"Carte Orange", Paris: Please, help me decided about i!

Maybe I should add that there will be 3 of us, and that we are coming from sunny, summery Salvador da Bahia - we will need to ride the metro, buses, RER, so that we won't freeze!

I'm pretty sure that the Carte Orange will be a good deal for you. I'm planning to get one for our stay which is also less than a week. I expect, based on past experience, to use some form of transport at least 4x per day (in addition to tons of walking).

For the Friday, Saturday and Sunday part of your stay, maybe one carnet might be sufficient.

Sorry - that would be more like one carnet per person.

As others have said, a Carte Orange can be a good deal, even for less than a full week. Although it won't be vaild until Monday, you can buy it when you arrive.

Sharing carnets will probably be good enough for Friday-Sunday. However, if you know you're going to take a lot of rides on a particular day, you could buy one-day Mobilis passes for zones 1-2 for E5.50. Unlike the Carte Orange, no photo is required for a Mobilis pass.

who knows -- it depends how much you use it. Also, if you are leaving on Friday, do you plan to use it at all that day? If not, that's only four days use, not 5. It really doesn't matter that much, it's only a few euro difference either way whatever you do. SO that's 16 euro for a week or maybe 4-5 days use. I probably would but I use public transportation a lot when I'm in Paris, and have an ID card and have for years. I don't think I would in your case if you have to pay for a photo.

Thanks everybody for the info! I think I will go ahead and buy us the Carte Orange to use from Monday through Friday, and then carnets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We will probably be riding a lot, it will be cheaper to buy the Carte than going in at every cafe to drink a little wine to warm up!
Christina, we will take the photos with us (my printer makes good photos!).

I have found the Carte Orange a good deal even with less than a week. I like to walk a lot too, so that saves me money when my Carte Orange is no longer good.

Single tickets 't' cost €1,09 when purchased in a carnet of 10. A Mobilis card is €5,50. So if you use transport 5 or more times in a day (and since you're coming from someplace warm, you well might), the pass is more economical. It's more convenient in any case.

Once again, thanks fodorites, I will definitely get the Carte!

Beware: The metro tickets operate by magnetic strip. Tickets can become "demagnitized" and not work. This happened to my husband's ticket because he was carrying it in a little belt held pack that happened to have it's own magnetic clip-closure. It's not a big deal if you're at a station that is actually maned, but many stations are unattended. There's not always someone to solve the problem.

And for the buses, you need a new "ticket" from the carnet if you transfer buses--making the CO or the Mobilis a good deal for that mode of travel. As someone suggested, share a carnet for the week-end--buy another if you need it. If you have a ticket left over, leave it for your room attendant.