Are you in Paris this weekend of September 4 to 6, 2026? Read my selection of the best things to do. This is the weekend Paris comes back to life after August, and it happens to be an unusually good one for visitors: the Marais opens twenty-seven museums and private mansions for free over three days, the Louvre is free on Friday evening, and Sunday is the first Sunday of the month — which means free entry to most national museums across the city.
It is also a weekend of last chances. Two major exhibitions close on Sunday, September 6: Leandro Erlich at the Grand Palais and Henry Taylor at the Musée Picasso. Jazz à la Villette plays its final three nights. Expect warm afternoons around 23°C and cool evenings near 14°C, with sunset at about 8:25 p.m. — bring a light jacket for anything outdoors after dinner.
Read also our selection of the best things to do in Paris for a first visit
Don’t miss this Friday Sept. 4
The reopening of the Apollo Gallery at the Louvre Museum, famous for the robbery that made headlines, will take place this Friday.
And good, news this Friday evening , the entrance to the Louvre Museum is Free.
Exhibitions on Right Now
Six shows worth your time this weekend. Two of them end on Sunday, one is free all year, and three are free on Sunday because of the first-Sunday rule — which also means they will be busy, so book a time slot.
Leandro Erlich at the Grand Palais — closes Sunday
Why go: fourteen monumental installations by the Argentine artist who turns ordinary architecture into an optical trick — including the building façade where visitors appear to climb a wall lying flat on the ground. It is the most photographed show of the Paris summer, it works without a word of French, and after Sunday it is gone.
When: through Sunday, September 6, 2026, daily 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Fridays until 10 p.m.
Where: Grand Palais, 9 avenue du Général Eisenhower, 75008 Paris — a 10-minute walk from the Champs-Élysées
Getting there: metro lines 1 and 13 to Champs-Élysées – Clemenceau, or line 9 to Franklin D. Roosevelt
Cost: €19 full price, €16 for ages 18–25, €10 for ages 5–17, free under 5; not included in the Paris Museum Pass — official exhibition page
Tip: book a time slot tonight. A closing weekend without a ticket means an hour in line outside on the Cours-la-Reine. The Friday late opening until 10 p.m. is by far the quietest slot, and Erlich’s illusions read better under artificial light than in daylight.
Henry Taylor. Where thoughts provoke, at the Musée Picasso — closes Sunday
Why go: the first major French exhibition of American painter Henry Taylor — around a hundred works across two floors and thirteen rooms of a 17th-century Marais mansion. His portraits of contemporary Black America are direct, warm and unsentimental, and they hold their own against the Picassos in the next room. Last weekend to see it.
When: through Sunday, September 6, 2026, open daily except Monday
Where: Musée national Picasso-Paris, 5 rue de Thorigny, 75003 Paris, in the heart of the Marais
Getting there: metro line 8 to Saint-Sébastien – Froissart, or line 1 to Saint-Paul, then 8 minutes on foot
Cost: €16 full price; free on Sunday, September 6, the first Sunday of the month
Tip: a closing weekend plus free Sunday is the busiest combination a Paris museum can have. Go Saturday at opening if you can. And the museum sits inside the free Marais festival running the same days — walk out and keep going on foot.
Youssef Nabil. De rêver encore, at the Musée d’Orsay
Why go: the Franco-Egyptian photographer is the first contemporary artist ever shown in Orsay’s Orientalist galleries. His hand-coloured black-and-white prints — a technique borrowed from old Cairo film posters — deal with memory, exile and dreaming, in direct conversation with the museum’s 19th-century collections. A short, striking detour inside a museum most visitors only cross for the Impressionists.
When: through September 13, 2026, open daily except Monday
Where: Musée d’Orsay, esplanade Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, 75007 Paris, on the Left Bank facing the Tuileries
Getting there: metro line 12 to Solférino, or RER C to Musée d’Orsay
Cost: included in museum admission, around €16; free on Sunday, September 6; covered by the Paris Museum Pass — official exhibition page
Tip: even with a Museum Pass you still need a timed reservation at Orsay — turning up without one on a free Sunday means a long wait. Go up to the fifth floor and look through the great clock before descending to the Orientalist rooms; the contrast between the two is the best hour in the building. More practical detail in our guide to the Musée d’Orsay.
