Best way to do the Paris Pass and Metro Pass in Paris in August 2014

Hi Michelle, generally the best pass is the Paris Museum Pass. It covers almost everything at a reasonable cost, you can buy it when you get to Paris, or you can order it for home delivery (costs extra and not worth it, imo). A lot of the other passes have inflated pricing. You can buy Metro tix in a Carnet of ten tickets for a saving off the regular price. The Navigo Decoverte is a weekly or monthly Metro/Train pass that's a better deal still. Bring a passport sized photo and buy at Metro station, then "load" as needed. If you don't anticipate a lot of moving around, the Carnet of tickets may be fine for you.
I don't see a senior discount for the Museum Pass, can't say about the Metro, but I think not.

http://parisbytrain.com/paris-metro/

http://en.parismuseumpass.com/

There are no senior discounts.

Dave has given you good advice. The Paris Pass is not a good deal.

Buy 10-ticket carnets (13.70 euro) as needed for 6-10 August and 18-20 August. Buy a zone 1-2 forfait Navigo Decouverte (20.10 euro) for 11-17 August. The plastic card costs 5 euro and is good for five years. It requires a small photo.

Buy a Paris Museum Pass for whatever number of days you need. It's only good on consecutive days.

Gentlemen - thanks so much for laying out the details for me. My friend and I will greatly appreciate the cost savings.

Michele

We usually arrive on the Eurostar from London and buy two carnets of metro tickets at the London departure lounge or on board the train. We arrived on Good Friday so used the carnets until Monday when our Navigo Decouvertes became valid. Our Navigo was for zones 1-2 and good for 6 days, or maybe only 5, don't recall. We also bought museum passes even though this was our 6th trip to Paris. We used it to enter less well known museums (Pantheon, Maritime, Arab Institute, Natural History) as well as Orsay, St. Chapelle, and the Louvre. Most museums have a snack bar with seating, toilets, and cold drinks. It was so convenient to use passes on the metro, buses, RER, and quick entry into most museums. Send me a PM if you want more thrifty tips about Paris from senior travelers just back last week.

The Navigo Decouverte Semaine is good Monday-Sunday. The photo for the card should be 3 cm tall x 2.5 cm wide. Scan your passport photo and reduce it accordingly.

Looks like you're set with the advice above. If you have one of Rick's guidebooks that cover Paris, these topics are also discussed toward the start of the chapter. Bon voyage!