yakka

We are going to paris im June and i am wanting to know which passes to buy ..The paris visitor we will be there a week . This would cover entry to museums as well , do we need to buy the museum pass ? we thought we we would familiarize our selves by using the hop on hop off bus first two days and go on the bato boats . We are arriving by train from amsterdam and need to get to the Odeon metro as this will be late in the day should we start using our pass or buy a one way ticket and commence the next day as i have read somewhere it is 24hrs from when you start . help guys i have never been there before . ,

cheribob

I have been studying this board for my trip to Paris in Feb. Here is what I have learned.

For Paris Museums you want the Museum Pass:

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

Although there are pro & cons. If you search the French Forum for Museum Pass you will be able to read some of the discussions. Basically some people think you get your money's worth & some don't. Also the Eiffel Tower does not seem to be included in the Pass.

For the Metro if you will be in Paris from Monday to Monday a Carte Orange is your best bet. (Also called a coupon hebdomadaire) This is a metro pass that runs from Monday to Monday. You would probably want just Zones 1 & 2. Zones 1 & 2 do not include the RER from CDG or out to Versailles. I believe that Navigo is the new name for the Cart Orange.

Also there is a one day metro pass called a Mobilis.

If your visit does not meet these requirements then your best bet is a carnet. This is a book of 10 single ride tickets. They are good for both the bus & the metro.

To go to Versailles you want a Forfait Loisirs. This includes rountrip RER ticket as well as admission to all three palaces at Versailles plus audioguide. You can buy this at the Transilien ticket window at an RER station.

From everything I have read here the opion on the Paris Visite is unanimous - it is a bad deal.

You don't say which Paris train station you are arriving at but here is the metro map:

http://www.ratp.info/orienter/f_plan...tro&fm=gif

I would probably wait to activate the pass until the next day.

I am sure other posters will have additions/corrections/advice to add.

Also if you want further information you can search on these forums to see what others have said about these topics.

Christina

I think you are getting some wrong information somewhere, or not interpreting it correctly. There is a transportation pass called the Paris Visite, which I assume is what you are referring to as the paris visitor. It does NOT cover entry to museums. It gives discounts on a few sites/museums, and gives about a 20-25 pct discount on some things you might find useful, like Open Tour buses or Bateaux Parisiens. You can read what it covers on www.ratp.fr which is an official city website (I am assuming you are reading something incorrect from a travel agency or other website).

It's hard to say what passes you should buy, it depends on your usage, days and dates of stay, etc. The Paris Visite would be convenient probably, and may not a bad idea for the main part of your stay. The maximum time is five days, so maybe you wouldn't use it your arrival date and departure date. It's rarely cost-effective versus buying some other kind of regular tickets, but it's easier and more convenient for a lot of tourists who don't understand the other options or are intimidated about buying them from clerks, or just don't want to bother. Even the Paris Visite isn't that expensive that it is a serious investment in your vacation, so it may suit you and be a good idea.

It starts the first time you use it, so buying a single ticket on arrival would be the way to go if you buy one. It doesn't have anything to do with 24 hours from when you start it, it is based on the number of days you use it, it's not counting hours from when you first use it. So if you use it first at 11 am one day, it is the same as if you used it at 11 pm that day -- it still counts as one day. You are getting a lot of bad information, you might want to stop reading that source (hope it wasn't Fodors guidebooks), or else you are misinterpreting things.

Christina

I'm not going to get into telling you about all the transportation passes and tickets, but will make one correction I noticed to the second post above. The Carte Orange is NOT the same thing as "coupon hebdomadaire". That simply means a weekly ticket which you could buy for use with a Carte Orange, which is the ID ticket that goes with it. It's just one option, though, they are not synonymous and aren't really the same thing as one is the ID card and one the ticket. You can (or could, not sure the latest) also buy a monthly coupon with a Carte Orange, for example.

ira

Hi Y,

A museum pass is good if you will be going to a lot of museums.

Paris is a good walking city. A carnet of 10 metro tickets (about 11.50E) lasts each of us for a week.

Nikki

Individual bus or metro tickets are so inexpensive, especially when purchased in a carnet of ten, that I have never used any other type of transportation pass. The museum pass (carte musee), on the other hand, has value beyond any cost savings, in that it allows you to skip the lines, which can be substantial, especially at the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, and Versailles.

yakka

Thanks for your help guys and gals , I will do more investigating , thanks for the tips .