Musée du quai Branly opening hours

I have lost count of the visitors I have met standing at the glass screen on a Monday, reading the sign. The museum is closed on Mondays, every week, without exception. Get that one fact right and the rest of the planning is easy. Here is the full picture, day by day, with the closures, the last-entry rule and my own view on when the plateau is at its emptiest.

Hours, day by day

Last admission is 45 minutes before closing, so 18:15 on a normal day and 21:15 on a Thursday. In practice the staff start shepherding people down the ramp a little before the official time, and the ticket desk stops selling slightly earlier than the door stops admitting. If you arrive at 18:00 hoping for a quick look, you will get a quick look and not much more. The museum itself says independent visitors should allow two to three hours; I explain why on the how long to visit page.

Closures

Three fixed closures: every Monday, 1 May and 25 December. That is it for the regular calendar. Individual galleries close now and then for reinstallation, and a temporary exhibition may be between shows, so if one particular thing is the reason for your trip, check the day’s notice on quaibranly.fr before you leave the hotel.

Garden hours are different

The garden opens at 9:15, over an hour before the galleries, and stays open half an hour after them (until 19:30, or 22:15 on Thursdays). It is free to walk through and you do not need a ticket. On a bright morning I would rather be on the garden paths at 9:30 than queuing anywhere else in the seventh arrondissement, and it means you can be at the security check the moment the doors open at 10:30.

The best time of day and week

The quietest hours are Tuesday and Wednesday mornings right at opening, and Thursday evenings after 19:00, when the day visitors have left and the plateau des collections is lit low and almost silent. The busiest are weekend afternoons, the first Sunday of the month (when entry is free for everyone) and the French school holidays. I would not call any of these a crowd in the Louvre sense. The museum sits 300 m from the Eiffel Tower and has none of its queue culture; the difference between a busy Saturday and a quiet Tuesday here is whether you can stand in front of the Benin plaques alone or with four other people.

Special evenings in 2026

The museum runs a programme of evening events alongside its normal hours. In the second half of 2026 the dates I have noted are the “Jeudis déconnectés” evenings on 10, 17 and 24 September, the Fête de la science on 4 October, the Soirée Premières Nations on 27 November and “Un Autre Noël” on 27 December. Earlier in the year the museum held a three-day festival, 19 to 21 June, for its twentieth anniversary. Details and any changes are on quaibranly.fr. The 2026 exhibitions page lists what is on in the galleries.

Do I need a timed ticket?

Not for the permanent collection. The GetYourGuide admission ticket is valid for one day and lets you use the “access with ticket” entrance, which is quicker than the desk queue on a busy afternoon. Some temporary exhibitions require a free timed reservation on top, even if you already hold a ticket or qualify for free entry. If you are not sure which ticket you need, the ticket decision page walks through it.

Frequently asked questions