Traveling to Paris we will be there for 5 days. I can't seem to find out how much a packet of 10carnet metro tickets are so I can decide weather to purchace a 5 day metro card. If the only trip outside Paris will be to Versailles should I get a 1-3 zone card and just pay for the trip to Versailles or should I pay for the 5 zone. Any other metro or musee tips appreciated. Thanks

If Versailles is your only trip outside of Paris, then do not pay for a zone 5 card. If you are arriving on a Monday/ Tuesday/Wednesday, then a carte orange would be the best deal of all.

Individual tickets are 1.30 euros/each or 9.60 for a carnet (10 tickets)

A weekly carte orange for zones 1&2 is 13.75 euros and has unlimited trips.

The zone 1-3 five day card you are considering is 26.65 euros.

A single ticket costs €1.40
The carnet of 10 is €10.50

Carte Orange for zones 1-2 is €15.40

Check out the Mobilis, too. Depending on your plans, it is sometimes the best deal.

<b>http://www.ratp.info/informer/tarif.php</b>

Addendum: It depends to a certain extent on how much you will use the Metro within the city. Or the bus, since the weeklong Metro pass can be used there, too. Determined walkers, who don't stray far from their hotels, may get by on one carnet of tickets, aside from the Versailles trip. But that wouldn't be my approach to seeing Paris. Among other things, if you have a pass (bring a passport photo for that), you can ride the buses just to look! Better than a paid bus tour of the city with lame commentary!

A ditto to Dave's message - we really got a lot of use from our pass on the bus system. At first it was a bit intimidating because of all the bus lines depicted on the map, but once we figured out what buses to take it was great. Metro is fine for getting point-to- point, but riding the bus lets you see more than a tunnel during your transit. And with a pass, you can just hop off the bus when something looks interesting, then get back on after a little exploring.

Denise: There are a zillion posts on this topic on the site, so searching under &quot;carnet&quot;, &quot;paris visite,&quot; etc. will bring up a lot of info.

In the meantime, as mentioned above, the official Paris transportation website (http://www.ratp.fr/) holds good info on not only transport but also museum passes.

Here is a basic summary of advice handed off over and over again on this board:

If you hit town by or before Wednesday, the Carte Orange pass is a pretty darn good financial bet. Just bring a 1-inch square photo--a good facial shot cut from basic snapshot if fine.

If not, then don't buy any pass (if you took a poll of those of us who have been to Paris more than ten times, you'd get the opinion that Paris Visite is a rip-off). For less than 11 Euro, you can get ten metro tickets in a carnet good for bus or metro in the areas you will travel most. Unlike a pass,those ten tickets do not have to be used by one person. That way, you're never paying for anything more than you will use. And if you have a ticket(billet) or two left over, it's still not bad. They don't expire. If you don't go back to Paris, give them to someone else to use when you get home.

Sometimes we go through many, many tickets. Other times, one carnet for two people lasts three days. Weather and inclination determine use.

Just pay for the trip to Versailles--getting any other zone card other than center zones is a total waste of cash.

As to museum passes, no matter what, NEVER buy them before you leave. NEVER. Total waste of cash. You can buy the Carte Musee easily at a metro station.

Should you buy the pass? How many days? Depends on you. My family and I are museum rats. For the first five visits to Paris, the museum pass was a steal. We could hit the Louvre on opening, stay an hour or two, leave, do something else, come back, or walk across the Seine to Musee d'Orsay. We would walk in some museums, hate them, and leave--no further cost. We were able to go to the front of a two-block line at the d'Orsay, too. And we probably saw more museums than we otherwise would because it was a bargain.

The Carte Orange will also depend on what 5 days you will be there. It is sold until Wednesday for the current week.

There is also an unlimited daily pass called Mobilis that is more economical if you don't plan to use transport every day, but a lot on the days you do.