Paris Museum Pass vs Paris Visite
 

I have heard about the Paris Museum Pass, what is the Paris Visite Pass? What is the difference?

The Visite pass is for the metro/bus, and was designed for people coming for short visits with lots to do (a one day pass is 30ff; compare to 8ff for one ticket good for one ride, or a carnets of 10 tickets for 58ff). I like the Visite pass IF it's economical (if you are going to be in Paris only one day, never to return, and will be taking 7 different metros/buses, then the Visite one-day pass works). Check this site for all the info on the RATP <BR>http://www.ratp.fr/

www.intermusees.com/ Paris museum pass <BR>The intermusees web site provides a list of museums included in the pass, and all the places <BR> that are included are places where you can buy it. You want to buy it at a small museum to avoid the long lines at the Louvre, and the Musee D'Orsay. However, at the Orsay, you can buy it in the bookstore and still avoid the long ticket-buyers' line. You can also buy one at major metro stations, at the Tourist Information Bureau (Carrousel du Louvre, at the National Tourist Bureau: 127 avenue des Champs-Elysées, 75008 Paris (open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.). at railway stations: Information-Tourist Bureaux located in the Montparnasse, Nord, Est, Lyon, and Austerlitz stations. <BR>

The Museum Pass is for Museums. The Paris Visite is a transportation pass (aimed towards tourists) for RER/metro/funicular/bus. I believe Elvira is confusing the Paris Visite with the Mobilis, which is a one-day transportation pass which varies in cost depending on the zones you buy, but I thought was 32F currently for the lowest number of zones (1-2); 42F for zones 1-3. Paris Visite can be bought for 1, 2 or 3 days (maybe more, not sure) and also varies by the number of zones, but the lowest number (1-3 zones) is 55F for 1 day (90F for 2 days, 120F for 3 days). Paris Visite does have the advantage of not needing a photo for the ID card (lengthier parisian transport passes for a week or month, not aimed at tourists require a photo); and there are minimual discounts with it, but I don't think there is even any free museum admission to a well-known museum so they aren't worth much. In short, there is no point to buying the Paris Visite as far as I can tell if you intend to only travel in central Paris (zones 1-2) as you can buy a one-day Mobilis card for only 32F per day which is cheaper than the Paris Visite card, even if you buy the 3-day pass for 120F. I suppose some people who don't want to buy a ticket every day for some reason would prefer a longer pass--I don't understand the reluctance some people exhibit about buying metro tickets, it only takes a few seconds, but I've seen people on this forum say they don't like buying tickets.

Hi Jane, <BR>Christina makes a good point. Talking about the Paris Visite now, it really depends on your itinerary and where all you plan on going. From personal experience we were on a first time trip to Paris and planned on seeing EVERYTHING in 4 days so we opted for the 3 day Visite at 120ff just so we could jump on and off whenever we wanted without thinking about it. But, when it was all said and done, we only used it for about 10 trips which would have only cost about 80ff with individual tickets or 58ff with a carnets. We tended to go to our destination area for the day and then did a lot of walking. We covered a lot of area and still did not need the Visite. We would go out, back and maybe a cross town jaunt in between and that was it for us. Not a big loss or anything but something to consider. But, if you go back and forth to your hotel several times a day or don't do much walking, you may want to consider it. And tickets, by the way, are very easy to buy from a machine or a booth and we never saw lines.

Thanks for your responses. We tend to walk a lot so I guess we should stick to the 10-ticket carnets. And I think we should purchase the museum tickets just to avoid lines - although I hoped there would not be long lines in March, I may be wrong. Based on the difficulty in finding accomodation (many apts were already rented from PSR)I'm thinking there may be bigger crowds than I anticipated.