Would you go to Rome and skip Saint Peter’s? That is the question I keep coming back to when people ask me whether the Palais des Papes is worth it. The answer is yes - unambiguously, yes - but not in the way you might expect. This is not a museum full of objects behind glass. It is something stranger and more powerful: a vast, mostly empty Gothic palace you wander through like a time traveller, trying to piece together what life was like when seven popes ran the Catholic Church from a fortified palace in Provence.

If you want the basic facts - UNESCO listing, dimensions, history - our Palais des Papes place page has those. This article is the other thing: the honest local’s take on whether you should spend your time and money here, what is genuinely stunning, what might disappoint, and how to visit it well.

The short answer

Yes, the Palais des Papes is worth it. It is the single most important building in Avignon and one of the most significant Gothic structures in Europe. The architecture is stunning from the outside - the freshly restored facades are spectacular - but it is the inside that is intriguing. You get lost in there, in the best possible way, trying to figure out where you are in relation to the building and the city around it. The sheer scale of some of the rooms is awe-inspiring. Some of the details are extremely refined. And there are corners - the cloister, the gardens - that are so peaceful you can easily imagine what life was like all those centuries ago.

What you will actually see inside

Here is the thing that divides visitors: most of the rooms are empty of furniture. The popes took everything with them when they left Avignon in 1377, and what remained was looted during the French Revolution. So you are not walking through furnished state rooms. You are walking through raw, monumental Gothic architecture - and that is either underwhelming or magnificent, depending on what you were expecting.

I think it is magnificent. The absence forces you to engage with the space itself: the proportions, the vaulting, the light, the thickness of the walls. And what does remain - the frescoes - is extraordinary.

The two palaces in one

The building is actually two palaces bolted together, and understanding this makes the visit far more rewarding:

The Old Palace (Palais Vieux) was built by Benedict XII (1334-1342), a Cistercian monk who wanted austerity, not luxury. His palace is monumental but severe - thick walls, minimal decoration, a fortress that happens to be a residence.

The New Palace (Palais Neuf) was built by his successor Clement VI (1342-1352), who had very different ideas. He wanted grandeur, and he got it - vast ceremonial halls, richly painted chapels, and the kind of spaces designed to impress visiting dignitaries.

Walking from one to the other is like reading two personalities in stone. The contrast is the story.

The cloister of Benedict XII

If there is a heart to the Palais des Papes, it is the Cloister of Benedict XII - the Cloitre de Benoit XII. Four galleries of massive pillars around a central courtyard, built in the austere spirit of the Old Palace. It is a haven of peace and tranquility. When the crowds inside the great halls get too much, you step into the cloister and the noise drops away. You can sit here and easily imagine the monastic rhythm of the papal court - the processions, the readings, the silence.

The painted rooms

A handful of rooms survive with their original medieval frescoes, and these are the artistic highlight of the visit:

The Chambre du Cerf (Deer Room), painted around 1343 with an expansive panorama of hunting and fishing scenes - secular, aristocratic, and surprisingly vivid. (We have a separate place page for this if you want the detail.)
The Chambre du Pape (Pope’s Bedroom), with delicate frescoes of foliage and birds on a deep blue ground.
The Chapelle Saint-Jean (Chapel of St John), with large-scale figurative frescoes attributed to the Italian painter Matteo Giovanetti.

Note: photography is not permitted in the painted rooms. These are fragile, irreplaceable medieval works, and the restriction is there to protect them.

The terraces

Climb up to the terraces and you are rewarded with the best free view in Avignon - the Rhone, the Pont d’Avignon, Villeneuve-les-Avignon across the river, and the whole walled city spread below you. On a clear day you can see Mont Ventoux. Time your visit for late afternoon and you get the golden hour light over the rooftops. It is one of the great moments of any Avignon visit.

The Pontifical Gardens

The gardens - Les Jardins du Palais des Papes - are, for me, possibly the best part of the palace. They are included in your ticket, and they are a revelation after the stone vastness of the interior. Terraced on the slope below the palace walls, they mix a calm, reflective walking space with a genuinely utilitarian medieval garden. The Jardin des Simples is a traditional medicinal herb garden, planted with the remedies and aromatics the papal court would have used in the 14th century. You can smell the lavender, rosemary and sage before you see them. It is part botanical garden, part history lesson, part place to sit and be quiet. Do not skip it.

