Hours: Tuesday to Sunday, closed Monday
The Quai Branly Jacques Chirac Museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10:30 am to 7 pm, and Thursday until 10 pm. It is closed Monday, which is the first thing to check before crossing the neighborhood: we regularly see guests leave on a Monday morning and return empty‑handed.
Ticket windows close at 6 pm, and at 9 pm on the night of the nocturne. The rooms then close gradually, so arriving at 6:45 pm on a Tuesday doesn’t help much. Allow two hours for a first visit of the collection plateau.
Prices: €14, and free the first Sunday of the month
Full price is €14, reduced price €11, and access to the permanent collections as well as temporary exhibitions is free for everyone the first Sunday of each month. This free entry is well known: on the first Sunday, come at opening or not at all.
If you visit two museums in the area, there is a combined Quai Branly – Rodin ticket for €23. It is not dated and remains valid for three months after purchase, one visit to each museum. It’s the option we recommend for stays of three nights or more: nothing forces you to do both on the same day. The museum accepts credit cards, checks, cultural and holiday vouchers, and cash.
Thursday night, our favorite slot
The Thursday nocturne, until 10 pm, is the best time of week for this museum. Groups have left, the ramp that climbs to the collection plateau can be walked without a line, and you emerge onto the Seine riverbanks at nightfall. From our place on Avenue Duquesne, it’s a round‑trip that fits in an evening without taking the metro.
Second useful slot: Tuesday or Friday at opening, 10:30 am. On weekends, and especially Sunday, the museum is noticeably busier.
What we come to see
The museum brings together the arts and civilizations of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, displayed on a large collection plateau accessed via a long ramp. The scenography is dark and continuous, without a prescribed route: it’s a museum where you drift rather than check rooms off a list. If you don’t like encyclopedic museums where everything is aligned and labeled, this one will likely suit you better than its neighbours.
Two things often omitted:
- The garden: it surrounds the building, designed like a woodland, and can be crossed before or after the visit.
- The living wall: it’s the planted façade on the Quai Branly side. It can be viewed from the street, no ticket required.
The museum also houses restaurants, including The River, and a shop‑bookstore.
Visitor tools, download before you go
The museum publishes on its site an orientation map, a collections exploration guide and a family guide, “My Little Guide”, in PDF and several languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic. If you travel with children, download it from the room: it turns two hours of displays into a treasure hunt.
Pairing it with the rest of the neighborhood
The museum lines the Seine, left bank, on the same stretch of quays we mention in our walking page. The obvious sequence is this: museum late afternoon, then the quays at sunset.
For a rainy day, the other good combo is the Rodin Museum, with the €23 combined ticket. Both are in our district, and neither requires taking the metro from Avenue Duquesne.
Before leaving our place
Our buffet breakfast is served from 7 am to 10:30 am: if you aim for the 10:30 am opening, you have plenty of time to eat without rushing. And on nocturne evenings, our bar awaits your return, in its discreet lounge, for a final drink.