Paris Travel Forum

Hi,
I will be in paris for 5 day in august and trying to decide between getting the Paris Pass (125 euros) or the Meseum Pass (40euros) & and the Paris Visite Card-zones 1-6 for 5 days (47 euro). I would get the Paris pass right away but it only allows travel from Zones 1-3. But the museum pass doesnt include versaille or the boat cruise. Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

soula

I can only offer a little piece of advice. When it comes to it, do a list of places you'd like to go and see which card or set of cards covers most of that list and see how much you actually save with the cards, as opposed to paying the entry fee of the sights. I personally think that 125€ is too much money but that pass covers a lot of places. Also I think that by buying Paris Visite you might have more freedom when it comes to traveling around zones 1-6 (the RER to Versailles is included).

You could buy a museum pass for 2 days (30 Euros) and just plan your museum visits on those days. Also, the museum pass does include entry into Versailles with an extra charge for the audio guide for the state rooms and the Kings Chamber. I never buy a travel pass in Paris but do buy 'carnets' of tickets (10 tickets) for about 11-12 Euros. This will give you 5 round trips. You can buy the carnets at any metro station.

Note that the (normal) carnet tickets cannot be used on RER outside zones 1-3 so will not cover you to Versailles. However if you would normally be travelling only in the central zone, you can easily buy a combined RER + Versailles ticket from e.g. St. Michel metro/RER station.
It is actually impossible for anyone else to advise because only you know what you will really do and therefore what you stand to save. Of course if you were to do everything on it you would save money with the Museum Pass, but few people would manage all that and you are only there for 5 days.

That is correct about the cost of the pass and the savings but if you visited 3 or 4 places on a 2 day pass it would more than pay for itself. You have to be the judge of what you want to see and how useful any pass would be.

We don't get the Paris Viste pass but use the carnets of 10 tickets described above. The Paris Viste pass costs 46.60 euros for five days in zones 1-5 and each person in your group must have their own pass. A carnet of 10 tickets costs 11.10 euros and you can all share them. Many of the tourist sights are in central Paris so you only need zones 1 and 2. An option would be getting the Paris Viste pass for zones 1-3 for five days at a cost of 27.20 euros but you still need one for each person. Unless you plan to do a lot of riding on the Metro, you would save with the carnet of 10 tickets. You'd probably have to get a couple in a week, but sharing saves a lot of money. You will walk a lot more than you think. The tourist sites are quite near each other and the walk is always beautiful.

As far as visiting Versailles, just buy your RER train ticket to Versailles separately on that day. You would also have to do this when you go to either CDG or Orly if you are flying into Paris.

As mentioned above, the Museum Pass does include Versailles and if you stop at the little information office before entering, they will give you a map and tell you what is covered by your pass and what is not, but most of Versailles is covered by the pass. Time of year does make a difference at Versailles so you might want to check their web site at http://www.chateauversailles.fr/en/

The main benefit of the Museum Pass is avoiding the long lines at the Louvre and the d'Orsay. There's no escape at the d'Orsay but if you enter the Louvre from the Metro station, there will be a very short line for security. Once past Security, the ticket lines move very quickly. You should check the museum web sites and prices to see if it will save you any money before you get a pass. You don't need to buy it ahead of time; get it at any of the museums on the pass. You can get a list of all the museums and their web sites at http://www.parismuseumpass.com/en/home.php

Have a great trip.

You might want to consider not using your trip to Versailles as one of the days on your Museum Pass and instead buy a pass at the RER train station that includes your round trip train fare as well as your ticket to Versailles (which also allows you to skip the very long ticket-buying line at Versailles. We found it was cheaper that way instead of paying for an additional day on the Museum Pass.
Also - an advantage of the museum pass is that it makes it easier to just "stop in" at some of the smaller sights without paying. For example, we were able to go to the Archeological Dig display that is tucked away in a corner of the plaza in front of Notre Dame -- it was part of the Museum Pass so we stopped in for a quick look and it was pretty fascinating. The Museum Pass gives you the flexibility to try places you might have overlooked.