Louvre and Tuileries Self-Guided Audio Walk: Pyramid, Carrousel Arch and Concorde
1 hour and 15 minutes
About this experience
The view from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe looks drawn with a ruler. It was not. The Louvre itself says that the bend of the Seine kept the palace and its garden from ever lining up, and for three centuries each new ruler added a piece to the line. Start at the Colonnade, the grand front of a palace its king left, then walk into the Cour Carrée, where the Louvre began as a fortress, and on to I. M. Pei's glass Pyramid and the statue that covers its misalignment with Napoleon's arch. Walk where the Tuileries Palace burned, along the Rue de Rivoli, a street built to a rulebook, and down Le Nôtre's central alley, from its round pool past the garden's marble half-circle benches to its eye-fooling octagon and the Orangerie, home of Monet's Water Lilies, to the obelisk of the Concorde. Twelve stops, about 2 km and 75 minutes, at your own pace, in English. Entry to the Louvre, the Orangerie and the Hôtel de la Marine is not included.
- Experience type
- Day tour or activity
- Duration
- 1 hour and 15 minutes
- Guide
- English
- Audio guide
- English
- Categories
- Walking tour · Cultural and theme tours · City tours
What's included
Self-guided audio tour in English: 12 stops, 2 km, 75 minutes Stops at Cour Carrée, glass Pyramid, Arc du Carrousel GPS map and walking directions in your phone browser, no app needed Lifetime access: start any day, at any hour, and replay it
What's not included
A live guide: you set the pace and the pauses A fixed start time: begin whenever you arrive Museum and monument tickets, all optional extras Tip or gratuity Food and drinks Entry or admission fee
Please note
To start the tour, enter the ticket code from your confirmation on the Roamer redemption page linked there. Do this before you set off, while you still have signal. The tour then opens in your phone browser, with no app to download. Bring a charged phone and earphones. Mobile data helps; if you have none, open the tour on wifi before you set off. Best time: Daytime, any day of the week. The courts and gardens are free and open every day; start after 7.30am, when the Cour Carrée opens, and early enough to finish inside the Tuileries before the guards begin clearing it. In October the garden closes at 9pm with clearing from 8.30pm and the Cour Carrée closes at 7.45pm, so start by about 6.30pm at the latest; from November to March the garden closes at 7.30pm, so start by about 5pm. Mornings are quietest at the Pyramid. The Louvre and the Orangerie are closed on Tuesdays; if you want to go inside, avoid Tuesday. The walk enters the garden just after stop 7 and stays in it to stop 11. Hours checked 8 October 2026 on louvre.fr. Getting to the start: Louvre-Rivoli Metro station (line 1) is about two minutes' walk from the Colonnade; Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre (lines 1 and 7) and Pont Neuf (line 7) are close by. The walk ends beside Concorde station (lines 1, 8 and 12), with Tuileries (line 1) a short walk back along the Rue de Rivoli. Checked 7 October 2026. The Louvre (stop 3): Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 9am to 6pm, Wednesday and Friday to 9pm, closed Tuesday; EUR 22 for European Economic Area residents and citizens, EUR 32 for others, free under 18. Book a timed ticket on louvre.fr and never buy from street sellers or look-alike websites. Checked 7 October 2026. The Musée de l'Orangerie (stop 11) and Monet's Water Lilies: 9am to 6pm, closed Tuesday, EUR 12.50 online or EUR 11 at the door. Checked 7 October 2026. The Hôtel de la Marine (stop 12): daily 10.30am to 7pm, Friday to 9.30pm; EUR 9 for the express route through the salons to the loggia over the square, EUR 17 for the full route. Same-day tickets only. Checked 7 October 2026. Toy sailing boats on the Octagonal Basin (stop 10): EUR 6 for 30 minutes, usually Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays, 11am to 6pm outside school holidays; may change in the cold months. Checked 7 October 2026. To stand at the foot of the obelisk after the walk, cross the Place de la Concorde only at the signalled crossings, with the lights. To walk under the Rue de Rivoli arcades, cross the Rue de Rivoli at a signalled crossing before or after the tour; the walk itself stays on the garden side. The Tuileries has public toilets by the Concorde entrance and by the Rivoli entrance opposite the Rue du 29 Juillet, which is the gate the walk takes into the garden after stop 7 (louvre.fr, checked 8 October 2026). The Olympic cauldron of the Paris 2024 Games comes back to the Tuileries only in summer: in 2026 from 21 June to 14 September, with a last season planned from 21 June 2027 (Préfecture de police and EDF, 16 June 2026; checked 8 October 2026). Outside those dates it is not in the garden. The way from stop 1 into the Cour Carrée is the covered passage through the middle of the Colonnade. It is not confirmed open at all hours and may be open only in the daytime. If it is shut, walk round by the Rue de Rivoli side of the palace and through the Passage Richelieu into the Cour Napoléon (stop 3), then go east through the passage under the clock pavilion into the Cour Carrée for stop 2, and come back. The Cour Carrée is open 7.30am to 7.45pm (checked 7 October 2026). Before or after those hours, start at stop 3 by the Pyramid. The Tuileries garden (stops 8 to 11) is open 7am to 9pm in April, May, September and October, 7.30am to 7.30pm from November to March and 7am to 11pm from June to August (in summer 2026, while the Olympic cauldron was in the garden, it closed earlier, at 10.30pm until July and as early as 8.30pm in September); guards begin clearing it 30 minutes before closing, so in October be out by 8.30pm and from November by 7pm (louvre.fr, checked 8 October 2026). Do not enter after clearing has started. If the garden is closed, stay on the Rue de Rivoli sidewalk