Several Questions:
1. I bought Paris Visite 5 day Pass Zone 1 - 6. Where do I get information on what it covers, if any, besides Metro, bus, RER, train to versaille - i.e. does it give discounts on Museums or the Museum pass?
2. Is it worth buying a Museum Pass? We are in Paris 8 days (planning to do only 1 museum type activity a day and do other things too) and plan to spend 2 half days at Louvre, 1 day at Versaille, 1 day to see the Marie Antoinette exhibit at Grand Palais, tour Notre Dame, and possibly 2 other sites the other days.
3. For the ones listed above, does a 16 year old get free admission and if I buy pass, can skip the line with me?
4. On my arrival day, I could use the Paris Visite Pass for the RER from Charles de Gaulle to the apartment; but will start the clock on the 5 days (leaving me 3 days at end without pass). Will I have to validate it somehow at airport? Does it allow me to miss the long lines others commented on at the airport? Or should I not use the pass that day and just buy RER to apartment and save it for the middle 5 days of the trip? Should I buy another 2 day pass to cover the other days except departure day when we can walk to train station?

We bought museum passes at the airport when we arrived, and we were glad we did. They were useful, as we ended up popping into museums that were not even on our original itinerary because we could do so at no cost. There were also bonuses like free admission to the Arc de Triomphe.

The people who sold you the pass should have told you what it covered. I believe the RATP website describes it fully
http://www.ratp.info/informer/anglais/paris_visite.php

You get a 20 pct discount at a few places, but not the major ones most people want to see (Arc de Triomphe and Pantheon are the main ones, aside from a couple chateaux, like Vincennes, and the Seine boat cruise on the Bateaux Parisiens). SOme special deal on the Open Tour bus. I don't think it gives you any special deal on the museum pass.

I wouldn't buy a museum pass if I were only going to one a day. A 16 year old would get in free at the Louvre, Notre Dame tour, and Versailles.

The pass doesn't need special validation, the machines you use for entry to the metro/RER automatically do that when you stick the ticket in them.

1. The Paris Visite pass covers the Metro, RER, buses, and trams in the zones for which you buy coverage plus the Montmartre funicular, the Roissybus, the Orlybus, and the Orlyval.

2. The Paris Museum pass will cover admission to the tower at Notre-Dame, but there is no charge to visit the cathedral itself. And having a pass does NOT allow you skip the line for the tower. The Grand Palais is NOT covered by the museum pass.

3. If you have a pass and can skip the line at a particular musuem, so can your 16-year-old with you.

4. For your length of stay you would have done better with a Carte Orange Hebdomadaire loaded on a passe Navigo Decouverte card than with a Paris Visite pass. For the days not covered by your pass you have at least two choices besides a shorter-term Paris Visite: one-day Mobilis passes or a carnet of ten single tickets. (Share the tickets with your child.) He/she can get cheap one-day Ticket Jeunes for Saturday and/or Sunday. For a page listing all your choices with links to detailed explanations of each one, go here: http://tinyurl.com/3bwnp3.

I just got back and we were glad we had the museum pass. We by-passed long lines at the Rodin museum, the Orangerie and the Louvre by having it. It did not help at St. Chapelle or Notre Dame Towers. We also went to some museums we wouldn't have otherwise since it was free, for example we popped into the Cluny just to see the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries.

Financially we probably would have come out about even paying separately but the time-saving feature more than made it worth it to us. Personal decision for you to make.

A clarification to my previous post. If you buy a Paris Visite pass that includes zone 1-6, then it is good on the Roissybus, Orlybus, and Orlyval. A Paris Visite for fewer zones won't cover those.

The Museum Pass will save lots of time in queues at the more popular museums, D'Orsay, Louvre, Rodin, L'Orangerie. It also allows multiple entries. We found we'd pop-in to museums we wouldn't otherwise visit.

Enjoy your trip.

The Museum Pass is sold in different amount of days-for 2,4,or 6 days; the least expensive one is for two consecutive days for 30E so plan well, noting which museums are open on the days you want to use it.You activate it the first museum you enter. We bypassed long lines and visited many sites we wouldn't have known about without the pass.

With what you plan to do, there is no way I would buy pass, and frankly no way I would have bought the Paris Visite Pass either.
First, 16 yr is free.
Second, pass will not help you skip lines at Notre Dame Towers, or St Chapelle( as there the security line is the hold up ) also pass is not good for Eiffel Tower anyways. Thirdly I have never had line problems at the Lourve once I learned to use the entrance from the shopping mall ,, enter off Rue Du Rivoli, there is an awning ,, go in ,, get ticket from machines, go downstairs, viola, walk in, may be wait 5 minutes for security, at least that has been my experience last 4 times I have visited in the summer.
Cluny rarely has lines, maybe 5 minutes, usaully less.
Rodin usaully has little to no lines, but can be up to 10-15 minutes if busy.

The pass would be good for Orsay and Orangerie, those places always have long lines. So, is that worth it to you,, or could you just go to those two places first thing when they open( actually go 1/2 hr before) and avoid longer waits.

