Paris on a Sunday

What is open in Paris on a Sunday? Almost every museum you would plan a trip around, plus the shops inside the city's twelve tourist zones; what closes early is the food markets, which pack up by 2:30pm. So put the market first, a museum after lunch and the shopping last, in the Marais or on the Left Bank, where shops may open on Sundays.

Sunday is also the one day of the week when the Louvre and the museums that close on Monday are all open together. The Louvre and the Orangerie close on Tuesday; the Rodin museum, the Picasso museum, the Petit Palais, the Carnavalet (the museum of the history of Paris) and Versailles close on Monday. If your trip ends on a Monday, Sunday is your last chance for the second group.

The free first Sunday is a reason to choose a museum, not a reason to queue. At the Orangerie you still need a reservation, and the Rodin and Picasso museums are the two where you can walk in free without one.

Go to the Bastille market or the Raspail organic market, both 7am to 2:30pm on Sunday on the city's market listing. The Bastille market runs down the middle of boulevard Richard-Lenoir near Place de la Bastille, on the edge of the Marais; Raspail is the organic market on boulevard Raspail in Saint-Germain, the better start if you are staying on the Left Bank.

The Aligre market, east of Bastille, opens a little later, at 7:30am, and also closes at 2:30pm. One change from what most Sunday lists say: the covered Enfants Rouges market in the Marais shows as closed on the city's listing for Sundays November 1 and 8, 2026, so do not build the morning around it this autumn.

Inside the tourist zones, yes: the city lets shops in these areas open every Sunday of the year. The city of Paris page names them, including Le Marais, Saint-Germain, Rennes-Saint-Sulpice, Saint-Honoré and Place Vendôme with Les Halles, the Champs-Élysées and avenue Montaigne with the Haussmann department stores, and Montmartre. Outside those zones, plan on shops being shut.

The department stores open late. Galeries Lafayette Haussmann posts 11am to 8pm for Sunday November 1, 2026. For shopping with a plan, the Marais is the area I'd pick on a Sunday: the shops are open, the streets are walkable and the Picasso and Carnavalet museums are in the same few blocks.

1. 9am, market: the Bastille market for breakfast on your feet, or Raspail if you are on the Left Bank.
2. Late morning, one museum: the Picasso museum, 9:30am to 6pm, free and without booking on the first Sunday, in the Marais just north of the Bastille market.
3. Lunch: for a long Sunday lunch, the Ritz's Grand Brunch runs 11:45am to 2:30pm on Sundays on Place Vendôme. Book it; it is the one fixed time in the day.
4. Afternoon, the Marais: shops open, the Carnavalet free and open until 6pm.
5. Evening: many Paris restaurants close on Sunday, so book dinner before you go out for the day. The Arc de Triomphe is open until 10:30pm from October to March, which makes it the one sight you can leave for after dark.

Paris museums on Monday and Tuesday covers the other end of the weekend, when half the museums close. The Paris shopping guide picks the streets, and the Paris Museum Pass guide says when a pass beats single tickets. On a second trip, the second-visit plan fits a Sunday into four days. The Rome on a Sunday guide makes the same call for Rome.