Do I need a rail pass in Paris?
 

Trying to decide if I need a pass for rail travel in Paris. For zones 1-6, I'm going to pay $75 p/p. There will be 2 people. If I buy individual tickets, looks like I'll need 7 per person. Do do I get the pass or just buy as I go?

Here are my plans:
Day 1--arrive from Caen via train to Paris St Lazare
Metro/RER to Hotel (ticket #1)--HOTEL DU COLLEGE DE FRANCE 7 rue Thénard, 75005 PARIS, FRANCE.

Day 2--Metro (RER??) (ticket #2) to Champs Elysees--see the area
Metro to Eiffel Tower (ticket #3) and then Metro (ticket # 4) back to hotel

Day 3-Metro to Central Paris (ticket #5) to start tour which ends at Notre Dame
Metro back to hotel (ticket #6) from Notre Dame

Day 4--Metro from hotel (ticket #7) to Paris Nord

A ticket for one metro journey is €1.70. A "carnet" of ten tickets is €12.50. These tickets can also be used on the RER in central Paris and on buses.

Heavens NO If that is all you plan on travekling just buy a carnet of 10 tickets. If your days are a Monday thru Sunday you could even get a Navigo Decouverte pass .

You absolutely do NOT need a pass for any of this. All your travel is in zone 1-2, btw. Just buy a carnet of 10 plus a couple extra and you will be fine.

Look at the transit network map http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/. All your destinations in Paris are in Zone 1.

I am curious, where did you get the idea of getting a Zone 1-6 pass? As others mentioned, I would buy Carnet for this type of usage model.

From one of the maps I looked at, it showed my hotel outside of the main hub.

Enter: 7 rue Thénard, 75005 PARIS, FRANCE; into google map. The arrondissement "5" is in the core of Paris. 7 rue Thénard is near Ile de la Cite and practically near the dead center of Paris. You can even read "HOTEL DU COLLEGE DE FRANCE" at this address on google map photo.

Also, the ticket #6 from Notre Dame to your Hotel is probably not needed -- it is a 600m/8min walk, if you trust the google map pedestrian trip time computation. You will probably walk just as much and take more time taking metro. Turn on "transit" option of the google map and you can see the roundabout way you have to take the metro for ticket #6.

Your hotel is practically in the dead center of Paris, I can't imagine any legitimate map that would show that as outside the center of Paris. I don't know what you are perceiving as the "main hub", however, but it would have to be just a few blocks if that were true. RATP shows the zones for metro passes, I can't imagine why anyone would need zone 6.

YOu only have a few very short trips on the metro, you don't need any pass.

<b>Hotel du College de France</b> is a wonderful hotel; you made an excellent choice.
Walking distance to just about everything and a carnet will take care of the rest.

Have a great visit!

I know that when we've been in Paris, most of the time we've walked these distances with no problems, and seen quite a lot of Paris that you WON'T see in the Métro. So unless you have mobility issues (which the Métro largely wouldn't help with anyway), I'd recommend walking for days 2 and 3.