I will be traveling to Paris soon for work, and anticipate it will require a hotel located in the La Defense area. I hope to visit tourist sites in the metro area after hours. I am confused where my Carnet metro passes are good...
Is a more expensive pass required to travel to La Defense to/from the Paris metro tourist area? I'd appreciate help in understanding borders of the Carnet zone, and what is needed when traveling outside of this zone...
Your help is most appreciated! - Ron
The standard t+ tickets which come in the carnets are valid for travel on the metro to La Défense, but not on the slightly faster RER, for which you need either separate tickets or a Navigo Découverte pass.
But for occasional travel, the metro will do, especially since there are two stops at la Défense so it is likely to be closer to your accommodation than the RER. The metro also runs a bit later.
I 'd appreciate help in understanding borders of the Carnet zone,
There is no such thing as a carnet zone. Nor is there a ticket called a carnet. A carnet is any 10 tickets of any type be they tickets t+ or tickets origine-destination. The idea of purchasing a group of tickets is to save money with bulk purchasing. If you are using the English language kiosk screens, you will never see the word carnet.
Tickets come in two varieties: ticket t+ or ticket origine-destination (this second group is for RER travel). Origine-destination tickets are sold point-to-point. The ticket t+ is good for travel on the métro, bus, tramway, or funicular. There are special ticketing rules for night and airport buses.
If you take the métro to la Défense (or if you take the métro anywhere), you use one ticket t+ (unless of course you have an appropriate pass). If you take the RER A from la Défense, you specify the end point and pay accordingly. Note: Paris itself is an endpoint.
For example, traveling from Gare de Lyon to la Défense, you may take either the RER A using a ticket origine-destination costing 2.80€ or you may take métro 1 using a ticket t+ costing 1.90€.
To add to the remarks above, the t+ tickets are good for the entire metro system (the numbered lines), including the parts outside the city of Paris. They are also good for the parts of the RER (the lettered lines) that are totally within Paris. However, if you're going outside Paris on the RER, you need a point-to-point ticket as discussed above.
La Defense is outside Paris city limits (just). So, that's why you can use the T+ to get from La Defense to Paris itself via the metro, but you need a different ticket to get from La Defense to Paris via the RER.
What others have said, and Could I recommend downloading the RATP app.
And you can board the RER anywhere in Paris with the t+ ticket but you can't exit with it outside Paris which is where you are likely to be caught and fined 50 Euro for traveling with an invalid ticket.
Thanks everyone. Very helpful!!!
