I'm trying to decide the most cost effective way of getting around Paris. I had originally planned on the Paris Visite card, but I'm not sure. We will be in Paris four days, with a side trip to Versailles and, hopefully, Chartres. Another consideration would be the ease in using the Visite card versus the ease of using individual tickets. <BR> <BR>Any advice would be much appreciated!!

Hi, It should not be very difficult to figure it out, it seems to me that the best way would be just to buy individual tickets by the way of buying carnets that is in bunches of 10 indiviudal tickets ( a little cheaper ) or if not you have to compare the price of the visitors pass and estimate how many times you will use public transportation. The ratio of how many buses/metros one would take by day varies a lot from person to person and also the weather is an important factor. Just keep in mind that walking is marvelous in Paris !!!! if you like walking in Paris the way I do and if you are a little lucky with the weather I would buy a carnet one at a time. You can go to Versailles in different ways, one way is by metro and then at the last metro stop, which I believe is Porte de Sevres , a bus will take you to the Palais of Versailles. <BR>It is also possible that at night you would need to take a taxi because buses do not run all night, and may be taking a metro late at night would not be the best choice. Bon voyage.

Paris is an infinitely "walkable" city...while the Metro is great for quick travel within Paris and to the outlying suburbs, I would rely on your feet for transportation.

I was there for three days and used the metro and buses equally. Personally, I liked having the Viste card. It made it easy to jump on and off without thinking of cost, and in the end it would have cost about the same anyway.

I was in paris for 12 days last spring and used the carnets, individual tickets. Paris is such a great town for walking and many things are close in so I found I was on foot a lot more than typically at home.

You may wish to consider a Carte Orange weekly pass (bring a passport size photo to purchase one of these) if the days of your trip fall between Monday and Sunday. Valid for unlimited travel on the RER, metro, and buses. Very convenient, and costs less that the Paris Visite. Then, just buy additional RER tickets for Chartres and Versailles. Highly recommend using the buses whenever possible - metro is full of long, long hallways and stairways (and pickpockets), whereas the bus stops are much more conveniently located and you enjoy all the glorious scenery along the way. Also recommmend riding whenever possible. In spite of yourself, you'll do more walking than you can possibly imagine. We made the mistake of walking to the Louvre after walking from St. Chappelle to the Conciergerie and La Samaritaine. We were exhausted by the time we arrived, and the Louvre has miles and miles of exhibits.