Louvre to Hike Ticket Prices by 45 Percent for Most Non-EU Visitors
54Dec. 2, 2025
TheLouvrehas announced that it will raise ticket prices for most visitors from outside the European Union by 45 percent, effective January 14, 2026. Officials expect the increase, from €22 (about $30) to €32 (roughly $42), to bring in an additional €17.5 million for theParisinstitution annually. The Louvre, which welcomed some nine million visitors last year, most from outside France, is the world’s most attended museum. Among those affected by the uptick will be visitors from the US, who according to the museum account for more than 10 percent of all attendees, and those from China, who account for about 6 percent. Attendees from Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein—all member countries of the European Economic Area, a trade agreement with the EU—will be exempt from the increase.
The price hike was expected, per an announcement from President Emmanuel Macron this past January. Macron at that time unveiled a plan tomove the Mona Lisato its own underground chamber, which museumgoers would pay a separate fee to visit, and to build a new entrance with the goal of relieving overcrowding at the Louvre’s I.M. Pei–designed main portal. The Louvre must raise €1.1 billion for the upgrade. Of this figure, €450 million will go toward maintenance and infrastructure repairs, for which the museum staff has been vocally advocating, staging awildcat strikethis past summer. The Louvre’s woes were compounded in October by thebroad-daylight theftof $102 million of jewels and thesubsequent reportthat the museum prioritized the purchase of artworks over rendering its current holdings secure.
More broadly, the price increases reflect an attempt to respond to the €216 million in cuts that the French culture ministry is facing in 2026, €58 million of which is set to come from the budgets of museums and cultural heritage organizations. Four other French national monuments and museums also announced increases for non-EU visitors, among them the Château de Versailles and the Château de Chambord. The former will charge €35 during the high season and €25 in the low season, while the latter will increase ticket prices from €19 to €29.