Buy Paris Museum Pass Before Trip?

I think previously if you bought the PMP online, you still had to pick up a physical card in Paris. And sites weren't doing reserved times. Since the guidebook came out, PMP started having electronic passes that you can print out or show the barcode on your phone AND some (but not all) sites started requiring reserved times. For those sites (maybe all sites) the PMP doesn't have the skip the line advantage anymore - and doesn't allow multiple visits to the same site. So now it's more about the cost savings if it fits your travel style. We just bought electronic passes to use next month and were able to book times for Versailles, Louvre, Orangerie, and Sainte-Chapelle. There are a bunch of posts about the pass with tips. With an electronic pass, you get your pass number right away; with a card, the suggestion has been to use a random number when making the reservation.

The main reason Rick didn't recommend advance purchase is the pass used to be physical and there was a postage charge. If you decide not to go with the e-version now available, simply pick a quiet location to buy the pass once in Paris. I've always found the Conciergerie useful for that.

And to do timed entries for those museums that require it, many are just entering random numbers and getting a time slot.

Do run the numbers to see if this is a wise choice for you.

Also, not all museums need timed entries. The Louvre does for sure but no need to book this far out. I’m looking at the ticketing site and there are still tickets for tomorrow. Saturday is the first day there are a wide range of times available. I recommend going early as you can as to me this museum gets quite hot. There is AC, just not totally effective.

https://www.ticketlouvre.fr/louvre/b2c/index.cfm

I would not buy a museum pass unless you have decided to do a museum marathon in a few days that you know will save money using it. The pass no longer gives any other advantage -- you don't have a line advantage over people with simple tickets (and actually never did) and it does not allow repeat visits -- so all it does is force an itinerary with two many museums in a short time.

Wow, these are ALL great responses, and so very helpful! Thank you all so much for your insights, experiences, and advice, and so quickly! This makes having our honeymoon trip in Paris a LOT easier and stress-free. You folks are the BEST! :0)

As noted, make sure the PMP makes financial sense. Rick seems to not recommend these days. Will you really go to enough museums to get your money back? You don't want to kill yourself on your honeymoon. As I recall, admissions weren't all that much in most cases (under $20).

I had the museum pass for 4 days. It does make you rush to get them all in a limited time, but it was worth it; I remember going to d'Orsay Musee. There was a very long line and I walked right in. I believe I reserved a time slot the day before but they didn't look at my phone reservation. O'f course it was only April. I think the Louvre and Versaille looked at the time reservation but no where else. Summer is probably a whole different story. I think I saved a little, but it was really nice passing the lines and not having to line up at the ticket window. At Versaille if you don't buy a separate ticket with a time slot you will have to wait in a line to get a time slot when you get there and wait for that time. I didn't want to pay again, since it was included in my museum pass, and costs about 27 euros, so I stood in line. When you're waiting for your entry time you can go see the gardens. Frankly, I would skip it altogether, because of the amount of tourists. You are packed together like sardines going through the rooms. It's hot also. The gardens were interesting for 10 minutes, and the rest a repeat. It might have been better when the flowers were blooming, and my experience was colored by the fact that I didn't feel good that day and all the walking was exhausting. Looking at my pictures is fun though.

For Versailles, you can now use the PMP to "buy" a 0 cost ticket for the Chateau with a time slot and a separate 0 cost ticket for Trianon. If the gardens are having a show that day, you would need to pay for the gardens.

I disagree about figuring out to the penny if the pass is worth it or not. It just makes things more convenient and you never need to queue for tickets, only security.

if you don't want to deal with lines, you could always go to a FNAC outlet for your tickets

"It just makes things more convenient and you never need to queue for tickets, only security."

For the museums that need or offer timed entries you can buy online instead of having to queue for tickets. For the ones that don't need timed entry, in April there were often no lines for tickets anyway. No lines to buy the Museum Pass at smaller locations either.