Paris Museum Passes
 

I saw advertised on a travel page based in the US, a special pass that would get you into most of the museums in Paris and would let you enter without waiting in line. This sounds too good to be true. Two questions: Is this for real? and Are the lines at Paris Museums such that waiting in line is a huge problem?

Answer to first question: Not only is it for real, it's one of the very best deals in all of Paris. Passes (called Carte Musees et Monuments) are available for one, three (160FF), or five (240FF) consecutive days. Admission to the Louvre is 40FF (if it hasn't gone up again recently), and most other places charge 30-35FF admission. Sixty-five museums, monuments (Arc de Triomphe), churches (Sacre Coeur), and sights (Conciergerie) in and around(Versailles and other palaces) Paris are included on the pass. A huge advantage of the pass (in addition to not having to wait in line at the individual places to purchase tickets) is that you can visit places more than once - for example, spend the morning at the Louvre, leave for lunch, and re-enter. Passes may be purchased at any of the places included on the pass, at the tourist offices, at the larger metro stations, and at the front desk of most hotels. You can even purchase them ahead of time over the web (amazingly with no mark-up) at http://www.webcom.com/wta/mall/museum.shtml (with a credit card and they will be delivered to the front desk of your hotel). This is sort of silly, however, since they are easily purchased upon arrival and why have to remember to pack it? The website does, however, list all of the places included on the pass and is a handy reference. Once you've purchased your pass, you write the day you wish to start on the front. Be sure to obtain the brochure (catalog of places included with days closed, hours, nearest metro stop, etc.) that comes with the pass as they often forget to give you one. When planning your itinerary, keep in mind that most museums are closed on either Monday or Tuesday. Also, there are a few places which are NOT included on the pass (Eiffel Tower, Musee Marmottan, Opera Garnier, Musee Grevin...) As for your second question: The length of the lines depends on when you happen to be there - and it's hit or miss I think. In mid-September, we did not encounter long lines anywhere - even at the Louvre or Musee d'Orsay (where I've heard and read it can take an hour or even much longer to purchase a ticket - especially in July or August, on Sundays, and on rainy days). We thought the best advantage of the pass was being able to drop into places we didn't know whether or not we'd find appealing and not feel like we had to inspect every exhibit to justify the price of admission. However, not one place we visited was disappointing and there were plenty we didn't have time to visit (next trip currently being planned). HOWEVER, for using the metro, buses and RER, the Paris Visite and Formula One passes are NOT a good deal. Better to buy tickets in a strip of ten (carnet) or purchase a weekly pass (runs Monday-Sunday) if the days correspond closely to your visit.

Further to the above post, I highly recommend that if you do buy the pass in Paris you should make sure that your first attraction is one of the smaller museums, such as Musee Cluny, where the queues are short. If you were to buy the pass at the Louvre you would still have to queue. We bought ours at Musee Cluny and just walked into the Louvre by displaying our cards, stupefying those waiting in the long lines. Just goes to show that a little reading up beforehand can save time (and money!).

Everything that Donna says is true. However since the passes are only good on sequential days, they are not much of a cost savings unless you plan to average about 2 museums a day during their life. Their main advantage is during the peak tourist seasons to avoid very long lines at the popular destinations in the hot sun. Also true you tend go in museums that you would not normally visit due to the entrance fee. This is a strange commentary on human nature. After spending considerable sums to visit Paris one will not risk a 30F fee to visit some museums but would go in with a pass. In reality with the pass you have already paid the fee. <BR> <BR>Paris is some much more than museums. We have visited Paris on occassion and have not bothered to visit the Louvre since there are some many more wonderful and enjoyable ways to spend your time in Paris. Museums are yesterday and Paris is a city of today. However we would most likely find time for Ste Chapelle, Orangerie, d'Orsay and Marmottan. The d'Orsay would chew up a day. These are about 175F in admissions and you would want to spread them through a minimum of a 7 day visit. A pass would not be very useful. <BR> <BR>

Thanks Donna for a wealth of information. My wife and I will be in Paris for 5 days in October. We feel more comfortable getting around Paris after reading your response. You can't find information that you provided in a book. <BR> <BR>regards, <BR> <BR>Gene

My girlfriend and I are travelling to Europe in a couple of weeks and on our itinerary we plan on stopping over in Morocco for a few days (max-3). We hear that the people in Tangier are quite aggressive so we plan on just passing through to visit Fez. Can anybody recommend any travel tips, hotels, buget and tours that are available?

