There are five ways to spend a Wednesday or Friday evening in the Louvre, and a private guide is only one of them. Comparing Louvre private night tours with a group of six, the museum's own Friday tour or a timed ticket on your own? Each one below says what you get, who it suits and what it costs.
Every option runs while the museum is open to the public, until 9pm. What you choose is how much of the route someone else plans for you, and who else is standing beside you at the famous works.
What it is: A licensed guide for your party only, for two or three hours, with the museum ticket and the time slot in the fare. You meet at the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel or at the Louis XIV horse statue beside the Pyramid.
What is in the fare: The ticket, the guide and, on some tours, a route built round what you ask for. Tips and transport are not included.
Best for: Couples, families, anyone with limited mobility or a list of works in mind.
The catch: The price: $295.83 to $360.90 a person, quoted for a party of two and lower a head as the party grows.
What it is: A licensed guide and no more than six guests, strangers included, for two hours on a set highlights route. The ticket is in the fare.
What is in the fare: The ticket, the guide and, on the tour from the metro exit, every booking and museum fee.
Best for: Solo travellers and couples who want a guide at about half the private fare.
The catch: $170.67 and $175.22 a person, English only, and the route is the guide's, not yours.
What it is: The museum's highlights tour in English, on Fridays at 6pm and 7pm, about 90 minutes, from the groups reception area under the Pyramid. The museum also runs a Friday 6pm tour away from the crowds.
What is in the price: The guide only: €12 (€9 reduced), on top of your museum ticket.
Best for: Anyone on a budget who can be there on a Friday.
The catch: A bigger group than six, Fridays only, and you buy two tickets.
What it is: A handset for €6, sold on site on the day, in French, English and Spanish.
Best for: Independent visitors who want the facts at their own pace.
The catch: It tells you about a work once you have found it. It does not know where the queue is.
What it is: Your own ticket, a time slot on a Wednesday or Friday evening, and your own route. Last entry is 8pm.
What it costs: €22 for citizens and residents of the European Economic Area, €32 for everyone else, free under 18.
Best for: Returning visitors who know the building.
The catch: The museum covers some 73,000 square metres. A first-timer with two hours spends a good share of them finding the way.
The museum is open to everyone until 9pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. Every evening tour is a guided visit in those quieter hours, with other visitors still in the rooms.
Some listings describe the evening in words that suggest the doors have shut behind you. Travellers who booked them say otherwise. One, on a private tour in August 2026, wrote of normal opening, normal crowds and more than 30 minutes of a two-hour tour in the entrance queue. Another booked a 3:30pm slot on a private tour and shared the museum with the afternoon crowd until closing; the operator replied that the product had been renamed "Late Opening".
What the evening does change is the number of people. Reviewers on the 6pm private tour found the rooms not crowded, and on the tour from the metro exit a small group inside a big crowd still felt personal. Expect fewer people, not none.
The two guided choices use the same building and the same hours. What differs is who sets the route and who stands with you.
| Private guide | Group of up to six | |
|---|---|---|
| Who is with you | Your party only | Up to six guests, strangers included |
| Who sets the route | You, with the guide | The guide |
| Length | Two or three hours | Two hours |
| Languages | English; one private tour offers eight languages | English |
| Where the guide leaves you | Inside on some tours, so you stay on until closing | Not stated |
| Step-free access | Listed on the private tours from the arch | Not suitable on the tour from the metro exit |
| Published start | 6pm on the three-hour private tour; 5:30pm on the family tour | Shown when you pick a date |
A private guide can also slow down. One reviewer with a partner of limited mobility found the guide used the priority entrances, the lifts and the space behind the barrier in the painting room. The group tour from the metro exit says it is not suitable for wheelchair users.
For every private evening side by side, see the private night tours; for the shared ones, the Louvre small-group night tours.
Here is what two adults from outside the European Economic Area pay for one evening. The tours are priced in US dollars and the museum in euros, so the two are never converted.
| For two adults | Tour fare | Museum ticket | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private guide | $295.83 to $360.90 a person | In the fare | Your own |
| Group of up to six | $170.67 or $175.22 a person | In the fare | Shared |
| The museum's Friday tour | €12 a person | €32 a person (€64 for two) | Shared, museum-run |
| Audio guide | €6 a person | €32 a person (€64 for two) | None |
| On your own | Nothing | €32 a person (€64 for two) | None |
For EEA citizens and residents the ticket is €22, and under-18s go free, which changes the sums for a family: on the private family tour the fare covers the adults only for that reason. Every tour here refunds in full up to 24 hours before the start; museum tickets bought alone are non-refundable.
See the top evening tours, with where each one meets and what the fare covers, then check your date.
| Wednesday | Friday | |
|---|---|---|
| Open until | 9pm, last entry 8pm | 9pm, last entry 8pm |
| The museum's own tours | None in the evening | 6pm and 7pm highlights; 6pm away from the crowds |
| Free entry | No | First Friday of the month after 6pm, except July and August |
| Exhibition rooms | Some rooms of two shows may close for maintenance | Open as scheduled |
| Evening concerts | Three of the season's dates | Two of the season's dates |
Friday gives you more choice, and the first Friday of the month gives it free, with the crowd that brings. Wednesday is the quieter bet, but check the exhibitions page: two current shows warn that rooms may close on a Wednesday. The concert dates are on the evening events page.
Fares, meeting points, languages and what each fare covers come from each tour's own listing, captured on 28 September 2026 and quoted in US dollars. Museum prices, hours and the museum's own tours are louvre.fr's, checked 28 September 2026.
Your guide waits with a sign on place du Carrousel at 6:00pm, and the three hours open in the Sully wing on the medieval Louvre before Denon and Richelieu. The timed ticket, taxes and fees are in the fare; tips are not.
From $336 per person For a party of two; the per-person fare falls as your group grows
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A licensed guide leads up to six of you through the galleries in the last hours before the museum closes, with reserved access and the ticket in the fare. Arrive 15 minutes early at the equestrian statue; food and drinks are not included.
From $170 per person
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The guide speaks your group's language and wears a licensed-guide badge under the statue in front of the Pyramid. Fast-track entrance and the ticket are in the fare; getting to the meeting point is not.
From $295 per person
Check AvailabilityNext: read what to expect on the evening, see what to see in two hours, or compare every tour on Louvre Tours.