A Louvre holiday is not a shuffle through a stuffy art gallery. The museum displays over 35,000 eclectic works of art, all housed in a sumptuous former palace of the French monarchy, near plenty of top Paris hotels.
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Published 12/11/09
© Paris Tourist Office - Photo by Amélie Dupont - Architect: Ieoh Ming Peï
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Five more things to do in Paris
- Take in the beautiful views of Paris from the top of her most famous landmark, the Eiffel Tower
- View the collection of military cannons, rifles and uniforms, then see the final resting place of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Hôtel des Invalides
- Take a seat under the Opéra Bastille’s glass ceiling and catch an operatic performance accompanied by a full orchestra
- Tuck in to the perfect steak or hearty salads, accompanied by homemade garlic fried potatoes at Le Relais Gascon, in the shadow of the Sacré Coeur cathedral on Montmartre
- See Victor Hugo’s former hang-outs in Paris’s literary district, Le Marais, and stop in at La Belle Hortense café for a glass of wine
Louvre must-sees
No stay at a hotel near the Louvre is complete without seeing the enigmatic smile and wandering eyes of the Mona Lisa. Don’t miss Flemish realist Matsys’s The Moneylender and His Wife, a depiction of greedy 16th-century traders. Visitors can almost touch the 2,000-year-old classical sculptures of the Venus de Milo and the Borghese Gladiator.A journey through history
Many of the Louvre’s exhibits are steeped in the history and fervour of the French Revolution. Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People is a celebration of French freedom from oppression by the monarchy, the female Liberty brandishing a tricolore. David’s The Coronation of Napoleon is a shining, 10m- wide homage to the French emperor.Relive The Da Vinci Code
In Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code Robert Langdon enters the Louvre through the giant glass pyramid, walks on to the Grand Gallery and discovers the body of Jacques Saunière. Enthusiasts can retrace these very steps and learn more about the life and work of Leonardo da Vinci on a 90-minute trail designed by the museum.For the whole family
Kids can discover their inner Monet at the Louvre’s drawing workshops, or discover lions and tigers in the sculpture galleries. Later, if they still have the energy, children can hide amongst the statues in the nearby gardens of the Jardin des Tuileries before returning to their Paris hotel.Practical information
Open: every day except for Tuesdays and the public holidays on 1 January, 1 May, 11 November and 25 December.Admission: free to all on the first Sunday of every month.
To beat the queues buy tickets in advance online, by phone or in a number of shops and kiosks around Paris.
Get out and see the Louvre for yourself with one of Hotels.com's Paris hotels