Paris metro tickets

Depending on the days you are in Paris you get either a Navigo Easy card and load metro tickets on it or you get a Navigo Decouverte card and load a weekly pass on it. The ND runs from Mon-Sun so is only a good choice if most of your trip lies between those days -- and it is especially valuable if you will use the train to and from CDG.

Thank you so much for the reply- one further question if you dont mind:
Can you make the purchase of this at the the airport tourist bureau? I kmow many metro sites are unmanned and my French at 24 yrs vs 71 yrs will impact taking care of things if i get in a bind-is this all done by machine? It used to be so easy. Merci bien!,

All ticket purchases may be completed at the kiosks. English is an option at the kiosk screen, if you like.

I am seeing a number of posters assuming that they must use a mobile phone for ticket purchase. This is not true, everything you need you will be able to obtain at the kiosk using English. All you need is a credit card, some kiosks accept cash. Very few métro entrances are unmanned, I can't actually think of a single one. If there is no sales window, there will be a service window.

Thanks again!
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We got the Navigo Decouverte and it was a life saver for us. We used it for metros, the bus (which we used a lot), the RER and it was great just having to pull out a pass to scan. This does require a photo, so get a couple of cheap paassport style photos done before you leave, as the stations charge 5 euro for photos which is crazy. We actually took our photos with our phone, and the hotel printed them off on paper and we used that. Worked great. You can get them at the ticket windows and use them for the first 24-hours without a photo with your receipt.

We bought our Navigo Decouvert card at the ticket office at CDG. It is not sold at the ticket machines. You have to buy the card, provide them a photo which the agent press on, then tell them what you want loaded onto it (week, month, etc). The card itself is good for 10 years. It worked very well for us, particularly since we took the metro from the airport.

Just to clarify something about Navigo card purchase. If there is a sales window available, you may generally purchase a card, Easy or Découverte, at the window. Few métro stations have sales windows, but virtually all have service windows. At these locations, the cards are purchased at the kiosks, the purchase receipt is taken to the service window and exchanged for the card. The card is then loaded with the desired fare at the kiosk.

Navigo Easy cards are transferrable and usable when a fare is loaded. The Navigo Découverte cards are non-transferrable and are not valid for use until each contains the bearer's name and photo, not just a photo. Correctly configuring the ND card can save a fine.

Thanks again for all your helpful input,. I really appreciate it.

What Tocard said. Usually you buy the ND at the kiosk and then load the pass once you have it. A clerk might put it together for you, but usually doesn't. At the airport though you can go to the sales window at the RER station since you have to line up to get it anyway you might as well do the whole transaction there. They will run each card as a separate credit card transaction if there are several of you. And they will probably not assemble the card, but put the pass on it and hand you the kid which you assemble with photo, printed name, plastic flap to seal all that, and then insert into the case. The photo/name have to be on the card for use. It will work without -- but if you are ticket checked, you would be fined as if you had no ticket (35 E and up).

FWIW. we were stopped 4 times for ticket/pass checks the first week we were in Paris on this trip and we have seen ticket checkers several times since but at exits when we were entering.

I have never used a phone for any metro transaction, I am not sure why people think they must.

“ Now i am confused by te metro not using paper tickets.”
I think you have been misinformed. You can still buy and use paper metro tickets. They cost €1,90 per ticket. Tickets can be bought from machines or from a ticket window (large metro stations only). More info here; https://www.ratp.fr/en/titres-et-tarifs/t-tickets

You can of course also use the cards mentioned by previous posters.

Paper tickets are being phased out; they no longer sell carnets of tickets, but you can purchase individual paper tickets at machines. Some stiles still have a ticket slot but most no longer do, so you have to find the entrance stile that takes paper tickets (the signs are fairly clear). So yes, you can use paper tickets, but they are being phased out and are no longer sold at a discount.

You van no longer get a carnet of paper tickets. It has to be the navigo. And there is usually one or 2 machines that accept paper tickets now. Which can be a pain. You'll also see signs saying that paper tickets are no more. Best to move with the times. It was hard for me to accept, but it's nice not having a bunch of tickets to keep track of.

RIP les tickets de métro

Where is this ticket office at the CDG Airport where you buy the Paris Navigo Découverte pass? I now know that I have to bring a passport sized photo for each family member but if someone can tell me specifically where we go in the Airport to buy the Navigo Découverte pass ?

We are arriving at 9 am (on an overnight flight from Canada) at the CGD Airport at Terminal 2A - so any specific directions would be very much appreciated!

THANKS! Victoria

@victoria - it's by Starbucks - terminal 2 https://easycdg.com/transport/train-station-terminal2/

and you don't have to get an actual PHOTO, I used a color copy of my passport photo, far cheaper (thank you, work).

There are two places at CDG to purchase RATP tickets/cards/passes: at the SNCF ticket office located at the center of terminal 2, below the Sheraton Hotel (follow the signs Trains to Paris) and at Roissypôle located on the CDGVAL line, adjacent to terminal 3. You can board the RER B into Paris at either of these locations.

