The best free tourist attractions in France

  Top free tourist attractions in France 

On this page we list some of the best tourist attractions in France that can be visited free of charge. It is not possible to list these in order of popularity, since being free there are often no tickets sold, therefore no accurate visitor statistics..

Note : Senior citizens, over 65s.

There is not much of a tradition in France of offering free access or discounts to senior citizens (unlike Spain, Italy or the UK, for example), but it sometimes worth looking to see in there is a "tarif seniors". These do exist sometimes, and for example, Seniors benefit from the reduced rate at the Paris Science museum at La Villette.

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All state museums (that means most major museums in France) are free for everyone on the first Sunday of each month.

• Paris: City of Paris Museum of Modern Art, 
• Paris - Musée Carnavalet - the museum of the history of Paris
• Paris - Petit Palais, City of Paris museum of fine arts; near the Champs Elysées. Includes some Impressionists.
• Le Bourget - Just outside Paris: Musée de l'air et de l'espace (Aerospace museum) - 
• See also  Paris for Free

• Bordeaux: Musée des beaux arts - one of the best general art galleries in France outside Paris.  No longer free.
• Bordeaux: Musée d'Aquitaine - good prehistoric section, including a reproduction of part of the Lascaux cave paintings.
• Dijon - Musée des Beaux Arts - one of the finest provincial art galleries in France, housed in the former palace of the Dukes of Burgundy.
• Limoges (Limousin) Musée des beaux arts - A collection from XV to XX century, including works by Delacroix, Redon, Renoir, Berthe Morisot, plus Limoges enamels and prehistoric artefacts.
• Menton (Riviera) -  Palais de Carnolès.  from Greek icons and the Italian Renaissance to Chagall Dufy and Picasso. A fine small museum.
• Mulhouse (Alsace) - Musée des Beaux Arts.
• Nice - Nice museums are no longer free, except to under-18s and students
•  Musée Matisse.
• Nice - Musée des Beaux arts (includes works by Fragonard, Boudin, Degas, Dufy, Sisley, Rodin, and others)
• Nice - Musée d'art moderne et contemporain - Modern art museum
• Rouen (Normandy)  (Free  since 2016 )   Musée des Beaux arts and other municipal museums. The best collection of works by the Impressionists outside Paris
• Toulouse - Musée départemental de la Résistance et de la Déportation - Museum of the French resistance

Paris:  see Paris for Free

Near Paris:

• Château de Versailles: free access to the grounds. Free access to the château for under 18s and for under-26s resident in the European Union (proof of residence needed).

Other places:

• Aigues Mortes (Languedoc)  Medieval bastide city port, from where the Crusaders set off in medieval times. And generally speaking the other bastide towns of southwest France
• Avignon (Provence) : Admire the famous "Pont d'Avignon", or what remains of it. Most of the Medieval bridge, a Unesco world heritage site, was washed away in the 17th century.  Also visit the old city and the free gardens beside the medieval Papal palace (paid entry).
• Carcassonne . the historic medieval city is free to visit, but there is a charge for access to the ramparts. Children free, and EU citizens aged 18-25 also free (ID required).
• Mazamet (Tarn, Midi-Pyrénées area) . the Mazamet aerial walkway. See  Offbeat France
• Millau: visit the Millau viaduct and interpretive centre on the A75 motorway. (Bridge toll). Also close by Les Gorges du Tarn - a deep natural gorge
• Nice: wander along the Promenade des Anglais and visit the gardens of the old château de Nice. Also several formerly free art galleries.
• Nimes (Languedoc) : view from the outside the famous Roman remains of the Amphitheatre the Tour Magne and the Maison Carrée.
• Normandy: the Normandy beaches 
• Oradour sur Glane, near Limoges. (Limousin) . A French village that was the site of a massacre by Nazi SS in 1944. The village was burned to the ground, and remains preserved as it was left, a memorial to the horrors of war. Free entrance to the village.
• Rocamadour, Lot (Midi-Pyrenees). A major medieval pilgrimage centre, the old town hanging precariously on the steep rocky side of a valley.
• St Malo (Brittany) . Fortifications - One of the walled cities of France
• Near Pontarlier (Franche Comté). La source de la Loue - the river emerges, full-size, from a cavern at the base of a cliff