Why & How to Get Reserved Tickets for Top Paris Attractions

Should you get reserved "skip-the-line" tickets in advance for fast entry to the most popular Paris attractions?  

Yes.  With well over 20 million tourists coming to the City of Light to see its famous attractions each year, ticket purchase lines get long - very, very, long.  In fact, some attractions such as the Louvre Museum now basically require advance bookings for the busiest periods, such as July and August, if you want to be sure of getting in.

Don't waste your precious time in Paris by standing in ticket lines when you don't have to!

Reserved tickets for fast entry to a specific date/time slot are almost always worth getting and are easy to buy online before you travel. 

In addition, you might consider two other ways to avoid waiting in long lines while getting a better touring experience:

1.  Guided tours always include skip-the-line priority access; some attractions even give you access to private areas not available to most visitors.  For example, guided tours to the Louvre Museum not only speed your entry through a guides-only entrance, but give you access when you first arrive to a reception area with clean, uncrowded restrooms - an amenity you won't necessarily find in the rest of the palace.  In addition, the expert guides who lead these tours will enrich your experience by telling and showing you things you might miss on your own.  

Some reserved entry guided tours for destinations outside of Paris such as Versailles, Giverny, and Disneyland also include transportation - another time and stress saver, especially if you're visiting for the first time or traveling with kids.  (If you take a train to these destinations and your kids are seen putting their feet on the seat, you can be fined 65€.  If your kids are like mine were at certain ages and you're on your way to Disneyland, for example, good luck with getting them to sit properly when they're practically jumping up and down with excitement.)

2.  Another way to avoid a wait is the Paris Museum Pass, which lets you skip the ticket line at many top museums and monuments by reserving a specific date/time slot.  This works well for almost all attractions covered by the pass - but for the very most popular destinations such as the Louvre, Versailles, and a few others, you should be aware that a guided tour will be somewhat faster because guides can get you in through a special entrance.  If you're on a tight schedule, you might want to join a guided tour (which of course offers other advantages as well) and use your Pass for other days.

To be clear, none of these ticket and tour options let you skip security lines, which are mandatory.  The good news is that security lines normally move much more quickly than the slower onsite ticket lines.

For the most popular destinations such as the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, and Disneyland Paris, you should reserve your tickets or book your tour as soon as you know your travel dates.  The tours and tickets for these top attractions sell out faster than you might expect, especially for peak travel periods.  Don't be left standing in line!

Top photo: Ticket lines in front of Versailles Palace in July

Skip the Line Tickets & Tours:  Louvre  |  Eiffel Tower  |  Versailles  |  Catacombs  |  Disneyland  |  Orsay Museum  |  Notre Dame Cathedral  |  Arc de Triomphe Rooftop  |  Paris Opera House  |  More Attractions
More Ways to Skip the Line:   Paris Museum Pass  |   Skip the Line FAQs

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Louvre Museum Reserved Entry Tickets

Home to the Mona Lisa - perhaps the most famous painting in the world - and countless other treasures filling its vast spaces, the Louvre Museum attracts massive crowds.  It strongly encourages everyone to reserve a ticket for for a specific date/time slot, which allows you to skip the ticket line.

Although the Louvre does sell a limited number of same-day tickets at its ticket counters, the long lines to get them can mean long waits - in the past, as long as three hours or more.  Don't risk being stuck in this line, or not getting in at all: get your reserved-entry ticket in advance.

At this time, the Louvre is struggling to accommodate huge crowds of visitors but they do try to get visitors with timed entry skip-the-line tickets admitted within half an hour of arrival.

In my own recent experiences with a skip-the-line ticket in hand, the Louvre hasn't quite achieved the 30-minute mark - for me, it's been more like 40-45 minutes from getting in line to passing through the entrance - but that sure beats the alternative.

However, there's an even faster way to get in that I'll tell you about in a moment.

Check availability:

Paris Discovery Guide's Louvre Museum Fast-Entry Picks

Although you can use your Paris Museum Pass to get into the Louvre, you'll still have the same wait as everyone else with a skip-the-line admission ticket.  So as promised, I'm going to tell you about an even faster way.

For the Louvre (and also Versailles, but more about that in a moment), joining a guided tour is usually the most reliable way to get in fast.  That's because guided tours get to enter through a special tours-only entrance in the Richelieu Passage where there's never a wait aside from the couple of minutes required to get through the security check.

