Lissa2905

Hello
We are in Paris for 11 Days (20 May to 30May) and I'm quite confused about which way to go (if any) with the various available passes.
We are 2 nights in the 3rd and then an apartment in the 5th for 9 nights.
We'd like to do three day trips out (Giverny/Versailles, Loire/Chateux, Champagne/Reims)
I'd been told that car hire for day trips was quite cheap, but I can't seem to locate anything low cost, and all the passes run for only 6 days.
If anyone could help me answer the following questions I'd be really grateful
1. Is the Paris Pass worth it rather than just getting the museum pass
2. Do you know of a low cost car rental option for day trips.
Thank you in advance.
Melissa

adrienne

1. This is pretty easy to figure out. The Paris Pass for 6 days costs E169. The museum pass costs E64. The difference is E104. A metro/bus ticket costs E1.7 (I think). So you would have to take about 60 metro/bus rides in 6 days to break even. If you do a boat trip and the hop on hop off bus then deduct that from E104. I'll let you do the rest of the math on this.

If you get the museum pass then you break even if you visit 3 museums per day. That's a lot of museums/sights.

I don't think either pass is worth the money. Figure out what you want to see. You can buy tickets on the internet for the major museums/sights to avoid the lines. Just go to the museum web sites to do this. There won't be lines for the smaller museums and the pass does not allow cutting through security lines; only ticket lines.

Since you're staying in the 3rd and 5th, most of what you want to see you can do by walking and then you really get to see the city. You can buy metro/bus tickets in books of 10 (called a carnet) at a discount and use them as you need to. You'll probably use no more than 1 carnet each in a week (I never use that many tickets in a week).

I would not see both Giverny and Versailles in one day as you'll want to spend the entire day at Versailles as there is a lot to see. I've combined Versailles with the Eiffel Tower in one day as the ET is on the route back from Versailles and you will find shorter lines in the late afternoon/early evening when the tour buses leave.

I would not consider the Loire Valley or Champagne area day trips.

2. Most car rentals are the least expensive for a minimum of 5 days. One day rentals are the most expensive option. Try using Autoeurope or Kemwell, both consolidators so they offer a variety of rental company options.

You should ask the person/people who told you that one-day car rentals are cheap how to find a cheap option.

Rather than renting a car you might consider doing a bus tour to the Loire. By the time you get to the car rental place, do the paperwork, and find your way out of Paris you've used up quite a bit of your day. Then you have to find your way back to the car rental place at the end of the day. This type of stress I would not want on vacation.

PS I love the hype on the Paris Pass site - particularly about not having to hunt down cash machines. This is France - there's an ATM on every street corner! And won't you need cash to buy things, like lunch?

tod

What a fantastic answer! And from someone who's never heard of a Backpackers....LOL I'm pulling your leg Adrienne because I realise you have a real sense of humour going by replies to other posts!

The information regarding Versailles and doing the Eiffel on the way back is a very good one. Seeing we will be staying in the 7th for 3days during our 16 days in Paris this would be a good time to go to Versailles ( 3rd visit for me - 1st for DH).
Thanks Adrienne.

Lissa2905

adrienne, thank you, I'm going to digest all that and do some more research on Versailles and Giverny. Thank you again

adrienne

tod - glad I could help you out! And I do have a sense of humor but mostly it's sarcastic which I try to temper here (besides it's difficult to get the sarcasm inflection in writing). BTW - the backpacker guy never came back for the answers! Have fun at Versailles.

Melissa - YW

tod

Yes I see so far no reaction - I gleaned as much information from my very new Fodors Guide. Although we are hotel-aholics, this July/August trip have got ourselves an apartment for the first time and are really excited at 'playing Parisian's' in our own little nest!
I would (believe this or not) love to camp out in a motorhome in the Boise de Bologne! This will be in addition to travelling around Erope one day.....which we did 32 years ago!

MNsnowflake

Whether a museum pass would pay off for you or not depends on how many and which museums you plan to see and whether you want to spread your museum-going out or concentrate it into a few days. We bought a museum pass on our first trip because we knew we were going to do some heavy museum-going and didn't on our second trip since we'd seen so much on our first trip

. Even though we maybe just broke even, the pass had the advantage of: 1. Being able to go back to a museum again (we went to the Musee D'Orsay 3 times); 2. Being able to bypass the ticket lines 3. Being able to pop into a museum to just use the toilet or pop into the gift shop.

I haven't bought tickets to individual museums online, so don't know if you have to pick a specific date when ordering.
Of course a pass locks you into your museum-going dates too, but you could get to Paris and check weather forecasts and if there are going to be a few days in a row of rainy weather, choose those for your museum-going.

Versailles is part of the museum pass (but I'm not sure if it includes admission to everything). We used our museum pass for Paris museums and a few days later bought a pass that included admission for Versailles and the round-trip RER fare.

You will be in Paris at a time when lines will probably be long, so one way or another, it would be an advantage to not have to stand in line for tickets.

TDudette

Cityrama has a one day Loire Valley chateaux tour. It's a long day and you see what they take you to but tickets and lunch are all arranged for you.

It is an acceptable plan B in my humble opinion.

I agree with Adrienne about give Versailles a full day. It is vastly hugely BIG. When we first viewed it I said "No wonder there was a revolution"!

Celticharper

There are two kinds of worth it, money and time. We found the Museum Pass to be a good value for us in both ways. It was great to by pass the long lines and go straight to the security entrance. We saved considerable time visiting several museums this way. The ability to by pass the hour long lines was enough for even my cheap husband to say he was so glad we had the Museum Pass.

We used the bus and metro system a lot, in one week we used 4 carnet total for both of us, that was €44.80. So the Paris Pass would not have been a good value for us.

apersuader65

Carte Orange is now the Navigo Decouverte, isn't it? I'd pass on the Paris Pass. If you want to add metro/RER/bus/funicular passes to the Museum Pass, the Navigo Pass will likely be the best, especially since you could buy one on Monday the 24th and have all transport covered until you leave. There are numerous options for zones, so compare the prices associated with each zone and where you'll be going. It'll work for versailles and back to CDG or ORY if you get the 1-6 zone pass. Just compare. Here's a good site for some overview of the pass: http://parisbytrain.com/paris-train-...go-decouverte/

djkbooks

Chateau Versailles and Monet's Home/Gardens in Giverny are excursions you can easily do on your own. But, both are really too much for "one" day trip. Though, Cityrama, ParisVision, do offer coach tours for both in one day. They also offer day trips to your other proposed destinations - probably more efficient and economical than renting a car.

For transit within Paris, your best bet is probably a carnet for the first few days and Navigo Decouverte for Monday through Sunday.

SuzChicago

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