Budget traveling night owl alert: if you’re in Europe right now you don’t want to miss out on the ninth annual European Night of Museums this Saturday, May 18.
The idea is simple: open up museums way past their general closing hours, cut the entrance fee and make museum going a little more like nightlife instead of a rainy Sunday afternoon activity.
Coinciding with International Museum Day, European Night of Museums is organized by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication, and this year almost 3,000 museums around Europe are participating not just by opening their doors for the late-night crowd, but hosting special events and beyond. Track them down here.
In Paris for example you have access to 150 museums and cultural centers – most of them for free – and while the waived entrance fee might attract a larger crowd to some of the more well known spots, it also means the chance to explore a few new places that you might have been meaning to check off the list.
In the U.K., you’ll also find Museums at Night, tied in with the European Night of Museums campaign, but open for a couple of extra days, this year held May 16-18, 2013.
Latvia, Romania, Norway … wherever you are in Europe, find a museum and book your Saturday night.