The best evening for a late opening is Thursday
On Thursday, two of Paris's greatest museums stay open late, and both are in our arrondissement. The Musée d'Orsay closes at 9:45 pm, with the ticket office shutting at 9 pm. The Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac stays open until 10 pm. If you only have one evening to devote to a museum during your stay, make it this one.
The reason is simple, and everyone who works in this neighborhood will tell you the same: the crowds in Paris museums are daytime crowds. The groups leave, the coaches depart, and from 7 pm onwards you get rooms that become rooms again. At Orsay, the top floor, the one everyone crams into at 3 pm, is a different place at 8 pm.
The late-opening schedule, evening by evening
| Evening | Museum | Closes at | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Musée du Luxembourg | 10:00 pm | 6th |
| Monday | Palais de Tokyo | 10:00 pm | 16th |
| Wednesday | Musée du Louvre | 9:00 pm | 1st |
| Wednesday | Musée Maillol | 10:00 pm | 61 rue de Grenelle, 7th |
| Wednesday | Monnaie de Paris | 9:00 pm (ticket office 8:30 pm) | 6th |
| Thursday | Musée d'Orsay | 9:45 pm (ticket office 9:00 pm) | 7th |
| Thursday | Musée du Quai Branly | 10:00 pm | 7th |
| Every evening | Eiffel Tower | 11:45 pm (ticket office 10:45 pm) | 7th |
These hours are those published for 2026. They shift: an exhibition being installed, a change of season, and the late opening disappears. Check the museum's official website on the day itself. It's the check we make ourselves before sending anyone out.
Our three favorite late openings, and who they're for
Musée d'Orsay, Thursday
This is the late opening we recommend first, by a long way. The former railway station, the glass canopy, the Impressionists: everything people queue for on a Saturday afternoon, in a much calmer setting. Go in around 7 pm rather than 8:30 pm, because the ticket office closes at 9 pm and an hour and forty-five minutes is already short for this museum. Watch out for Monday: Orsay is closed that day, and it's the most common scheduling mistake our guests make.
Musée du Quai Branly Jacques Chirac, Thursday
For rainy evenings, and for those who have already done Orsay. The arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas in Jean Nouvel's building, along the quay. The scenography is deliberately dark and winding, which works very well in the evening, much less so if you're after a methodical visit. Open until 10 pm. When you leave, you're at the foot of the Champ de Mars, which is handy if the Eiffel Tower sparkles just as you walk up.
Musée Maillol, Wednesday
The shortest of the three, and that's its appeal. On rue de Grenelle, temporary exhibitions only, open until 10 pm on Wednesday. Allow an hour and a half, no more. One thing you absolutely must check: the museum closes between exhibitions, so first make sure a show is actually running. Full price for the current exhibition is €19.90, €17.90 for those aged 65 and over.
And the Eiffel Tower, which closes last
The Eiffel Tower is open until 11:45 pm, last ticket office at 10:45 pm. It's the only late-opening attraction in the neighborhood that isn't a museum, and it's the one we're asked about most. Our guests often do it after dinner rather than before: the queues at 10 pm have nothing in common with those at 6 pm. Here again, hours vary by season, check before you cross the Champ de Mars.
Organizing a late-opening evening from our hotel
We are at 5 avenue Duquesne, in the 7th, and the three addresses in the table that are in our arrondissement are all within walking distance. That's the whole point of a late opening when you're staying here: no last metro to worry about, no taxi to hunt for at 10 pm. You walk home.
The plan we suggest most often: a quiet late afternoon, an early dinner in the neighborhood, the museum from 7 pm, then a nightcap at our bar on your return. It's a speakeasy-style bar, discreet, with classic cocktails, and it's an honest way to end an evening without going out again.
One last practical point: breakfast is served from 7:00 am to 10:30 am. After a late opening, no one gets up at 7 am, but 10:30 am leaves you some leeway.