Many visitors to the Louvre opt for the traditional solution: wander in, look at some stuff, make your way to Leonardo da Vinci's La Gioconda (the Mona Lisa), gaze at it for a few minutes, then head back out into the bustle of Paris.

Here are some other options for your visit:

Visit "the biggies": In addition to Mona Lisa, you can see the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victor of Samothrace, frescoes works by Botticelli (Venus and the Three Graces Presenting Gifts to a Young Woman, below), Michaelangelo's Slaves, Delacroix's Victory Leading the People, and any others that you have dreamed of seeing.

Visit by theme: Decide that you're going to "do" Italian paintings (Denon wing), or French paintings (Sully wing), or Islamic art (Richelieu wing). Or perhaps you'd like to see Egyptian collections, which you'll find in both Denon and Sully. To plan this, you might want to look at the Louvre website, or a detailed guidebook to the museum, which will allow you to choose a limited number of exhibits that you'd like to experience, and go enjoy them.

Visit with a Multimedia Guide: You can rent a multimedia guide at the entrance to each wing. The guides, which are available in several languages, let you choose whether you want to visit the top works, take a themed visit, or do a visit geared for kids. You can also use the Multimedia Guide to listen to information about selected individual works, which are identified by number.

Visit the Louvre as a Palace: Remember that before it was a museum, the Louvre was a royal palace. Wander from room to room and marvel at the number of rooms, the scale, the lavish decor, the incredible ceilings and gold decoration. If you don't have time to go to Versailles, you can get a good picture of palace life by walking through the Louvre and imagining it during the time of Louis XIV. For a more intimate look at royal life, visit the Napoléon III apartments and other decorative arts in the Richelieu wing.

Just wander: OK, I admit this sounds a bit odd. But the Louvre is so big and its collections so rich, how can you go wrong? I did this recently and was delighted to discover the Cour Marley and the Cour Puget, two lovely and peaceful sculpture gardens (under glass roofs) that are great places to see art and get away from the crowds. I also came across Michelangelo's Slaves and an enchanting painting of cherubs that I probably wouldn't have noticed if I'd been trying to follow an itinerary.

In addition to these specific approaches, here are a couple tips:

Visit in the evening: The Louvre is open until 10:00 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings. It tends to be less crowded in the evenings, so if you've got the stamina and can work your schedule around an evening visit, you'll benefit from shorter lines, reduced admission after 6 PM, and fewer people fighting to see the same things you want to see.

Keep coming back: We all acknowledge that we'll never see everything in the Louvre, but that's no reason not to keep on trying. With my Paris Museum Pass, I recently went to the Louvre two days in a row. One evening I tried to see some specific works, the other day I wandered. Both visits were great. And what about next time? I think I'll focus on Greek and Roman sculpture...Or maybe the history of the Louvre...or maybe those Egyptians...or maybe...