10 Paris Museums Where Outdoor Gardens Are Part of the Experience

Paris is home to an incredible array of art and history museums, but many of them also have beautiful gardens and courtyards that are worth seeking out in their own right.

In many cases, the outdoor spaces are just as memorable as the galleries themselves. Some are officially part of the museum experience and require a ticket, but many can be enjoyed without ever stepping inside the exhibits.

These are 10 of my favorite museum gardens in Paris, based on my own visits to each one.

1. Musée Rodin

Let’s start strong with what is easily my favorite spot on this list.

The Rodin Museum is housed in the Hôtel Biron, an elegant mansion where the famous 19th-century sculptor Auguste Rodin once lived and worked. Inside, you’ll find many of his best-known works, along with pieces by his student and collaborator Camille Claudel.

The experience continues seamlessly outside in the museum’s nearly eight-acre garden. Sculptures are scattered throughout the grounds, including some of Rodin’s most famous works like The Thinker, The Gates of Hell, and The Burghers of Calais.

The art is set amid rose gardens, hedges, tree-lined paths, fountains, benches, and manicured lawns, allowing visitors to experience Rodin’s work in a way that’s very different from a traditional gallery.

2. Petit Palais

Built for the 1900 World’s Fair, the Petit Palais is one of Paris’s most impressive museum buildings (and is completely free to visit). Inside, you’ll find a diverse collection spanning antiquity through the early 20th century, including paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, and furniture.

At the heart of the building is a gorgeous semi-circular courtyard garden lined with palm trees, mosaics, and a colonnaded walkway. Small ponds sit in the center, and the museum’s café spills out onto the surrounding terrace. It’s absolutely lovely.

3. Musée Carnavalet

The Carnavalet Museum is dedicated to the history of Paris, tracing the city’s story from its earliest beginnings to the present day. The museum is housed across two connected Renaissance mansions in the Marais and is one of the best free museums in the city.

Tucked within the museum is a beautiful formal courtyard garden surrounded by elegant stone architecture, clipped hedges, and ivy-covered walls. As you wander through the museum, you’ll also catch occasional views down into the garden from the mansion’s windows and galleries.

The Joli Café sits right in the courtyard, making it easy to stop for a coffee or a light meal during your visit.

4. Musée Eugène Delacroix

Tucked away on a quiet square in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the Eugène Delacroix Museum occupies the former home and studio of one of France’s most celebrated painters. Delacroix is best known for Liberty Leading the People, one of the most iconic paintings in French history, which today hangs in the Louvre.

The museum allows visitors to explore both Delacroix’s former apartment and his workshop, with paintings, sketches, personal objects, and exhibits dedicated to his life and artistic legacy.

Between the two buildings is a charming enclosed garden filled with trees, gravel paths, flower beds, and benches. It feels intimate and personal, making it easy to imagine the artist stepping outside for a quiet break between hours spent working in his studio.

5. Musée Bourdelle

The Bourdelle Museum is dedicated to the work of Antoine Bourdelle, one of France’s most important sculptors and a student of Auguste Rodin. This free museum is in the artist’s former home, studios, and workshops, preserving the spaces where he lived and worked for much of his career.

While there are several galleries to explore, a major highlight is the series of sculpture-filled courtyards and gardens connecting the different buildings. Monumental bronze works stand among trees, pathways, and quiet outdoor spaces, creating an experience that feels very different from a traditional museum.

Compared to the grand gardens and mansion of the Musée Rodin, Bourdelle feels smaller, more intimate, and far more off the beaten path in Paris’s Left Bank. You’ll often find people sitting on a bench with a book or enjoying their lunch among the sculptures.

6. Musée de Montmartre

The Montmartre Museum explores the neighborhood’s artistic history and the painters, writers, and creatives who helped make Montmartre famous in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Inside, you’ll find paintings, photographs, posters, and exhibits that bring this fascinating period to life.

The museum’s Renoir Gardens are spread across both the front and back of the property. They feature winding paths, flower beds, and views over the Clos Montmartre vineyard, the last remaining vineyard in Paris.

What makes the gardens especially interesting is their connection to the artists who once lived and worked here. Renoir himself painted in these gardens, and one of his most famous works, Bal du moulin de la Galette (which hangs in the Musée d’Orsay), was created on this very property.

7. Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac

The Quai Branly Museum, just next door to the Eiffel Tower, is a modern museum dedicated to indigenous and non-Western art and cultures from around the world, with collections from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.

One of the most unusual things about the museum is that much of the building is raised above the ground on giant supports. Beneath it, you’ll find a sprawling garden filled with winding paths, trees, grasses, and pockets of greenery. It feels surprisingly wild for central Paris and is freely open to anyone who wants to walk through.

There’s also the museum’s famous living wall, which incorporates 376 plant species from around the world along an entire side of the building.

8. Musée des Archives Nationales

The National Archives Museum is housed in the Hôtel de Soubise, one of the grandest mansions in the Marais. While the museum contains a handful of exhibits showcasing important documents from French history, many visitors come just as much for the building itself.

Several of the historic rooms are lavishly decorated and feel as though they would be perfectly at home in Versailles.

The garden I’m highlighting here is the large courtyard you pass through on your way into the museum. Framed by elegant architecture, columns, gravel paths, and manicured lawns, it’s a beautiful space in its own right.

Because the courtyard is freely accessible, you’ll often find locals sitting on benches, reading, chatting with friends, or simply enjoying a break from the busy streets of the Marais.

9. Palais Galliera

The Palais Galliera is Paris’s fashion museum, with multiple rotating exhibitions dedicated to the history of fashion, couture, and some of the industry’s most influential designers. The museum itself is housed in a striking Beaux-Arts palace near Trocadéro.

Surrounding the building is a small but beautifully landscaped garden with lawns, flower beds, fountains, statues, and sweeping staircases. Even if you never step inside, the grounds are a beautiful place to wander for a few minutes, not far from the Eiffel Tower.

10. Cluny Museum

The Cluny is Paris’s museum of the Middle Ages and is housed in a medieval mansion built for the abbots of Cluny. It’s also home to some of the best-preserved Roman ruins in the city, including the ancient thermal baths that stand beside the museum.

Behind the museum is a medieval-inspired garden filled with herbs, flowers, fruit trees, and other plants that would have been familiar centuries ago. What makes the setting especially unique is that one side of the garden sits directly against the walls of the ancient Roman baths (with the medieval mansion on the other side).

There’s even a small play area for children, making it a nice family-friendly spot.

Planning the Rest of Your Time in Paris?

Museum gardens are just one of the many beautiful corners of Paris worth exploring. If you’re continuing to plan your trip, these guides can help:

• Ultimate Paris Bucket List – Nearly 100 sights and experiences, from must-sees to hidden gems
• Ultimate Paris Museum Guide – A practical guide to narrowing down the city’s overwhelming museum options
• 30 Hidden Gems in Paris – Lesser-known spots that most visitors miss
• 15 Gorgeous Paris Parks & Gardens – More beautiful green spaces throughout the city
• 45 Free Things to Do in Paris – The best of Paris on a budget

If you want everything in one place, my Paris travel guide page pulls together neighborhood guides, attraction and museum guides, foodie recommendations, and travel tips in one hub.