jent103

Hi all. I'm heading to Paris very soon for 9 days, and am not sure whether my best transit option is to get a couple of Navigo Découverte passes, one Navigo plus a carnet, or just carnet(s) plus additional tickets for the far-out places. Here is my proposed itinerary (it's a flexible trip, so doesn't have to be done in this order except for the D-day beaches tour). Obviously there's a lot of "free time", so any must-do suggestions are welcome! I do plan to spend lots of that time walking and meandering - it's the "meandering" bit that makes me wonder if a pass might be good just for the flexibility, but I don't want to waste money either. We're staying at the Grand Hotel Saint-Michel.

Tuesday: arrive at CDG, take RER B to Luxembourg and walk to hotel; maybe Notre Dame and Sainte Chappelle in the afternoon
Wednesday: City center tour at 10am that meets at Cite stop (would probably walk to that)
Thursday: Louvre
Friday: Day trip to Chartres (metro to Gare Montparnasse)
Saturday: Pompidou
Sunday: D-day tour with Fat Tire (metro to Gare Saint Lazare)
Monday: Orsay, Orangerie, Arc de Triomphe?
Tuesday: Versailles
Wednesday: Montmartre, metro to Louis Blanc for concert that night
Thursday: RER B back to CDG for flight home

I may add in a couple of other walking tours, that sort of thing, but for now that's the rough plan. I don't know how cost-effective a Navigo Découverte would be. I'm a good walker.

Thanks in advance for your input!

annhig

hi jent,

as i see it your problem is that you are arriving on a tuesday, so are losing a good day and a half of the navigo pass which has to finish on a sunday. plus, I have counted approx 14 journeys by metro, excluding the return to CDG. this would cost you one carnet of 10 tickets [€12] plus 4 x €1.70 ie €6.80 - a total of €18.80, as against €18 for one navigo for the tuesday you arrive to the following sunday, plus however many tickets you use the next week.

given that you are quite keen on walking, I would just get a carnet and see how I got on.

DebitNM

I would buy carnet of tickets. Reason: You miss a day of use on Monday. You will walk on Tues, Wed and Thurs most likely. Friday you need a train ticket and could use metro to get to train station. Saturday, walk. Sunday, metro tickets.
Monday, you could by for the week, but you are leaving on Thurs. Tues, train ticket. Wed metro tickets.

Seem like carnet is way to go.

Apres_Londee

I can't help with the carnet vs Navigo question, but I wanted to say I love that you've left yourself with a lot of unstructured time and aren't trying to cram too much into each day (I especially especially that you've left entire days open to the Louvre and the Pompidou- I spend up to 6 hours in each, they are 2 of my favourites!)

After the Pompidou, the Stravinsky is very close by- it can be a fun place to people watch, with kids playing soccer in the square if the weather is nice.

The Musee d'Orsay is closed on Mondays, so you'll want to fit it in on another day, maybe Wednesday or Sunday afternoon?

If you're looking for a suggestion to fill in your Monday, I did the Basilica St Denis and the Orangerie museum on the same day. The basilica is gorgeous and unique and not exactly swamped with tourists- I was there in April a few years ago, and there was only one other couple poking around- I basically had the place to myself. Then I took the metro back into central Paris and went to the Orangerie museum.

Here's a bit of info on St Denis

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/f...paris-st-denis

And here are a few of my pics, that show a bit of what the inside is like (I loved it so much, I'm always plugging it)

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/.../IMG_01751.jpg

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_0193.jpg

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/...s/IMG_0189.jpg

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/.../IMG_01821.jpg

http://i1146.photobucket.com/albums/.../IMG_01851.jpg

Apres_Londee

Oh jeez, that should be the Stravinsky <i>Fountain</i> is nearby the Pompidou.

jent103

Thanks so much to all three of you! I thought the carnet might be the best option but just wasn't sure if the long rides to/from CDG and Versailles would change that. Thanks for doing the math, annhig! This trip is a little out of the blue; I'm enjoying more spontaneity than I usually have, but feel like I'm missing some details!

Après, I actually did have in my notes that the Orsay is closed Mondays - just forgot to actually consult my notes. Thanks for the reminder! St Denis is on my "maybe" list - I'll definitely look at your photos when I'm in a computer and not my phone tomorrow! I'm going with my brother, who will be there for business, so the order of things will get shuffled around depending on what he wants to do in his limited sightseeing time (hence the D-day tour all day Sunday - that's a priority for both of us).

annhig

jent - another monday possible is the canal st. martin trip, run by canauxrama - here's the link:

http://www.canauxrama.com/e_saint-martin.htm

we did it on a sunny monday afternoon, taking the boat from the bastille up to parc de villette. we really enjoyed seeing Paris at the slow pace of a boat, which was enlivened by an excellent commentary in french and english. it was quite expensive at €16, but if you pick up one of their leaflets from the quay at the pont neuf [where the seine cruises go from] you can get €4 off. [NB - you need a leaflet per person to get the discount].

we went to St. Denis on the sunday before the rugby at the Stade de France - BTW it was a doddle to walk from there to the Stade for the match, which was a query I raised on another thread before we went. I can't say that st. Denis would be top of my list even of "B" list attractions in Paris, but perhaps that's just me. but we did enjoy our very reasonably priced lunch in the cafe in the square opposite!

BTW, when i was doing the maths of the navigo v the carnet, i saw that you can get a navigo that covers the airport as well as the central region. if you were going to be arriving and leaving via the airport in the same week it could be reasonable value at €36.

but if, like you, your travels are spread over two weeks, it doesn't work at all.

PalenQ

Central Paris IME is very walkable - I walk more than I take the metro and find that what I see in between say going between the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe is as interesting as either site.

Central Paris is rather compact from what a tourist wants to see - you may ride the metro less than you think.

jent103

Yes, I anticipate lots of walking in my future. Which is great. Thanks for the suggestion, annhig - I'll check it out!

denisea

Smart to leave time to enjoy and add things that come up! I also recommend St Denis.

If you can check the weather, try to catch Ste Chapelle ona sunny day...really shows the stained glass!