Paris Visite Pass by Mail
 

I have received an offer to buy my Paris Visite pass by mail. Is there any reason I would not want to do this. It certainly seems convenient and the only trouble I have had with nasty Parisiens has been with a lady in a subway ticket booth. ( Obviously we were not doing what she wanted but we could never figure out what she wanted us to do.) It would certainly make it easier for me to buy the pass before I go.

The Paris Visite Pass is an overpriced gimmick for tourists. It is a transportation pass, but it is more expensive to buy it as Paris Visite. A 1 day Paris Visite pass is 8,80 euro, while a regular Mobilis Pass is 5,80 euro. The 5day Paris visite is 28,30 euro, the same as 5 individual Mobilis passes.

The best transportation deal in Paris is the Weekly pass, Carte Orange, which costs 5 euro for the initial Navigo Decouverte (a plastic card onto which you load a transport pass for a week.) The full week costs 16,80 euro, but is only valid from Monday to Sunday, not a 7 day period of your choosing.

The next best option is the Mobilis Pass, which permits all-day travel for 5,80 euro, and doesn't require the Navigo card. If you will be in Paris by the Wednesday of the week(last day the Carte Orange is sold for that week) and will use it for at least 4 days, the Carte Orange is cheaper than Mobilis. Still another option is to buy individual tickets for 1,60 each or a book of 10(carnet) for 11,40 euro, particularly if you aren't sure how often you will use the all day pass.
I would also suggest you consider
the Paris Museum Pass--it is available for 2, 4, or 6 days, at 30, 45, or 60 euro. Once you have started using it, the days are consecutive. If you visit 2-3 museums/day, it is usually a good deal to have the pass. There are 2 advantages other than monetary: with few exceptions, you skip the line waiting to buy tickets, and you can duck in any museum on the pass just to use the toilets or stop for a rest in their cafeteria.
We use the pass to check out lesser-known museums that I probably wouldn't see otherwise, and also to make quick repeat vists to see something we may have missed earlier in the week.

The Paris Museum Pass can be purchased at Charles DeGaulle Airport, along with the above described transport passes.

There really isn't any advantage to buying the passes by mail, and frequently there are significant surcharges.

http://www.parismuseumpass.com/en/pass_tarif.php

Good luck on your trip,
Barb

The advantage to mail is you do not need to wait in line at CDG or one of the retailers in the city, and, you don't encounter surly functionaires during the process.

You can puchase both the transport pass and the museum pass--Carte Musee--at parismetro.com-- on-line for delivery by mail, cutting your time waiting in lines and average cost per pass for transportation. Naturally, you pay for the convenience.

Enjoy your trip.

In early December I went to the Ecole Militaire metro and got the picture and all with the help of the person on duty there. I could only load it for one week period at that time.There was no wait.

It was wonderful to use. Don't even have to take it out of your purse. Just pass it by the spot on metro or bus.

I will be in Paris for a month mid April to mid May. I will have to load it weekly due to my time period and also use a carnet for the beginning and ending days.

Rnjoy.....

<<Is there any reason I would not want to do this.>>

Yes. The Paris Visite is overpriced even before whatever extra fee you may be charged for the mail order. Get the Navigo Decouverte when you get there.

I am very guilty of a stereotypical belief that all metro workers, in no matter what city (DC, NY, Paris) are generally the most unhelpful representatives of their countrymen (probably because they have just had one too many encounters with "the perpetually confused"),and if I can deal with a machine instead of the ticket window in any country, I cheerfully do so.

However, I would not shell out for Paris Visite (rip-off), nor would I buy any other type of pass ahead of time.

"The advantage to mail is you do not need to wait in line at CDG or one of the retailers in the city, and, you don't encounter surly functionaires during the process. " - I found the woman on the TI desk in CDG very friendly and helpful when I was there in November. Of course, it might be different in July when a lot of flights have just arrived.

Every person I dealt with that worked at the Metro in Paris over a busy Christmas week as delightful and helpful. Seriously.

As has been posted numerous times, the Paris Visite is only more economical if you want to start to use it prior to Monday. Arriving say on a friday or saturday would allow you the convenience of having the one pass already to go when you arrive. Purchasing multiple one-day passes on a weekend, then the week long pass for starting monday may or may not work out.

I personally think the convenience of the visite is worth the additional price, just make sure the price you pay for the mailed to you version is not outrageous.

Unless of course your french language skills are sufficient to handle the conversations necessary at the end of a 8 hour or so flight, with jet lag added in to get the various passes. Look at your arrival date, your plans, and determine your need for the passes.

It's up to you, obviously you are paying for that delivery, as well as paying for whoever is mailing it to you with a markup, so just figure out whether that fee is worth it to you, compared to the actual price when bought in Paris from the RATP itself.

I have never seen a case where someone who ordered that by mail was also not paying a markup, and it's just a good deal to begin with. That's because the only people who do that are for-profit companies, obviously, so they aren't selling it to you out of charity with no markup. I suppose some travel company might sell it at no markup as a gimmick if you were buying something else from them.

You can buy the Paris Museum passes at any participating museum - i popped into the Conciergerie (sp?), where Marie-Antoinette spent her last days before being guillotined and bought my pass there because there was no one in line. At the Louvre or Orsay you may have to wait in a long line to buy the pass.

And whether the museum pass is the economical way to go may be different now that it is 2-4-6, instead of 1,3, etc.
Paris Visite is just not worth it, even as a "pass" to hit the ground running on a weekend--and by mail, there will always be a markup. The sites it covers are also sort of esoteric, out of the way, as I recall.

1st Sundays in month i believe many museums are free, including the Louvre

and on Sundays in general some museums are discounted - pass may not pay off if it includes Sunday as much

and the Louvre has discounted admissions after 15:00 i believe.

But i love having a museum pass - come and go in the Louvre say instead of a marathon session as you may have by buying an expensive ticket.

I believe the math is still correct. This is from my response to an old thread on this subject:


Author: apersuader65
Date: 04/17/2008, 05:22 pm
I was just looking at Expedia Activities page and they are listing a 5-day Visite pass for $45.07. That's dollars, not Euros (28.40). That works out to $9.01 or 5.68 Euros per day. That is certainly not as good as the Carte Orange - which works out to $5.21 -3.30 Euros, but certainly not the 8.50 Euros mentioned above. Also, with the Visite, you don't need to spend the $8.00 for the extra passport photos to use with the pass. That seems to make the difference - in American Dollars - $6.81 vs. $9.01 per day for a five day visite pass.
UNLESS - you are arriving say on a friday or saturday and want unlimited use of the metro and buses starting immediately. The Carte Orange won't work out as well if you arrive say saturday morning in Paris and will be there for 5 days. Then, it appears as though the Visite would actually be about the same price, or cheaper. Two one-day Mobilis @ 5.6 euro per, plus the 16.50 for the carte orange for M,T and W would equal 27.7 Euro, plus the cost of a photo, assuming you can get one there for less than 60 centimes.

I guess it is necessary to continually bring up the Visite v. Carte Orange debate!



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Author: apersuader65
Date: 04/17/2008, 05:38 pm
Oh, I also forgot to add in the 5 euro one-time fee for the navigo pass mentioned in Tims post above. That makes the math a little different. A carte orange @ 16.50 + 5.00 for the navigo pass for a total of 21.50 euro + and the photo cost. When you add in the two mobilis one-day passes, that converts to 32.70 Euro or $52.07 for the Carte Orange vs. $45.07 for the Visite.

You don't need an expensive passport photo (and those are too big anyway). Just cut out any old photo to about 1 1/4". And the 5 euros is good for 10 years.

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