Our trip to Paris with our daughter in 2018 included many of the most famous sites, including Notre Dame, The Concierge, Sainte-Chapelle, the Arc de Triomphe, Musée de l’Orangerie, the Louvre, Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, Musée d’Orsay, and Musée Rodin. G is not a huge fan of museums; I went by myself to those last two museums on our first visit. This year, since G had to travel, I decided to take advantage of my time alone and visit a few more museums. Here’s a little rundown for each one.
Musée Carnavalet: this museum in the Marais explores the history of Paris. I love museums that use objects to lead you through the timeline of a city and this museum does it very well. The museum is housed in two historic hotels (built in the mid-16th and mid-17th centuries) in the Marais. The story of Paris begins in the basement with a Prehistoric canoe, continuing with items from the pre-Roman Parisii through Roman, medieval, and Revolutionary times and beyond. There are also several recreations of famous rooms. The museum was free and was not crowded. I highly recommend visiting this museum if you’re in the Marais and have time. You can sample what interests you and admire the two gorgeous buildings all for free.
The Cluny Museum, The National Museum of the Middle Ages: this museum has an extensive collection of medieval art as well as the Roman baths. Since I love both very old things (Roman) and middling old things (medieval), this museum was right up my alley. The rooms are arranged with Roman artifacts near the baths, and medieval art is arranged in themes throughout the rest of the building. A lot of the art was religious art rescued from various churches. My highlights: the Roman baths (obviously), the gothic-style building l’Hôtel des Abbés de Cluny, the tapestries and the room with medieval games and art detailing more secular pursuits, mainly because most medieval art is usually religious and it was interesting to see some different themes. Cost 12€.
The Picasso Museum contains an extensive collection of Picasso’s work spanning his entire career. The art is fantastic, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the Picasso exhibition I went to at the NGV. I think this is because there is a lack of context and explanation for the paintings here whereas at the NGV they had a fantastic audio guide that talked you through the paintings and his influences. I should have got the audio guide, but I can’t tell you whether the audio guide is worth it or not. Cost 16€ + 5€ for the audio guide if you get it.
Musée Marmottan Monet: has one of Paris’s largest impressionist collections with 100 works by Monet. Tickets cost 14€, or you can get a combined ticket with Monet’s Garden for 24€. The museum is located on the 16th, so it is a bit off the main tourist trail and is not crowded, so you can relax in front of the paintings and, even as I did, sit on a bench and admire them. The building is in a beautiful townhouse with preserved Empire-style decor. If you are a fan of Monet, this is worth a trip.
Have you visited any of these museums?
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13 responses to “Smaller Museums in Paris”
I’ve been to Paris, qui, but visited neither of these museums I must admi. Although it was not a museum kind of trip I did go to the Louvre.
Thank you for sharing your trip highlights!
No problem.
I’ve only been to the Louvre when it comes to art in Paris.
But the Monet one would be worth a visit. I am not a huge fan of Picasso besides his early works of cubism.
You look at so many things when traveling it is really amazing to me.
You must see the Musee D’Orsey and L’Orangerie. L’Orangerie has Monet’s full scale water lily paintings that are breathtaking.
I haven’t, but clearly I’m missing out!
Carnavalet is very manageable, but still interesting, and since it’s free you don’t feel you need to spend ages there.
I went to the Picasso museum on my honeymoon in 1993, and I went to the Cluny when I was there in 2022. I really want to go to the Musée Marmottan Monet, it looks amazing and I love Monet. I would have gone in 2022, but I had already drug my cousin to d’Orsay and de l’Orangerie, and I think she wanted to do more outside things, which was also wonderful. Next time!
I did love both the Picasso museum and the Cluny. I specifically went to the Cluny to see the gorgeous tapestries. Everything else was wonderful, but that was my main goal (like a lot of people, I know.) Have you read the book, The Lady and the Unicorn, by Tracy Chevalier? I loved it, and it made me want to see them myself if I got the chance.
I haven’t read that book. I’ll have to look it up.
I have not been to any of those, but I love the Marais and I love free, so that one is definitely going on my list. Also, if you haven’t gone yet, I really enjoyed the catacombs. I know they are not a museum, but they were very enlightening, plus if you like Les Mis, I can just picture all of those guys down in those caves during the revolution. Also, another side note, if you have not seen Lupin on Netflix, it is about a thief in Paris and showcases a lot of the museums and attractions you are talking about! I enjoyed it.
I did go to the catacombes this trip. I enjoyed it. I have also watched Lupin with my daughter, we enjoyed it too. Sounds like we have similar taste.
We did a lot of the big touristy things on our last trip to Paris, like you. But not any of these smaller museums. And, I must say, other than the Picasso one (I’m not a fan) I’ve put the others down on a post-it note to add for future ref. We were supposed to go May 2020 but, of course, Covid hit and we’ve been trying ever since to plan another visit.
That’s a shame your trip got cancelled, we had a trip to Germany with our son cancelled 2020 but we managed to do that trip last year. I hope you get back to Paris soon.
I was in Paris in college. It was the last stop of our two week travels abroad on a budget and staying in hostels. I was with my brother. My dad had a work friend who lived in Paris, but was from the US. We were able to stay with them in a comfortable house, and we walked around Paris, refused to spend a lot to go into anything, and then we crashed in the comfort of a home with a normal bed and no fears of waking up to someone trying to steal our stuff (we sometimes slept on overnight trains and there was at least one robbery while we were sleeping, and afterwards I slept with one eye open). That’s a long way to say – no. I have not seen these museums. I’d like to go back someday and have a more adult trip. The Musee Carnavalet looks like it is full of beautiful exhibits.