Paris has the best museums in the world — and we're not the only ones who think so. In fact, the most-popular museums in Paris get up to ten million visitors a year — in each museum! With that many people you can be certain that there are going to be significant line-ups, no matter what time of year. Let's discuss strategies to make the most of your time at the top Paris museums.

Our Top Tip – Skip the Lines

You really don't want to spend your precious time in Paris standing in lines, do you? Neither do we. That's why we always sign up for a tour with an expert guide. It gets past the long lines and directly to the Nike of Samothrace. (For instance!) We're converts — we used to try to do it all on our own… waiting in lines, wandering around the museums. But now, expert guides make our museum experiences line-free and much more fulfilling — we learn so much and we save time.

Louvre Priority-Access Art Tour

Millions of travelers make their way to the Louvre every year, up to 10 million in fact. So, you can always expect a long waiting time. But, if you plan ahead, you can bypass the lines and have a much more rewarding experience by signing up for this tour, conducted by an art history expert.

Meet your art-expert guide and follow them past the ticket queues to get to the masterpieces. At the end of the guided tour, take as much extra time as you want to explore further. Your ticket permits museum access through the whole day of your visit. This tour has garnered hundreds of 5-star reviews. For the best experience, be sure to choose the "Small Group Tour in English" option.

Musée d'Orsay Skip-the-Line Impressionists Tour

Many days at Musée d'Orsay you can expect to wait in line for an hour or more to buy tickets. The way we avoid that is by booking this 2-hour guided tour of the world's most famous Impressionist museum. Your guide whisks you past the line at Door A and directly into the no-waiting Door C to get you to the best the museum has to offer. We feel it's money well spent.

The Louvre + Musée d'Orsay in One Day

In this extraordinary tour, you visit both of the premier Paris museums on a day-long tour with a private guide, bypassing all the queues. The tour size is limited to 8 people, ensuring personal attention — and also pretty much ensuring that this tour will sell out most days.

You spend the morning at the Louvre, then take the typical Parisian lunch break before reconvening at d'Orsay in the afternoon for another in-depth tour. Times can be adjusted to suit you and your group. It's an amazing opportunity and a fabulous way to save time.

Orangerie Museum 2-Hour Tour

Go deep into Monet's water lilies on a 2-hour tour with an official guide at l'Orangerie, located in the Jardin des Tuileries. These magnificent panoramic paintings are displayed in two large oval rooms and are not to be missed.

But the Monets are not the only great art to see at l'Orangerie for the rest of the museum is literally filled with the work of masters of late 19th-century and early 20th-century art like Modigliani, Renoir, Picasso and Soutine. This is time well spent.

Skip the Lines at the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is the most visited monument in the world, and the line-ups are looong. That's why the only way we visit the Tower is by booking a skip-the-line tour before we leave home. The guide takes us past the crowds and up the tower. If you don't want to waste your time in Paris waiting in lines we recommend you do the same.