If you’re going to Paris, people are going to recommend that you go to the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay. With good reason, they truly are two of the most fantastic museums, especially for art lovers. In Paris, you can basically throw a rock and hit a museum, but what about the lesser known ones?

Here’s just a handful of museums to visit on your next trip to Paris to get off the beaten path. Headed to Paris for a couple of days? Check out the price comparison of the Paris Museum Pass to save money if you plan to visit multiple museums!

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Musée des Egouts (aka the Sewer Museum)

What’s the strangest museum you’ve ever been to? Does it involve seeing the active sewers of a major metropolitan city? If you’re in Paris, you’ll get a chance to do exactly that. Near the Eiffel Tower by Pont de l’Alma is where you can find this unique museum. Entrance is extremely affordable and you probably won’t need more than an hour for your visit.

This is extremely unique and gives you a glance into Paris’ architecture, history, and operation of the city even today. It’s something that’s absolutely more of a conversation starter for anyone who asked what you did in Paris!

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Musée de Cluny (aka the Medieval Museum)

If you love stained glass, tapestries, suits of armour, and headless monks, then the Musée de Cluny in the Latin Quarter is perfect for you. It’s a little bit of a hidden gem that you could walk right past without realizing. This medieval museum has some amazing displays, especially if you’re fascinating by the middle ages.

Plus, it’s so well situated in the Latin Quarter that you’re in a prime space to continue exploring for the rest of the day in Paris!

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Musée National de la Marine (aka the Maritime museum)

When you’re looking at the gorgeous views of the Eiffel Tower from Trocadero plaza, don’t rush off too quickly. Here, you’ll also find one of the more unique museums. A whole museum dedicated to the Maritimes. That includes historical diving suits, art that features tall ships, and more! It’s certainly not the kind of museum that you can find anywhere. The odd collection around a theme makes it truly fun to visit.

This is also a less popular museum, so you won’t run into huge crowds here, even when the Eiffel Tower is just a stone’s throw away.

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Musée de l’Homme (aka the Museum of Mankind)

Don’t venture too far. The next less-visited museum is also in the Trocadéro area. One of the biggest draws of this museum is the replica of the Lucy skeleton. Lucy is 3.2 million years old (but don’t judge her for it). This is an eclectic museum that delves into multiple subjects (given the humanities tilt to the exhibit).

Here, you can also view René Descartes’ skull (allegedly as some people think it’s a forgery), but it’s still interesting to see the way they’ve treated the skull with writings.

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Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine (aka the Architecture Museum)

We’ve got one last feature in the Eiffel Tower area that’s more of a secret. You won’t catch any massive Mona Lisa crowds here. If you can’t make it to all the grand cathedrals and churches in Paris, this museum is a fantastic runner-up. These are casts of some of the more well known facades throughout France and has the benefit of taking incredible architecture and putting it in one single accessible place.

Plus, there’s fantastic views of the Eiffel Tower from the windows of the building!

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These five museums are just a handful of the lesser done options. There’s also Carnavalet in the Le Marais area, Vincennes, Nissim de Camondo, the Picasso museum and more. Check out the Paris Museum Pass for many of those options. It’s a great way to duck and dodge some of those Louvre crowds while still getting quality exhibits.

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