HappyTrvlr

Buy the pass at any of the museums overed by the pass. As others have suggested, buy it at a less visited one . Last time I was in Paris, I bought mine at the Invalided, no line at all.

Christina

The pass has a website that gives you all the information you need www.parismuseumpass.com

There are some places you can buy it other than museums, such as any tourist office, including the tourist info place at the airport. You can also buy one at a FNAC store, but they have a slight service charge, I think, and often they have lines, so don't think they would be any better than a tourist office. See the website.

I am not really sure you can buy it at any museum on the pass, I wouldn't assume that. The website gives a list of about a dozen where you can buy it, but it clearly is not a list of all the places where you can use it.

nygvic

I was looking at the Paris Museum Pass website. Am I correct in that the pass covers Versailles as well ?

Nikki

Yes, the pass covers Versailles. I found it extremely useful there; we bypassed a huge line.

Dukey

Personally, I think the biggest mistake was that DECLARATION that you simply HAVE to have a pass because of long lines.

bumper

I recently purchased two 2Day Passes @32euros each. The delivery charge to the US was 13.50 euros. It was worth it to me to have these in hand when we went, although for reasons beyond our control, we didn't use them.

opaldog

As far as the advice to purchase online, it's not really the best ideal. Our very first trip to Paris we bought them online as I wanted to be fully prepared and ready to go. They did cost more and when we got to Paris the museums were on strike and we were not able to use them at all; lesson learned. We only bought them once after that and we went to the Pompidou where there was no line.

turnip2

I did not find it beneficial to us to buy a museum pass as we wanted to break up museum visits over our stay and do them every other day. I agree that with planning and timing IT IS possible to AVOID lines at museums.

1. Versaille. I booked tickets for me and my husband online the night before. I was not able to print tickets but took down the ref booking number . We took an early train and arrived at Versaille at 9 AM. NO LINE. We were able to walk right in. (They are renovating/changing the ticketing area and had what seemed like a temporary setup - while booking online the instructions were to go to the internet service desk, although there were no such desk to be found, the staff at security were helpful and quickly printed tickets when I showed them my booking reference #).
If you have kids under 18 - they get in for FREE. Bring passports to prove their age, their passports were checked and then they could just walk right in. There is one exception, we did go on a day where the fountains were on - the children are NOT admitted for free to the gardens and fountains but have to pay a reduced fee of 6 Euro on the days with fountain shows.

2. Louvre. We went early and bought tickets at the Lovre Carousell entrance wich is accessable through the Louvre Metro station, they open at 8.30 we were there shortly after. Again we had NO LINE. At Louvre kids under 18 also get in for free. Noone checked the kid's passports, (unlike at Versaille), the kids could just walk right in. After a few hours we were ready for lunch - the very large cafeteria downstairs had a wonderful assortment of all kinds of food, again since we had an early start by 11.45 the place was still not soo very crowded and we had a very nice lunch and rest before going on to see more of the museum.

3. Museum d'Orsay. We meant to be there a little before opening time but were caught by a very heavy downpour and elected to stay at the metro station until the worst was over in order not to have to swim to the museum. There was a fairly short line when we got to the museum right around opening time (9.30 AM), the line moved quickly, so the wait was only maybe 5 minutes, enough for us to shake out the umbrellas. Again the kids were let in for free and noone checked their passports. Since we were early we were ready for a bit to eat around noon. We had lunch at the beautiful restaurant on 2nd floor, around noon time we were able to walk right in and get a table immediately in the sparsly populated restaurant. When we left an hour later after a terrific meal the restaurant line was very long and every table was full. The early arrival and early lunch worked very well for us both at Louvre and d'Orsay.

ira

Hey mk,

You provide an excellent example for why newbies should spend some time on this forum before setting off.

>First, you NEED a Museum Pass. .......<

No, you don't.

>Second, whatever you read in the brochure or are told is WRONG. <

No, it is not.

>The ONLY place to buy a pass is at the Musee Dorsay.<

Nonsense.

Palenque

The ONLY place to buy a pass is at the Musee Dorsay. So do yourself a favor, just start your journey there, get the pass, and then enjoy all the museums without waiting.>

yes nonsense - i have bought them at several museums - lesser ones with no lines - incredible misinformation and the screaming headline 'Warning Museum Passes' - clueless giving advice to others. Incroyable!

StCirq

I have bought them at the Musée d'Orsay, and Les Invalides, and several FNACs, and the Louvre, and more than a few metro stops (though I have heard métro stops don't sell them anymore - not sure if that's true)...original post is total nonsense.

kwren

I was glad to have the pass for me (my 2 kids were 13, got in everywhere we went for free and never needed ID, but if they had been older I would have taken ID just in case it was questioned). One place was sold out, but I wasn't planning on going in there anyway, and got it easily at the Pantheon with no wait.

I liked the pass because it allowed me to visit a few lesser known museums quickly to see what they were about instead of passing them for lack of time. I went back to a couple using the pass later on when I had more time. I also now know the ones I would like to visit for more time during my next trip. My kids didn't always want to get up early, and it was nice to go to the head of the line no matter when we arrived.

I recommend getting the pass and buying in Paris. It was easy enough to do and save the extra money for some escargots!

Ann1

We bought our passes under the Arc de Triomphe.

avalon

YOu could also try buying at Musee Delacroix on rue de Furstenburg. It is just a few blocks away from the D'Orday off Rue Jacob and I have never seen a line there in all the years we've stayed nearby

portiaperu

We bought our passes at Les Invalides. We had determined several places to purchase the passes before arriving in Paris and depending on our daily plan, would have been able to get the passes very conveniently.

Going astray based on language barriers, faulty directions or misinformation is part of traveling outside the familiar. It's not a tragedy.

We have had many "mishaps" ranging from sites of interest being closed unexpectedly, to ordering in an unfamiliar langauge with confidence only to find something completely unwanted on your plate (jellied calf foot, anyone?), to driving to the wrong destination because the navigator (otherwise known as my husband) asking directions managed to confuse the names of two towns and wasn't paying attention (we think that's what happened!). Some funny, some infuriating but it happens when you travel.

Museum pass purchases are the least of it . . .

kwren

museum pass purchases are obviously good conversation starters just like most travel stories!

janisj

"<i>Hey mk, You provide an excellent example for why newbies should spend some time on this forum before setting off.</i>"

Yep -- which is basically the advice we gave mk 2+ years ago when he started this mess

"<i>I can't believe that there have been 35 posts to this topic that very early on, I and others correctly stated that they were clearly mistaken!!</i>"

Yes, that horse was dead back in March 2008. Everything that could be said - was. The thread was topped by Ringerdog to simply ask where they can buy the pass. So now everyone is back to square one . . . . .

nanthompson2

Have found this thread very helpful...glad it was topped!

ssander

Bought our a Arab Museum -- and they forgot to write in the start date -- got an extra day out of it.

Two more reasons I love the pass:

(1) I can easily pop in for multiple short visits to favorite museums and be flexible in my visits.

(2) I can try out smaller, less interesting, or less well-known museums that orinarily I might not risk paying for. Example: I am not a big fan of the Picasso Museum (much better Picasso's can be found elsewhere), but I like to drop in for a quick visit to see some of the better paintings.

SS

Ringerdog

Are museum passes needed for November? I don't expect long lines at that time of the year.