A local’s guide to six wonderful free museums in Paris, with opulent French aesthetic, from the secret Hôtel de Sens to the leafy Musée Bourdelle!
While it’s true museums like the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay are rightfully famous, there are some more secret museums and galleries very much worth a second glance.
Living in Paris for four years, and then a couple more months last year, showed me many hidden spots with beauty beyond my wildest expectations.
There’s so much more there than you’d initially expect, like hidden villages, even in the center of the city!
The City of Light, with its history spanning centuries, offers a wealth of free museums that few people know of – museums that will help you understand Parisian culture a little bit more, and fall deeper in love with it.
6 Free Museums in Paris To Visit With Beautiful Decor
In this guide, we will see a few of the most beautiful places in Paris, like the Musée Bourdelle near Montparnasse, and the Musée Cognacq-Jay in Le Marais.
This is my personal selection of museums that I know to offer some of the richest interiors in town, for the most part located inside hôtels particuliers, former residences to French nobility and old Parisian families.
In that regard, not only are these museums interesting to visit for their expansive collections, but also perfectly instagrammable places if you’re after the odd photo spot!
Best Free Museums in Paris: Petit Palais, Near the Champs-Elysées
Located just 10 mns from the Champs-Elysées’ famous shops, like the Galeries Lafayette, the Petit Palais is the first of our free museums.
Stepping inside will make you wonder all kinds of ‘how can this place be free to visit?!’ questions.
Built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition, its grandeur is reminiscent of London’s Crystal Palace, although this one, now destroyed, was constructed for the Great Exhibition of 1851, a few decades before.
Inside the Petit Palais, which is made of a handful of spacious rooms, visitors can find the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts of Paris, with huge paintings and detailed sculptures galore.
Delacroix, Monet, Rembrandt are only a few of the famous painters whose pieces are exhibited in the Petit Palais.
The selection of art pieces is curated, and the museum also welcomes temporary exhibitions regularly, some of which are free.
However, what will strike you as soon as you get closer to the Petit Palais entrance is the Beaux-Arts architecture.
It spreads throughout the museum, with the vestibule ceiling being, in my opinion, the prettiest part and adorned, in the center, with the Paris coat of arms painted: Fluctuat Nec Mergitur (Rocked by the waves, but does not sink).
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Best Free Museums in Paris: Musée Bourdelle, Montparnasse
Located in the Montparnasse neighborhood, and only a few minutes’ walk from the station is located one of the most secret free museums in Paris, the Musée Bourdelle.
Dedicated to the works of French sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, also known for assisting Auguste Rodin, the Musée Bourdelle and its permanent collections, spanning from Bourdelle’s drawings to sculptures, paintings and artifacts are free to access.
The Promenade at the back, a long garden lined with small-to-verily-huge sculptures, is one of Paris’ most magical gardens.
At the front, neighboring the street, you will find another garden with a few benches to relax for a bit.
Although we are only a stone’s throw away from Montparnasse station, the Musée Bourdelle is little known, even by locals, and makes for a gorgeous photo spot in addition to an inspiring place for artists.
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Best Free Museums in Paris: Musée Carnavalet, Le Marais
In the heart of Le Marais neighborhood is located one of my favorite free museums in Paris, the Musée Carnavalet, and one no one should miss out on, especially if opulent decors and a taste for the posh life are attractive to you.
The Renaissance mansions housing the Musée Carnavalet are already reason enough to visit; the first courtyard welcoming you to the museum, symmetrical, brings us back to past-era Paris.
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It’s safe to say that you can learn anything about the history of Paris by visiting the Musée Carnavalet, from its prehistoric era to the French Revolution and the Belle Époque.
The period rooms of the museum are my favorite part to spend time in, as memorabilia, paintings, colorful walls and gilded-pretty-much-everything take us back in time.
A highlight that literature lovers shouldn’t miss is Voltaire’s chair from the 18th century, designed for the writer’s last stay in Paris.
When you are done, a cup of coffee and a snack in the museum’s beautiful garden à la Versailles makes for a great moment before visiting other secret Parisian places nearby, like the small Saint-Paul Village or the Musée Cognacq-Jay?
