Paris Museum Pass under 26 and for children: when it does not pay off
Under 18, and with an EU passport up to 25, the Louvre, Versailles, Orsay and several national monuments are free. In the 2-day example you pay nothing, while the pass costs €110. The free admission rules per site and a family calculation.
What the issuer itself says
There is no children's or youth pass. The issuer itself writes that museums and monuments are mostly free for visitors under 18 and for EU citizens under 26. It says the pass is useful for EU citizens aged 26 and over and for visitors from outside the EU aged 18 and over.
The free admission rules per site
| Site | Under 18 | 18 to 25 with EU citizenship or residence in the EEA |
|---|---|---|
| Musée du Louvre | free | free |
| Château de Versailles | free | free |
| Arc de Triomphe | free | free |
| Sainte-Chapelle | free | free |
| Conciergerie | free | free |
| Towers of Notre-Dame | free | free |
| Hôtel de la Marine | free | free |
| Château de Vincennes | free | free |
| Basilique de Saint-Denis | free | free |
| Panthéon | free, under 16 accompanied by an adult without a ticket, from 16 free ticket at the ticket desk | free, ticket at the ticket desk |
| Musée d'Orsay | free | free |
| Musée de l'Armée | free | free (permanent exhibition) |
| Musée Rodin | free | free |
| Musée des Arts Décoratifs | free | collection free, with exhibition €10 |
| Crypte archéologique | free | full price (€11) |
For the rule from 18, EU citizenship or residence in the European Economic Area counts. According to the Louvre and Sainte-Chapelle, Swiss nationals without residence in the EEA pay the full price. For the Château de Fontainebleau we found the rule only through a third-party source, so we calculate with the full price there.
The calculation for 18 to 25 with an EU passport or residence in the EEA
Take the 2-day programme: Louvre, combined ticket Sainte-Chapelle and Conciergerie, towers of Notre-Dame, Musée d'Orsay, Musée de l'Armée and Musée Rodin. For adults aged 26 and over this costs €108 as single tickets. For you, all of it is free. The 2-day pass costs €110, so you would pay €110 for admissions that cost you nothing.
The 4-day programme adds the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Crypte archéologique and the Château de Fontainebleau. The collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs is free for you. The Crypte is only free under 18, for you it costs €11. For Fontainebleau we calculate with the full price of €17. So you pay at most €28. The 4-day pass costs €129, so you pay at least €101 more with it.
For the 2-day pass to pay off for you, you would have to collect €110 worth of admissions within 48 hours at sites that are not documented as free for you. In our database that is 8 sites, €115 together. You would need all 8, because the 7 most expensive only bring €104. If one of them is free for you after all, the calculation gets even worse.
Families: who needs a pass
Example: two adults, a 12-year-old child and a 20-year-old student with EU citizenship, four days with the 4-day programme. As single tickets, the programme costs €151 per adult and at most €28 for the student. For the child we calculate at most €17, because we found the child rule for Fontainebleau only through a third-party source. Everything else in the programme is free under 18.
| Option | Total for the family |
|---|---|
| Four passes at €129 | €516 |
| Everyone pays single tickets | €347 |
| Two passes for the adults, student and child with single tickets | €303 |
The third option is €213 cheaper than four passes and €44 cheaper than paying single tickets throughout. Here the pass only pays off for the adults.
Free does not mean without a ticket
- Towers of Notre-Dame: booking a time slot is mandatory, also for everyone who gets in free. No tickets are sold on site.
- Versailles: children and young people also need a free ticket with a time slot. Louvre: recommended.
- Panthéon: from 16, you collect the free ticket at the ticket desk.
What this means for your planning
Only work out the pass for travellers aged 26 and over with EU citizenship and for travellers from outside the EU aged 18 and over. For everyone else, what counts is which sites without a documented free admission rule remain. The single prices are on the Paris Museum Pass attractions page.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a Paris Museum Pass for children?
No. There is no children's pass, because most sites are free for visitors under 18 anyway.
Is the Paris Museum Pass worth it under 26?
With EU citizenship or residence in the EEA, almost never. The Louvre, Versailles, Orsay, the Musée de l'Armée, the Musée Rodin and 8 national monuments are free for you up to and including age 25. In the 2-day example you pay nothing, while the pass costs €110 (as of 8 Oct 2026).
How much does the Paris Museum Pass cost?
At the ticket provider Tiqets €110 for 2 days, €129 for 4 days and €159 for 6 days. There is no children's pass (as of 8 Oct 2026).
Sources
- Pass prices at Tiqets (our price page with source), checked on 8 Oct 2026
- Admission prices of the sites (our page with sources per site), checked on 8 Oct 2026
- Louvre: free under 18 and under 26 in the EEA, checked on 8 Oct 2026
- Sainte-Chapelle and Conciergerie: free admission rules, checked on 8 Oct 2026
- National monuments (CMN): free admission conditions, checked on 8 Oct 2026
- Musée d'Orsay: young adults, checked on 8 Oct 2026
- Musée de l'Armée: free admission, checked on 8 Oct 2026
- Musée Rodin: plan your visit, checked on 8 Oct 2026
- Musée des Arts Décoratifs: fares (18 to 25 EEA), checked on 8 Oct 2026
Prices can change. Admission and card prices change, sometimes at short notice. We check admission prices at the official source and card prices with the ticket provider you book through. We show the date for every price and check all prices again once a month. The price shown to you at checkout is always the one that applies. If you spot an outdated price, let us know at info@citycardcheck.com.
Data source: Pass prices at the ticket provider Tiqets, through which you can book (checked on 8 Oct 2026), single prices from our price database (as of 23 and 24 Sep 2026, rechecked on 8 Oct 2026), free admission rules from the sites' and the issuer's websites (checked on 8 Oct 2026; Orsay and the issuer via search snippets of their own pages, because they block retrieval).
Photo: Danish Prakash / Unsplash