RER Tickets Question
 

We will be taking the RER C to Versailles next month. I am a bit unclear on tickets. Can a Metro ticket be used - or do we need to buy separate RER tickets? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

You cannot use a metro ticket to go there, it is too far away. YOu can buy a roundtrip RER ticket for this trip at the ticket counter. It is around 4 euro, I think. YOu probably can buy them from the automatic machines, also, if you can deal with them easily enough and understand the choices. I haven't done that but think you might have to put in where you want to go (ie, Versailles) rather than just the zone you want (zone 4 for Versailles). I also don't remember if the RT ticket is one ticket or they just give you two separate tickets, one for each way, but you'll figure that out. It would save time to buy both ways at once.

Don't lose the ticket after you board the train as you will need it to exit the RER station.

The métro and the RER are integrated in that one ticket works for both within Paris, but as Christina points out, the ticket must include the extra price for going outside Paris. Unfortunately the RER does not have machines at the exit point (Versailles in your case) where one can add to a ticket with an insufficient amount. We once were stuck using a métro ticket to get to the Paris suburbs (the line for tickets at the Gare du Nord was incredibly long and we were in a rush) and had to slip under the turnstile at the end because there was no way to upgrade the ticket.

Christina, adrienne and Michael: Thanks for the quick response. I was wondering - when you buy a ticket - is it for a specific train at a specific time?

You can buy the ticket at any time in any métro station and it is good for any time.

It's going to look very similar to a regular métro ticket so don't get them mixed in your wallet or bag. You'll be buying two identical tickets for the trip there and the trip back (they can be used in either direction) and these tickets do not expire. They can be used at any time on that specific route.
If you buy it at the machine, you'll have to select 'Versailles Rive Gauche', then you choose the quantity (therefore 2 per person for a round trip).

Each ticket costs 3.25€. A 'carnet' of 10 costs 26 € ( = meaning you get 10 for the cost of 8) so if there are more than 4 in your party, a 'carnet' will be cheaper.

FrenchMystiqueTours2 - Very helpful information. Thank you!

BTW if you buy from the machine, you will need enough euro coins to do that if you have an American credit card as they won't take those. Some machines now take euro notes, also, actually, but I wouldn't know what it is like where you will go to get them.

You can actually buy them at any station, so you can buy them in advance of your trip. There are trains all day long to Versailles about every 10 minutes or so. It's just like using the metro, you put the ticket in the turnstile, there is no conductor on this train so they couldn't have a train-specific ticket.