Musée d'Orsay Tickets and Prices
Admission here runs from a few euros to a hundred dollars a head, and the gap is explained entirely by what comes with it. This guide prices the visit end to end, including the parts that are free and the parts that are not obvious.
In this guide
- What a ticket costs
- What the tour price bands buy
- What you might buy, and what it includes
- Who gets in free
- What the free first Sunday costs you
- Is the evening ticket worth it?
- Where to buy, and what to check
- What skip-the-line does and does not remove
- Cancellation, refunds and date changes
- How far ahead to book
- What a family of four pays
- What still costs money inside
- Common questions
What does a Musée d'Orsay ticket cost?
Timed admission through a booking platform starts at $23 per person for a two- to four-hour visit. The museum sells its own admission at billetterie.musee-orsay.fr, and publishes the current full rate there — check it directly rather than relying on a figure quoted second hand, because it changes.
Two museum rates are fixed and worth knowing. The Thursday evening ticket is €12 from 6 p.m. And there is a reduced Enfant & Cie rate for up to two adults who are EU residents accompanying a young person under 18.
Platform prices sit above the museum's own rate, and the difference is what you are paying for convenience: a reserved slot, a dedicated door, and a cancellation window in writing. Whether that is worth a few dollars depends entirely on the month you are visiting.
What the tour price bands buy
Guided listings run from $69 to $99 a head, and the band tells you the format rather than the quality.
- $23 to $52. Admission only, in one case with a digital audio guide, in another paired with the Rodin Museum.
- $69 to $82. Shared guided tours with headsets, groups of up to twenty or twenty-five, entry included.
- $73 to $99. Six-guest and private formats, two to two and a half hours, with the guide's attention on your group alone.
The bands overlap, which is the useful part. A six-guest tour at $73 undercuts a twenty-person tour at $82, because the operator running the smaller group runs it for longer and sells fewer departures. Read what each price includes before assuming the higher number buys more.
What you might buy, and what it includes
| What you buy | From | What it includes | Check before you pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Timed entry ticket | From $23 | Permanent collection, temporary exhibitions, one entry | The entrance named on your voucher |
| Evening ticket (Thursday) | €12 | Entry from 6 p.m., collection and exhibitions | Last admission is 9 p.m. |
| Admission with audio guide | From $41 | Ticket plus a one-hour digital audio guide | You need your own phone and headphones |
| Orsay and Rodin combo | From $52 | Dedicated entrance at both museums | The validity window across the two |
| Shared guided tour | From $69 | Guide, headsets, reserved entry | Group cap and the meeting point |
| Semi-private tour | From $73 | Guide, six guests maximum, reserved entry | Departure times are limited |
| Private guided tour | From $99 | A guide for your group alone | Whether the price is per person |
Who gets in free?
More people than expect to. The rules are set by the museum and apply whichever door you use.
- Under 18, free, always.
- Under 26, free for EU nationals and for non-EU nationals who are long-term residents of over three months. Residency is the test, not nationality alone.
- A disabled visitor and one accompanying person, free through the priority Entrance C on proof of eligibility, with no advance reservation needed.
- Everyone, on the first Sunday of each month, with a time slot booked online in advance.
Bring the document that proves it. A residency card or a passport settles a question at the door that an explanation will not.
Free entry still needs a slot. Timed entry manages arrivals whether or not money changes hands, so book the free ticket the same way you would book a paid one. Turning up with proof of eligibility and no reservation on a busy afternoon is the one way to waste a free admission.
What the free first Sunday really costs you
Admission is free for all on the first Sunday of the month, and a timed slot booked online is mandatory. Those slots go early, so the free day rewards planning rather than spontaneity.
The trade is crowding. A free Sunday is the busiest day in the month on Level 5, where the Impressionist collection sits in narrow rooms. If your visit is about the paintings rather than the price, a weekday ticket buys you space that the saving does not.
Is the €12 evening ticket worth it?
