The Grand Tour
The most ambitious way to experience the Louvre. Three hours, fully private, far beyond the highlights into the depth of the collection.
The Grand Tour is the fullest introduction to the Louvre, a curated journey through three thousand years of human creativity. We begin in the halls of the ancient civilisations before moving through the most celebrated galleries, pausing at works most visitors walk straight past.
Rather than pointing at famous things, this tour is about understanding them: the stories behind the Mona Lisa's smile, the journey of the Venus de Milo, the sheer ambition of David's Coronation of Napoleon. You leave seeing differently.
What you will see
The Grand Tour includes everything the two-hour Highlights covers, the three great icons and the principal departments around them, and then keeps going. That third hour is what sets it apart.
With the extra time the visit can do one of two things, and we shape it to you. We can go deeper into the masterpieces, drawing out the detail and the stories a shorter visit has to leave behind. Or we can leave the busiest galleries and explore quieter departments most visitors never reach, the rooms where the Louvre keeps its hidden gems. If there is a work or a wing you long to see, tell us when you enquire and we will build the hour around it.
Antiquity · the masters · and the rooms in between
Pépin's advice
Wear comfortable shoes. Three hours is a great deal of walking on hard floors. Nothing shortens a tour faster than tired feet.
Travelling with young children? We do not recommend three hours for children under eight. The wonder gives way to tiredness well before the end, and our shorter Highlights tour makes for a far happier first encounter.
Thinking of a fourth hour? It can be arranged, and we are glad to do it, but be honest with yourself first. Some of our guides could spend an entire day in these galleries without once looking at the time, and would happily do so. Three hours already asks a great deal of most visitors. A fourth is only worth having if you are still genuinely curious at the end of the third, so tell us when you enquire and we will talk it through with you.
Good to know
The Louvre does not open every gallery every day. The museum is closed on Tuesdays, which is the only day this tour cannot run. Any other day works well. Very occasionally a room opens late, or not at all, for operational reasons the museum does not announce in advance. If that happens it is beyond anyone's control, and we simply turn to another part of the collection so your time is never lost. With more than thirty-five thousand works on display, the Louvre is never short of something remarkable, and a private guide can reshape the visit on the spot in a way a fixed group tour never could. The Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace remain on permanent display whenever the museum is open.
