Avignon · Place du Palais des Papes
Palais des Papes: tickets, hours and how to get there
The papal palace of Avignon, with the Cour d'honneur, the Grand Tinel, the frescoed chambers and the papal gardens. Official prices, opening hours and practical tips.
Today
Opening hours for every month are on the Opening hours page.
Checked against the official website on 23 October 2026 · Official source
In short
- The official ticket for the Palais des Papes, gardens included, costs 16 €, or 19.50 € together with the Pont d'Avignon, and under 10 is free. These prices have applied since 1 August 2026, according to the official site on 23 October 2026. The monument sells its own tickets in an online reservation shop and at the palace.
- The palace is open every day of the year, 25 December and 1 January included. From 1 March to 1 November it opens at 09:00 and closes at 19:00; from 2 November to 18 December it opens at 10:00 and closes at 17:00. The last entry is one hour before closing. The official site has not yet published the hours after 3 January 2027.
- Plan 2 to 2.5 hours. The palace is neither heated nor air-conditioned and has many steps. There is a free cloakroom, bags are checked at the entrance, and photos are allowed except in the painted rooms.
- The exhibition Relatum – Lee Ufan runs from 3 July to 15 November 2026 and is included in the ticket, according to the official site.
- Our partner Tiqets, a third party, sells the Palais ticket at 16 € and the Palais plus Pont ticket at 19.50 €, the same as the official prices, with an instant mobile ticket and cancellation until 23:59 on the day before your visit, according to Tiqets. Tiqets asks you to pick a date and a time slot; check the official site for its own rules.
The Cour d'honneur
The Cour d'honneur is the great courtyard of the Palais Neuf, the new palace that Pope Clement VI had built by the architect Jean de Louvres. Every July it becomes an open-air theatre for about 2,000 spectators: the Festival d'Avignon began here in 1947, with Jean Vilar's staging of Shakespeare's Richard II, according to the official site.
The official site does not say whether visits change during the festival, and the hours for July stay at 09:00 to 19:00. If you travel in July, check before you go.
The Grand Tinel, the banquet hall
The Grand Tinel was the hall of the papal banquets. For the exhibition Relatum – Lee Ufan, from 3 July to 15 November 2026, it shows paintings by the artist.
The Grande Audience and the Grande Chapelle
The Grande Audience was the papal court of justice. In its last bay, according to the official site, Matteo Giovannetti painted a fresco of prophets in 1353. Above it is the Grande Chapelle, built by Jean de Louvres for Clement VI: 52 m long, 15 m wide and 20 m high, and a place where, the site says, the polyphony of the Ars nova was refined.
The Grande Chapelle has hosted contemporary art exhibitions since 1948. From 3 July to 15 November 2026 it holds the Relatum installation, more than 60 tonnes of slate laid over 650 m².
The painted rooms and chapels
The Chambre du Pape is decorated with vine and oak branches on a blue ground, probably from 1337 to 1338. The Chambre du Cerf, the study of Clement VI, was painted in 1343 with scenes of hunting, fishing and life at court. In the Saint-Martial chapel, Matteo Giovannetti painted frescoes in 1344 and 1345, restored in 2014, and the Saint-Jean chapel has frescoes from 1346 to 1348 by his workshop.
Photos are not allowed in these painted rooms. The official pages disagree on whether the ban covers the Saint-Martial or the Saint-Jean chapel, so follow the signs.
The cloister, the Cuisine haute and the terraces
Benedict XII, pope from 1334 to 1342, had the Palais Vieux built by the architect Pierre Poisson: the Tour du Pape, the consistory wing, a chapel and the quadrangle around the cloister. The route also passes the Cuisine haute, the Tour des Champeaux, the Fenêtre de l'Indulgence and terraces with views over the city, the Rhône and the palace itself.
Since 1 May 2026 the visit follows a new route with rooms that had never been opened, and the official site says that work continues until spring 2027.
The papal gardens
The Jardin du Pape and the Jardin du Palais, laid out for Benedict XII, were restored in 2018 and 2019 and are included in the palace ticket. The last entry to the gardens is 30 minutes before closing.
The Verger Urbain V is a different place: a public garden, open since 1927, that is not part of the ticket.
A dated note: Relatum – Lee Ufan until 15 November 2026
The exhibition Relatum – Lee Ufan runs from 3 July to 15 November 2026, with works in the Grande Chapelle, the Grand Tinel, the Saint-Martial chapel, the Cuisine haute and the Cloître Benoît XII, and a film in the Consistoire. For the exhibition, a bilingual French and English catalogue costs 24 €.
The exhibition for 2027 has not been announced yet: check the official site.
