Paris Museum Pass
 

Hi

My travel agent wanted to sell me the Paris Museum pass for $90 CAD

Does this sound right? Can I get it from anyplace else? In Paris?

thanks a bunch

D

I don't know because I don't know offhand conversion from CAD to euro. However, you can probably assume your travel agent is not going to do something for free, right? Why would they sell you a public pass from the French govt. at face value?

YOu can get them at museums or metro stations in Paris quite easily.

Yes, you can--you can even buy them at many Metro stations.

We bought ours at the Metro Station near Pont Neuf. No wait, no hassle.

The Paris Museum Pass comes in three flavors:

One day €18 = $29
Three day €36 = $57
Five day €54 = $86

Sometimes I pay a little extra to have something accomplished, such as train tickets or cash currency or a few other things.
But there is no reason I can think of to buy a Paris Museum Pass anywhere but in Paris. As mentioned, it is sold in some metro stations, at every participating museum (just go in and buy one at the nearest museum, you don't have to even visit the museum) and even some hotel front desks sell them at face value.

Thanks a bunch! that is exactly what I wanted to hear

D

There's no such thing as a monthly museum pass, is there?

Before buying the pass, take a look at what it covers and then decided if you're going to see enough of those places to break even. For instance, while we were in Paris, the pass covered the palace at Versailles and the Trianon but did not cover the gardens. In order to get to the Trianon, you had to walk through the gardens for an additional fee. It also does not cover the eiffel tower as I recall.

yes, but in my past experience there is a value added to the pass as it allows you to skip the ticket-buying lines at the Orsay and the Louvre.

Buy it in Paris and before you do, make a DECISION about whether or not the convenience of not having to wait in lines, should there be any and there probably will, is "worth it." That's the part of this none of us can asnwer for you.

How many days is that Museum Pass?

If you multiply the Euro rate by 1.6, you will get an approximately correct amount in Canadian dollars (and divide the other way). So this is too much in any event.

I bought the Museum Pass at a metro station.

Note: Today's interbank rate is 1.54175. So the 1.6 will be a few percentage points off, but you can still clearly see $90 CAD is too much, even for a 5-day pass.

And be mindful of the fact that the multi-day museum pass must be used consecutive days. That's an awful lot of museum going, but fantastic if the weather is predicted to inclement. Otherwise, I'd hate to waste good Paris weather inside museum walls!

no, there is no monthly museum pass. The ones that exist are for tourists who plan to do a lot of museums in a short time period. Beyond that, you get into residents and there are reductions for residents in special demographic groups (or unemployed, probably). Some museums have annual cards or membership associations, of course -- I have annual memberships to a couple museums in my home city, also. That wouldn't pay for someone there a month unless there was one museum you wanted to go to a LOT in a month. The Louvre annual membership is 50 euro or so; the Grand Palais has one for maybe 35-40 euro.

The pass is a good deal if:

o One has more money than time, the line-jumping feature is good value

o One is going to visit enough sights to offset the cost, on a day-to-basis

Since both of these criteria are subject to individual preference, a "one size fits all" policy is not appropriate.

I had thought that buying the pass at someplace other than the museums was a good idea, as otherwise you would have to wait in line to get in to buy your pass.

I still think that. After our initial passes ran out, we entered the Louvre through the Palais Royale entrance (at which I have never seen a line), which is said to be only for pass holders, flashed our expired passes (they aren't closely scrutinized until a later gate), and got into the basement of the pyramid to buy our second set of passes.

We will be in Paris in December and are considering the museum pass. Our 13 and 17 year old children will be with us. I understand most museums do not charge for children under 18. If the 2 adults buy passes, will we be able to just walk right in with our kids or will they be required to stand in the general admission line? Don't want to pay needlessly, but don't want to wait for kids, which would defeat the purpose? Any advice please?

lauralue- yours is the IDEAL museum pass situation, as long as the ages are within their policy, with 2 museum passes, the 4 of you will enter together without waiting on line. And that would definitely make it a good value. If you get more than a one-daypass, just bear in mind it is consecutive days, not sure if it is from time first used or date purchased.

To enter the Louvre more easily without a pass Just buy your entry ticket at a metro stand, and enter through the Carousel entrance around the side, and you'll avoid most of the lines.

Hi lauralue9:

We were in Paris over the summer with my kids (12 & 10). We bought 2 adult museum passes and that allowed us to skip the line as a group. Priceless! Since we had passes, we didn't feel like we had to see everything at once; we did the Louvre in 2 trips.

The only negative about the pass is that you have to use it on consecutive days. The pass will be date stamped at the first museum you used (not at purchase).

Bon voyage!