Is Louvre too crowded on the weekend?

Hello

Has anyone been to the Louvre on the weekend and is it any less crowded on a certain day of the week? Is the Musee D%26#39;orsay less crowded? And, does having a pass make any difference? We will also want guided tours. Do they sell out extremely early? Thank you!!

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Saturdays and Sundays are always busier than week days. Curiously enough, in addition to tourists, those darned Parisians, as well as those from the greater Ile de France, seem to feel that they too have a right to visit and enjoy their National Treasures on their days off. Go figga%26#39;? The Carte Musee et Monuments allows you to by-pass the regular ticket lines (but not security) so the pass does speed up entry.

Other busy days tends to be Mondays, when the Musee d%26#39;Orsay is regularly closed. The Musee d%26#39;Orsay tends to be busier on Tuesdays, when the Musee du Louvre is regularly closed. The one day of the month when you don%26#39;t want to go anywhere near either is on the Free First Sunday of the month (when having a museum pass does NO good at all)

Both the Musee du Louvre and d%26#39;Orsay have extended evening hours--until 9:45 PM during the week. Louvre on Wednesdays and Fridays and d%26#39;Orsay on Thursdays. These are great times to visit these museums from late afternoon through evening. They tend to be much quieter, with fewer people and clearer sight-lines.

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Imagine that.....Parisians wanting to visit the Louvre. They have some nerve......it%26#39;s no wonder that everyone thinks they are rude!! ~wink wink~

I can%26#39;t even imagine how wonderful it must be to have access to these amazing museums all the time. I wonder if you start taking these things for granted? Personally I would love to be able to look out my window and see the Eiffel tower every day....that would be my idea of heaven. I can see the Detroit/Windsor ambassador bridge every day, but somehow its just not the same thing.....

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Well...I get to see the Golden Gate Bridge every day, and that is pretty spectacular. Although, sometimes I forget and I take her for granted. I take for granted the very easy access to the beach, snow %26amp; skiing in Tahoe, and the beautiful redwood forests. We should all be proud of where we live.

KelBel

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Canuck-

I think it is that we take everything for granted. I live in the Hudson River Valley, in New York and I am always suprised and say that there is nothing to do where I live and that it is just ok. That is until I have friends or relatives visit and it forces me to come up with things to do. Then suddenly I can%26#39;t believe all the stuff there is. My Aunt and Uncle are WORLD and I do mean WORLD travellers, they have been to Tibet, Africa, Brazil, France etc and they always come to my area and say it is one of most beautiful area%26#39;s in the World....but yet to me who see%26#39;s it every day...it is just where I live. I went to Italy last year for 2 weeks and swore that if I could I would just pick up and move there, but as everyone reminds me..that too would eventually just become a place to live. Oh well- that is why we have travel.

Sorry for the tangent.

Robin

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No no....I love tangents. Makes me re-evaluate my surroundings. I guess we have some nice wineries.....and you can stand at Point Pelee at the southern most tip of Canada.....and we have a ton of strip clubs and bingo halls.

Anybody want to trade?? ~grin~

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To Canuck:

I realized most people who live in a great place take their surroundings for granted. When I lived in Russia and used to come to Moscow for visiting, I was shocked that my colleagues there seemed to be quite indifferent to the museums, art galleries, theatres with their routine lives, and probably had been dragged by their parents since their childhood. Talking to them I figured out that I visited places of interests more during one week they did during a year.

That%26#39;s why I do appreciate (so far over 8 years) the city I live in Canada, the mountains; the values - wine, fruit, warm lakes, just the views of my neibour province BC as well.

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The Louvre can be really packed on the weekends, especially the first Sunday of the month when it is free. You can avoid the crowds there by arriving as early as possible, 9 AM if possible. Head straight for the Mona Lisa and then see everything else. The pass can make a big difference if there are long lines to get in, as there are in the summer, as you go right in-go the the archway to the left of the pyramid for the quickest entrance with a pass. Wednesday and Thursday are the quietest days to go. Musee d%26#39;Orsay can have horrible lines as there is only one entrance-sometimes two- and long waits to get tickets. Going through the security makes it take longer there. A pass would really help here.