Musée d'Orsay Guided Tour with Skip-the-Line Ticket

About this tour

This guided tour pairs a skip-the-line ticket with a walk through the Musée d'Orsay's permanent collection, the largest gathering of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art anywhere. You'll see work by Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, and Manet inside a converted 1900 railway station on the Left Bank of the Seine. A guide points out the key paintings and the story behind them, so you spend your time looking rather than hunting for what matters. Most visits run two to three hours.

Highlights

• See the world's largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, the heart of the Musée d'Orsay.
• Stand in front of Van Gogh's Starry Night Over the Rhône and Self-Portrait, Monet's Water Lilies, and Renoir's Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette.
• Take in Degas' ballet dancers, Manet's groundbreaking canvases, and Cézanne's genre-shaping compositions.
• Walk through a grand Beaux-Arts hall built as a train station for the 1900 World's Fair.
• Look out over the Seine through the giant glass clock faces on the upper level.
• A calmer, more manageable alternative to the Louvre, well suited to art lovers who want depth without the crush.
• The great gilded clock on the upper floor frames one of Paris's most photographed views, looking out toward the river and Montmartre.
• The collection fills the gap between the Louvre and the Centre Pompidou, covering Western art from roughly 1848 to 1914.
• Beyond the famous paintings, the museum also holds sculpture, decorative arts, photography, and architecture from the same decades.

Places You Will Visit

Included / Excluded

Visiting the Musée d'Orsay: Hours, Layout, and Getting There

The guided tour starts from the meeting point on the Esplanade Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, on the Left Bank of the Seine and an easy walk from the Louvre and Saint-Germain-des-Prés. By public transport, the simplest route is RER Line C to the Musée d'Orsay stop; Metro Line 12 to Solférino and bus lines 63, 68, 69, 73, 83, 84, 87, and 94 also serve the area. If you've booked ahead, head for Entrance C, which is reserved for individual visitors with pre-booked tickets and pass holders, and skips the on-site ticket line at Entrance A.

The galleries span several floors of the former railway station. The vast glass-roofed main hall holds sculpture and large-format canvases, while the upper levels carry the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings most people come for, including Monet's "Poppies" and Van Gogh's "Self-Portrait." The upper floor is also where the monumental clock looks out over the Seine toward the Louvre, and the old station restaurant still serves meals under its original Belle Époque decor. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 09:30 to 18:00, with a late Thursday opening until 21:45, and is closed Mondays as well as on May 1 and December 25. Last admission is at 17:00 (21:00 on Thursdays), and galleries begin closing around 17:30.

Weather in Paris

Today 57°F14°C 51°F10°C Rain 88%

Today 57°F14°C 48°F9°C Rain 100%

Tomorrow 62°F17°C 51°F11°C Rain 95%

Mon, Oct 26 59°F15°C 49°F10°C Rain 45%

Tue, Oct 27 65°F19°C 51°F11°C Rain 34%

Wed, Oct 28 60°F16°C 46°F8°C Rain 21%

Thu, Oct 29 61°F16°C 43°F6°C Rain 3%

Local time 2:47 AM, UTC+02:00

Available Days / Times

• Monday
• Tuesday : All day
• Wednesday : All day
• Thursday : All day
• Friday : All day
• Saturday : All day
• Sunday

Last updated: Oct 22, 2026