Paris Metro

No, the Navigo is not just for residents, but it can be confusing as the RATP has several products with the "Navigo" name.

The Visite is marketed by the RATP specifically to tourists, and as such, is a bit overpriced. It includes a parcel of discount coupons which you probably will not use, or at least enough of them to justify the added cost.

Important info would be what day of the week you are arriving, how many days you will be in Paris, how are you departing Paris?

Sam,
Excellent into - Thanks so much! I will dig deeper on Navigo card, and may just wait until arrival in Paris. Thanks also for your alert regarding RATP site hawking tourist inflated option!

We arrive Orly airport 12 noon Friday Oct 29th. We'll be in Paris two weeks departing Friday Nov 12th. We won't require Metro access everyday.

If you plan to be in Paris for at least 4-5 days, you may consider looking into getting the Navigo Decouverte pass which you can use on the Paris Metro, RER trains, & buses (to/from Orly Airport), etc, etc.

Keep in mind that this pass is valid from Monday morning to Sunday midnight.

Don’t forget to take a passport type photo (3cm by 2.5cm)
I ended up copying the photo from my passport, reduced the size, then printed it. Easy.

Enjoy your trip!

P.S. I took too long to write my reply and didn't realize you’d replied.
You’ll need to figure out if it’s worth buying the Navigo decouverte upon arrival (Friday-Sunday) depending on where you’ll be going ( ie; Versailles or Disneyland Paris) or just for the second week.
You can also buy a Carnet of 10 Metro tickets for the first 3days of your visit.

....AND, if you forget to bring a passport type photo (like moi yesterday), there is a photo booth in the train concourse area about 20 metres from the office where you buy the Navigo Decouverte in Roissy Terminal 2.

6€, expect a lineup at the photo booth. The friendly clerks at the Navigo office did alll the assembly for our Navigo's, but I understand they don't always do that for their Customers. (I.e.. buy the pass at the office and then load it in the Navigo machines just outside the office in the concourse). .

EDIT: I see you will arrive at Orly. Never mind my comments about the photo booth at Roissy T2. But I will leave that for others for future reference.

The Navigo Easy is a card you can reload yourself. They are beginning the phase out of the magnetic strip paper tickets and the Navigo Easy will be the new way for short term tickets. Just like the current tickets, you can buy them one at a time as needed for 1.90 EUR, or a "carnet" of 10 for 14.60 EUR. The card itself cost 2 EUR, But the RATP website says you can load the app and use your phone for free if you will have international data capability.

The Navigo Decouverte described by Priscilla and Peter is the way to go for my money. If you are there for 2 weeks it might just pay off for you, especially if going outside Paris to places like Versailles, or one of the airports. Notably it is not valid on the Orlyval train to Antony connecting to the RER B there, but it is valid for the Orlybus to Denfert-Rochereau connecting to the Metro and RER B, or the T-7 tram connecting to the M-7 Metro at Villejuif. As said, there is no point buying it when you arrive as it will expire Sunday night, but could be worthwhile for the next 2 weeks at 22.80 EUR/week plus initial set-up fee, which I think is 8 EUR.

It’s getting more difficult to buy carnets of 10 tickets, they are phasing them out. You can buy (€2 I believe) the Navigo Easy and load tickets on the card. For 2 weeks your best bet (if you will be using the Métro and/or busses) might be the Navigo Découverte (loading one week at a time vs one month) as it is cheaper than single tickets. True it’s good for Mon through Sun, but it still might be worth it to get it at Orly when you arrive on a Friday if the cost of a single RER ticket from Orly into Paris is high enough - the Navigo Découverte will cover your RER ride. You’ll have to do the math to see if that’s your best bet. I’m arriving next Friday at CDG and will get the Navigo Découverte when I arrive for that reason.

Parisbytrain.com explains it all.

The Navigo Découverte (5€) is just a card, not a pass. It functions almost identically to the Navigo card which is sent free to those living in the Ile de France. The Navigo Découverte card is non transferrable. Before it may be used, the bearer must attach his photo and legibly write his name in the space provided.

There are a number of fares which may be loaded onto the ND card, i.e. the all day pass, a weekly pass, or a monthly pass. The passes can be a good value for some, for others, the Navigo Easy loaded with single ride tickets may be a better option. It really depends upon one's needs.

I have both the Navigo Easy (no picture needed) and the Navigo Decoverte (picture needed) cards. I do not think you can buy the Decouverte on a Friday. I tried on a Thursday (2019) and the Tabac guy did not want to do it. This time the days I was using it were Thurs thru Tuesday so I just added a carnet of 10 rides onto my Easy.

BTW, I tried to do this at a machine but it didn’t offer me the 10 tickets option. The man at the counter in the Metro station was very happy to top up my Navigo Easy and was actually quite chatty, lol!!

And, just to make this a bit more complicated (as if it weren’t already enough!), the Navigo Découverte weekly pass (which you can’t even buy on a Friday, as Pam points out) isn’t good anyway for getting you into town from Orly, as there is a special charge for the Orlyval train that connects the airport to the RER suburban train into the city. You have to buy an individual ticket for Orly-Paris no matter what you have.