Passes are good to use for finding and using ( usaully) clean free restrooms though,, LOL< I think they may be worth getting just for that for some people.LOL

We just got back from Paris. The pass does NOT help you skip lines at St. Chappelle or the Versailles(especially Versailles on the weekend). Althought the line for St. Chappelle and the Palace of Justice are side by side and enter into the same security checkpoint. After the security checkpoint nobody asks you where you're going. So since there is hardly anybody in line to go thru the Palace of Justice and the lines for St. Chappelle are sometimes 1-2 hours long, I would recommend getting in the line for the Palace of Justice and just turnng right outside the security to go to St. Chapelle.

We decided to go with the Museum Pass and ordered them on line and they were delivered to our hotel when we checked in. Because we were in Paris for a limited time, four days, we found that we spent little or no time in lines entering the museums so that we had more time to explore other options. It was worth it to us to go this route.

We will be in Paris for 2 days at the beginning of an escorted tour and 2 days at the end.

We will buy the 2 day museum pass for the last 2 days of the trip. Someone posted here that it is E 30 but one website says it is E 38.

Can we buy it at CDG airport?

We plan to take the RER from CDG into Paris and then pickup the MEtro.

Can we buy the train pass at CDG?
What zones should we buy? We will want to see the usual tourist sites.

The 2-day pass is 30€. Make sure you bookmark the official site- there are commercial sites that sell the pass for a mark-up.

http://tinyurl.com/2ln2uk

Hello to all you experts, I am also interested in this line. Information seems to be conflicting. I can't seem to find the difference between the Paris Viste Pass and the Carte Orange. The maps of the system don't have the tourist sights marked on them, is Zone 1-6 cover the major sights. The louvre sight does not mention any discounts to under 26 year olds, does any one know how much the discount is? If the trip to the Versaille covered does the mueseum pass then cover admission as I see there is another sight where you can buy fare and admission together. Ashjen

bmk.

LindaB: if you're in Paris for two 2-day chunks, then I wouldn't buy any sort of transportation pass. You can buy 10 ratp tickets for about 11€ and change, it's called a "carnet". You go into the metro station, find the manned ticket booth, and ask for "un carnet, s'il vous plait"

These tickets will get you on any metro, bus, or RER line within the city of Paris. They won't get you to places like Versailles, Fountainbleau, Chartres, etc. however with only two 2-days chunks you probably don't want to leave the city anyways.

Ashjen:

>>>I can't seem to find the difference between the Paris Viste Pass and the Carte Orange<<<

Carte Orange is a weekly public transit pass, good for travel from Monday to Sunday.

Paris Visite Pass is something they cooked up for tourists- a sort of combination travel and museum discount card. Generally the consenses on the boards is, the Paris Viste Pass is rarely worth it.

>>>The maps of the system don't have the tourist sights marked on them, is Zone 1-6 cover the major sights<<<

Just about all the main sights are in Zone 1. I think St Denis and La Defense are zone 2, but you can still get there on the metro with a regular metro ticket.

Versailles in is in Zone 4.

You really don't need to pay for anything that covers zones 1-6, not for a regular tourist trip to Paris.

>>>The louvre sight does not mention any discounts to under 26 year olds, does any one know how much the discount is?<<<

To the best of my knowledge, there are no discounts for under 26, only under 18.

>>>If the trip to the Versaille covered does the mueseum pass then cover admission as I see there is another sight where you can buy fare and admission together.<<<

The museum pass includes admission to Versailles. I don't know the best way to combine museum/transportation passes, but it depends on how long you are staying, and what you're planning to see and do.

I would probably be inclined to get a Museum pass for however many days, a carnet, and then a seperate ratp ticket to Versailles, for simplicity.

This travelwiki on Paris is pretty good:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Paris

I'd just like to verify that my old gray plastic Carte Orange thing is no longer valid; that you now have to buy a Navigo Decouverte (€5) and then have it loaded with the hebdomadaire (€16.30)

Since we will be there for only two full days (with lots of bus rides--avoid the Metro if at all possible), maybe two Mobilis and a carnet or two for the half days would be better. I had planned to get two Carte Oranges, just for the simplicity of it all, but...

Anybody know? (On the other hand, I would really like to have a Navigo Decouverte to recharge the next time!)

Ashjen,

For a page that lists all your ticket and pass options with links to a detailed explanation of each one, go to http://tinyurl.com/3bwnp3.

For information on the Forfait Loisirs tranportation and pass combo for Versailles, go to http://tinyurl.com/y84c3o.

LVSue,

Are you aware that the old t ticket has been replaced by the t+ ticket? A carnet now costs 11.10€ and a single ticket costs 1.50€. The t+ ticket is good for bus transfers up to 90 minutes after first boarding. It is also good for bus to tram transfers, except for T4. It is NOT good for Metro to bus transfers. Single tickets bought from a bus driver are not good for transfers.

Tim, you have definitely convinced me that it makes sense to do the Navigo! I've found myself adding stuff (€19 3-day PV + portion of carnet; 11.20 Mobilis [have to buy it in the AM before catch the bus] + portion of carnet, etc.).

I'm going for simplicity--carte orange (21.30); plus I'll have the Navigo to recharge next time! Thanks a lot for updating all my old info on RATP.