Sure, tours cost more but you do get other benefits and if you have limited time (or, like me, limited patience for wasting your precious time in Paris standing in long lines when you don't have to), a tour is the way to go.  I'm normally happy to save money but since my time in Paris is always limited, I do my best to make every minute count - even if I then some of those minutes involve relaxing at a Paris sidewalk cafe with a drink and enjoying excellent people-watching.

Here are some good choices, especially if you're visiting the Louvre for the first time.

• Louvre Museum Masterpieces Tour - Discover the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory on this popular guided 3-hour tour, which also includes Greek and Roman antiquities, other iconic Italian masterpieces, the Apollo Gallery with the Crown Jewels, and Napoleon III's lavish apartments.  This is a long tour - about 3 hours, and even longer if you choose the wine and cheese tasting option - but if you want a reasonably comprehensive intro to the Louvre, it's an excellent choice.
• Best of the Louvre Guided Tour - This small group tour includes the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and other highlights but is only 2 hours long
• Priority Access to Louvre with Host: Direct to Mona Lisa - This option gives you 4 things:  1) Priority access to the Louvre through the fast tours-only entrance, 2) a "host" who leads you straight to the Mona Lisa, 3) access to the rest of the Louvre to explore on your own, if you wish, and 4) an audioguide.  What you don't get is a guided tour.  But if all you really want to see is the Mona Lisa, this is the easiest and fastest way to do it.  You can look around the rest of the museum if you want - or if not, leave and get on with the rest of your day.  No judgment either way.

In addition to giving you fast entry, these tours help you navigate the huge crowds, show you more of the Louvre's magnificent art than you might discover on your own, and share interesting insights about this palace-turned-museum. 

After the tour, spend as much time as you want to see even more on your own.

More about Louvre Museum guided tours

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Eiffel Tower Skip the Line Tickets & Other Fast Entry Options

The Eiffel Tower is another top Paris attraction where having a reserved ticket for a specific date/time can mean the difference between getting in - or not.

Although the Eiffel Tower's ticket office sells all ticket types for immediate same-day use (including summit tickets when capacity permits), that doesn't meant the line moves always quickly. 

During peak seasons, getting through the regular ticket line to buy your ticket can take 2 hours or more.  Don't risk being stuck in it, or not getting in at all: get a skip-the-line-ticket with optional Summit access for a reserved date/time slot in advance.

Getting Tickets on the Eiffel Tower Website

Tickets go on sale on the Eiffel Tower's website about 60 days in advance but during the busiest seasons, they sell out quickly so you need to book as far in advance as possible.

Even with a skip-the-line ticket, you do have to stand in line for a security check and also (usually) another line to board the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower. 

Sometimes these lines move fairly quickly, but at other times, they don't.

Getting in Faster with a Tour Group

You can speed up the entry process by booking a guided or "hosted" Eiffel Tower tour because these groups usually go through a tour-only security line and elevator which reduces your wait time. 

These tours are also a good option when the regular tickets are sold out for the date or time you need.

They do cost more, but can also save you some stress and hassle, especially if this is your first visit.

You meet your guide offsite near the Tower and walk over together.  Your guide will share interesting information about the Tower's history and what you'll see, but the biggest advantage (aside from the faster tour-only security line and elevator) is that they will guide you through the crowds and give you tips about how to stay safe from pickpockets. 

Here's the most popular guided option:

Skip-the-line tickets or tours are well-worth getting for the Eiffel Tower if you want to make the best use of your time, but there are even more ways such as dining in one of the Tower's restaurants, enjoy a classical concert on the first floor above ground level (one of my own favorite ET experiences, especially around the Christmas/New Year holidays), or climbing up the stairs (all 674 steps) to the 2nd floor.

More about other the ways to get Eiffel Tower tickets

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Versailles Palace & Gardens Reserved Tickets - A Must!

Especially during spring, summer, and early fall, skip-the-line tickets for entrance to Château de Versailles, famous for its Hall of Mirrors and beautiful gardens, can save you up to 3-4 hours of wait time in the long, long ticket lines. 

