I will be in Paris Nov 3-25 arriving at CDG. Everything I read seems to indicate I can and should purchase a NAVIGO DÉCOUVERTE CARD good for one month for 75.20. Good for Paris, all zones 1-5, CDG and Versailles. Focus of this trip is small towns outside Paris including castles and palaces. I know Fountainbleau and a few other towns I planon visitng are outside the zone but I am doing do much metro travel and 2 trips to CDG, that this appears to be my best option. Has anyone purchase this and how did it work out for you? Thanks

Yeah. That's the first thing we do when we arrive in Paris. Because of Covid, our last multi-day trip to Paris was in 2018. Cards & plans change all the time. Now I think you can purchase a plan for different time periods. It's really a no-brainer. We dislike taking the metro - we always take buses. I get the the #2 bus/metro map (if it hasn't been replaced) and use a magic marker to highlight all the bus routes that pass near where we are staying, and where they go (Opera, Ile St Louis area, Louvre, museums I want to visit, etc). Bus passes are nice because if you're trudging home after a long day and a bus comes along that will save you a 4 block walk - hop on it without any hesitation. Just remember - buses get crowded around the time schools let out for the day.

You'll need a photo for the pass (this may have changed), so take various photos of yourself in different sizes. Last time we were in Paris, the pass expired (after 10 years or so). We had trouble using the photo booth in the metro where we got the pass - so we just ripped apart the photo from our expired pass & attached it to the new pass.

Stu Dudley

I LOVE the monthly Navigo Decouverte pass! Until Covid, I had been spending 7 weeks (December/January) in Paris and always bought the pass. IMHO, it's a steal at 75.20 even though as you point out, it doesn't cover trips just outside zone 5. It's easy to purchase, easy to load and makes impulse travel across the city or outside the city very attractive. I'll second Stu's tip above to utilize the bus system. It covers so much more of the city and traveling above ground you'll discover more places to stroll and visit. I even use the bus to go to Malmaison (from La Defense).

Have you read about the app Citymapper? I use it all the time. Just enter your destination. The app will give you all the options (bus and/or Metro), travel times for each option and how to walk to the bus/metro stop, how to walk to your destination from your final stop, best car to sit in on trains/Metro and will even alert you when to get off your bus or train/Metro. It makes travel sooo easy!

Thank you.

Could someone explain the process for getting Navigo?

As I recall, we just went to an underground metro station and purchased ours from the attendant there. Go at a quiet time - not during rush hours. They will give you the plastic holder, you'll attach a picture, and they will load the card with whatever plan you want. After that, you can re-load at a machine that doesn't need an attendant. However - things change all the time and covid may have introduced an entire different set of procedures.

Stu Dudley

Thanks -- from what I have read, its not really clear -- It says buy the card at a station machine then show it to the agent and s/he will give you the peices to make up the card which you do yourself. Then you load it at the machine?

Covid has rusted my memory bit - but I'm pretty certain that it can be loaded at a machine or the attendant can do it. The very first time we purchased a pass and when it expired a few years back and we had to go through the drill again - the attendants did everything. Afterwards (we stayed 3 weeks & there wasn't a monthly pass then) we did it all the re-loading ourselves by machines.

Stu Dudley

We stayed 2 weeks in Paris a few years ago. We bought the navigo card from the attendant for the first week and they loaded it for us. For the second week, I believe we used the machine.

I just used the Bonjour RATP app now to read our navigo cards. You can see the history and reload it from the app. Very cool! We'll try it in December.