Plumes du paradis, at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac
Why go: nearly 190 objects — ceremonial headdresses, paintings, taxidermied specimens, European fashion hats, illustrated books — tracing five centuries in which the birds of paradise of New Guinea travelled from Oceania to Asia and Europe. Visually it is one of the most beautiful shows in Paris this year, and it needs no French at all.
When: through November 8, 2026, open daily except Monday, 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursdays until 10 p.m.
Where: Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, 37 quai Branly, 75007 Paris — a 10-minute walk from the Eiffel Tower
Getting there: metro line 9 to Alma-Marceau or Iéna, or RER C to Pont de l’Alma
Cost: €14 for exhibitions and collections, €11 reduced; free on Sunday, September 6; covered by the Paris Museum Pass — official exhibition listing
Tip: Gilles Clément’s wild garden along the quai is open to everyone, ticket or not — it is the best picnic spot in the 7th and the easiest place to recover before or after the Eiffel Tower. If you come for the free Sunday, be there at 10:30 a.m. sharp; by noon the queue runs along the riverfront.
Fragile Beauty: Elton John’s photography collection, at the Jeu de Paume
Why go: more than 300 prints from the private collection of Sir Elton John and David Furnish, one of the largest photography collections in the world. Five sections — desire, celebrity, fashion, reportage, self-affirmation — and a roll call that includes Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Diane Arbus, Herb Ritts and Sally Mann. Wall texts are bilingual. Note that some images are explicit; the museum flags this at the entrance.
When: through September 27, 2026, open daily except Monday
Where: Jeu de Paume, 1 place de la Concorde, in the Tuileries Garden, 75001 Paris
Getting there: metro lines 1, 8 and 12 to Concorde
Cost: around €12 full price; not covered by the Paris Museum Pass — official exhibition page
Tip: allow more time than you think — the final rooms are the strongest and most people arrive there already tired. The same ticket includes the Madeleine de Sinéty display, a quiet documentary series on a Breton village that is exactly the palate cleanser you need after 300 photographs.
Gianni Versace Retrospective, at the Musée Maillol
Why go: around 450 pieces — dresses, complete looks, accessories, sketches, photographs, video and interviews — measuring what contemporary fashion still owes the Italian designer. The staging is theatrical enough to work even if fashion is not your thing, and it is one of the very few Paris museums open on Mondays.
When: through October 31, 2026, daily 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Thursdays until 10 p.m.
Where: Musée Maillol, 61 rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris, in Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Getting there: metro line 12 to Rue du Bac, or lines 10 and 12 to Sèvres-Babylone
Cost: €23.90 full price, €18.90 to €20.90 reduced; a private museum, so not covered by the Paris Museum Pass — official exhibition page
Tip: keep this one for Monday if your weekend is already full, since nearly every other museum here closes that day. Otherwise aim for late Sunday afternoon, once the tour groups have moved on and you can actually get close to the cases.
Don’t Miss This Weekend
Three events define the weekend: a free three-day festival across the Marais, the closing nights of a jazz festival, and an international photography fair inside the former Paris stock exchange.
Les Traversées du Marais: three days of free culture
Why go: for three days, twenty-seven institutions in the Marais and five satellite galleries open their doors for nothing and fill up with music, dance, circus and readings. The Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, the Musée des Arts et Métiers, the Belgian cultural centre and a string of private mansions that are normally closed to the public are all included. Most of the programme is music, dance and visual art, so language is not a barrier. On Sunday, performers lead a reading procession from one venue to the next.
When: Friday 4, Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 2026
Where: across the Marais, 75003 and 75004 Paris — the easiest starting point is the Musée des Arts et Métiers, 60 rue Réaumur
Getting there: metro line 11 to Arts et Métiers or Rambuteau, line 1 to Saint-Paul, line 8 to Saint-Sébastien – Froissart
Cost: completely free, no booking needed for most venues — full festival programme
Tip: do not try to see everything — you will spend the day walking between venues. Pick three within ten minutes of each other and drift. Late Saturday afternoon is the best window: the courtyards still catch the sun and the midday crowd has thinned. The Marais is also one of the few districts where shops open on Sunday, so the day works even when the festival pauses.
