My husband and I will be traveling to Paris in April, and we would like to go to the Louvre in the evening on Monday or Wednesday. We also wanted to take a guided tour b/c the museum is so overwhelming; we would like to wander some, but we want to see the highligths as well, and if we took a tour we would be less likely to miss some of the more famous things in the museum. Does anyone know if tours are given at night? I have tried numerous websites and can't seem to find the information. Sorry if this is a redundant question!

If your main concern is not missing the highlights, the Rick Steves Paris Guidebooks will give you a tour to follow to hit them. Be sure to get his latest edition as the museum does move things sometimes and even with the 2004 edition, you'll still need to cross check locations against the actual museum maps to ensure there have been no changes since publication. (http://www.louvre.fr/louvrea.htm)

Of course there are other guidebooks which offer similar highlights tours. I just happen to like Rick Steves for this.

And personally, the wandering is the most enjoyable part to me but I can understand wanting to hit the highlights during your first time. But the definition of highlights seems to vary for each person.

Just pick up a once-over-lightly guide at the reception desk in the entrance hall and follow the directions. Seeing the Louvre at night is a magical experience, especially in the Egyptian galleries, which tend to be very light on visitors. It's also possible to see the main attractions (the Venus de Milo, for example) instead of the heads of people in front of you.

The tours are not given at night. The last English-lang. tour is at 3:45 pm (this info is on the Louvre web site). It is nice to go in the evening as it is much less crowded.

As for not missing the highlights, there are good guidebooks that cover the highlights, such as the Michelin Green Guide, etc. I haven't used them, but think the Louvre might have those infra-red headphone visits which are great because they are multi-lingual and do cover the highlights, that's kind of what they are for. I know they have them at the Pompidou, so I would hope the Louvre had them.

The Louvre definitely has audioguides, which I found quite good and informative. That probably will be your best option if you want to visit in the evening.