The Africa galleries
Dogon masks, Benin bronzes and Congo figures displayed as the great art they are — the museum's heart and strongest wing.
Mies me — Public domain · Steven Lek — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Medium69 (William Crochot) — CC BY-SA 4.0
Five minutes from the Eiffel Tower stands Paris's most different museum: the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, home of the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas — three hundred thousand works telling human creativity beyond Europe, in Jean Nouvel's daring building raised on stilts above a dense garden, its façade wearing a famous living green wall. Inside is a deliberately darkened visual journey: a winding ramp climbs like a river into the heart of the collections, where African masks, totem figures, Andean textiles and Pacific carvings glow in islands of light — a scenography treating every object as a masterpiece rather than an ethnographic specimen, the museum's declared philosophy since opening in 2006. Its final winning card: a garden café directly beneath the Tower, and the rooftop restaurant Les Ombres, whose head-on Eiffel view ranks among the best dinner vistas in Paris — even without museum entry, the garden merits the stroll.
Dogon masks, Benin bronzes and Congo figures displayed as the great art they are — the museum's heart and strongest wing.
Eight hundred square metres and 15,000 plants clothing the façade since 2006 — the green-architecture icon a decade ahead of its fashion.
The rooftop restaurant faces the Eiffel Tower unobstructed — book a sunset table for dinner and light show in one.
Quai Branly, steps from the Eiffel Tower, 75007 Paris
Eiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower is the best-known landmark in Paris and one of the defining sym4 minutes walk4.8
Musée d'art moderne de ParisAnother secret of the free City of Paris museums: the Musée d'Art Moderne (MAM) 5 minutes walk4.6
Champ de MarsThe Champ de Mars is Paris's green carpet, unrolled at the feet of the Eiffel To7 minutes walk4.5
Palais GallieraParis's fashion museum, in a nineteenth-century Italianate palace with its garde7 minutes walk4.5
Guimet MuseumOne of the greatest Asian-arts museums on earth stands quietly on Place d'Iéna b7 minutes walk4.5Looking for halal food near Musée du quai Branly? There are several options nearby, from Moroccan and Indian kitchens to quick casual spots and places with a view. Confirm the halal status and opening hours before you go — these can change.
New JawadHalalNew Jawad is an Indo-Pakistani restaurant on Avenue Rapp, a short walk from the 3 minutes walk · $$$4.4Quai NedyHalalHalal international cooking with a view of the Eiffel Tower, which is what sets 22 minutes walk · $$$
Ministry of SpiceHalalModern halal Indian cooking, the sit-down option for an unhurried dinner. About 18 minutes walk · $$$
Berkeley GardenHalalHalal Indian cooking that suits families and group dinners, about eight minutes'4 minutes walk · $$$
Snack&RushHalalHalal fast food at budget prices, about five minutes' walk from the tower. The m9 minutes walk · $
Novotel Paris Centre Tour EiffelThe Novotel Paris Centre Tour Eiffel is a large hotel on Quai de Grenelle, direc18 minutes walk · $$4.3Citadines Tour EiffelCitadines Tour Eiffel is not a hotel in the traditional sense but an aparthotel:17 minutes walk · $$4.1
Pullman Paris Tour EiffelThe Pullman Paris Tour Eiffel is genuinely the closest of the large Paris hotels8 minutes walk · $$$4.7
Paris Marriott Champs-ÉlyséesThe Paris Marriott Champs-Élysées is one of a very small number of hotels with a16 minutes walk · $$$4.4
Four Seasons George VThe George V is the benchmark the rest of luxury Paris is measured against. It o11 minutes walk · $$$$4.9For anyone exhausted by classical European museums and craving another world entirely: Pacific mythologies, African kingdoms, pre-Columbian civilisations — ideally dosed at two hours and two chosen wings.
Masks, totems and suspended canoes usually enchant kids, and the dramatic darkness adds thrill — French-language family workshops run in holidays, and the garden is the perfect decompression after.