For most visitors, yes. Thursday is the one late night: the museum stays open to 9:45 p.m., last admission is 9 p.m., and the €12 evening rate applies from 6 p.m.
You get a museum that empties as the evening goes on, at a rate below the daytime price. What you give up is daylight through the great clock face and any guided tour, since almost all of them run during the day. It is the best-value visit here for anyone who does not need a guide.
Time it to arrive at seven rather than six. The first hour of the late opening still carries the daytime crowd, and the evening rate applies from six regardless, so the later start costs nothing and buys a quieter building.
Where to buy, and what to check before you pay
Buy from the museum's own ticketing if you want museum-issued admission and the exact current rate, or from an established booking platform if you want a combined booking, a dedicated entrance and free cancellation terms in writing.
Whichever you choose, check three things: who is named as the seller, what the cancellation window is, and which entrance the voucher sends you to. A page that will not tell you all three before payment is not a page to pay on.
Two more details save arguments at the door. Confirm whether the price shown is per person or per group, which changes a private tour's cost by a factor of four. And confirm the booking is a ticket rather than a guide-only reservation, because a guide with no admission means buying entry a second time.
What "skip the line" does and does not remove
It removes the ticket queue, and on most listings it routes you through a dedicated entrance rather than the general one. It does not remove security screening, which every visitor passes through, and it does not stop the rooms upstairs being busy at midday.
Priced honestly, that is still worth having in July, when the general queue on the Esplanade is the longest wait of the day. Off-season at 4 p.m., it saves you very little.
Cancellation, refunds and date changes
Every tour and ticket listed here refunds in full if you cancel at least 24 hours ahead, which makes booking early a low-risk decision. One admission listing goes further and allows a reschedule at any time before departure, subject to availability.
Museum-issued tickets are governed by the museum's own conditions rather than a platform's, so read those separately if you buy direct. Free-Sunday slots are not a purchase at all, but releasing one you cannot use frees it for someone else.
Refunds land back on the card that paid, and platform refunds are typically processed within a few working days rather than instantly. If a booking has to change inside the 24-hour window, contact the operator directly — the contact details are on the confirmation, and a rescheduled place is often possible even when a refund is not.
How far ahead should you book?
Small-group formats a week or more ahead in spring and autumn, and two weeks in summer. Plain admission a few days ahead is usually enough outside July and August, and same-week in winter.
The free first Sunday is the exception: those slots open on the museum's ticketing and are taken quickly. If a free visit is the plan, set a reminder for the day booking opens rather than checking the week before.
What a family of four pays
Two adults and two children under 18 pay for two adult tickets and nothing for the children, which puts a self-guided family visit at roughly the price of two lunches. On a guided tour, children usually occupy a paid place because the group cap counts heads, so the same family on a six-guest tour pays four fares.
That arithmetic is why families often do better with admission and an audio guide than with a shared tour. The visit with children covers what actually holds attention once you are inside.
What still costs money inside
The audio guide, if you rent one at the desk. Food and drink at the café or the restaurant. The bookshop. Nothing else — the cloakroom takes coats and small bags at no charge, and every level is reachable without paying for anything extra.
Photography without flash is free and permitted in the permanent collection, though temporary exhibitions sometimes set their own rules. Check the sign at the door of the exhibition rather than assuming either way. For the full list of what is and is not included, Musée d'Orsay Tours sets out each listing's inclusions in its own words.
Budget roughly ten to fifteen euros a head if you plan to eat inside, and nothing at all if you do not. The single largest avoidable cost here is buying admission twice — once through a booking that turned out to be guide-only, and again at the desk.
Common questions
How much is a ticket to the Musée d'Orsay?
Is the Musée d'Orsay free for anyone?
Do children need a ticket?
Can you get a refund on a Musée d'Orsay tour?
Are temporary exhibitions included in the price?
Know what you want to pay?
Every ticket and tour, priced per person, with the inclusions spelled out.
Compare tours and ticketsTickets and tours at each price band
The cheapest way in, the middle option with an audio guide, and what the top of the range buys.