Jazz à la Villette plays its final three nights
Why go: the festival closes its two-week run with three nights that each stand on their own. Friday 4: Belgian singer Selah Sue with The Gallands at the Grande Halle — she sings in English, so nothing is lost. Saturday 5: Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca with cellist Vincent Segal, plus Mammal Hands in the Philharmonie concert hall. Sunday 6: London afrobeat band Kokoroko closes the festival.
When: Friday 4 and Saturday 5 September at 8 p.m., Sunday 6 September at 7 p.m.
Where: Grande Halle de la Villette and Philharmonie de Paris, 211 and 221 avenue Jean-Jaurès, 75019 Paris
Getting there: metro line 5 to Porte de Pantin for the Grande Halle, line 7 to Porte de la Villette for the far end of the park
Cost: single tickets vary by concert, reduced rates under 28 — programme and box office
Tip: the small venues sell out early but the Grande Halle almost always has same-day seats. Come an hour ahead: the walk along the Canal de l’Ourcq at sunset is part of the evening, and the last metro from Porte de Pantin runs until around 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
FUJIKINA Paris: photography takes over the Palais Brongniart
Why go: for photography’s 200th anniversary, Fujifilm brings its international gathering under the colonnades of the former Paris stock exchange. Four exhibitions cover two centuries of images, including a collaboration with Magnum Photos, alongside talks, demonstrations and hands-on equipment tables. Alec Soth and Alex Webb lead masterclasses. Worth it as much for the building, which is rarely open to the public, as for the prints.
When: Friday 4 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. (Premium ticket holders only), Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: Palais Brongniart, 16 place de la Bourse, 75002 Paris
Getting there: metro line 3 to Bourse, or lines 8 and 9 to Grands Boulevards
Cost: €10 for a Saturday or Sunday day pass, €15 for the weekend, €25 for three days; masterclasses cost extra and must be booked — official FUJIKINA Paris 2026 information
Tip: arrive Saturday at opening while sensor-cleaning slots and loan equipment are still available; by late afternoon everything is taken. You are also five minutes from the Passage des Panoramas, the oldest covered arcade in Paris — save an hour for lunch there.
Concerts, Shows and Evenings Out
PLK at the Stade de France, two nights
Why go: one of France’s biggest rappers plays the national stadium two nights running — his first shows at that scale, and one of the events of the French autumn season. He raps in French, but a stadium crowd of 80,000 singing every word is its own kind of experience, and the production is built to be watched as much as heard.
When: Friday 4 and Saturday 5 September 2026, 8 p.m.
Where: Stade de France, Saint-Denis, just north of Paris
Getting there: RER B to La Plaine – Stade de France, or metro line 13 to Saint-Denis – Porte de Paris; about 25 minutes from central Paris
Cost: €45 to €139 depending on the category — official concert listing
Tip: the hard part of the night is getting out. Walk to metro line 13 at Saint-Denis – Porte de Paris instead of joining the RER B crush, or simply wait twenty minutes on the forecourt — you will get home faster and far more comfortably.
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal
Why go: the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, now running in Paris as Le Guide du parfait gentleman assassin. A penniless young man discovers he is eight heirs away from an earldom and starts removing them one by one — all eight played by a single actor. It is performed and sung in French, so it suits visitors with some French or those who already know the show; the live band, the costumes and the physical comedy carry a lot on their own.
When: playing all weekend, through December 20, 2026; running time 1 hour 50 minutes
Where: Théâtre du Palais-Royal, 38 rue de Montpensier, 75001 Paris, beside the Palais-Royal gardens
Getting there: metro lines 1 and 7 to Palais-Royal – Musée du Louvre, or lines 7 and 14 to Pyramides
Cost: €18 to €76.50 depending on the seat — official show listing
Tip: this is an old Italian-style theatre and sightlines collapse quickly at the sides. For the same money, go one balcony higher rather than sideways. Sunday matinées are the easiest to book at short notice, and the Palais-Royal gardens next door are a good place to arrive early.
