Museums in Paris – Top 3 for First Time Travelers

TOP 3 MUSEUMS IN PARIS
Maybe it’s the romantic air, the incredible museums, the cobblestone streets, the Eiffel Tower, the Sacre Coeur, the language or the boulangeries, but Paris is always in the top 5 of most visited cities in the world.
If you are planning your first visit to the City of Lights, you can’t miss these three museums. They are some of the most impressive places you can visit in Europe, let alone the world, and you won’t soon forget the wonders you will see there.
Musée du Louvre
If you ask at the entrance desk how long it would take you to go through all the Louvre Museum they will tell you “Complete? Around a week… maybe ten days”. Walking around the museum and stop at each work of art is completely impossible. It is best to plan well the visit, choosing between 4 and 6 works you do not want to miss. When you arrive to the Louvre museum, be sure to get a map (they come with the ticket) and find the works you are most interested in, to build a logical route. It is not recommended to spend more than half a day at the museum (unless art is really one of your passions) as after a long time it becomes increasingly difficult to keep paying attention. You can visit the website for more information on the museum pass prices and the exhibitions presently housed.
Important note: You can store your coat in the museums closets for free.
Chateau de Versailles
If you want to know Versailles, it is best to hire a tour with a guide who will tell you the story of the palace, gardens and kings, and who knows the area and can take you to the best places to take pictures. There are tours of a full day and they can be done on foot or by bicycle. The trick is to investigate what they include and compare prices because some tours include train fare to Versailles and guide, others include guide and lunch, and others include everything except bicycles (for which they charge extra). Sometimes the more expensive tour is actually cheaper because it includes everything. Versailles serves as the Museum of French History, an important stop for any new visitor of this wonderful country.
Musée d’Orsay
The building, an old train station turned-museum, is worth the visit.
In a city with great cultural and artistic offer, this is one of the must-see places, either if you just came for a month or two days. The Orsay Museum is smaller and easier to get around than the rest of the great museums of the city; this small universe has some of the most wonderful works of art that you will ever see.
You can do a fast tour in half a day (only visiting the permanent exhibition), or you can take the full day and end up not seeing everything, because there is just so much to see. The most famous rooms are impressionist works (there are pieces by Monet, Cézanne, Degas, etc), the Toulouse-Lautrec room, the Van Gogh room, and the sculptures gallery.
You can buy your museum pass online or at the museum for admission on the day or later.