PDG's Versailles Palace Skip-the-Line Picks

• Versailles Skip-the-Line Half-Day Tour & Hotel Transfer - Experience the lavish palace and gardens enjoyed by French kings and queens, including Marie Antoinette as an expert guide shows you the famous Hall of Mirrors, State Apartments, King's Bedroom, and more. 
• Skip-the-Line Versailles Palace Tour by Train from Paris - For this 3-hour small group tour of Versailles and its gardens, a guide meets you in central Paris, escorts you by RER train to Versailles, whisks you through the priority entrance, and takes you on a 3-hour-guided tour through the palace and its gardens.  Depending on the day of the week you choose, you'll also enjoy a Musical Gardens or Fountain Show.  Explore more on your own before taking the train back to Paris (your guide will give you the tickets). 

More Versailles Skip-the-Line Tour Choices

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Catacombs Reserved Tickets - How to Get Them

Some Paris guide books describe the Catacombs, former quarries repurposed as a burial ground for millions of Parisians, as a little-known but cool Paris attraction. 

But nothing could be farther than the truth, as you can attest if you get stuck for 2-3 hours or more in the slow-moving regular ticket line.  Although you used be able to shorten your wait by arriving before opening time or late in the day, that hack no long works because everybody tries it.

The Catacombs' tunnels can hold only 200 visitors at one time, which adds to the line's slowness. 

You can buy your reserved entry tickets on the Catacombs' website - but here's the catch: they're offered only 7 days in advance, and throughout much of the year, tickets almost always sell out immediately or have very limited availability. 

However, there is another way to get them.  The Catacombs has designated several official booking partners to sell tickets 8-60 days in advance.  The two that I recommend for anyone using a credit card issued by a non-French bank are Get Your Guide and Tiqets due to their top-notch security, ability to handle international transactions, and 24x7 support; I use them all the time for my own Paris ticket purchases.  They charge a few euros more but also include an audio guide and have a lot more dates with availability at some times of the year.  Check them both - because what I've been finding is that if one is sold out on my chosen date, the other frequently has tickets available.

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Disneyland Paris Tickets & Reservations

Disneyland Paris has almost no "slow" season other than a short period during January, as rolling school vacation weeks in France and elsewhere in Europe means happy kids and their families almost always fill the park - it competes with the Eiffel Tower as the most popular tourist destination in the Paris region. 

There are actually two parks:  Disneyland Park and Disney Adventure World.  You can get tickets for a full-day pass to one or both (based on which option you choose), with round-trip transportation on a luxury express bus from central Paris included. 

During the busiest seasons (April through mid-October, school vacation periods, major holidays including the Christmas-New Year period), the park may actually be closed to anyone who doesn't have a reserved ticket for a specific day.

More Disney Paris Ticket and Transportation Choices

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Musée d'Orsay Fast Access Tickets & Skip the Line Tours

Famous for its superb collection of Impressionist paintings, including Van Gogh's Starry Night, the Orsay Museum is not nearly as huge as the Louvre, but don't be fooled - it's crammed full of treasures, many of which can be easy to miss, and like the Louvre, it's usually packed with people due to its popularity. 

Admission lines can be long and slow - an hour or more in the queue is not unusual.  To avoid this wait, get a reserved access ticket or use your Paris Museum Pass.

For a special experience, take a small-group Orsay Museum tour with an expert guide who can help you understand the context and history of the fabulous art you're seeing and appreciate it at a whole new level. (The guides are also usually quite good at maneuvering you into a good position in front of the most popular paintings.)

More about what to see & do at the Orsay Museum

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Do You Still Need to Reserve a Date/Time Slot to Visit Notre Dame Cathedral?

Ever since Notre Dame Cathedral reopened after the fire, tout le monde wants to visit - understandably, of course (I'm right there among the crowds). 

To control the flow of visitors, Notre Dame implemented a free reservation system that allows you to book a time slot on a specific date up to three days before you plan to visit.  You can reserve your place on the Cathedral's website.  Again, no charge - admission is totally free. 

But do you still need to do this?  Not unless you really want to.  My experience - and I stop by to experience the beauty of the stained glass whenever I'm in the neighborhood - is that both lines now move at about the same speed.  Even during the busiest days in July and August, your wait will probably be 10 minutes or less.