This kind of information is in any decent guidebook that I've seen. It is also readily available on the Paris Tourist Org. WEB site at www.paris.org. These kind of city/museum passes are very common in most major cities. I've visited Paris many times, and <BR>was staying there a few months several summers and <BR>never bought one of these passes yet. I agree with <BR>Louis, you have to go to several museums in one <BR>day, and several days in a row to make them worthwhile. That isn't the way to really enjoy <BR>museums, anyway, at least not to me--I never visit <BR>more than one a day. And, I haven't stepped foot in <BR>the Louvre the last 3 times I've been in Paris, I <BR>don't think. I've never stood in line for a museum, <BR>either, even in July, so I guess I don't see the <BR>big need for it, but I'll agree that may be its <BR>major attraction rather than the fee. I prefer <BR>smaller museums, anyway -- the last time I was in <BR>Paris (a few weeks ago) I visited a smaller modern <BR>art museum in the 7th arr (Dina Maillol Foundation) which I recommend highly, but I'm very interested <BR>in sculpture.

Jim - definitely do the carnet for travel in paris and don't even think about renting a car in the city. Also, the rest of the advice re: the museum pass is right on the money. And it will save you LOTS! Also, most of the museums and monuments have special entrances for pass holders and you just breeze right on through with no wait! Bon Voyage!

Oui, Oui to the Paris museum pass. It was a tremendous time saver, particularly at the Louvre and the Arc De Triomphe. However, I would highly recommend the Paris Visite card for the buses and metros. While Paris is a wonderful walking city, and you never know what the next alley will bring, you do get tired and it does rain, particularly in the fall. Bon Voyage!!!

I think I have every tour guide very published on Paris and have visited dozens of websites. The paris.org website has not been updated for over two years. Not mention that there is no mention that the Pompidou Center is closed for renovations. Tour guides vary greatly in the information provided. Anyway, we were in Paris from Sunday to Sunday. We spent Sunday afternoon in the 16th (Art Nouveau architecture) and visited Musee Marmottan (not on the pass). On Monday, we visited Musee Grevin (not on pass) and Montmartre (wish we had skipped this). On Tuesday, we took a half day bus tour around the city, went inside Notre Dame, and spent the afternoon at Versailles. We used our three day museum passes on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to visit (not in this order) the Louvre, top of the Arc de Triomphe (terrific views), Musee de l'Orangerie (the Monet panels in the lower level are spectacular and were painted specifically for this room), Musee Rodin (not to be missed), Eglise du Dome and Tombe de Napoleon, Saint Chapelle(awesome), the Conciergerie (because it was next door and included on the pass, glad we went)and, lastly Musee d'Orsay (breathtaking throughout). The combined admissions to these places would have been about 305FF (versus the cost of the pass, which was 180FF). On Saturday, we went to Paristoric (wish we had gone there first), Place de l'Opera, lots of passages (Vivienne is gorgeous), the Palais Royale and the gardens. We also went to the top of the Tour Eiffel, took a boat ride on the Seine, did quite a bit of shopping, and walked and walked and walked and rode a few buses. I, personally, cannot imagine visiting Paris and not going to the Louvre. Not only is the collection enormous and incredible, the building would be worth a visit empty. We can't wait to return. We didn't run ourselves ragged, either. Spent lots of time resting at sidewalk cafes and watching the passing parade and had leisurely lunches and dinners every day.

thanks for all the great!!!! info on the passses