Hi guys! I'll be traveling to Paris for the first time soon and I just wanted to ask if anyone knew if Navigo Decouverte passes are available in Paris EST where I'll arrive? Sorry for asking, I just tend to be paranoid about my travel preparations :)
I'll be there from Tuesday to Sunday so I figured it would be better than the Paris Visite. (Also, does anyone know how much those photo kiosks charge now?)
Thanks a bunch! :-)
You can take a photo at home and print it out - normal postage stamp size.
The machines cost 5 EU for either 4 or 5 photos, depending on which you want.
You can get the Navigo Pass at the station, but make sure you know when you can use it.
You arrive upstairs at ground level in the train station. Follow the metro signs to go downstairs to the Metro station. You get the Navigo there.
You can get the passes at any metro or RER station; bring your own photo. Just print it off on your computer or even cut it out of a photo print which is what I did when I got mine nearly 10 years ago. The official size is 25/30mm -- close is good enough, no fancy paper required.
Just to prevent any confusion later, the station Gare de l'Est (literally, East Station) is one of several main line stations in Paris. It is possible that some booking services refer to it as Paris-Est, but that is to distinguish it from all the other Paris stations and any anywhere else in the service with east in the name, like the popular destination in the Swiss Alps, Interlaken Ost.
In popular parlance in Paris it is simply Gare de l'Est.
Hope that that helps somewhere along the line....
The blog www.parisbytrain.com is helpful for Paris train stations, often with photo illustrations.
We printed off copies of our driverilicenses and cut out the pictures and brought them with us for our Navigo cards. That way we didn't have to worry about finding a photo both.
Thanks for the responses everyone, it's been very helpful :-)
