France’s most visited cultural spots in 2022

Reports from various French regional tourism committees indicate that French cultural sites, which have been missing some foreign visitors (especially Asian) due to the Covid pandemic, have experienced a significant increase in visits in 2022. As a result, they are trending toward 2019 attendance levels.

With around 7.7 million visitors last year, the Louvre, the most visited museum in the world, recorded an increase of 170% compared to 2021, thanks in part to the return of foreign tourists. However, the level of attendance remained 19% lower than in 2019 (9.6 million). The second most visited site in France, the Palace of Versailles, located about 20 kilometers from Paris, recorded 6.9 million visitors in 2022 (castle and gardens), 16% less than its record in 2019 (8.2 million).

The Tourism Review infographic shows the top of France’s most visited cultural sites (museums and monuments) are in the Paris region, except for Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy (2.8 million visitors in 2022) and the medieval city of Carcassonne in Aude (1.8 million visitors), which are sixth and ninth spots on the list respectively.