Musée d'Orsay - a newbie's guide

The Musée d'Orsay is one of the must see galleries in Paris, with a focus on the impressionist and post-impressionist art. In terms of art periods, roughly speaking, d'Orsay takes over where the Louvre drops off, and carries the baton through to where the Centre Pompidou picks up.

The building itself is worth the visit alone - a converted train station over 100 yrs old, which was almost demolished.

For the artworks, the big names include Monet, Cézanna, Renoir, Degas, Manet, Van Gogh, Gauguin and Rodin, to name a few.

Highlights:

••  Post-impressionist gallery (Level 2), the most popular section of d'Orsay, and the place to find Van Gogh works.

••  Monets along with Degas's Little Dancer of Fourteen Years in the impressionist gallery (Level 5).

••  The viewing platform (Level 5), allowing you to take in the architecture of the old train station.

••  Sculptures in the main hall, and on the Level 2 terraces.

••  The two giant glass window clocks (Level 5), beautiful in their own right, but also providing a view of Paris across the River Seine.

••  Café Campana and it's golden décor, sitting below one of the glass window clocks.

Tips and notes:

••  Entry price includes entry to all temporary exhibitions as well the permanent exhibition.

••  As always - purchase your tickets online in advance, to avoid the queues. It's a popular gallery, so expect massive queues if you purchase a ticket on the day. Queues are sometimes shorter during the later opening hours on Thursdays.

••  Combined tickets are available for Musée d'Orsay / Musée de l'Orangerie, or Musée d'Orsay / Musée Rodin which will give you a small discount.

••  Audio guides - I've alway found them incredibly informative, but be prepared to pay through the nose. Unfortunately they charge separately per exhibition, so you can pay €5 for the permanent exhibition and then another €5 for each temporary exhibition. So potentially more than the entry fee...a bit steep.

Depending on your interest level, allow up to a 1/2 day to a full day to explore the 3+ levels here. Open everyday except Mon, and open late on Thu.