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07
2 hours
Centre Georges Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou is a building turned inside out, and it is closed until 2030.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
Country guide
Museums, Theme: History in France — page 2
France is 18 regions and 632,702 km2, and five of those regions are overseas - French Guiana in South America, the French West Indies, islands in the Indian and...
Photograph · Pierre Blaché · CC0
7,605
Places
1Cities
Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor
France is 18 regions and 632,702 km2, and five of those regions are overseas - French Guiana in South America, the French West Indies, islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans. Metropolitan France alone runs from the Rhine to the Atlantic and from the Mediterranean to the North Sea, so a week here is a choice rather than a circuit. Of the 69.1 million people estimated in 2026, more than 13 million are in the Paris metropolitan area, which is why the capital tends to win the first visit. The corners - Alpine, Atlantic, Mediterranean - are further from one another than the map's familiarity suggests.
Checked 2026-08-25
Cities
Every city catalogued in this country so far, ranked by how much there is to see.
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Paris
Photograph · Yann Caradec from Paris, France · CC BY-SA 2.0
Paris 7,605 places
Practical information
- Language spoken
- French
- French is the language of the Republic under Article 2 of the Constitution
- Dialling code
- +33
- The country code for metropolitan France
- Currency
- Euro (€, EUR)
- France has used the euro as its official currency since 2002
- Emergency number
- 112
- One number across the country; 15 reaches an ambulance directly
- Plug type
- Type E · 220 V
- Round-pin sockets use a projecting earth pin
- Tap water
- Safe to drink
- The health ministry says tap water may be consumed safely unless local authorities issue specific advice
Planning a visit
Seasonal closures come from recorded opening hours.
- January: seasonal closure recorded
- February: seasonal closure recorded
- March: seasonal closure recorded
- April: seasonal closure recorded
- May: seasonal closure recorded
- June: seasonal closure recorded
- July: seasonal closure recorded
- August: seasonal closure recorded
- September: no seasonality data recorded — this month
- October: seasonal closure recorded
- November: seasonal closure recorded
- December: seasonal closure recorded
- Seasonal closure recorded
- No data recorded for this month
- The current month
Top things to see
Ranked by importance — sitelinks, pageviews and heritage status, not editor preference.
Filter the list
38 places match
Category
Typical visit duration
Interests
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08 2 hoursMusée des Arts et Métiers
The Musée des Arts et Métiers is Europe's oldest technology museum, founded in 1794 to collect and preserve the machines and instruments of French industry, and it has occupied a former medieval priory ever since.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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09 1 hourMusée de la Vie romantique
Musée de la Vie Romantique
The Musée de la Vie romantique occupies the house and studio of the painter Ary Scheffer, in a district that was the address of Romantic-era Paris rather than a stop added to it later.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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10 2 hr 30 minCité de l'architecture et du patrimoine
Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine is a museum of French architecture and heritage in the east wing of the Palais de Chaillot at Trocadéro, opened in its current form in 2007.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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11 1 hr 30 minMusée d'art moderne de Paris
Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris
Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris is the city of Paris's own museum of modern art, occupying the east wing of the Palais de Tokyo on Avenue du Président Wilson.
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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12 2 hr 30 minCité des Sciences et de l'Industrie
Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie sits inside Parc de la Villette in the north-east of Paris and opened in 1986 inside the shell of a large, unfinished cattle-market building from the 1960s that was repurposed for the museum rather…
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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13 2 hoursMusée Rodin
The Musee Rodin occupies the Hotel Biron, an eighteenth-century mansion on Rue de Varenne in the 7th arrondissement that had already passed through use as a convent school before the state let it out cheaply as artists' studios in the…
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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14 2 hoursMusée du quai Branly
The Musee du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac gathers non-Western art and material culture from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas under one roof, a collection that had previously been split between the ethnographic Musee de l'Homme and the Musee…
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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15 1 hr 15 minMusée de l'Orangerie
The Musee de l'Orangerie sits at the western end of the Tuileries Garden, in a building put up in 1852 under Napoleon III to overwinter the garden's orange trees, a purely functional greenhouse rather than a building meant to be…
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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16 1 hr 30 minMusée Marmottan Monet
The Musee Marmottan Monet occupies a former hunting lodge built for the Duke of Valmy on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, bought in the late nineteenth century by the businessman Jules Marmottan and later expanded by his son…
- Must see
- Museum
- Paris
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17 1 hr 30 minMusée Picasso
Musée national Picasso-Paris
The Musee Picasso occupies the Hotel Sale, a seventeenth-century mansion in the Marais built in the 1650s for Pierre Aubert de Fontenay, a salt-tax collector whose unpopular trade gave the building its nickname, sale meaning salted.
- High
- Museum
- Paris
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18 1 hr 30 minBourse de commerce
Bourse de Commerce
The Bourse de Commerce is a Paris contemporary art museum housed in a historic circular building near Les Halles and the Louvre district.