Another note: depending on how many of you there are, and given the lack of good public transportation options from Orly, you may prefer simply to take a taxi into town. Taxi rates are fixed; it is 37€ from Orly to the Right Bank, or 32€ from Orly to the Left Bank. Rates are good for up to four people and their luggage. 4€ additional for each additional passenger after four people.

I read "we" so there's at least two of you: take a taxi from Orly. The bus is not comfortable and only goes to Denfert-Rochereau, which is not where people typically stay. And the Orlyval people mover comes with a hefty price tag not covered by any pass, around 10€. So a 32-37€ taxi fare is well worth it!
Pre-covid (haven't been since) there were many taxi touts inside the airport, just ignore them and follow the signs. The line can be long, but moves fast - I never waited more than 15 minutes.

There is absolutely no barrier as to when you may purchase a Navigo Découverte. The card is 5€ any day of the week. You may also load a fare at any time. Weekly fares loaded after Thursday will not become usable until the following Monday. Similarly, monthly fares loaded after the 20th of any given month become usable on the 1st day of the following month.

While the OrlyVal to Antony is not included in any of the Navigo fares, it is included in the Paris Visite should anyone want to purchase one. However, Navigo fares may be used from ORY to Paris taking the Orlybus to Denfert-Rochereau or taking Tramway 7 to métro 7 with follow-on connections to any métro station.

yeah -- you can buy the ND any time and you can load it with a pass any time. If you load a pass for the week on Friday it is not good until the following Monday. A pass loaded Thursday will be good through Sunday. Passes run Mon-Sun or monthly passes for the calendar month. We loaded ours on Sept 30 and it is good until midnight Oct 31 when we will have to load a weekly pass which luckily this year matches a full week.

The Visite is designed to bring revenue from tourists; it is almost never a good choice for adults -- can be for kids.

The metro doesn't go to Orly and the cost of a taxi at fixed rates is the right choice from Orly -- the public transport is both expensive -- around 24 or so for two, and cumbersome. You take the Orlyval to an RER station and then get an RER ticket into Paris, transferring to the metro in Paris and then haul your luggage up steps and walk to your hotel -- this is all cumbersome with luggage and you don't save much. Get a cab from the official line.

Thanks for the clarification from Tocard and Janet. you can buy a Navigo Decouverte card, but on a Friday, you can't buy a weekly pass that is good to be used that day. (You can buy one on Friday that can be used starting the following week.)

that was the point of what I meant anyway.

Effective Oct 14, paper tickets will not be sold any more. If you want individual tickets or carnet of 10 you have to get Navigo Easy (2 euros for the card).

You can still buy a carnet. They are being eliminated out in 3 phases. The first is October 14th and RATP web site shows what stations will no longer carry it as of that date. Actually very few. The next phase is not for another couple of months. The final date of elimination is sometime in March.

Pam and Kim, thank you for pointing out that buying on a Friday to use that day will not work. Thanks to Covid it’s been 2 yrs and I’d forgotten. Darn it!!

Thanks everyone! I always learn something new from this forum!

Just wondering.
Does anyone know how many years I can use my Navigo Découverte?
Is it still 10 years from date of purchase?

Thanks!

Here is a good site on information about the different Navigo's and other Metro/RER info as well: https://parisbytrain.com/paris-train-metro-week-pass-navigo-decouverte/

I will be refilling my Navigo Decouverte when I arrive in Nov/Dec & will get the Navigo Easy for my mother.

We had to buy a new ND several years ago because our original card expired at 10 years. A lot of clerks didn't even realize they expired but we could not load a new pass nor could they. We got them the first year they were available. We had come prepared because I read they were only good for 10 years. We then got new ones which we are using now and presumably expire in. another 7 years. So yes they do expire and when they do they don't allow loading of new passes.

Effective Oct 14, paper tickets will not be sold any more.

This simply isn't correct.

Some metro stations on October 14 will stop selling packs of 10 paper tickets (the collective name for 10 paper ticket is a carnet.)

See my post of Oct 4 within this thread (link below) for an explanation of the stages of elimination of selling paper ticket carpets.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/the-end-of-cardboard-paper-metro-bus-tickets#bottom

Thanks to all for your insightful, balanced and well thought out comments. Today is Sunday 31 October and this note is written from Paris. I credit all of your comments for successfully solving my original posted question. From your posts I knew not every Metro stop had a manned ticket office. Wife & I walked to nearest combined train/metro station which had manned ticket stations. There were several self operated photo booths near ticket office. We paid 6EU each and within minutes had passport sized photos for our one week unlimited Metro cards. Metro ticket office took our (ugly mug shot) photos and created our unlimited cards. From your posts I already knew one week purchase was effective Monday (Tomorrow 01 November) for one week. Again from your posts I know I can reload card late in week for following week.

From my heart, thanks to all for your inputs!!

Fantastic! Enjoy your explorations of Paris with your week-long transportation card !

Enjoy your trip and hopefully you will share how it went under the Trip Report section. 25 days until my arrival :)