So it CAN save money if you use the metro a lot and are there the right days of the week! (Personally, I'd pay MORE to just have one card vs. individual tickets, but I can understand that if you're there, say, Thursday to Wednesday, it wouldn't make sense)

I like the convenience of having the metro pass. You can jump on it and ride just a couple of stops if you want, something you might not do if you have to spend a ticket. (Your tired feet will thank you.)

We are considering buying a 2 day museum pass this time. We won't save a lot of money on the museums we want to see, but the convenience of skipping the lines might be worth it. Also, it might entice you to pop into a museum you come across that you otherwise hadn't plaeed to see. You can also use it for entrance to Versailles.

I wasn't clear in my Navigo Découverte pass post.

The price I quoted, € 16,80 is for zones 1-2, which is adequate for the casual tourist. It covers metro, buses, and RER within the zones.

I started taking buses on my last trip to Paris and enjoyed that a lot. I now prefer bus over metro because the bus allows me to sightsee with much less walking. So, an advantage of a Navigo Découverte would be the luxury of hopping on any bus when you're tired, even for just a few stops, yet you don't miss any sightseeing while on the bus.

Ditto yk's post. We started using the buses a couple years ago and love it. Still use the metro for major across town travel, of course. And if you are calculating the cost advantage of a pass (as well as the convenience of not having to keep track of individual tickets) the more rides you take the lower the per ride cost.

Here's a vote for the week pass.

Last two times in Paris, we used the carte orange (now the Navigo Decouver).

What you get is convenience and stress-avoidance, which is of real value when touring. Being able to on and off buses is a real plus IMHO, especially as you get tired through the day...also, not having to worry about buying additional carnets. (Side note - my experience several years ago was that some vendors run out of single tickets and carnets at the end of the day, so we had to walk around for awhile to find them -- don't know if this is still true.)

We almost always do more than 4 trips/day -- and even if the pass costs an extra euro or two, it's worth it.

Having said that, it obviously makes no sense if your "week" stay goes from Thursday to Wednesday or some similar mid-week split.

SS

One more thing...

We loved the buses. Paris is such a beautiful city, the bus rides are a pleasure.

Some even had full size GPS screens that the passengers could see, so it was really easy to tell when to get off. That was only on a few routes in 2007, but maybe a lot more routes have them now. Maybe someone who has been there in the past few months can enlighten us.

SS