The 2026 renovation: what is new

The Palais des Papes is in the middle of a major investment programme, and the results are already visible. The exterior restoration is now finished, and the cleaned stone is spectacular - the pale sand-coloured walls glow in the afternoon light in a way the grime-covered facades of ten years ago simply did not.

Inside, the visitor experience has been significantly upgraded. New rooms that were never previously accessible have been opened. The old HistoPad tablets have been replaced by a free WebApp (“Les Clefs du Palais”) that runs on your own phone, using augmented reality to reconstruct the empty rooms as they would have looked in the 14th century - furniture, tapestries, colour and all. It is a smart move: the empty rooms become a feature, not a bug, when you can hold up your phone and see them filled with life.

Work continues inside until spring 2027, so some areas may be intermittently closed during your visit. But do not let that put you off. The experience remains immensely rich and diverse, and the sections that are open are more than enough for a full, satisfying visit.

Practical guide: tickets, timing and tips

Ticket prices (2026)

Palais des Papes only: EUR 14.50 (gardens included)
Palais des Papes + Pont d’Avignon combo: EUR 17
Avignon City Pass (24h): EUR 24
Avignon City Pass (48h): EUR 32
Free: under-8s; Avignon residents on the first Sunday of the month

The Avignon City Pass is genuinely worth it

If you are planning to see more than the Palais alone, the Avignon City Pass is excellent value. It covers 11 monuments and museums across Avignon and Villeneuve-les-Avignon, including:

Palais des Papes (with gardens) - EUR 14.50
Pont d’Avignon - EUR 5
Collection Lambert (contemporary art) - EUR 12
Fort Saint-Andre, Villeneuve-les-Avignon - EUR 7
La Chartreuse, Villeneuve-les-Avignon - EUR 8
Jardins de l’Abbaye Saint-Andre - EUR 9.50

That is over EUR 56 of individual tickets for EUR 24 (24h) or EUR 32 (48h). If you are doing the Palais plus even two other sites, the pass pays for itself. You can buy it online or at the Avignon Tourist Office on Place de l’Horloge.

When to go

No secret tricks here, just sensible timing:

First thing in the morning - fewer people, cooler in summer, and you get the rooms to yourself before the coach tours arrive.
Last entry of the day - fewer crowds, and if you time it right you can catch the golden hour light from the terraces as the sun drops over the Rhone.
Book online in advance - timed-entry tickets let you skip the queue, which in July and August can be long and fully in the sun on Place du Palais.

How long does it take?

Allow 90 minutes minimum for the palace itself, plus 30 minutes for the gardens if you want to do them justice. If you are using the WebApp and reading the interpretive panels, plan for two and a half hours total. This is not a quick in-and-out - it is a place to slow down and explore.

The logical sequence

The smart way to do this is as part of a loop. The Palais des Papes sits at the top of the old town, and the natural sequence is:

Palais des Papes - start here, while you have energy for the stairs
Notre-Dame-des-Doms - the cathedral right next door, with its golden Virgin on top
Rocher des Doms - the hilltop garden behind the cathedral, with panoramic views
Pont d’Avignon - walk down through the gardens and across to the bridge

This is essentially the route we describe in our perfect day in Avignon itinerary, and it flows naturally with no backtracking.

A note on the Festival connection

The great courtyard of the Palais - the Cour d’Honneur - is where the Festival d’Avignon was born in 1947, when Jean Vilar staged a handful of plays in the shadow of the palace walls. Today it is the iconic open-air stage of the IN festival, seating 2,000 people under the Provencal sky. If you are visiting in July, you will feel that theatrical energy humming through the building. If you are not, the courtyard is still worth pausing in - it is one of the great performance spaces in the world, and it does not need a show to feel it. For the full Festival story, see our insider’s guide to the Festival d’Avignon.

The honest bottom line

The Palais des Papes is not a perfect visitor experience. Some rooms are empty, the building is vast and can be disorienting, and in peak season the crowds are real. But it is the defining monument of Avignon, the largest Gothic palace in Europe, and a place that rewards patience and curiosity more than any other site in the city. Go in the morning or late in the day. Use the WebApp. Do not rush the cloister or the gardens. Bring water in summer - those stone staircases are a workout in the heat.

And then stand on the terrace at the end, looking out over the Rhone and the rooftops, and decide for yourself. I have been inside more times than I can count, and I still do.

Planning a visit to Avignon and want a local’s honest steer on what to see, how to time it, or where to eat afterwards? We are always happy to help with free, practical advice - just get in touch.

Is the Palais des Papes worth it?