hi fodorites,

DH and i are returning to paris this fall (YAY!!!) and have a question ...

we have our 'old' navigo decouverte cards that we purchased in september 2008. we will arrive on a thursday and stay through until the following friday. we're staying in an apt. in the 6th.

given our timing, i don't think it is in our best interest to load the monday -sunday navigo decouverte onto our cards ... our flight leaves first thing friday morning, so we would only get to use the week-long pass from monday-thursday.

can we load anything else onto this card other than the weekly pass? i think we will likely end up buying a few carnets to last us for our 8 day trip ... can these be loaded electronically onto the card?

thoughts?

thanks!!

Hi,

I think you may have answered your own question. You would only get the use for the 4 days. Carnets may be the way to go.

I will be arriving for a month on 4/15 which is mid week, but I am also taking a short trip down to Les Baux on the 20th and returning on the 23rd. I have some leftovers from carnets in Dec. that may last me til I load up to begin use on 4/27. I will also be leaving in the middle of the week on 5/13, so I will be using a combination of metro and navigo decouverte.

Joan

For me, loading it twice for those dates of stay would be worthwhile, especially since you already have the pass.

We usually land on a Wednesday and depart a week and a half later on Sunday.

We ride at least twice a day and hop on and off buses all day long, especially when visiting Montmartre.

It's just so much more convenient than keeping track of those little tickets and making sure they don't get demagnetized.

When I'm dragging at the end of the day & spot the bus coming up behind me, it is sooooooooo nice just to hop-on - even if it only takes me 5 blocks. I wouldn't do this if I only had carnet tickets.

We like to snake around Paris on various buses & get out when we feel like doing so to explore an area that looks interesting. I think there is a time-limit for transfers on the tickets - but not on the pass.

Stu Dudley

The number of days isn't relevant. What matters is: how much will carnet tickets cost for Monday to Thursday (and maybe getting to the station on Friday?)

If it's less than the 16,80&euro; that a <I>Carte</i> load costs, go for the individual tickets (keeping in mind that they cost 1,60&euro; unless you buy them 11,40&euro; at a time).

Yes, it pretty much depends on how much you think you will use it..only you can decide that.

As Stu has said above, with the pass you use the transportation more than if you were using individual tickets...easy to just hop on and off, if only for a short distance...

Joan

hi all,

thanks so much for all of your replies.

when we were in paris in fall 2008, we purchased a one week navigo decouverte. we arrived in paris on a tuesday and left the following tuesday.

we defintely did NOT get our money's worth -- i.e. it would have been cheaper to buy carnets. HOWEVER, the convenience was great - ease of swiping in and out of stations/buses, taking the metro for only one stop when we were lazy etc.

so, the 5E to purchase the actual card is already a sunk cost ... we may look into getting the week pass for our monday-thursday stay.

however, can you tell me whether we will be able to buy the navigo decouverte for the thursday-sunday portion of our trip? we will land mid-day at CDG and plan to take the RER to st. michel. i thought i had read somewhere that the navigo decouverte for that current week stops being sold by tuesday/wednesday.

thanks again!

We reloaded our Navigo on Thursday for the following week (Mon-Sun). Therefore, I assume that Wed is the last day you can reload it for the current week.

Stu Dudley

Wednesday was the last day you could buy a paper carte orange for that week, so I have a feeling you are correct Stu.

We would get plenty of use out of a Carte Orange in 4 days. That's only 4 rides per day, + 1 more ride.

According to the RATP website, you can load the current week through Thursday.

See also

http://www.transilien.com/web/site/a...adaire/lang/en

That's either a recent change or a mistranslation on the English page. The French page doesn't say that, and it couldn't be done 3 months ago.

Ok, found the new wording in the French page too-- so it IS different this year. <<...jusqu'au jeudi inclus de la semaine de validité>>

wow - thanks so much for all the info.

it might be worth it to purchase TWO navigo decouverte then - as soon as we arrive for thursday-sunday travel and then again for monday-thursday.

if i'm taking the RER from CDG to st. michel, can i reload my pass @ CDG? or does this require a separate ticket?

thanks!!!

You would have to load a 5-zone Carte Orange if you wanted to use it from CDG, and that would be too expensive for 4 days' use in my opinion. (33 euro vs. 16.80+8.40)

hi travelnut,

thanks for the clarification.

okay then ... we'll get a regular RER ticket from CDG to st. michel. and then we'll consider loading our pass with the navigo decouverte once we arrive in paris.