sheryl

I have ffound the website www.gotoparis.net whjere you can order online a museum pass for either 3 or 5 days. I think 3 days is enough and it is $34. Also you can purchase a pass for the retro for 3 or 5 days for different zone groups. My questions;<BR><BR>Anybody used them and ordered these passes before you left?<BR><BR>Are the rates any good? 5 day ZOnes 1-3 pass = $34 or 5 days zones 1-5 = $55. (considering going to Versaille which I understand I would need the zone 1 -5 pass) <BR><BR>Comments?

Liz

I believe that pass is 30 euro there. Plus you probably have shipping costs above the $34? They are EXTREMELY easy to purchase from one of the larger metro stations, or a small museum with no line. I recall somebody posting that their internet purchase got them a voucher, rather than the pass itself, saving them neither cost, not time...

Anne

I agree with Liz...they are VERY easy to purchase at metro stations. I just went up to the window and asked for a carnet of tickets (book of 10 tickets for metro/bus) and our museum passes. Paid with MC. Note that most US credit cards won't work in the machines in the metro stations (I think it's because they don't have the smart chip), but they work fine if you go to the window. Entire transaction took about 3 minutes. Saves time, money, and one less thing you have to remember to bring with you!<BR><BR>Anne

Susan

Sheryl, Those are VERY high prices for metro passes! You can buy a carnet (10 tickets) for only $9.60. For $11.00 per day for those passes, you would have to ride the metro more than 10 times per day just to break even. If you're riding the metro that much, you are spending too much time on the metro and not enough walking around Paris! The round-trip ticket for Versailles is only $4.90 from the St. Michel station in Paris. You'd be much better off getting a carnet as needed and just pay for the Versailles trip separately.

Beth

You can get the museum pass at the Paris Tourist Center just near the Arc de Triomphe with no handling fee and no loss if your trip is cancelled for any reason. You can also buy the Paris Viste metro pass there.

zoya

Passes saved us so much time that it didn't meter if we saved money or not (we visited Paris in August few years ago)

Christina

I have a couple general comments. First, you can assume that ANY online for-profit travel agency or web site that sells you Paris govt-issued passes is marking them up and selling them at a profit. That's a given, because they're a business. There is no reason whatsoever to buy them outside Paris from a private agency and pay a markup.<BR><BR>The 3-day museum pass sells in Paris from Parisian govt. entities (eg, tourist office, metro stations) for only 30 euro. A tourist metro pass for 5-days zones 1-3 sells for 26.65 euro, the zones 1-5 5-day pass sells for 45.7 euro. A euro is worth 1.009 USD today, so figure it out -- they are marking up the museum pass 13 pct, the 5-day metro pass 20 pct, and the 3 day metro pass about 25 pct.<BR><BR>Aside from that, you can only buy the tourist Paris Visite metro pass from foreign agents and it's not a good deal for most people. <BR><BR>You do not need a zone 5 pass for Versailles as it is in zone 4. That demonstrates another problem of those Paris Visite metro passes: you have to buy a 5 zone pass when you don't need it because they don't sell a 4 zone pass. If you do get a Paris Visite, get it in Paris, and then you would have to buy zone 5 for Versailles.