My wife and I are headed to Paris today on the Chunnel. I see that tomorrow is the free Sunday at the Louvre. How crowded is the Louvre on free day?

thanks,

Racer942

If you're there right when it opens, it isn't too bad if you're quick. In the afternoon, it is terrible.

Nevertheless, if you decide to go far away from the "main attractions" you can find galleries that you can have nearly to yourself. I recall going with a friend a couple of years ago, and we had the whole Scandinavian section to ourselves.

Actually, I don't think the Louvre on free Sundays is too bad at all. We live in Paris and actually often choose the Louvre over other museums for this reason: There are two ways to enter and if you go through the metro station and/or through the underground shopping center (Carrousel du Louvre) there is usually much less of a wait than if you enter through the pyramid entrance above ground. Also, the Louvre is huge...once you are through the line (which really only backs up to go through security/x-ray), the museum is not really that crowded...it is too big to get unbearable, in my opinion. On the other hand, if you go to smaller museums, then you wait on line just to get in the door, as it is packed inside. I do agree with Kerouac though that you are better served to go early...many French are not early risers on Sunday. One thing to bear in mind, as this is the Toussaint holiday in Europe, there may be more visitors than usual from other areas (although many French are away, so maybe it evens out!). Good luck.

Thanks for the replies. It is 8:00am and we will soon be on our way to the Louvre.

We got to the Louvre about 9:10am and went in via the metro entrance. There were lines at security, but they moved pretty quickly. We almost ran to the Mona Lisa as we were with a friend who wanted to see it and we decided to get it over with first. As usual, the room is full, you can' get close and overall the viewing is very unsatisfactury.

But the rest of the visit was fine, maybe a little more crowded than usual, but it didn't keep us from seeing anything we wanted to see.

Overall, seeing the Louvre on the free Sunday was well worth it.

Racer042

Racer042-I'm so glad you posted a reply and let us know how it went. I will be there the 1st
Sunday in Dec. and was wondering the same thing. Glad you were able to have a fun trip.
~C

It would probably be a factor of time of year as well - in summer i can't see Louvre being any more crowded than it is any other day of the week - in summer IME it is always really crowded - at least for the handful of Uber famous things folks come here to see - like La Joconde (sp?), Venus de Milo, etc. Like Kerouac says other galleries may be really sparse even if mobs are around the Mona Lisa area, etc.

so for folks wanting just to see the Mona Lisa and few other famous things what difference would it make and they'd save some euros by going on free Sundays

BTW i think the Louvre is discounted everyday after 3 pm or so - used to be so those again with limited time and interest may go then?

For the record, re above:

"<i>There are two ways to enter and if you go through the metro station and/or through the underground shopping center (Carrousel du Louvre) there is usually much less of a wait than if you enter through the pyramid entrance above ground.</i>"

Don't forget the seldom-used Porte des Lions entrance -- we were the only ones entering there on October's free Sunday.

The only good thing in being "old" is that I got into the Louvre tons of times with NO line at all.
Even on free Sundays, which were ALL the Sundays with a very short line....

Hello to all of you!

What about 1st Sunday of January?
Does anyone know how crowded it will be?

Thanks a lot!!!

<< What about 1st Sunday of January?
Does anyone know how crowded it will be? >>

There will be no crowds...the Louvre is closed on January 1.

First Sunday of January is January 5.

Sorry...I read it Jan 1; need more coffee!