One Day in Le Marais Paris, Hour by Hour

One day in Le Marais is enough to see its royal square, a museum or two and the Jewish quarter, and to eat very well. This plan lays out the day hour by hour, with the opening days that change it: Monday closes most of the museums, and Saturday closes the Mémorial de la Shoah. Book a guide for the part of the day you want explained, and walk the rest.

How much of a day does the Marais need?

A full day if you want museums, half a day if you want the streets. The protected Marais covers 126 hectares across the 3rd and 4th arrondissements, about 1.2% of Paris, so you cross it on foot without trying. The streets cost nothing. Your time goes on the museums and the food.

The plan below uses a food walk as lunch, with one museum before it and one after. If you would rather not eat on the move, swap the food walk for a history walk and eat where you like. The Le Marais walking tours run from ninety minutes to four hours, so one fits any gap.

Morning: start on the Place des Vosges

Begin at 62 rue Saint-Antoine, where the courtyard and garden of the Hôtel de Sully open at 9:00, free, every day of the year except a handful of public holidays. Walk through the garden and you come out under the arcades of the Place des Vosges. It is a way into the square through a garden, and it costs nothing.

The square was built between 1605 and 1612 and opened in April 1612 as the Place Royale, with 36 pavilions of red brick and pale stone. The garden in the middle, the Square Louis XIII, opens at 8:00 on weekdays and 9:00 at weekends in September, and its hours shift with the season. Walk the arcades once all the way round before you do anything else.

At 10:00 the Maison de Victor Hugo opens at number 6. Its permanent collections are free, and it closes on Monday. An hour is plenty.

Should the food walk be lunch?

Yes, if you pick a walk that is built as a meal. The Do Eat Better full-meal walk spreads a French meal over three and a half hours, with a seated main course. It starts at the Place Louis Aragon on the Ile Saint-Louis and ends on the Place des Vosges, so if you book it, reverse the morning: start on the island, and save the Maison de Victor Hugo for after lunch.

Eating Europe starts at 10 Rue Saint-Antoine and stops to sit down on the Place des Vosges, with boeuf bourguignon or choucroute and wine. The Secret Food Tours walk starts by the merry-go-round at Saint-Paul and feeds you enough tastings to skip lunch. All three are compared on the Le Marais food tours page.

Check the start time when you book. The listings vary it by option and by season, and a walk that starts at 11:00 changes the whole plan compared with one at 14:00.

Afternoon: which museum?

Pick one, two at most after a three-hour food walk. Each has its own day off, and two of them charge.

• The Carnavalet, the museum of the history of Paris, keeps its permanent collections free. Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00.
• The Musée Picasso charges €16. It is free on the first Sunday of the month, for under-18s, and for EU residents under 26. Tuesday to Sunday, 9:30 to 18:00.
• The mahJ, the museum of Jewish art and history at 71 rue du Temple, charges €13 and is free for under-18s. Tuesday to Friday 11:00 to 18:00, Wednesday to 21:00, and weekends 10:00 to 19:00.
• The Mémorial is free and needs no booking. It opens daily except Saturday, 10:00 to 18:00, and to 21:00 on Thursday.

If you only have energy for one, make it the one your morning did not cover. A food walk through the Jewish quarter pairs with the mahJ; a history walk pairs with the Picasso. The museums of the Marais sets them side by side.

What changes on a Monday?

Almost everything with a door. The Carnavalet, the Maison de Victor Hugo, the Musée Picasso and the mahJ all close on Monday, and so does the Marché des Enfants Rouges. A Monday plan that leans on museums falls apart by 10:00.

What stays open is enough for a good day. The Hôtel de Sully courtyard, the gardens, the streets and the Mémorial all open on Monday, and the walks run as usual. Make Monday a walking day: a history walk in the morning and the Mémorial in the afternoon.

What changes on a Saturday?

The Mémorial closes on Saturday. Everything else in the plan opens: the Carnavalet, the Musée Picasso and the Maison de Victor Hugo keep their usual hours, and the mahJ opens from 10:00 to 19:00 at weekends.

The mahJ is free on the first Saturday of the month from October to June. It also closes for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, so check the date if your visit falls in September or October. Our page on when to visit, day by day lays out the week.

Where does the day end?

The Hôtel de Sully garden closes at 19:00. On Thursday the Mémorial stays open to 21:00, and on Wednesday the mahJ does. On other evenings, the Marais belongs to its streets.

The quarter is one of the city's international tourist zones, where shops may open in the evening and on Sunday. So the Haut-Marais stays lively after the museums shut. End on the Rue des Rosiers, where the falafel counters line the street.

A half-day version

Half a day takes one walk and one free museum. Paris Always Walk runs ninety minutes to two hours from the church of Saint-Paul Saint-Louis; add the Carnavalet afterwards and you are done by lunch.

There is a neat afternoon version too. The two-hour walk with three small tastings starts at the Place de la République and finishes at the door of the Musée Picasso. Book the museum for the hour after it ends and you lose no time walking back.

What if it rains?

Paris has rain on about 109 days a year, by the Météo-France normals for Paris-Montsouris, and on 11.4 of them in December alone. The walks go ahead anyway. The Babylon walks say they run in all weather, so you only need a coat and shoes that do not mind a puddle.

A wet day suits the museums. Move the Carnavalet to the morning, when the square is at its dampest, and put the food walk after it: most stops are indoors or under an awning, and the full-meal walks sit you down for the main course. The Mémorial and the mahJ fill a wet afternoon. See Paris weather, month by month for what each month brings.

A day with children

Slow the plan down and add a playground. The Square du Temple, on the Rue de Bretagne, has a play area and a sandbox, and the Square Louis XIII in the royal square has play areas too. Both are free.

The Intrepid walk calls itself child-friendly, takes under-sixes free and hands out a bakery sweet. The Musée Picasso and the mahJ are free for under-18s. For food walks that take children, see the family-friendly food tours in Le Marais page.

Frequently asked questions

Tours that fit one day in the Marais

Paris Le Marais Food Tour – Full French Meal by Do Eat Better

Three and a half hours from the tip of the Ile Saint-Louis to the royal square, eating a full French meal across at least four stops, with a seated main course and at least one glass of wine.

From $104 per person

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Le Marais Walking Tour: Hidden Stories, History & Local Life

Two hours and about 2 km from the Pompidou's plaza to the Place de la Bastille, through courtyards most visitors walk past. One pastry from a local bakery, and vegetarian options.

From $60 per person

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Jewish History Tour of Le Marais

Four hours on the Jewish history of the district, from the statue of Louis XIII in the royal square. Lunch at a falafel counter is on your own bill, and the minimum age is eleven.

From $117 per person

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