What would be the best metro tickets to purchase while staying in Paris for a week!? We plan to visit many attractions so I would appreciate your advice.

If this is your first trip to Paris, it is very difficult to know how much you will be using the public transportation system (metro tickets are also good for the buses). If you are staying in the center of Paris, probably you should just stick to buying carnets of 10 tickets as required (12€ now and 12.50€ starting July 1st).

If you are staying a bit farther out and know that you will definitely take the metro several times a day, there are other easier and more economical possibilities.

if the attractions you are planning to visit include some of the many museums of Paris, I would advise seriously thinking about getting a museum pass, far at least part of your stay.

although they seem quite expensive, the saving of time and effort in queuing and getting separate tickets is substantial.

as for transport, i agree that carnets are the best way to go.

Depending how many metro trips you will take, there arecseveral options explained on the Paris metro site http://www.ratp.fr/en/ratp/c_21890/discovering-paris/. For a similar trip, we purchased a 5 day zone 1-3 pass for 14.95 E each plus a carnet (a pack of 10 tickets) for the remaining 2 days. The website gives prices prices for comparison.

Sorry, I quoted price of a child's 5 day pass. adult 5 day pass is 29.90 E. In our case we would use the metro to get to at least 2 areas of the city each day plus often a trip for dinner and maybe another trip for shopping. For our situation, the 5 day pass was well worth it.

What is the nearest Metro station/Bus stop from Charles de Gaulle Airport!?

Do you mean nearest transport from CDG to central Paris ? The RER B train connects CDG to Paris with several stops in central Paris--Gare du Nord, St Michel, Luxembourg to name a few-- all which connect to the Metro if necessary. If you are unsure about navigating in metro with luggage, you can always exit RER at station closest to your destination and take a taxi or walk remainder.

Currently, unless you are taking 3-4 trips a day or more, the cheapest solution is to simply buy packs of tickets (carnets).

The Paris Visite is an overpriced tourist trap, so avoid that.

The Carte Orange (and its successor, the weekly Navigo pass) are now overpriced unless you use the Métro a great deal. They are priced with the expectation that employers will kick in half the price (as they are required to do). They also require a Navigo Découverte card, which is €5 in itself and requires a photo that costs another €6 or so. Also, the weekly pass always runs from Monday to Sunday, so it's not practical if you arrive in the middle of the week.

One other advantage to individual tickets from a pack is that they are valid forever, which is not true for any of the other plans.

Does anyone know what is the nearest metro to Hotel de France, 82 aenue du Docteur Arnold Netter, 75012 Paris!? I'm trying to work out what metro line it is on...

Hi Mary,

Your nearest stops are (from the closest to the farthest):
- Porte de Vincennes, line 1
- Picpus, line 6
- Maraîchers, line 9
- Nation, RER line A, métro lines 1, 2, 6, 9

Porte de Vincennes is really your stop but sometimes it makes sense to walk a couple of minutes more to another line to avoid one or more transfers underground involving lots of stairs and tunnels.

http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/carteidf.php?lang=uk

We always stay in the center and just buy carnets as we need them, Since we don;t go with specific plans, are used to walking long distances and do the same in Paris, may change plans based on weather - and if tired just hop in a cab - we find the carnets easiest to organize. Since they can be used by any number of people any time.

If you are staying in a far suburb and know you will be riding a lot versus walking - some sort of pass may make more sense.

How many carnets would be useful for a three of us, we are stayin for a week...

Mary - you can easily buy them as you go along, perhaps getting 2 [ie 20 tickets] at the beginning of the week to see how you go. when you are running out, just get another one at the next metro station you use.

3 carnets would give you 10 tickets each - enough for 5 return journeys.

even if you used 6 between you during the week, that's only €24 each for the whole of your transport, much cheaper than a pass I think.

if you decided that you were likely to use more than this, or really wanted the freedom that a pass brings, here's the official RATP website [beware, there are loads of others that look official but aren't]

http://www.ratp.fr/en/ratp/c_21890/discovering-paris/

a pass for zones 1-3 for 5 days costs €29.

you can also use the links in the website to buy museum passes too.

Thanks I'm just a bit overwhelmed with all the metro lines and stuff....Can you purchase the carnets at the metro station in the airport!?

I'm not sure about that, but you can't use them for getting from the airport to central paris, anyway. just buy them when you get to the first metro station you intend to use.

if you go to the RAPT website, you can download a metro map; you can also use it to put in your proposed departure and arrival points, and it will tell you which lines to use and where to change. you could play around with it a bit before you go, putting in some journeys you think you may want to make.

but honestly, when you get there it makes much more sense. the thing you need to know is the terminal station of the line that you are using so that you make sure that you are going in the right direction. then count the no. of stops before you have to change lines.

You can also buy carnets at tabacs ( cigarette and sundries shops).