StoryCulture
Free museum, paid exhibition? A useful distinction.
A free museum visit and a ticketed exhibition can share the same address. Here is how to read the difference when planning a day.
Good things are out there
Follow your curiosity.
A name, a neighbourhood, a mood. Start somewhere.
On the house
EventActivities
Paris-ci, par-là: a free discovery tour at Carnavalet
Look closely at everyday Paris through the museum’s collection. Two free one-hour tours on 3 October, with registration at the meeting point.
Free entry
PlaceCulture
Musée Zadkine
A sculptor’s studio and garden tucked off rue d’Assas. A small, free museum that rewards looking closely rather than rushing through.
Free entry
PlaceCulture
Musée Carnavalet: Histoire de Paris
A free introduction to the history of Paris in the Marais. Come for the permanent collection; leave time to follow whatever catches your eye.
On the house
EventActivities
Saturday organic market at CENTQUATRE
A Saturday morning browse for bread, produce, cheese and flowers in an arts venue. Entry is free; purchases are extra.
Free entry
PlaceCulture
Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris
A free route into modern and contemporary art beside the Seine, with a separate programme of ticketed exhibitions.
On the house
EventConcerts
Puissance Jazz Big Band at the Luxembourg kiosk
A free hour of jazz swing on Sunday 27 September, with Puissance Jazz Big Band at the Jardin du Luxembourg music kiosk.
On the house
EventExhibitions
Hashigakari: works by Matsutani Takesada
A free display in Cernuschi’s painting room, marking sixty years since Matsutani Takesada settled in France.
Free entry
PlaceCulture
Petit Palais
A free permanent collection and a garden pause near the Champs-Élysées. A museum visit you can keep pleasantly unhurried.
On the house
EventConcerts
Cam Jazz Big Band at the Luxembourg kiosk
An hour of big-band jazz in the garden: Cam Jazz plays the Luxembourg music kiosk on Saturday 26 September. Entry is free.
Free entry
PlaceOutdoors
Jardin du Luxembourg
Make room for a garden hour: fountains, tree-lined paths and a music kiosk on the Left Bank. Entry to the garden is free.
Free entry
PlaceCulture
Jardin des Plantes
A botanical garden for an unhurried Left Bank walk. The outdoor paths are free; the museums, greenhouses and zoo are separate visits.
Free entry
PlaceCulture
Musée Bourdelle
Sculpture, former working spaces and garden courtyards near Montparnasse. The permanent collection is free to enter.
GuideCulture
Cernuschi and Monceau: art, then air
Two neighbouring places for a compact afternoon: a free permanent collection, then a pause among the trees.
Free entry
PlaceCulture
Musée Cernuschi
Asian art at the edge of Parc Monceau. The permanent collection is free, with room for a museum visit and a little time outside.
GuideCulture
Two museums. No ticket required.
Two free permanent collections for an afternoon in Paris: choose city history in the Marais or art and a garden pause near the Champs-Élysées.
PlaceCulture
Maison de Balzac
A writer’s house above the streets of Passy, with a garden that makes a literary visit feel pleasantly removed from the city.
PlaceCulture
Musée Cognacq-Jay
An eighteenth-century collection in a Marais townhouse. A compact visit for paintings, furniture and the details of domestic life.
On the house
EventCulture
A last Sunday at Belleville’s makers market
Ceramics, jewellery and local making above the rooftops, on the market’s final advertised Sunday of the season.
EventExhibitions
Mary Cassatt: Being Independent
Painting, pastels and prints trace Mary Cassatt’s independent career, with a major autumn exhibition at the Musée d’Orsay.
EventExhibitions
Simone Fattal: Des villes au fond d’un lac
Ceramics, paintings and collages across five decades of Simone Fattal’s work, in an autumn survey at the Musée d’Art Moderne.
PlaceConcerts
Kilomètre25
Open-air house and techno beneath the périphérique, where the edge of Paris becomes the centre of the night.
Free entry
PlaceOutdoors
Parc de Belleville
A hillside park with a broad Paris view. Come for a change of perspective and give yourself time to explore the paths below.
PlaceCulture
Musée Guimet
Asian art at place d’Iéna, with enough detail in a single gallery to reward an unhurried afternoon.