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Best Free Museums in Paris: Musée Cognacq-Jay, Le Marais
Indeed, visiting the Musée Carnavalet and the Musée Cognacq-Jay in the same day could make for an interesting day out, especially if you’re tight on budget and looking for just free things to do in Paris.
Very different atmosphere in both, since the Musée Cognacq-Jay, housed in 17th century Hôtel Donon, is all about luxury.
It indeed houses the collection of Ernest Cognacq, founder of the famous La Samaritaine department store, and his wife, Marie-Louise Jay.
It’s important to note that when temporary exhibitions are taking place, the Musée Cognacq-Jay is not free, but whatever collection is temporarily displayed, it is very much worth the price of the ticket.
For instance, when I visited a few weeks ago, Luxe de Poche was still going on, with a myriad of small precious objects: an exhibition that definitely enhanced the rich decor and 18th century collection of the museum.
In addition to period rooms, smaller but just as gorgeous as those of the Musée Carnavalet, the Musée Cognacq-Jay features a huge collection of decorative arts, sculptures and paintings by artists such as Fragonard or Canaletto.
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Best Free Museums in Paris: Hôtel de Sens, Saint-Paul
Although the Hôtel de Sens makes me feel like I’m inside a castle every time I visit, this Gothic-Renaissance building is very much anchored to the city of Paris.
Built between 1475 and 1519, the Hôtel de Sens used to be the residence of the Archbishops of Sens, and is one of the only medieval mansions still standing in Paris.
Behind the striking building is located a Versailles-style, small and picturesque garden, the Hôtel de Sens Garden, which is a gorgeous place to visit in Paris in the fall, when the air becomes crisp and tiny flowers still color the landscape.
Inside the Hôtel de Sens, visitors can often find free exhibitions going on; I recently visited one about the evolution of advertising in Paris and the world which was also translated in English, and exceptionally interesting.
The Hôtel de Sens also houses the Bibliothèque Forney, which specializes in arts and crafts, in the history of design and fashion and fine arts.
You can only enter the beautiful library’s reading room if you’re a member (membership is free), however, when entering the Hôtel de Sens, take the stairs on the right anyway.
Not only are the stairs painted, and make for a tranquil photo spot, but you can still catch a glimpse of this medieval library, with its detailed carved arches at the back – worth a visit!
Best Free Museums in Paris: Musée des Archives Nationales, Le Marais
To understand more about the evolution of French society, another beautiful, and completely free museum you can visit in Le Marais (as a reminder, that’s the third museum we’ll see in this area), pop by the Musée des Archives Nationales.
Opened in 1790, a few months after the French Revolution, the National Archives are located in one of the most beautiful estates in Paris, Hôtel de Soubise, which was rebuilt by the Prince of Soubise, François de Rohan, in 1704.
The Hôtel de Soubise, before that, had been known as the Hôtel de Clisson: it used to be a medieval mansion built in 1371, and was redesigned in a Rococo style in the 18th century.
Today, visitors can still enjoy the period rooms’ beauty, including the famous Prince’s Staircase and the Oval Salon, in addition to two beautiful gardens; one before the entrance of the museum, and one, more secret, on its right, accessible through an unassuming gate.
In the collection of the Musée des Archives Nationales can notably be found letters written by famous figures like Napoleon Bonaparte, Marie Antoinette and Victor Hugo.
This is also the very place in which you can admire the original Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen passed in 1789, which makes for the foundation of French society as we know it.
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6 Free Museums in Paris To Visit With Beautiful Decor
These are some of my favorite free museums in Paris; those that deserve a visit, and then another one, and one more just for the pleasure of admiring the collections and rich interiors.
Paris houses many more museums that can be visited without having to pay a dime, and even famous museums like the Louvre are free on the first Sunday of every month.
The ones we’ve seen today, though, make for overly interesting places if you’re interested in finding new historical sites in Paris to wander around, solo or with family.
After you visit, if you’re down to dive deeper into the historical, bohemian Paris, make sure to take a look at Montmartre’s hidden gems, too!
Further Read: 1st Arrondissement of Paris: The Best Places to Visit