Paris - Museum Card
 

Could someone direct me to an easy way to
obtain a list of the museums that honor
the Museum Card? thanks

http://www.ratp.fr/ParisVisite/Eng/A...etmonument.htm

i used it last summer and found it very worth it. note that eiffel was not included. you can buy them from the metro stations.

Here's a partial list I found by googling Carte Musées et Monuments:

http://www.zpinaddict.com/parishtm/cmusee.htm

But it gets you into more than 70 places. It might be better to ask which places do NOT honor it. The Musée Jacquemart-André is one of those.

Be careful! The daily cost of the card is

1 day - €18
3 days - €12
5 days - €10.80

In order to get your money's worth (especially on a 1-day card), you have to see a lot of things, so plan your days to leave sights that are open at night until the others close, such as watching the sunset from the Arc de Triomphe.

Robespierre, would that the prices of the 3- and 5-day passes really were what you've quoted! There would be a mad buying frenzy. :o

€36 / 3 = €12
€54 / 5 = €10.80

What did you get?

We bought museum cards before going to Paris several years ago. When we got there, the museums were on strike!

If we're lucky, we'll have time to see d'Orsay and maybe Arc de Triumph. Any use or savings to buying a card?

We also used the card and found it to be a good bargain. It also gives you preferential entry so you can bypass the line into the Louvre (where you could wait for hours to get in).
I'd suggest that you select what you're most interested in seeing and carefully check the days that the different attractions are closed. If you only buy a one day pass, you might not get to see someplace that's really important to you. If you buy a multiday, coordinate your itinerary based on what's open and closed on the different days. Also it helps to have a good map when you do the planning so you can visit the places that are near each other on the same days.

The Arc de Triomphe and d'Orsay add up to €14, so buying a single-day pass for €18 would be a loser. But if you threw in a couple of hours at les Invalides next door and did the Arc after the others closed...

Is there anywhere at CDG to buy the
Museum Card?

You can get it at any major metro station that has an attendant -- not sure about CDG. ((b))

I don't think theré's anyplace at CDG to get it - all the websites and my personal experience indicate you can get it at any of the museums that are on it and any major métro stop, meaning any one where at least two lines cross.

Granted I've never been in Paris for less than a week at a time, so I've never been one to have to squeeze in three or four major places in a day. But I have never ever spent a day in Paris where the Museum Card would have saved me money. And I suspect a lot of people buy the card and are "forced" to hurry from place to place to get their money's worth out of it. We spent nearly all day at the D'Orsay this year, and it's my third time there. We broke the day with a wonderful lunch in the restaurant. But we sure wouldn't have wanted to try to squeeze in three more venues in the same day.

We've purchased the 3 day card on two different trips. What we liked best about it was breezing past lines, both at the d'Orsay and Louvre.

I might even buy a card again, if I was short on time and lines were long. I didn't mind spending extra for line jumping.

I spent my honeymoon in Paris, and we got either the 3 or 5 day card. The one advantage that can be huge is the ability to bypass the line. At the d'Orsay, we entered through the gift shop and bypassed a 90 minute line (we went on Monday when the Louvre was closed). Likewise, the quick entry into the Louvre was great.

The RATP web site says they have sales offices at the airports, and I'm pretty sure you can buy all the products there. If not, wait until you get to a Métro station.

The value of the museum pass lies in the holders ability to bypass the line. You only have so many hours in Paris, why waste them in line? The cost of the pass should really not be a factor, after all, did you really spend all that $$$ on airfare just to wait in line?

We were just in Paris last week and although the lines weren't ever bad enough for us to use our pass to bypass them, we still felt our 3 day museum pass was worth it. We did things we might not have done (climbed to the top of Notre Dame, etc.) since we were there anyway and they were on the card, we just went ahead and did it. Things we might not have done if we would have had to pay an extra 7 - 10 euros for. We also went in to some lesser known museums since we passed them by and they were on our card. Even if we only spent a few minutes looking around we didn't feel "ripped off" because it was all included in the card anyway. It was also nice when you needed to just get out of the cold or use a nice clean bathroom.

We were definitely glad we bought it, and more than got our money's worth, but I guess it all depends on what you want.

Robespierre, my apologies! I misread your post--you were of course talking about the <i>daily</i> costs of the pass.

One thing I found helpful in assessing whether or not the pass would be worth it is to look at what days the museums are open and closed. So many are not open on Monday. And the issue about long lines is not so much a factor if you're going to Paris in the winter.