Navigo Decouverte pass for Paris transportation

Hi Margaret, there's lots of experience with and lots of questions/posts on the Navigo Découverte passes on this forum, so if you happen to have a specific question search around on the forum and it is most likely already addressed.

I have not personally experienced any difficulty with agents trying to push the Paris Visite card, and anecdotally I don't recall hearing too much about this.

The Navigo Découverte is a card, not a pass. You may purchase the card at a kiosk, take the receipt to the service window and an agent will exchange the receipt for the actual card. The myth that a visiter cannot buy an ND card is just that - a myth. The agents do not care.

These cards are non-transferable and must have a photo of the bearer attached (size 25 mm x 30 mm) and his signature legibly written/printed in the space provided. Service agents have scissors to help trim photos.

There are a variety of fares available to holders of Navigo or Navigo Découverte cards, fares which vary by zone coverage and duration such as daily, weekly, or monthly.

The Paris Visite does cost more but in some circumstances, might still be considered.

The idea that clerks won't sell it is about 20 years out of date and wasn't really true back in the days of the orange card either. You can buy the card on a machine and take the receipt to the clerk at the info window who will give you the kit to assemble the cards with your photo and then take it back to the machine to put the pass on it. Or at the airport just go to the RER window and do the whole transaction. No one is going to 'refuse to sell it' if you are clear you want the Navigo Decouverte (some martinet might refuse to sell the 'Navigo' since you are not eligible for that particular pass but for the ND)

I have had two NDs; my first one expired last year and I bought a new one. It is easy to do and very convenient and the weekly and monthly passes you put on them are the best travel bargain in Europe.

But the ND has absolutely nothing to do with museums.

"It's much cheaper than a Paris visite card, and makes sense if most of your travel plans involve privately held or smaller museums or sites not covered by the Paris visite card."

The ND card is only for transportation and is easy to purchase. If you want a pass for museums, you would want a Museum Pass. But first determine which museums you want to visit and compare the cost of individual tickets. With the new restrictions on the Museum Pass, it isn't quite the bargain it was even a few months ago.

The pharmacy advice is good -- I have not encountered public servant types e.g. ticket sellers etc who refuse to provide what is requested. But pharmacies in France sell lots of homeopathic crap that is utterly useless. You have to really make sure you are getting what you ask for and read the ingredients carefully before paying big bucks for some ridiculous non drug product. If you are into herbal remedies or homeopathy you will love the options, but if you want something medically useful, you have to be careful not to waste money on junk.

you're going to run into French service employees who are, for lack of a better term, brain-dead--or worse.

Comments such as these are unnecessary. I have found French public service employees to be unusually tolerant, helpful, and very courteous. These rumors about agents not selling Navigo Découverte cards are complete nonsense, particularly when, at most all métro stations, the purchase is done at a kiosk. Where kiosks are available, service agents do not sell Navigo Découverte cards or anything else.

There could be some confusion if someone mistakenly asked for a Navigo card, rather than the Navigo Découverte card. Neither you, nor anyone else, can purchase a Navigo card. Navigo cards are applied for on line and issued without charge to anyone with an address in the Ile-de-France. Whether you have a Navigo card or a Navigo Découverte card, they are used in identical fashion and the available fares are the same.

Thank you everyone, I have the info I need, and we can probably end this string here. Margaret

The truth is that any place you go your going to meet somebody in a job interacting with the public who might should’ve chosen a different career path. I wouldn’t say that I’d anymore likely or less likely to happen in France that it is in the United States.