on the garden side after stop 7 and walk on along the railing to the Place de la Concorde, about 750 meters; you will see the garden only through it, and you can play stops 8 to 11 by hand from the sidewalk; they will not start on their own out there. Steps: about seven steps at the end of the passage under the clock pavilion (between stops 2 and 3) and a flight of steps just inside the garden gate opposite the Rue du 29 Juillet (between stops 7 and 8). A ramp is mapped beside the steps at that gate, but we have not checked it on the ground; if you need a step-free way in, ask a garden guard. The straight way on from stop 5 along the central alley is not step-free: it has a flight of about twelve steps. Paths in the Tuileries are gravel, slow going for buggies and wheelchairs, and soft after rain. On the Rue de Rivoli (stops 6 and 7) a busy bicycle lane runs along the curb; stand back from it. Pickpockets work the queues at the Pyramid, the crowds at the Joan of Arc statue and the Place de la Concorde. Keep bags closed and in front of you. Paths in the Tuileries, including those round the round pool and the octagonal pool (stops 8 and 10), can be fenced off for temporary events; follow the garden's own signs. The Louvre's courts can be closed or fenced at short notice for security reasons or events. The City of Paris chose a redesign of the Place de la Concorde in March 2025, with works planned to start from late 2025 or 2026 and run for several years (City of Paris, 27 March 2025). Expect fencing or diversions at stop 12, and stay on the sidewalks. The Place de la Concorde is a busy traffic circle. The walk ends on the sidewalk outside the garden gate and crosses no road there. The only road the walk crosses is the bus and taxi road of the Place du Carrousel, between the pyramid and the arch, at the lights. Public transportation nearby
Itinerary
- 1Day 0
Louvre Colonnade: The Front the King Left
Place du Louvre, facing the Louvre Colonnade, 75001 Paris, Paris
The king's front he never used. Begun in 1667 by a committee of three, the Colonnade is still called the museum's historic entrance, with Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois across the road.
- 2Day 0
Cour Carrée: Fortress, Palace, Museum
Cour Carrée, west half of the court, Louvre, 75001 Paris, Paris
The court where the Louvre began. Its medieval keep lies below ground, its oldest wing dates from the 1540s, and in 1624 the court was planned four times bigger.
- 3Day 0
The Pyramid: Glass in the Cour Napoléon
Cour Napoléon, between the Pyramid and the Pavillon de l'Horloge, Louvre, 75001 Paris, Paris
Pei's glass door since 1989. Designed by I. M. Pei and about 21 metres high, it stands where a car park was, and the Louvre says it does not line up with the arch beyond.
- 4Day 0
Arc du Carrousel: A Gate to a Vanished Palace
Place du Carrousel, facing the Arc du Carrousel, 75001 Paris, Paris
A gate to a burned palace. Built in 1806 to 1808, it fronted the Tuileries Palace, burned in 1871, and the Louvre says it does not line up with the Pyramid.
- 5Day 0
Carrousel Garden: Where the View Opens
Jardin du Carrousel, west of the Arc du Carrousel, 75001 Paris, Paris
The view west opens here. From here the long alley of the Tuileries runs toward the obelisk, over a garden of yew hedges and twenty Maillol bronzes.
- 6Day 0
Place des Pyramides: Joan of Arc in Gold
Place des Pyramides, at the statue of Joan of Arc, Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, Paris
A gilded Joan of Arc of 1874. Frémiet's statue of 1874 stands in a square named for Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, on the Rue de Rivoli.
- 7Day 0
Rue de Rivoli: A Street Built to a Rulebook
Rue de Rivoli, south pavement by the Tuileries' 29 Juillet gate, 75001 Paris, Paris
One design for a whole street. Same stone, same arcades, same balconies, no ovens or hammers; only the roofs were left free, and they still step.
- 8Day 0
Grand Bassin Rond: Standing on the Line
Grand Bassin Rond, north-east rim, Tuileries Garden, 75001 Paris, Paris
A round pool on the garden's spine. Here the walk joins Le Nôtre's line through the Tuileries, with the Louvre at one end and an eight-sided pool at the other.
- 9Day 0
Central Alley: Where the Line Runs Straight
Allée Centrale, between the two Exèdre basins, Tuileries Garden, 75001 Paris, Paris
Marble half-circle benches on the central alley. Two white half-circles flank Le Nôtre's central alley, the one stretch of the line as straight as it looks.
- 10Day 0
Octagonal Basin: A Trick for a Vanished Window
Grand Bassin Octogonal, north-west side, Tuileries Garden, 75001 Paris, Paris
A pool that fools the eye. Seen from the vanished palace, the garden's pools looked equal; this one is twice the size of the round one up the alley, the Louvre says.
- 11Day 0
The Orangerie: From Orange Trees to Water Lilies
Jardin des Tuileries, Seine-side terrace near the Musée de l'Orangerie, 75001 Paris, Paris
Orange trees then Monet's water lilies. Monet gave the panels in 1918, the day after the armistice; they were hung here in 1927, months after his death.
- 12Day 0
Place de la Concorde: The End of the Line
Place de la Concorde, by the Tuileries Concorde entrance, 75001 Paris, Paris
An obelisk that took no side. Raised in 1836 on the square where Louis XVI was executed, it marks the line running on from the Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe.
Meeting point
Louvre Colonnade, Paris Place du Louvre, facing the Louvre Colonnade, 75001 Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, FR
Pick up
Pickup is not provided.
Cancellation policy · Louvre and Tuileries Self-Guided Audio Walk: Pyramid, Carrousel Arch and Concorde
Standard Viator policy
- Cancellation 0–24 hours before departure: 100% cancellation fee.
- Cancellation 24–24000 hours before departure: 0% cancellation fee.
Good to know
Operated by Roamer and sold by AGORA. Your voucher and booking reference arrive by email straight after payment.