Free Things to Do This Weekend
This is an exceptionally good weekend to spend nothing: the Louvre is free on Friday evening, most national museums are free on Sunday, there is a free orchestral concert outdoors on Saturday, and a free Asian food festival by a lake. For more ideas beyond this weekend, see our guide to free things to do in Paris.
Free Friday night at the Louvre
Why go: on the first Friday of every month except July and August, the Louvre opens for free in the evening — permanent collections and temporary exhibitions included, with free mini-tours at 6:30, 7, 7:30 and 8 p.m. The museum at night, half empty, is a completely different place from the museum at noon.
When: Friday, September 4, 2026, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., last admission 8 p.m.
Where: Musée du Louvre, rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris
Getting there: metro lines 1 and 7 to Palais-Royal – Musée du Louvre
Cost: free, but a timed ticket must be booked online in advance — official Louvre admission information
Tip: book now — free slots go within hours of release. In the evening, enter through the Passage Richelieu rather than the Pyramid, and head straight for the Napoleon III apartments: the most spectacular rooms in the building, and almost nobody is in them after 7 p.m.
First Sunday of the month: free museums across Paris
Why go: September 6 is a first Sunday, which means free entry to a long list of national museums — Orsay, the Orangerie, quai Branly, Picasso, Cluny, Guimet, Arts et Métiers — on top of the city-run museums whose permanent collections are free every day of the year: Carnavalet, the Petit Palais, the Musée d’Art Moderne, Cernuschi and Bourdelle. Several châteaux around Paris join in too, including Malmaison, Écouen and Fontainebleau.
When: Sunday, September 6, 2026, normal opening hours at each museum
Where: across Paris and the Île-de-France region
Getting there: depends on the museum; the easiest national ones to reach are Orsay (RER C) and quai Branly (line 9, Alma-Marceau)
Cost: free, but a growing number of museums require a booked time slot even for free entry — list of free museums this Sunday
Tip: do not improvise this one. Book your slot on Saturday evening or you will queue for nothing. And pick a mid-sized museum over a famous one — Cernuschi, Bourdelle or Arts et Métiers are a pleasure on a free Sunday, while Orsay turns into a corridor.
Classique au Vert: a free open-air orchestral concert
Why go: the Parc Floral’s open-air classical festival closes its season with the Orchestre de chambre de Paris. An orchestra of that level, heard sitting on the grass on a September afternoon, for nothing: it is the loveliest idea of the weekend, and the last one until next summer.
When: Saturday, September 5, 2026 at 4 p.m.
Where: Parc Floral de Paris, route de la Pyramide, Bois de Vincennes, 75012 Paris
Getting there: metro line 1 to Château de Vincennes, then a 10-minute walk through the park
Cost: the concert is free; the Parc Floral charges a few euros for entry on festival days, free for children — Classique au Vert programme
Tip: arrive around 3 p.m. with a blanket and something to eat, and claim a patch of lawn within sight of the stage. Afterwards, walk two minutes to the Jardin des Quatre Saisons and the Vallée des Fleurs — the part of the Parc Floral almost no visitor finds. Combine it with the Château de Vincennes, five minutes from the metro.
Asian Street Food Festival at the Vincennes Pagoda
Why go: the sixth edition of this food festival sets up at the foot of the Great Pagoda in the Bois de Vincennes: around twenty street-food stalls from Japan to Vietnam, a market of makers and artisans, South Asian dance performances from 1 to 5 p.m. and DJ sets until 8. The setting alone justifies the trip — a former colonial pavilion turned Buddhist temple on the edge of Lake Daumesnil.
When: Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 September 2026, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: Grande Pagode de Vincennes, 40 bis route de ceinture du Lac Daumesnil, 75012 Paris
Getting there: metro line 8 to Porte Dorée, then a 10-minute walk along the lake
Cost: free entry, but you must register online beforehand; food is paid for on site — event listing on paris.fr
Tip: register before you leave — free entry depends on it. Come at 11:30 rather than 1 p.m., when the queues at the popular stalls get long, and you will have time to walk around Lake Daumesnil before the dance performances start.
