Hello,
Can you tell me if a guided tour of the Lourve with the Paris pass needs to be booked in advance?

Thank you,

I would not get a Paris Pass -- guided tour or not . . .

Have you already purchased it?

The Paris Pass is not usually cost effective for most people, but in any case, they are not giving you special tours. It's just providing you an entry ticket, same as if you just bought one yourself online in advance. They have English language tours twice a day, I do not know why that website claims they leave every 30-60 minutes, I don't know what they are talking about. You can write and ask them if you want.

But it's nothing special you get with that pass. In fact, you can reserve those online in advance, and you'd better as they fill up quickly. you don't have to but I'd say the odds of getting on one the day you show up are about zero, if you don't reserve in advance. There is a place on the Louvre website to do that, they have one price for tour plus admission and a separate price if you just want to book the tour as you have a ticket by other means (or get in free, for some). The tour alone is 12 euro, as I recall.

I was going to do a 3 day pass which comes to 115 euros, being that I plan to use public transportation primarily I thought it would save in that aspect. I have not purchased yet but I will be soon. Is it not cost effective being that it is also available for public transport?
Thanks for the tips!

No, it is not. The Paris Pass is always a rip-off. If you are going to visit a lot of museums, do the math and decide if a Museum Pass is worth it, and then buy a carnet of tickets for the métro, RER, and buses.

>>I have not purchased yet but I will be soon.<<


Please don't. The Paris Pass is not a bargain - it is slightly better but almost as bad as the awful London Pass. It overwhelms you with the mountain of 'great' sites it covers. Unfortunately - there are not enough hours in the day to get to enough of them to pay for the Pass.

A Museum Pass (2 day €48 or 4 day €62) and a carnet of 10 transport tickets (€ 14.90) will cost much less than what the Paris Pass charges. Paris is a very walkable city and you'll be taking buses and the metro but may find you are on foot more than on public transport.

The Pass could be a bargain if you are taking the HOHO Hop On Hop Off bus which circulates between main sights around the city with being able to hop on hop off and hop on again. And if taking the boats on the Seine. Folks here don't care for HOHO buses but they have their purpose - giving commentary on Paris as they circulate - open-air upper top is nice for viewing Paris from above the traffic. So if you were going to take that 38 euro bus the pass could be good. Not recommending or not the HOHO bus as everyone is different but many do take those buses. If not taking HOHO bus definitely not as others have explained.

>>The Pass could be a bargain <<

No, it can't.

The Pass is only for 3 days so if one full day is spent on the H-o-H-o jumping off to visit maybe one or two major sites then cooling your heels waiting for another bus with open seats, you used up 1/3 of the Pass' validity. You are falling into the same trap -- 'The Pass gives you soooooo much'. Like I posted, they fill your head with all these wonderful possibilities - but IRL you can't squeeze in but a tiny fraction of them. That is how the Paris Pass makes such a huge profit -- they know most people will leave most of that €115 on the table.

So . . . you are actually recommending a H-o-H-o . . . in Paris?

So . . . you are actually recommending a H-o-H-o . . . in Paris?>> No and I said that above - I neither recommend nor not. I have not ridden it in some time as I ssume you have not either. Just know that the HOHO buses are popular and many people like them, such as on trip advisor - out of over 2,000 reviews the avg was 4.5 out of 5 pt. (I know TA's ratings are a little suspect but...)

And the Paris Pass also includes what seems like a neat thing - the wine cellars tour under or near the Louvre:

https://www.parispass.com/paris-attr...e-Tasting.html

So if taking the Bus, Boat and the historic Wine Cellar Tour and tasting it could be a good deal. Most will not do all those things but some may.

>>And the Paris Pass also includes what seems like a neat thing - the wine cellars tour under or near the Louvre:<<

So which more worthwhile major site would you skip to fit that in? You are the perfect target for the Paris Pass --

A 4-day Museum Pass, a carnet, and Vedettes du Pont Neuf bought separately would save about €25 over a Paris Pass and you'd have one more day of admissions..

It's the LOUVRE, not the Lourve, for heaven's sake. And you can disregard anything Pal has to offer, as he hasn't set foot in Paris in at least a decade.