Almost totally confused: Paris Visite or Navigo Decouverte?
 

We will be in Paris for 3 days: Sept. 20, 21, 22. Then we will return Oct. 4 to 11 (Tuesday thru Monday)

I THINK I have figured out that the Paris Visite card for the week in October, plus maybe a carnet for the extra day, will work best, and that it is not worth getting the Navigo Decouverte.

Also I think I'll just get a carnet for the first three days.

ALSO: Don't know how to maximize a Paris Museum Pass. We've been to the majors, will want to go back to the Musee d'Orsay, but maybe otherwise just small museums which may not be covered. Any ideas, anyone?

A carnet(s) will work find for the September dates.

For Oct 4th through 9th I would recommend a Navigo Découverte, leaving the 10th and 11th for single tickets (left over t+ tickets from September). That´s six days for 18.85€ plus a one time charge for the ND card, 5€. A five day Paris Visite Pass is 29.90€.

If you want to travel beyond central Paris or have children with you, a re-evaluation would be required.

I'd go with the Navigo Decouverte for the October week. Usually we're there Saturday to Saturday and the Navigo covers Monday thru Sunday....we still feel like we save and like the ability to hop on metro or bus when we didn't originally plan to do so.

Ok, thanks, Sarastro and Judy. Is that the one where you take passport photos with you, to get your pass and card?

By the way, Sarastro, did you happen to see that I received my Lebara sim in the mail here in NY state? (6 days after I ordered the free SIM!) So, thanks again for that.

Any ideas on Museum Pass?

Oh, another Q: where do I get a Navigo Decouverte for E18.85? I must be looking at the wrong site.

Also no children with us, just DH et moi.

Yes I did and you hold the record for receiving a SIM faster than anyone else in the USA. Lebara is a game changer.

TT - For our photos for the Navigo Découverte passes, we simply took photos with our point and shoot digital camera, printed them on plain white paper and cut them to the appropriate size (2.5 cm wide x 3 cm high/ 1" wide x 1-1/4" high). No problem at all with using them for the passes.

Still waiting for my Lebara SIM. :(

Yes, you need a photo, but not necessarily a passport quality photo. I cut my head out of a regular photo that I had and it was fine. I think the size required is slightly smaller than passport size.
When we purchased ours a couple of years ago, I believe I could have handed them a picture of my dog and it would have been fine. Just easier to bring a photo than to figure out the photo booths if you don't speak French.

Judy: Dommage. I don't have a dog.

However, we do have extra photos, and I usually carry a few for each of us. You never know.

MaineGG: I am ROOTING for you!

Do we just need one photo each? And once again, any good ideas of best stations to buy these?
We will be staying on the Ile St. Louis. (both times)
Do we have to get the Navigo for the exact week? (e.g. Tues. Oct. 4 for that week?)

Thanks again all.

I used a very old photo ( and cut it to size) for Navigo. No one looked or cared.

It's just a small plastic card, one photo is more than enough. It's not like a passport where the govt is keeping separate files on everyone getting this metro pass.

Yes, you have to get it for a week and the dates they state, it's not custom dates or partial weeks. If you want that, just buy separate individual tickets or daily passes (Mobilis).

There is only one place you can get a Navigo and that is from the Parisian official metro system, as far as I know, so I don't know what different sites you could be getting price quotes from. All the info is on RATP http://www.ratp.fr/fr/ratp/c_21137/f...is-et-semaine/

YOu may be looking at prices for more than zones 1-2 (central Paris), then it would be more, of course.

A carnet is your best bet. Paris Visite is overpriced. A Navigo Découverte only allows you to buy weekly or monthly passes, which are too expensive for just three days in the city. Also, Navigo Découverte costs €5 just for the card, plus you'll need to spend another €5 for photos—these are one-time costs, but unless you plan to return to Paris again, they are significant.

Pricing structures have mutated over the years, and today, unless you are making a great many Métro trips each day, a simple carnet of 10 individual tickets (for €12.50) is your most economical option.

Christina: You are correct I was looking at three zones.

I was also just wondering if there were some Metro stations or times of day that would be quicker to get the Navigo. thanks.

Go to the paris museum pass site for a complete list of museums and monuments that accept the pass...it's really the time savings you get with the card, not so much a savings on entry feed. Just know that you need to use the card on consecutive days (2, 4 or 6 days). Most museums do accept the pass no need to buy it ahead; just get it at a small museum the day before you want to start using it...don't buy it at a major museum or site or you will wait in line there!

The Navigo is available in metro stations that have desks with real people in them, usually the larger stations. The plastic card, where you put your photo is 5 Euros. The charge for the week is separate. The week is Monday thru Sunday....for your October week you would be able to use it Tuesday thru Sunday. The value depends on how much you use it. We use buses and metros much more when it's cold or rainy but have also found the card of value if we're just running a little late getting wherever we're going or the weather turns nasty. You just hop on the bus or metro without thinking about needing a ticket. Everyone's value with the Navigo will vary....for us it is money well spent.

Currently, a week-long pass on the Navigo costs €18.85. To that you must add €5 for the card itself, plus €6 or so for photos. The total is thus €29.85.

Packs of ten individual tickets cost €12.50, which works out to €1.25 per ticket. To justify the weekly Navigo purchase, you'd have to make at least 24 trips during your eight-day stay, or three trips a day.

Some people will use public transportation four or five times in a day, rarely more. However, if you walk around a lot, you may find yourself only using it twice a day. In that case, individual tickets are a better deal.

Overall, though, the difference is only a few euro, which pales in comparison to the cost of the rest of the trip, so either way is fine. The Navigo card does make a cool souvenir (obtainable only in Paris, so very authentic), and you can use it again if you make later trips to Paris. The cost of public transportation overall is so low during a trip to Paris that it's difficult to justify worrying about which type of ticket to get on a price basis. It might make more sense to buy whatever is more convenient—and on that basis, Navigo wins easily.

Thanks for this update info. I do understand the value of having the "ticket" that allows one to just jump on a bus or a metro.

We learned that a couple of years ago in Venice. It was so easy to have to vaporetto pass and to just jump on the vaporettos at any time and take a ride! We ended every evening with a long ride all along the Grand Canal, and around Dorsoduro, and never thought about the cost!

Also true for bucking the lines at museums, right?

In Paris, there aren't that many museums with lines, apart from the Orsay Museum [not "D'Orsay"]. Sometimes there's a shorter line in front of the Rodin museum (although this is occasionally for temporary exhibitions, so it's best to check what people are waiting for). So there really aren't too many cases where you need to cut lines.

Unless you plan to spend most of your visit to Paris in museums, a Museum Pass isn't that good a deal. About the only interesting places on it are the Louvre and the Orsay, and it's cheaper to just buy individual tickets for that. Do you really want to visit the Postal Museum, or the Public Hospital Museum?

Taconic, Since you're staying on Ile St Louis, you could get your passes at the Hotel de Ville metro station. We reloaded our passes there on a Sunday evening, so the ticket window must be open fairly long hours. It's helpful to ask for the bus map too.

a carnetfor the Sept portion then a ND for the October potion, I find we hop on buses a lot adn the ND even if not for the whole week works out cheaper.the last few days in Oct use another carnet I do wish Paris would do like London and add a PayG feature. You'll have to get the actual card at a manned metro station . Save them and they can be used on your next trip. I never buy a Museum pass as you can enter the Louvre thru the Carosul de Louvre shopping center without waiting on line. You can also buy museum entry tickets at FNAc stores. I can only look at so many paintings a day and the Pass is too costly for the use I'd get out of it.