Metro with a child
 

I will be in Paris for one month with my 11 year old son. We will be riding the Metro every day. I plan to buy a one month Carte Orange for myself but I'm not sure what to do about him. I know individual children's tickets on the Metro are half price but I wonder if there are any children's options for monthly tickets that would cost less than the Carte Orange. We'll stay mostly in central Paris so I plan to buy zone 1-2 only.

Nope.

<i>Carte Orange</i> is designed for commuters, so no children's fares are offered. There is an <i>Imagine R</i> card for students, but it's an annual ticket and they aren't for visitors anyway.

I think you're stuck for the cost of a full fare <i>CO</i> unless you can cut your son's travel down to one or two half-fare <i>carnet</i> tickets a day and use <i>Tickets Jeunes</i> for unlimited travel on Saturday or Sunday.

With an 11-month old, I highly recommend you consider using the buses rather than the metro. Assuming you'll be using a stroller, especially, the buses will be far easier to manage.

Eleven years old is a lot different from elevent months old.

Just buy two Carte Orange passes. There are no long-term discounts for children, and the few discounts that exist for short-term passes don't necessarily apply to someone who is already 11.

Your son will enjoy riding the Metro. Yes, it is dirty, but there is a lot of action in the Metro with street performers.

I do remember when my children were 11 &amp; 13 being in the Metro with them and the loved it. I also remember a couple of beggars getting in an argument over &quot;territory&quot; and that being of interest. We quickly moved out of there, but I had to translate what was going on for the kids.

What part of the M&eacute;tro is dirty?

I thought there were demi-tariff tickets for those under 12 - when Robespierre talks about buying 2.5 carnet tickets a day is he refering to regular adult carnets or the demi-tariff carnets (which used to cost half of the adult carnet)? Several years ago with my son about 10 i always bought demi-tariff carnets for him and regular carnets for me - paying half of the price for him.

Not two and a half tickets - two half-fare tickets.

Estimate of the number of <i>carnets</i> of ten tickets the son will use during the entire stay, and compare the total with the cost of a <i>Carte Orange</i>.

For example, 100 rides throughout the month would cost 53,50&euro; using <i>carnet</i> tickets, but only 51,50&euro; on a <i>Carte Orange</i>. So the point at which a pass is more economical is anything in excess of 3 rides per day.

(I trust you realize that the <i>Carte Orange</i> is valid from the first day of the month to the last, not for any 30-day period.)

When we were in Paris, I studied, and figured, and bought carte orange for my husband and I and our two older kids, but bought a carnet of tickets for my 7 year old. I may have saved a bit, but it was a pain for her to not have the same kind of ticket as the rest of us.

Robespierre: sorry about quick reading error as if i had read carefully that's what you said. Your answers on the metro questions are extremely valuable and impressive as are your posts in general. A great resource for Fodors.

Last summer I spent several days in Paris with two 12 year olds. I bought them both Carte Orange passes, they had responsibility for looking after their cards themselves (if they lost them they would have to replace them out of their spending money!), it worked well and was the easiest way to get around the metro. Also the cheapest if you use the metro more than a couple of times a day. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Carte Orange pays for itself after 3 days usage each week.

Just take a small photo with you to buy the Carte.

The other option which might be worth looking into because children travel free on weekends (Tickets Jeunes) using the junior Paris Visite Pass. Although as no-one has mentioned it yet it probably would work out more expensive. Maybe the Tickets Jeunes and carnets - it really depends on how often you plan to use the metro...

Have a great trip!

Thanks so much everyone! I'm going to buy COs for both of us. Even if I did save a euro or two buying the carnets the Carte Orange will save the hassel of stopping to buy tickets every few days. And we'll feel free to ride to our heart's content. Luckily our dates work out well for the one month ticket.

Just to expand on something julia_t said: the breakeven on a <i>Carte Orange</i> is 14 rides in a calendar week. That may be three days as j_t said, or it may be five - or even two (if you do a hop-on/off tour using city buses).