Paris Metro
 

Can you still buy the cachet of 10 tickets to travel on the Metro, or do I need a travel card now?

There are travel cards that might work for you depending on the days of the week you'll need them, but yes, you can still buy individual t+ tickets or a carnet (if you ask for a cachet be prepared for laughter).

How about if you ask for a canard?

It´s probably better to ask for canard at a restaurant.

If you mean a booklet of 10 tickets t+, sometimes referred to as a carnet, the cost is 13.70€.

They don't have anything they call a "travel card" in Paris, so they wouldn't know what you are talking about if you asked for that. They have daily cards called a Mobilis pass that covers all transportation in Paris, unlimited, for one day for about 7 euro. I often buy them if I'm not there at convenient times to use a weekly pass (which is Mon-Sun) or just think I'll use it a lot on several days, then maybe a carnet for other days when I won't use it so much.

They don't call it a travel card simply because the language of the country is not English.

The current cost of the Mobilis day pass is 6.80€.
There is also the Paris Visite day pass which costs 10.85€ for practically the same area, so I am mystified why it even exists, not to mention why anybody would buy it. But it can be bought for 1,2,3 or 5 days -- the cost for 5 days is 34.70€ -- so I would just buy 30 tickets (3 carnets) for that price!

<i>the Paris Visite day pass which costs 10.85€ for practically the same area, so I am mystified why it even exists, </i>

I can think of two possible uses, good uses for a Paris Visite pass:

1. The Paris Viste pass has a child fare, the Mobilis does not. Paris Visite could be a good option for those with children (as long as the parents buy Mobilis passes for themselves.).

2. If someone were in Paris, wanted to go to Disney for the day, and return to Paris that night. Because of the 20% discount at Disney that is available when using the Paris Visite Pass, the Disney savings could more than make up for the increase cost of the Paris Visite Pass over the Mobilis Pass or over the price of single tickets.

Otherwise, avoid the Paris Visite Pass. It is overpriced.

If you are going to be in Paris for a week there is a week long pass called the Navigo that runs from Monday to Sunday. You can buy this by zones we found that this worked very well for us. It was great to be able to hop on a bus for a short ride when we were tired without thinking do we have enough tickets. On the Metro web site it said we needed a passport type picture So we printed out a head shot at home to bring with us, that was fine.

We used this last February when we were in Paris for the week and found that it did work out to be more economical than Carnets of tickets, especially when we worked out the cost of return to CDG airport. We arrived on Saturday so we used carnets for Sat & Sun, then started our Navigo pass on Monday, we used it to go to Versaille then back to CDG on Sat.

It was very convenient especially when we were stopped by police doing a ticket check as we exited a metro station. We didn't have to go searching through pockets for our ticket.

We arrive in Paris on Feb 1st in a few weeks and now that we have our pass we just need to do a recharge so it will be an even better bargain for us this year.

does the bus still go from CDG to Nations? It's been 4 yrs since I was there last. Thanks

Bus 351 connects CDG with Nation. The run typically takes one hour thirty minutes and costs three tickets t+.

Thank you Sarastro. It works perfect for me and then only a 5 mim walk.

I just wanted to say that subways in Paris are different than in NYC. The doors to the subway close very quickly & if you stick your hand out to prevent it from closing (like in NYC), it still closes gathering than opening again. I almost lost my watch in the door and the scariest thing I saw was a small child entering the subway as the doors were about the close. The people inside grabbed the child & pulled her in still catching a piece of her skirt. The parents were left on the outside in a panic. I don't know what finally happened.

I am not criticizing the system, just sending out a warning to those of us used to a different type of experience. There is no announcement to "be aware of the closing doors."

why run for the Metro??????? There's another right behind it. Never quite understood the rush people do on their holiday. Relax and enjoy

<<There is no announcement to "be aware of the closing doors.">>

There is indeed a warning that the doors are about to close. It is a waring horn that quite clearly notes the imminent closing of the doors.

"why run for the Metro??????? There's another right behind it. Never quite understood the rush people do on their holiday. Relax and enjoy"

You must enjoy metro stations more than me. A little hustle doesn't make my holiday less relaxing or enjoyable. Indeed, the less time I spend in metro stations while in Paris, the better.

"why run for the Metro??????? There's another right behind it. Never quite understood the rush people do on their holiday. Relax and enjoy.."

Agreed. I'm one of those that loves to ride the Metro, and some of the stations have some really cool statues, murals, etc. to check out while waiting for the next train. And yes, although I have been known to scurry to try and make the one already there, the wait is no big deal.

((H))

Can you explain the zones. I saw Christina mention moblis day pass with nothing mentioned about zones. I also saw someone mention a weekly pass and said u can buy it by zones. (confusing to me). My wife and I just recently went to Paris for an overnight trip from Frankfurt. Upon arriving at the train station, I attempted to get a day pass for Paris, but the ticket agent kept asking me what zones. I didn't know. Just wanted to check in our hotel and see the Eifel, Louvre, and Notre Dame. Just wanted an all day pass for Paris.

I was not running or rushing for the Metro. I was in Paris for Christmas and the metro was crowded. I was just walking into the Metro with everyone else, got on & my husband was following me. So rushing, just being with the masses.

The child was certainly not rushing!

I found that many people stayed close to the car entrance rather than moving to the back which made getting on that much more difficult.

<i>Can you explain the zones.</i>

There are 5. Central Paris is zone 1-2 which is all the coverage that most people need. All of the métro is considered to be within zone 1-2 regardless of the physical location of the métro station.

The importance of zones relates to passes only, i.e. Mobilis, Navigo, Paris Visite, or Jeune Weekend. Individual tickets are sold point to point with the exception of ticket t+ which covers all of the métro, the RER within zone 1, the funicular, and Paris buses.

Actually, anything inside the Paris city limit except for the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes is within zone 1. Zone 2 is the inner suburbs.

As Sarastro pointed out, any metro station (including a few that are in zone 3) is accessible with a normal metro ticket.