However, there's one exception:  if you want to climb up the 424 stops to the Towers for closeup views of the gorgoyles and sweeping views of the Paris skyline, you will need to reserve a ticket on Notre Dame's website, using the link above.  Only a limited number of people are allowed up at any one time due to space constraints, so don't wait until the last minute to get your ticket.

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Arc de Triomphe Rooftop Terrace Skip the Line Tickets

Skip the ticket line (which can be quite long and slow) and go straight to the admissions line at Arc de Triomphe with a reserved date/time slot ticket.  It costs the same price you'd pay at the gate, but with no wasted time in line, it's a sure bet. 

Once you walk up the stairs (284 steps, in case you're wondering), the views of Paris, Champs Elysées, and the Eiffel Tower from the terrace at the top of the Arc will thrill you. 

More about visiting the Arc de Triomphe

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Paris Opera House (Opéra Garnier) Reserved Tickets

Get a reserved-access ticket reserved access ticket and feel happy as you walk past the often long and slow-moving line to explore the spectacular Paris Opera House, widely considered the most flamboyant opera house in Europe.  You should book at least a few days in advance, maybe even longer, as they do sell out in advance.

See all the magnificent art, costumes, and sculptures in this Baroque masterpiece, and be dazzled by the over-the top display of gold, mirrors, and sparkling crystal chandeliers.  

This gorgeous opera house closes for repairs and renovations in summer, 2027 for 5 years of renovations.  It's not clear yet if parts will be open for tours, but because lead contamination has been detected and will need to be addressed, it is possible that complete closure may be necessary during some periods.

For Opera and Ballet performances, of course, you always need tickets (you'll find them listed in PDG's monthly concert schedules).  

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More Paris Attractions Where Reserved Entry Tickets Save You Time

At the following Paris attractions, you'll sometimes encounter slow-moving lines, and at other times, you can breeze right in.  Although longer lines typically happen during prime tourist season, special exhibitions throughout the year can attract crowds and crush your hopes for a speedy entrance.

All of them offer online tickets giving you priority access for the same price as the tickets you'd stand in line for, so even if you save yourself only 5-10 minutes line time, the advance tickets are well worth getting.

Galerie Dior Tickets

Advance skip-the-line tickets continue to be essential at Galerie Dior, thanks to this beautifully-curated space's tremendous and unflagging popularity. 

Tickets are released about 16 weeks (four months) in advance.  Throughout much of the year, they sell out almost as soon as they're released, and even in the "off" season for tourism (November through March, except for the Christmas holidays), they sell out 4-5 and sometimes even 6 weeks ahead. 

So don't procrastinate - if possible, book your tickets 7-8 weeks in advance to be sure of getting the dates you want.  Yes, I know that sounds excessive and that booking a ticket shouldn't be so competitive - but that's the reality!

Although Galerie Dior's website mentions that a few tickets are available for purchase every day and "there may be a wait," what the website doesn't tell you is that your wait may be hours long - if you get in at all.  I recently asked a few people in the ticket purchase line how long they'd been waiting and they said almost three hours. 

So don't risk squandering that much of your time in Paris waiting in a ticket line - get your tickets as soon as they are available.

Picasso Museum Tickets

Resesrved tickets let you go to the front of the line at the popular Picasso Museum, located in a gorgeous mansion in the Marais neighborhood.  Only a limited number of these tickets are available each day due to the museum's smaller size, and they go fast. 

Alternately, book a small-group tour with a Picasso expert as your guide.  The tour includes, of course, fast entry - a perk of bein part of a tour group.

Sainte Chapelle Reserved Entry Tickets

Soaring stained glass windows make visiting the medieval Sainte Chapelle a memorable experience like no other.  Reserved tickets are important to book in advance because the chapel can accommodate only a limited number of visitors at one time. 

How far ahead should you book?  At least a week ahead during November - March, and two or three weeks in advance from April - October.

Even with a reserved ticket, the passage through the security checks can be painfully slow.  Don't doom yourself to an even longer wait by not having an advance ticket in hand when you arrive.  

