Sunday of each month is free for everyone, with a mandatory timed booking.
Is the first Sunday of the month really free?
Yes, for all visitors, but you must reserve a free timed slot online in advance. The slots are released ahead of time and are usually gone well before the day.
Are Musée d'Orsay guided tours worth it?
They earn their price if you want a route rather than a map. The collection is dense, and a guide picks perhaps twenty works and connects them. If you already know what you want to see, an entry ticket does the job for less.
What is the difference between a ticket and a guided tour?
A ticket gets you through the door at a set hour and leaves the visit to you. A guided tour includes entry and adds a led route of one to three hours. Entry tickets start well below the guided tours, and both are listed side by side.
How long should I spend at the Musée d'Orsay?
Allow two hours for the Impressionist floor and the sculpture nave, and three if you want the Art Nouveau rooms or a temporary exhibition as well. Below ninety minutes you are picking one floor rather than seeing the museum.
Can I skip the line at the Musée d'Orsay?
A timed ticket or a guided tour gets you past the ticket-buying queue, which is the long one. Everyone still passes through security screening at the door, so arrive around fifteen minutes before your slot.
Which paintings should I not miss?
Manet's Olympia and Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, Van Gogh's self-portrait and his Starry Night Over the Rhône, Renoir's Bal du moulin de la Galette, and Degas's Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. Our highlights page sets them in walking order.
Why is the museum inside a railway station?
The Gare d'Orsay opened in 1900 as the world's first electrified urban terminal. Its platforms were too short for post-war mainline trains, it closed to those services in 1939, and it reopened as a museum in December 1986.
Are temporary exhibitions included in the ticket?
Entry covers the permanent collections and the temporary exhibitions, subject to availability. Because availability is the catch, check what is on before you fix a date.
Do guided tours run in English?
Yes. The guided options listed here run in English, and several are small-group formats capped at six travellers, where you can actually ask questions.
Are the tours suitable for children?
Most are, and under-18s enter free, so a family often pays only for the adults on a ticket. Check each listing: one small-group tour states it is not suitable for travellers using a wheelchair or with walking difficulties.
Can I cancel a tour if my plans change?
Every tour and ticket compared here refunds in full if you cancel at least 24 hours before the start time. That is unusually consistent, and it is stated on each card.

See all FAQs

In pictures

Musée d'Orsay Gallery

The Musée d'Orsay seen from the Seine's right bankThe Beaux-Arts facade of the former Gare d'Orsay in ParisThe great gilded clock face on the museum's upper levelThe barrel-vaulted nave that once covered the station platformsBeaux-Arts stonework and ironwork inside the museumNineteenth-century sculpture lining the central nave

View full gallery

Travel guides

Musée d'Orsay Travel Guides

Long-form guides to the decisions the visit asks of you: which format to book, how the museum fits your day, what it costs and when to come.

Read all travel guides

Questions answered

Musée d'Orsay Visitor Blog

Shorter answers to the single questions that come up between deciding to go and booking.

Read the blog

Find it

Where the museum is

Musée d'Orsay

Esplanade Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 75007 Paris, France

Opening hours

Tuesday to Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays until 9:45 p.m. Closed Mondays, 1 May and 25 December.

Last admission

5 p.m., or 9 p.m. on the Thursday late night. Galleries begin closing 30 minutes later.

Book your Musée d'Orsay tour

Guided visits and tickets from $23, with free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead.

Musée d'Orsay tours and tickets