Walks, Markets and Slower Ideas
Paris flea markets: avenue Niel and cours de Vincennes
Why go: September restarts the Paris flea market season, and this weekend offers two very different versions. Avenue Niel in the 17th is a professional brocante running both days — furniture, prints, glassware, old linen, properly curated. Cours de Vincennes on Sunday is the opposite: a huge neighbourhood car-boot sale where clothes, vinyl, toys and crockery go for a few euros. Both are outdoors, free to enter, and a good way to see Paris away from the monuments.
When: avenue Niel on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6; cours de Vincennes on Sunday 6, both during the day
Where: avenue Niel, 75017 Paris; cours de Vincennes, 75012 Paris
Getting there: metro lines 2 and 3 to Villiers or line 3 to Pereire for avenue Niel; lines 1, 6 and 9 to Nation for cours de Vincennes
Cost: free to browse — official flea market calendar on paris.fr
Tip: bring cash — many sellers still have no card reader — and a folding bag. Come early on Saturday for the good pieces, or late Sunday to bargain, when a dealer would rather drop the price than reload the van. Neighbourhood sales can shift at the last minute in bad weather, so check the district town hall’s page the evening before.
A slow Marais walk: Place des Vosges to the Enfants Rouges market
Why go: with the free Marais festival running all weekend, the district is the obvious place to spend a whole day on foot. Start at the Place des Vosges, the oldest planned square in Paris, walk north through rue des Francs-Bourgeois and rue de Bretagne, and end at the Marché des Enfants Rouges — the city’s oldest covered market, dating to 1615, now a dozen food counters under one roof.
When: any day this weekend; the market is open Tuesday to Sunday and closed Monday
Where: from Place des Vosges, 75004 Paris, to 39 rue de Bretagne, 75003 Paris — about 20 minutes on foot
Getting there: metro line 1 to Saint-Paul to start, line 8 to Filles du Calvaire to finish
Cost: free to walk; lunch at the market costs roughly €12 to €18 a plate — market details on paris.fr
Tip: the market is small and gets packed between 1 and 2 p.m. on Sundays — go at noon or after 2:30. And unlike most of Paris, Marais shops open on Sunday, which makes it the right district for the one day of the week when the rest of the city shuts.
Good to Know This Weekend
- Closing days matter here. The Louvre closes on Tuesday; the Musée d’Orsay, Musée Picasso, quai Branly and Petit Palais all close on Monday. The Musée Maillol is one of the rare museums open every day, so save the Versace show for a Monday if you need to.
- Two free days, one after the other. Friday 4 is the Louvre’s free evening from 6 p.m., and Sunday 6 is the first Sunday of the month, when most national museums are free. Both need advance booking — free does not mean walk-in.
- The Paris Museum Pass covers some of this, not all. The Louvre, Orsay, quai Branly and the Musée Picasso are included. The Leandro Erlich show at the Grand Palais, Fragile Beauty at the Jeu de Paume and the Versace retrospective at the Musée Maillol all need separate tickets.
- No public holiday this weekend, so transport runs on a normal schedule and museums keep standard hours. Most shops close on Sunday, with the Marais and the Champs-Élysées as the main exceptions — worth planning around.
- Dress for two temperatures. Early September in Paris means afternoons around 23°C and evenings closer to 14°C, with sunset at about 8:25 p.m. Anything outdoors after dark — the Parc Floral concert, a concert queue, a canal walk — calls for a jacket and closed shoes on damp grass.
That is the weekend of September 4 to 6, 2026: three days of a free Marais, two big exhibitions closing on Sunday, a jazz festival wrapping up and a city-wide free museum day. If you only do one sequence, make it the Petit Palais and Leandro Erlich on Saturday morning, then the free orchestral concert at the Parc Floral at 4 p.m. For the rest of the month, see what to do in Paris in September 2026, and if you are building a longer itinerary, start with the 50 best things to do in Paris.
This page is updated every Monday with the selection for the weekend ahead. Tell me in the comments what you ended up seeing — and enjoy Paris.
Discover more from StillinParis
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.