Get your tickets

Money-saving combo reserved tickets for Sainte Chapelle and the nearby Conciergerie, first a royal palace and then a prison where Marie Antoinette spent her final days during the French Revolution are also available.  Get combo tickets

Another value-packed option is an affordable 45-minute small-group walking tour of Île de la Cité (the small island in the Seine River where Sainte Chapelle is located) that includes a tour of the exterior of Notre Dame Cathedral.  Your guide will explain details about the cathedral's beautiful facade, sculptures, and continuing restoration, and then you can go inside (entry is free) and explore on your own

More about Sainte Chapelle visits, tours, & concerts

Batobus Seine River Cruise Tickets

I love exploring Paris while using the Batobus - Paris's hop-on, hop-off Seine River passenger boat - to get from one side of the city to the other. 

With 9 stops at attractions such as the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Jardin des Plantes, Musée d'Orsay, and Saint-Germain, it's a pleasurable and quite affordable way to get around, and the perfect way to spend an afternoon or a day in Paris. 

Although theoretically you can buy an all-day ticket at any of the stops, in reality that's not always so easy, fast, or even possible:  the ticket agent is taking a 15-minute smoking "pause" or bathroom break, or a 2-hour lunch, or too busy helping people on and off the boat. 

So do what I do before walking down to the river - always get your Batobus ticket in advance.  FYI, this is a ticket that I never book until the last minute, usually the night before I want to go or even in the morning before walking down to the river, and I've never had an issue getting a ticket.

Grevin Wax Museum

Truly a fun experience as you wander through creatively staged rooms and pose next to 200 or so life-like wax figures, the fantastic Hindu temple and light show in the Hall of Mirrors, and fascinating historical re-creations.

The line here can be long and seem unreasonably slow (I learned this the hard way), so an advance ticket is always a good idea.  If you forget to buy one, you may be standing line for half an hour or longer.  I have forgotten a couple of times, and the wait is particularly painful when you see people with tickets going in before you.

Get your skip the line tickets

Espace Dali

Espace Dali, located in the scenic Montmartre neighborhood in Paris, boasts the largest collection of surrealist artist Salvador Dali's work in France.  

Much of the time there's no line here at all, but at other times the line is quite long.  I've never been able to figure out a pattern for when this happens.

Skip-the-line tickets let you enter without waiting and they cost about the same as those sold at the door.  Get your tickets

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Paris Museum Pass:  Another Way to Skip the Lines

The Paris Museum Pass gives you free skip-the-line admission to 60+ top museums and monuments in Paris and the nearby suburbs for a fixed period of time - you choose 2 days, 4 days, or 6 days when you buy the card. 

The Paris Museum Pass includes fast track skip-the-line access to most of the popular attractions mentioned above: Sainte Chapelle, the Louvre Museum, Conciergerie, Musée d'Orsay, Pompidou Center, the Arc de Triomphe, and Versailles Palace.   It also covers plenty of others for which skip-the-line options are not normally available, such as the Branly Museum, Cluny Museum (Musée National du Moyen Âge), and the Air and Space Museum located north of the city. 

Not every museum in the city is included in the Pass nor are attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Disneyland Paris, Catacombs, or the Paris Opera House.

But if the Paris Museum Pass includes enough of the places you want to visit and if you can compress your visits into 2, 4, or 6 days, it can save you money - and of course also time, due to the skip the line feature.

An alternate version called the Paris Pass is also available for 2-5 days.  It bundles fast-track or guided tours to several top attractions including the Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Palace of Versailles, Sainte-Chapelle, Fondation Louis Vuitton, and the Arc de Triomphe rooftop with other benefits such as a Seine River cruise, a cheese-tasting experience, a guided tour of Montmartre and Sacre Coeur, and a 3-hour bike tour of Paris, plus discounts on still more attractions.  

For both the Paris Museum Pass and the Paris Pass, I do want to alert you to one requirment:  even with the pass, you still need to make advance reservations for some of the activities.  Unfortunately, if the Louvre Museum, for example, is fully booked, having a Pass doesn't magically get you reservations when none are available.  However, one bonus offered by the Paris Pass:  the Eiffel Tower experience is a guided tour, so even when regular tickets have sold out for your dates, there may still be open slots for the guided tour offered by the Paris Pass.

Tip:  If you want to get one of these passes and a high-demand activity such as visiting the Louvre  or the Eiffel Tower is on your must-do list, make sure that reservations are still available before you buy the Pass.  And then, once you buy it, reserve your place immediately!

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Need a Paris Hotel or Apartment for Your Visit?

Looking for a place to stay during your Paris visit?  Use this map from Booking.com to find accommodations and lowest rates in your chosen location:

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