- High
- Museum
- Paris
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19 2 hoursLouis Vuitton Foundation
Fondation Louis Vuitton
The Fondation Louis Vuitton is a contemporary art museum in the Bois de Boulogne, commissioned by Bernard Arnault, chairman of the luxury group LVMH, and designed by the American architect Frank Gehry.
- High
- Museum
- Paris
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20 1 hr 30 minMusée Grévin
Musée Grévin is a wax museum on Boulevard Montmartre, opened in 1882.
- High
- Museum
- Paris
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21 1 hr 15 minGalerie nationale du Jeu de Paume
Jeu de Paume
The Jeu de Paume is a photography and moving-image gallery in the Tuileries Garden's north-west corner, in a building constructed in 1861 as a court for jeu de paume, the indoor precursor of tennis played by Napoleon III's court.
- High
- Museum
- Paris
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22 2 hoursGuimet Museum
Musée Guimet
The Musee national des Arts asiatiques - Guimet holds the largest collection of Asian art outside Asia itself, spanning Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Korea, Japan and Southeast Asia in one national museum.
- High
- Museum
- Paris
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23 1 hr 30 minPalais de Tokyo
The Palais de Tokyo is Paris's largest centre for contemporary art, occupying the eastern wing of a building raised for the 1937 International Exposition by architects Jean-Claude Dondel, Andre Aubert, Paul Viard and Marcel Dastugue.
- High
- Museum
- Paris
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24 1 hr 30 minMusée Jacquemart-André
Musée Jacquemart-André is a Paris museum housed in the former private mansion of Édouard André and Nélie Jacquemart.
- High
- Museum
- Paris
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25 2 hoursMusée Carnavalet
Musee Carnavalet is the museum of the history of Paris, occupying two adjoining Marais mansions: the Hotel Carnavalet, built in the 16th century and remodelled by Francois Mansart in 1655, and the neighbouring Hotel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau.
- Notable
- Museum
- Paris
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26 1 hr 30 minMusée de Cluny
Musée de Cluny, formally the Musée national du Moyen Âge, brings together Roman archaeology, a late-medieval residence and medieval art in one compact Latin Quarter site.
- Notable
- Museum
- Paris
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27 45 minMaison de Balzac
Maison de Balzac is the house where the novelist Honore de Balzac lived from 1840 to 1847, on rue Raynouard in what was then the village of Passy and is now the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
- Notable
- Museum
- Paris
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28 2 hoursMuséum national d'histoire naturelle
The Museum national d'histoire naturelle is France's national natural history museum, founded in 1793 out of the royal Jardin du Roi, and it occupies several linked sites across the Jardin des Plantes in the 5th arrondissement.
- Notable
- Museum
- Paris
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29 1 hr 30 minMusée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme
The Musee d'art et d'histoire du Judaisme, known as the MAHJ, is France's museum of Jewish art and history, opened in 1998 in the Hotel de Saint-Aignan, a 17th-century mansion in the Marais, 3rd arrondissement.
- Notable
- Museum
- Paris
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30 2 hr 30 minMusée de l'Armée
The Musee de l'Armee is France's national army museum, occupying wings of the Hotel des Invalides in the 7th arrondissement, the complex Louis XIV built in the 1670s as a hospital and retirement home for wounded soldiers.
- Notable
- Museum
- Paris
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31 2 hr 30 minMusée de l'Homme
The Musee de l'Homme is France's national anthropology museum, and it studies one subject only: what makes a human being, told through evolution, biological diversity and culture rather than through any single region or period.
- Notable
- Museum
- Paris
Common questions
How long should a first trip to France be?
Ten to fourteen days supports four or five days in Paris plus one coherent regional direction, such as Lyon, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, or Marseille. Avoid routing every extension back through Paris, because even fast TGV journeys leave local connection time at each end.
What entry documents are needed for France?
France applies Schengen entry rules, but the required passport validity or visa still depends on nationality and route. France-Visas is the official place to verify the exact requirement before booking and again before entering from outside Schengen.
What is the best way to travel around France?
TGV trains join France's largest cities, while TER services handle regional links and many rural areas still favour a car. Long-distance reservations may be mandatory, and each city retains its own urban ticket system rather than accepting one national visitor card.
When is a practical time to visit France?
April to June and September to October suit the Paris-plus-region route described here. Alpine access, Mediterranean heat, Atlantic weather, and rural seasonal services differ enough that the selected second region should determine the final dates.
What money and payment basics apply in France?
France uses the euro (EUR). Bank cards are common, yet a small euro reserve remains useful for markets or local machines; confirm any terminal conversion choice before accepting it because this page does not record changing fees.
What practical safety details should I save for France?
For urgent help anywhere in France, call 112; medical emergencies also use 15 and police matters 17. The electrical standard is 230 V with Type C and E plugs. This dataset has no recorded national tap-water finding, so consult the municipality or lodging for the specific stop.