I assume FNAC is the books/CD chain that I've seen around the city? I've never bought through them, but now that I find they sell both Louvre and Orsay tix, (did an online search) that's a good alternative to the pass, which with its new format isn't such a great deal anymore. Does one have to go to a certain section/sales desk in the store?

Meanwhile, I agree with dkjbooks: Given the new format (no more 1-day, no more 3- day) and given that buying tickets ahead - often online - is possible for some places (Pompidou, Versailles, Orsay, etc.) I no longer view the pass so fondly. (Interesting to note that the Carnavalet - I assume that's what Gretchen meant - is always free now (?)

I do agree that if one is eager to see a particular place, buying in advance, by whatsoever means - or using alternate purchase venues - is a smart idea. Along with FNAC, the tip about the tabac near the Louvre arcade from Jeanne could prove useful to many people.

Buying tix ahead separately avoids the consecutive day issue, as well. Still, the pass would still suit those looking for the convenience of 1-stop shopping, or who just want to hop in for a quick look to whichever museum strikes their fancy at the moment. But we won't be buying our next trip - one museum a day, maybe two if the second is something like the Arc de Triomphe, is our limit, too.

BTW, FNAC also has Orangerie tickets and can make reservations (minimum two days in advance).

Quick...buy stock in FNAC!!!!

Yes, you have to go to a particular place in FNAC to buy tickets -- the ticket/events sales box office. They've been running a ticket agency for many years. So does Virgin Megastore, but I don't know if they have the museums or not.

On our last trip to Paris this past May, we knew we wanted to "do" a number of museums on a short vacation, and the Museum Pass was definitely the way to go.

Three of us each bought the 4-day pass (€45). We visited:
Day 1 (Fri): Louvre (reg. €8.50)
Day 2 (Sat): D'Orsay (reg. €7.50)
Day 3 (Sun): Versailles (reg. €13.50)
Day 4 (Mon): Picasso (reg. €9.50) and
Louvre again
Total at regular price: €47.50

Even though it was basically only one museum per day and we saved a whopping €2.50 in hard cash, having the flexibility and line-skipping capacity was definitely worth it for us. Buying an advance-day ticket or two is all well and good, but who has the time to *go* to the museum (or to FNAC) and buy the tix?! It's not like I'm camped out in the Tuileries to have ready access to the popular sites! Much better to do the purchase once, then either roam around at will, or accomplish your museum-viewing objectives with a minimum of fuss (as we did).

I have never seen a short line at D'Orsay in recent memory. And my rare visit to Versailles was greatly enhanced by the Pass, as the queue was pretty horrendous in May. Even at Picasso the line was longer than I would have cared to stand in (the Dora Marr show may have had something to do with it). At D'Orsay, we entered through the group/pass-holders entrance, then went directly to a designated ticket window to purchase our special exhibition timed tickets (Cezanne/ Pisarro was still showing) with no one in line ahead of us. To me, this was infinitely preferable to schlepping over there the day ahead to buy advance tickets...

As Robespierre said, no waiting at in line at Paris museums: priceless.

We just got back from Paris last weekend. We were there for two weeks so and ended up scrapping all my highly efficient plans so we didn't buy a museum pass until the end of the first week. That meant we paid for Versailles (insanely long long) and the Picasso (no line), and once for the Pompidou Centre (long line but I ended up using the auto ticket machines which meant basically no line). We also hit the Cluny and the Rodin without the Pass and those lines were negligible.

We used our 2-day Museum Pass for the L'Orangerie, St. Chapelle, the Louvre, Orsay, the Crypt, and Pompidou again. Um, I may be forgetting one but those were the major ones. I don't think we saved money but the psychological advantage of bypassing lines was worth it in our opinion. We also hit St. Chapelle on a day with the shortest line we'd seen all week and, since it was 1.5 hours to closing, they were rejecting people without pre-paid tickets because they didn't think they could get everyone in before closing.

So, yeah, I don't think we saved money, but we really liked having the Museum Passes and if we had 4-day passes we probably would have hit some of the smaller museums we otherwise would never choose to visit.

I've just read a lot of the postings and have a question: we're going the week of 11/19/06 (Thanksgiving here in the the U.S.)....what are opinions on getting a pass or just taking our chance on the lines at that time? We've been to Paris, in April, once before, got the pass, had no waits and enjoyed a lot of the "not so well known" museums". But that was 8-9 years ago. I welcome all opinions. Thanks.

My opinion: you're probably paying ~$3,000 each for air, room & board. If you like museums, spring $75 for a 6-day pass, and don't look back.