Where can you purchase the Navigo pass in Paris? We are staying near Ecole Militare and hoping to buy one at the metro office there. Is that an option?

There may be some RATP third party outlets where cards are sold, I just have always used the sales/service windows at the métro/RATP stations.

Cards/fares/tickets may be purchased at the École Militaire métro station, or at almost any métro station.

I was planning on the carnet for 10 tickets because we have 2 adults and 2 kids ( 4 and 7) Should we do the week navigo instead? We are arriving on a sat, doing 2 days in versailles, 5 days in paris, and 2 days in disneyland.

There are tabacs that offer "refilling" your passes. Generally you will see the RATP logo on the window or on a sign.

With much worry about which pass or tickets to buy, before my trip, I bought my navigo decourverte pass at the airport. I asked a few staff, and found my way to somewhere near Starbucks. I honestly can't remember what terminal it was. I had to walk a ways. There was a ticket window and machines, but they didn't sell the one I wanted. I had to go outside to stop or station 5 where there is a little booth with people lined up. You almost couldn't tell from the inside, but I saw nol. 5. I think it is a bus stop. It was just outside where the regular ticket booth was. It's not the front of the airport. I had a paper copy of my passport picture I printed on my printer. For 28 euros, you got the 7 day pass, and I affixed the picture myself later. 5 euros was for the card and 23 for the 7 days. It was so nice not having to buy tickets and took me everywhere, by every means, except to Versaille. It starts on Monday and ends at midnight on Sunday. I still was there on Monday, so I bought a unlimited 1 day pass for 7.50 euros. Then an airport ticket for Tuesday for 10.50, which included the metro and REP to the CDG. Buying daily tickets would have been so much more. It's also nice when you accidently go in the entrance style to the wrong line on the Metro, where you would waste a whole ticket. Contrary to someone else said, I found the styles to still have the slots to put in tickets. How else would you use your tickets to the airport and outside the zones you purchased your card for? At the airport if confused there are many staff members around and tourist info you can ask. Just write what you want down if you can't pronounce it right.

We used 4 paper tickets, leftovers from 2018, on the metro yesterday. No problem.

Bought the Navigo Easy card today with 10 tickets loaded. All stations do not have a human that you purchase from; I finally figured out that the metro stops on my 2018 map with an asterisk have a staffed station. Very quick and pleasant purchase from an English speaking gentleman. I made my purchase request in French but he responded in English. Guess I need to work on my accent 😍

FYI the ticket office at CDG did not accept credit cards for payment when we were there at the end of April-- no idea if it was a temporary tech issue or policy. The agents were putting the ND passes together -- if the customer didn't have a photo, they had to go use one of the photo booths, then bring the photo back to the agent. We were in line for 30 minutes and observed at least half a dozen examples of this from all 4 agents. Can't say if the agents required it, but that was what was happening at that location. We had our photos already, so the agent prepared the pass immediately during purchase.

We needed one metro trip after our week pass expired. The kiosks would not recognize the ND card, so we could not load a ticket on and had to buy a single paper ticket each. No trouble using it, and saw people using them at numerous stations around Paris.

“The kiosks would not recognize the ND card, we could not load a ticket on”

No, you cannot load tickets on a ND (Navigo Découverte), it is only for weekly, monthly passes, as others have explained.

And as others have already said, you load tickets on a Navigo Easy card.

jenn.lee.morse, Sat and Sun you will need a Navigo Easy Card. Mon to the next Sun you should use a Navigo Découverte weekly pass.

At stations without a sales window -- you buy the ND or the NEasy on the machine, take the receipt to the information window and they give you the card -- or card kit for the ND, then you take it back to the machine to load it with tickets or pass.

We have purchased NDs at CDG more than once and the agents always took credit cards to load them cannot imagine what was going on that they didn't.

The ND card works for both Versailles and Disneyland as well as numerous other destinations outside of Paris proper within the 5 zones.
If you plan your trips for within the week that your ND is valid you will save a lot of money.

Just to make another clarification, the Navigo Découverte is a blank card. By itself, it does nothing. It must be loaded with any number of possible passes to be useful:

• Navigo Jour (day pass)
• Navigo Jeunes weekend (also a type of day pass)
• Forfait Navigo semaine (Mon - Sunday pass)
• Forfait Navigo mois (monthly pass)
• Forfait Antipollution (free pass on designated smog days)

Additionally, each of these passes have zone coverage options from 1 to 5 with varying costs. Popular among tourists is the weekly, zone 1-5 option, but there are a number of other useful possibilities.

I am planning to buy paris visite card for 2 days covering zone 1-3. Is it available now ?

The Paris Visite may be purchased at any métro station or RATP sales outlet.

It is the easiest to use of any pass, but some consider it overpriced, not compared with what other cities offer, but compared to what is otherwise available in Paris. If your goal is travel simplicity while staying in the city, nothing is easier, nor more comprehensive (within zones 1-3).