Is it really necessary to reserve a ticket for the Orangerie well in advance?
 

I looked on the Orangerie website, and it seemed to indicate that reservations were required for groups, but it said nothing — as far as I could see — about the necessity for individual reservations.

If I get to the Orangerie early enough before it opens, is that enough? (That simple strategem has always worked for me when going to the Louvre.) Or is it essential to contact the museum or some designated venue in Paris to secure an individual reservation well ahead of time? (I’m going to Paris in May.)

I’ve been waiting for the Orangerie to reopen for years. I’d hate to get there after all this time, only to discover that I blew it.

Thanks for posting, I am going to ask a question also. We have museum passes do we need a reservation andif we do, how do we reserve?

No. If you have your museum pass, you can bypass the line up and get in the line up for reservations and museum pass card holders.

I went to the Orangerie in the afternoon, after I had rested from my Louvre visit in the morning, because they're on the opposite sides of the Tuliere Garden, and there was just minimum waiting, maybe of 2 minutes, in the reservations/cardholder line up.

I'm interested in the answer also. I won't have a Museum pass, so I'de like to know if reservations are advisable in late August. Obviously, I need to know how/where to make reservations.

Stu Dudley

You can stop by any FNAC and pick up tickets. I believe we couldn't buy for the same day, though, but for 48 hours later. You then use the line for those with reservations or passes.

We went just after lunch in July without reservations. There appeared to be quite a line, but in talking with the people just ahead of us, we found that they were told by people at the front of the line that they'd only been waiting about half an hour. Sure enough. We too were inside in about half an hour. The line goes in spurts as they let 20 or so people in at a time. Those with reservations went right in -- but we didn't see a lot of those.
The couple ahead of us (who were Parisians) said they had gone early one morning and the line was much bigger.

Frankly I thought it easier to wait a half hour than to try to arrange my day around a set time to be there.

Thanks for the replies.

I think I’ll just get there early enough rather than reserve. I’m really looking forward to seeing the new and improved (I hope) Orangerie.

I was hoping to get my reservations on a Saturday in June for Sunday. But you say it's 48 hours in advance only? Not the day before?

Cimbrone, we bought our tickets the first week after the Orangerie reopened. That was the policy then but it certainly may have changed

Cimbrone
Do you know how to make individual (non-group) reservations?? I could not find a web site to do so. Also seems like non-groups can only get in after 12:30. Is that so, or can I obtain individual reservations for earlier than 12:30 (I tend to drag a little in the afternoon).

So far, it seems like:
1. You can get a ticket at a FNAC store, and therefore bypass the long line. Does this include entrance at a specific time (reservation) or just admission at any time after 12:30???? If it's the latter, I would rathar stand in line 30 mins at the museum than locate & go into a FNAC store.

2. NeoPatrick reports a 30 min wait in June in the afternoon, but he said that Parisians said lines were longer in the morning. The Web site said that only groups (not individuals) were admitted in the morning - confusing !!!

Stu Dudley

Very interesting about the morning lines comment if indeed only groups can go in the morning. Maybe they just saw some long lines of groups and decided to pass?

Very interesting about the morning lines comment if indeed only groups can go in the morning. Maybe they just saw some long lines of groups and decided to pass?
Perhaps this is one of those cases where people stand in line 45 minutes before a place opens to avoid standing in line 30 minutes after it does -- something I've never understood the benefit of.

We only waited maybe 10-15 minutes in September (no museum pass this time) -no problems at all.

i've been checkeing the FNAC website for a while in order to buy advance tix for l'orangerie. at this point they seem to only be selling individual tickets through march 5 when the current exhibition (not the Monets) closes. don't know what will happen after that. perhaps there isn't as much of a need anymore to sell way-in-advance tickets.

The following is copied from the Orangerie website. It would appear that individuals can enter only in the afternoon and that only groups can reserve directly through the museum:

Opening times:
Open everyday, except Tuesdays, 1st May and 25th December
Individual visitors: 12.30-7 p.m., 9 p.m. on Fridays
Groups: 9 a.m.-12.30 p.m., reservations only
Reservations should be made in writing to Musée de l’Orangerie / group reservations (FAX: +33 (0)1 44 77 81 12)
Groups wishing to listen to a lecture in the museum’s exhibition rooms should wear audiophones, except children and special dispensations.

I was looking at the site for the museum passes and it doesn't list the Orangerie. Has anyone actually used their Museum Pass? TIA.

>>one of those cases where people stand in line 45 minutes before a place opens to avoid standing in line 30 minutes after it does -- something I've never understood the benefit of.<<

Depends on the Museum. At the Accadamia in Florence, we were in line 10 mins before the museum opened & were the 6th & 7th people in. We had David all to ourselves. We got to work the device just to the right of David, where you could "zoom in" and see the top of his head, his forehead, and other places (I didn't zoom in on THAT other place - but I don't know what my wife did when it was her turn). Thirty minutes later it was a zoo inside the museum. This was in late March.

Stu Dudley

Stu, I understand getting to a museum 10 minutes before it opens and getting right in. I don't understand getting there 45 minutes ahead to stand in line if the normal wait is only 30 minutes.

A good example is the Vatican, where we were convinced to get there an hour before opening and stand in a line that of course doesn't move for an hour. Then another half hour or so we were in the museum. So we waited in line an hour and a half or more, which is longer than many people wait during the day. Just different priorities I guess, but in retrospect I didn't see the advantage of getting there to stand and wait all that time before it even opened. Others I assume arrive three hours before opening to be the first inside and then brag about how they got right in without waiting -- ignoring the three hour wait. That's the sort of thing I was talking about.

Stu, I found a way to buy tickets to l'orangerie all the way into the summer on www.ticketnet.fr/

I came close to ordering through them, but the price goes from 8 euro to 16 euro per ticket in order to have them delivered to the U.S. I may still go that route. Although I'd rather buy them the day before in Paris. If I could only find out if that's possible!

By the way, I'm definitely someone who'd wait 45 minutes before a museum opens to avoid a gamble on how long I might wait a little later. It might be only thirty minutes, but it could be a lot longer.

When we got our tickets at FNAC last May, they were offering reservations for a specific time....we opted for right after lunch.
At that time they only sold tickets for two days out or later. I don't know if that policy was just for the "rush" at the reopening or if they always do so.
We saw the very long lines early in our week's stay and mentioned them in a conversation with our daughter. She e-mailed the next day that she read on Fodor's that we should go to a FNAC to get reservations and bypass the lines. It worked for us.