This enormous building, constructed around 1200 as a fortress and rebuilt in the mid-16th century for use as a royal palace, began its career as a public museum in 1793. As part of Mitterand's grands projets in the 1980s, the Louvre was revamped with the addition of a 21m (67ft) glass pyramid entrance. Initially deemed a failure, the new design has since won over those who regard consistency as inexcusably boring. Vast scrums of people puff and pant through the rooms full of paintings, sculptures and antiquities, including the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and Winged Victory (which looks like it's been dropped and put back together). If the clamour becomes unbearable, your best bet is to pick a period or section of the Louvre and pretend that the rest is somewhere across town.

Spectacularly housed in a former railway station built in 1900, the Musee d'Orsay was reinaugurated in its present form in 1986. Inside is a trove of artistic treasures produced between 1848 and 1914, including highly regarded Impressionist and Post-impressionist works. Most of their paintings and sculptures are found on the ground floor and the skylight-lit upper level, while the middle level has some magnificent rooms showcasing the Art-Nouveau movement. Nearby, the Musee Rodin displays the lively bronze and marble sculptures by Camille Claudel and Auguste Rodin, including casts of some of Rodin's most celebrated works. There's a shady sculpture garden out the back, one of Paris' treasured islands of calm.

The Centre Georges Pompidou, displaying and promoting modern and contemporary art, is far and away the most visited sight in Paris. Built between 1972 and 1977, the hi-tech though daffy design has recently begun to age, prompting face-lifts and closures of many parts of the centre. Woven into this melee of renovation are several good (though pricey) galleries plus a free, three-tiered library with over 2000 periodicals, including English-language newspapers and magazines from around the world. A square just to the west attracts street musicians, Marcel Marceau impersonators and lots of unsavoury types selling drugs or picking pockets.

Installed in the Palais Garnier, the musée de l'Opéra promotes the heritage of three centuries of existence of this temple of dance thanks to paintings, drawings of scenery and costumes, scale models.

Delacroix's studio-apartment and garden: the artist's last home. He lived here from 1857 until his death on 13 August 1863. The master's works and documents relative to his life include paintings, drawings, engravings, letters, autographs and souvenirs from a trip to Morocco in 1832.

Five hundred metres into the sewers of Paris to trace their history and that of Lutecia to the present day. An original way of exploring Paris, an exhibition area presenting the water cycle in Paris and its history. Several models and machinery used yesterday and today. Audio-visual show, exhibition room on the techniques of the future.

Evenings on Wednesdays until 22:00
3 avenue du Générale Eisenhower, Paris 8
Métro: Champs-Elysées, Clémenceau
Phone: 01 44 13 17 17
Entry with reservations required mornings, from 10:00 to 13:00
Entries without reservations from 13:00 to 20:00
Closed on Tuesday