Paris Metro Question
 

Hello Paris experts,
We will be in Paris the end of this month and into May. When purchasing tickets for the Metro and RER, I have heard that you need a credit card with a PIN. Is this still true? Or can you use a chip based credit card and not need a PIN? I'm referring to a Visa, not a debit card.

Thanks for your help!

the last time i was in Paris (December 2019) if you purchased the tickets a one of the machines, your card will not work if it is not a chip and PIN. we ended up using our debit cards. hope this helps

We didn't have any issues using our chip based credit cards to purchase Metro tickets this past fall. However, our chip based card was rejected at the metro stations in Barcelona that same trip.

This is not recent, as we have not been to France since 2019, but we never had any problems to purchase a carnet with our non-chip credit cards in the metro stations, but could not use them for RER tickets in CDG.

You may run into problems at the ticket machines, but at the staffed windows should have no problem at all.

Acceptability will likely be more a function of your card issuing bank's card verification method. Some US bank credit cards are accepted at ticket kiosks (PIN not required) and some will require a transaction authorizing PIN (not a PIN to authorize cash advances by inserting a credit card into an ATM machine).

In the unlikely event that your credit card does not have a chip, service windows still have magnet card readers allowing you to purchase tickets. Service windows do not accept cash.

debtogo, in 2016, I used my Visa card in Bordeaux in both the unmanned tram and train ticket machines at the train station. I bought bus tickets in Paris at an unmanned machine but will have to check my notes to see if I used cash or not... stay tuned.

As Sarastro wrote above, check with your card issuer. I think the American issuers finally switched to the same card system as Europe, but don't know details.

Thanks for the info. We are going to bring 1 debit card with chip/pin just in case. Our Visa cards are all chip enabled. Will also have Euros of course so can go cash too.

My notes don't specify if I used cash for the bus tickets, debtogo. Please let everyone know what you experience.

If it is not already clear to you, nobody can tell you if your card will work before you try it yourself. And yes, any ticket window can sell you the necessary products. Unfortunately, not every station has a manned ticket window these days, so be careful.

I will TDudette- thanks!