scoutandboo

Two days in Paris, family of 4, 2 parents and 2 kids ages 13 and 17 - wondering if you can add your two cents about my metro purchase plan (after the itinerary)

Day 1 - Arriving earling morning 7:30 at CDG airport, then into Paris (hotel near Arc de Triomphe). Lots of sight seeing around central Paris.

Day 2 - More sightseeing, (catacombs, Louvre, Dali, etc.), and ending up at the Gare de Lyon to leave town on an all-nighter train to Venice. Lucky us!

So, I was thinking a Passe Illimite for Day 1, so it includes our trip from the airport. Then Day 2 purchase four 1-day mobilis for zones 1 and 2. I already know the Paris Visite won't work for us, not really enough museums on our trip (that pesky 13year old). Does this plan sound okay? Any changes? Can anyone tell me what this might all run for a family of four? I tried to work it out, but I don't think I'm doing it right, it seems way more expensive to travel here than other cities. Ah, Paris! (also, any ideas you have for the 13 year old boy would be great)

scoutandboo

drlaz

For the 13-y.o., Les Invalides: Army Museum, Napoleon's cenotaph, etc. Museum Carnavalet. Oh, and going up the Eiffel Tower? You could do that on the first night; the tower is open late.

adrienne

Do you have a link for the Passe Illimite? I googled it and didn't see anything about a transportation pass. I did see references to movie passes.

scoutandboo

Oh my gosh, parallel universe, I could have sworn the link for the Passe Illimite was in some online brochure for the RATP, but now I can't find it!! Has anyone heard of this Passe Illimite? Did I dream it? I guess if you could just weigh in on what types of passes/tickets I should buy for trip in CDG/sightseeing (day 1) and sightseeing in zones 1and2 (on day 2) THANKS!

MrNuke

I'm not sure where you saw a "Passe Illimite." The Mobilis is an unlimited pass for the given zones it is purchased for minus the airports. Assuming you are thinking RER B from CDG to Paris, your best bet is buying the 9.50 X 4 tickets to get you into Paris.

At this point you need to do some planning/math. If you bought Mobilis passes both does for zones 1-2, that would be 6.60 X 2 days X 4 people= or 52.80 euros.

You can buy a carnet (10 t+ tickets) for $13.30. 3 carnet's or 30 metro/rer/bus tickets would cost 39.90 euros. That is an average of 3.75 ticket/trips per person per day. If you think you are going to do more than that (4 carnets would get you 5 trips per day per person but would cost slightly more than mobilis), the Mobilis will pay off.

MrNuke

2nd paragraph should read "if you bought Mobilis passes both <b>days</b>."

StCirq

There's no passe illimité as far as I can tell. I googled extensively on www.google.fr and the only passes illimités I came up with were for French movies and theatrical productions. I'd forget it.

Do the Mobilis if the days work; if not, get carnets.

Andrew

It's possible a couple of Carnets will save you money. For myself, I prefer the Mobilis - I even tried a Carnet on my last visit to Paris and found I used the tickets up fairly quickly and got a Mobilis the next day instead. The single pass is certainly more convenient, and you can get on a bus for a short ride without worrying about whether it's worth the cost or not. Or if you get off at the wrong Metro stop or something, not an issue getting right back on, but if you use tickets you just wasted four more of them.

One thought, though: how likely are teenagers to lose metro tickets? If they lose one ticket from a Carnet, big deal. Losing a single day or multi-day Mobilis pass could cost a lot.

justineparis

Carnets, and btw the 17 old is free at many sites also.. but neither are free at the Eiffel Tower and Catacombs.
Will tell you this right now, you will waste hours in line at the Catacombs unless you get there BEFORE it opens. I am not kidding. And same with Eiffel Tower, you must have either a pre purchased time slot ticket, or purchase an expensive tour, or take the stairs( shorter line then elevators) . Otherwise you will wait hours there too.. and with barely two days you do not have hours of time to waste in line.

I strongly suggest you get very real here, sit down and everyone writes down their number one and two must see sites.. then try and fit them in.. its not going to be easy.

I wouldn't get a transport pass myself.. walk places, take a few metros. Carnet.

Christina

You were looking at something about the Paris tourist pass, Paris Visite as it does include the airports (I don't think MObilis does) and they do use the words "pass illimite" on the RATP website when describing it. But I don't know why you say you can't use it because of museums, it isn't a museum pass, it's a transportation pass. The museum pass is called the museum pass.

It still wouldn't make sense to buy it for 1 day as it costs 22 euro for adults, it would be cheaper to buy the airport ticket to get into town and then regular metro tickets. Or even a Mobilis plus RER ticket would be cheaper as the Mobilis is only 6.6 euro. I think an RER ticket is only around 10 euro.

ParisAmsterdam

Lucky? Non. 2 days is not lucky, it's a pity.

adrienne

Now I see what you were looking at. Passe Illimite is not the name of the pass. The English translation is next to it. It means Unlimited travel.

It does give you museum discounts but it's very expensive and not worth the money. A Museum Pass and a Mobilis or just a carnet would be a better use of your funds. And if you're not going to many museums then you may not want the museum pass.

scoutandboo

Ah, yes, thanks, and that one is expensive, for sure. We can use RER (not inc. airport, of course, just in zones we buy for)with the mobilis, correct?

And ParisAmsterdam, yes, lucky. Lucky to have money to travel for even a week. Family of four, meals, trains, hotel, yes, lucky. Perspective. You can't make me feel badly about our pitiful little trip!

scoutandboo

Mr. Nuke, exactly, I think I must have been doing that math as you were typing. We'll definitely do the mobilis once we get in town.

Andrew

Yes, you can use RER with the Mobilis pass within the zones you buy for it.

Travelnut

Andrew, RATP excludes the Mobilis from the airport routes by RER, but allows it for the public bus...

http://www.ratp.fr/fr/ratp/c_21148/mobilis/
Vous pouvez vous déplacer sur tous les modes de transport d'Île-de-France, Métro, RER Bus, Tramway et Train <i>à l'exception de Filéo, Voguéo et les liaisons desservant les aéroports (Orlyval, Orlybus, Roissybus, Orly et Roissy par RER).</i>
L’accès par les lignes 183 et 285 pour l’aéroport d’Orly et les lignes 350 et 351 pour l’aéroport de Roissy est possible (pour les zones concernées).