Musée de la Marine

Right sized museum with extremely high quality exhibits & great audio guide. Lots to learn, ending with a naval battle group exhibit that is better than the exhibits at the Air & Space museum. The artwork is understandable, informative and epic in scale. One of the very best Museums on Earth.

This museum is a solid 4 stars. It does a lot right, cool exhibits and good interactivity for all ages. Be sure to use the screens because there are some very interesting stories which link to the exhibits next to them. For me the one downside is the cost. If you were bringing a family or a big group it would add up fast. It's an expensive museum by Paris standards especially as it isn't huge. There is also a cafe offering Eiffel Tower views which you didn't need to pay to access

Stunning museum! The history of everything that went on oceans and seas from the earliest centuries : fishing, shipment, and even sinking shipwrecks ! Paintings, videos, photos, models, all assets are great. Current exhibition of Jean Gaumy is wonderful !

Excellent museum that gives you a broad experience of the French naval history. Central location. Easy access. Honest price. Beautiful building. Gois coffee in the café.

A brilliant museum with great exhibits. So much maritime history to take in. I particularly enjoyed seeing a Fresnel lens close up. The restaurant serves delicious food at a reasonable price - €22 for a three course meal. The view of the Eiffel Tower from our table made for a very special lunch too. Merci!

Musée National de la Marine was definitely the unexpected highlight of my trip to Paris. There was a lot to see, and it wasn’t crowded like some of the other nearby museums. It was nice to be able to stroll through and learn about all of the maritime history of France. There was a great combination of actual nautical displays, as well as beautiful paintings of French marine history. If you’re planning a trip to Paris, add it to your list.

A very modern museum with all kinds of exhibits: they've got ship models, marine-themed paintings, antique and modern navigation equipment, as well as interactive stands with educational audio and video materials and much more – everyone can find something to their liking. Definitely worth a visit!

Following a multi-year renovation, the museum of maritime history in Paris has finally reopened. I think this is a museum that for some people will think it great and a fantastic experience whereas others will compare it to its previous incarnation and be very disappointed. First, the positives. The museum is very sleek and modern with key themed areas with treasures from their collection based around this. The section on shipwrecks was my favourite with some interesting stories and a great reel of movie clips with everything from Asterix to Master and Commander. Downstairs, is a look at the history of the French navy with some fantastic ship models and paintings while upstairs is a small section on passenger ships and liners (this was a bit disappointing, especially with the iconic Normandie's section so sparse.) On display, there are some fantastic artifacts but I think for some visitors the sticking point with the new approach will be that they have so much more that used to be on display. There's a fairly large gift shop and a restaurant upstairs too, which I think uses the fairly standard museum method of a hot pot dish and then smaller glass dishes to choose from for meals. They are very aware of families visiting so also have a children's toilet on the main floor where everything is smaller for them!

Another good stop along my whirlwind Paris Museum Pass tour. Spectacular views of the Eiffel Tower from outside in the plaza. The pass gets you a free audio guide of the museum and I also bought a ticket for the special exhibit of the Obelisk and it's two year journey from Egypt to Concorde. Only to realize that when I get down there..D'oh! of course it's all in French. The models show how the obelisk was lifted and moved. Cool stuff. It's one of three like it in the world, Victoria Gardens in London and NYC's Central Park being the others. The rest of the museum consists of maritime paintings, very detailed models of ships old and new, as well as a history of shipbuilding and navigation. Enjoyed myself here and time passed easily.

If you like Naval history, then it is worth a visit. I wasn't really particular to French Naval history, but my museum pass allowed my free admittance so I decided to check it out. First, like most other museums in Paris, no flash photography, and this place requires you to check in big bags...policy is policy. As soon as you walk into the first exhibit, you're fully immersed into 18th and 19th century French history on Naval warfare. Pretty decent sized paintings and 1/40 scale warships from that time period inhabit the next three ballroom like rooms of my visit. The only person I recognized during this time period was d'Estaing and the rest I assume were of great French importance. Very nice detailed model ships. From the masts, the sails and to the individual canon guns were built to its scale. Another one of my faves were the swords and guns during this time period. On the other side of the museum offers the 20th century and modern French Naval history. Again, they have their 1/40 scale of battleships from WW2 and showed an actual shell from one of their battleship guns. They also show Naval aviation as it progressed throughout modern times as they boast their fighter capabilities from their aircraft carriers...ha ha please. Also in this side of the museum, showed a couple of the submarines, and described a typical submariner life....happy socks included..jk. And finally a small Christopher Columbus exhibit showed his travels throughout his lifetime and discoveries. It was a nice visit, especially the abundance of space they had without having to bump into anyone. I lucked out in a sense because as I was departing the musuem a classroom tour just came in with a bunch of rowdy 8 year olds. Ha, good luck to the next set patrons coming in during that time.

Beautiful museum of maritime history and art, with plenty of impressive, large-scale exhibits. The Musée National de la Marine is located at 1 Place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre, 75116 Paris, Frankreich, +33 1 47 55 62 79. The Métro stops just outside (Station: Trocadéro) and the opening times are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, except Tuesdays (closed!), and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The building itself (the Palais de Chaillot) is stunning and slightly intimidating. From the terrace next to the museum you have a splendid view of the Eiffel Tower. All the rooms in the museum are huge so you can take in the splendor of even the full-sized restored ships from a reasonable distance. Non-flash photography is allowed in the permanent exhibition, which is another plus. Apart from entire historic ships/barges there are numerous model ships of all kinds and sizes (from 1/40 models to bottled ships), large scale maritime paintings, wonderful figureheads from the 18th and 19th centuries and all other kinds of sea-related items. Enough certainly for you to spend approx. 2-2.5 hours here. The large rooms and broad corridors make this a perfect museum to take your small fry to. Have a look at my photos to get a better impression of some of the wonderful exhibits of the Musée National de la Marine. Large bags have to be checked in. There is a museum shop and a small café. Trocadéro is also a scenic part of Paris to explore on foot.

Enjoyable. Interesting to see the French Marine history. Not for those without even a slight interest in naval history and battles however.

I knew nothing about the Navy going in, but walking out I knew quite a bit more. Nice layout and plenty of interesting ships, paintings, and oddities. The lighthouse light is something else. Good place to kill an hour or two and the view of the Eiffel Tower from the steps is pretty impressive.

Great displays and historical exhibits, surrounding the maritime history of France.