Could fodorites please give more info about the navigo card. One post talks about needing a photo and having it laminated. Can these be purchased at the airport?

That may have been my post describing our recent experience acquiring a Navigo decouverte. Here are the basics:

<b>What it is</b>: Navigo and Navigo decouoverte are electronic cards that can be loaded with a travel pass. Navigo is for residents, who submit a form documenting their residency. <b>Navigo decouverte</b> is for anyone (i.e., visitors.) It is not exactly the same as a stored fare card in that it does not deduct an amount with each use; rather it holds a pass that allows unlimited travel for a specified period of time. It's a two step process - buying the card then loading a pass.

<b>What it does</b>: Allows unlimited travel within covered zones on metro, bus, RER and Montmartre funicular. Weekly (hebdomadaire) pass is the most common one for visitors, but a monthly (mensuelle) pass is also available. Rates depend on duration and number of zones covered.

<b>Which pass to buy</b>: For most visitors zones 1-2 is sufficient. As of 1 July 09 the weekly pass costs 17.20 euro. Almost always it is not economical to buy a 6 zone pass to use for transport to/from the airport, better to just buy a single RER ticket for that. Same for Versailles, which is zone 4.

<b>How to get it</b>: Navigo decouverte is purchased for 5 euro, on sale at all manned RATP stations (including the airport.) It includes the hard plastic card with a serial number, an accompanying identity card with the same serial number and a clear plastic holder for both. The identity card requires that a the name of the holder be entered and a photo (face shot) be affixed. The space allotted for the photo is about 1" wide by 1.5" high, has a peel off adhesive spot. Once the name and photo are on the card there is a piece of adhesive clear plastic that folds over to laminate it. Pop both the paper identity card and the plastic card into the plastic holder (there is a cutout for the serial number of the pass to show through right above where the serial number on the identity card appears.)

<b>Loading the pass on a card</b>: Weekly pass validity starts Monday and runs through Sunday. When purchasing the Navigo decourverte you can have the first weekly pass loaded if it is during the period they are on sale for that week. Passes for a given week are sold from Friday of the previous week through Wednesday of that week. Thereafter you can reload another weekly pass on the card using either a self service machine or the service window at a station. You can keep the pass for use on future visits.

<b>Using it</b>: Just tap the card against the sensor at the turnstile entrance for metro/RER or on boarding a bus. For RER you will also need to tap it against a sensor on departure. If there is a malfunction at a metro station and it does not get read for some reason, tell the station attendant and they will either just let you through or ask to see the card so they can verify its validity (checking the serial number) and reprogram if necessary. Not sure what would happen on a bus, never encountered a problem.

<b>Note about the picture</b>: As mentioned in my previous post, the first agent we asked said we needed to have the picture at time of purchase. The second agent said you have 24 hours after purchase to add the photo. Not sure which is the actual regulation, but <b>strongly</b> recommend having the photo in hand when you go to buy your pass. See info above about size required. If you do not have a photo in hand you will need to track down a photo booth and will pay 4 euro per person, and the size is not an exact fit for the allotted space so you will need to trim the photo.

Hope this helps.

Thank you Seamus for the thorough explanation.

The size of the photo is not too critical. I'm looking at mine now, and it measures 1-1/4" x 1-1/4", and fits the space exactly. I suppose anything from 1" x 1" up to 1-1/4 would be fine. I merely printed out a head shot from my computer and trimmed it to size. Mine happens to be in color, but I assume black and white would do just as well.

Have a great trip!

Great explanation, Seamus! I'm printing this out for my upcoming Paris trip. I have a photo on an old Carte Orange, that I took in one of those photo booths, so guess I can use it. I'm older, but hopefully, I haven't changed THAT much!

Seamus, you talk about zones 1-2 as relevant for most Paris travellers. Could you please tell me how many arrondisements those 2 zones include? Thanks

All of them, pretty much all of central Paris. Take a look a this map http://tinyurl.com/6l2e6d
To get a better idea if somehere you want to go is within a certain zone look at the nearest metro stop rather than the arrondissement.