Paris Museum Pass

Linda,

It depends on how bad you want into some sites. I do not want to see people waste money but I ask you to take a step back. How much is each person spending on this trip? Thousands of dollars? And are they willing to risk non-entry to a significant aspect of the trip over $20?

The Louvre situation is very fluid. I’d buy pretimed tickets for the Louvre and then get the Museum Pass for everything else once in Paris. The Museum Pass gets you into a lot of museums/attractions and interests may change once you are there. Flexibility can be your friend.

On the flip side if you are beyond positive on where you are going then prepaid/prebooked tickets can be a benefit but you are locked in. Sainte Chapelle often has two lines, the long one is to buy tickets. The short one is for entry. There is no skipping the line there other then skipping the purchase line. I suspect you need to find out if your prebuying and printing an actual ticket that sends you directly to the short line/ticket collector or just a voucher you have to stand in the ticket line with to exchange for a ticket? Hopefully their website can clear that up for you.

Travel safe

One Fast Bob

When are you traveling?

The pre-purchased tickets for the Orsay allow you to go in to Entrance C which usually has a shorter line. Everyone goes thru security, then you'd skip the line for the ticket desk and head straight for the entrance.

For Sainte-Chapelle, again everyone stands in the security line as it is the entrance to their law courts as well. Sometimes I've had the security person on duty allow me to go forward into the "group" line when I've shown my Museum Pass so I'd assume showing a pre-paid ticket you'd get the same treatment. Once you get thru security and walk around to the entrance of the chapel there is a ticket line but you'd just go in the other line and up to the entry kiosk.

So...I'm thinking about my strategy for an end of September/October visit. I went ahead and purchased a Louvre entry for the Leonardo exhibit that opens the end of Oct because the Museum Pass does not cover special exhibits. I WILL probably go ahead and purchase a museum pass for other parts of my visit and may or may not try to swing by the Louvre during that time. I'm going to several things that are covered by the pass so it will just be easier.

You can book a time with the museum pass for the Louvre on line before you go.
There is no separate security at the Orsay once you enter at door C with the pass -- THAT is the security and except in the height of tourist season there is often no line for this door/security.

Ste Chapelle has never given priority to the pass. Nor has Versailles. I would buy ticket for Versailles and go there on a non pass day - or since the pass now doesn't allow multiple entries I see no point in having it at all unless it clearly saves you money. You can have the same advantages e.g. at the Orangerie or Orsay with a ticket as a pass.

Thanks for your suggestions. I agree that I see no point in having the pass unless it clearly saves money. I would rather pay a few dollars more. So, I think I am going to go ahead and purchase the timed tickets for the Louvre and Versailles, and purchase the tickets online for the Orsay and St Chapelle. It just seems to make more sense to me than dealing with the pass. Thanks again!

For my 5 days visit I have decided to but 4 day Museum Pass just for flexibility. I am buying timed Louvre tickets separately.

You can use the Pass at the Louvre by just booking a reserved time slot on line for use with the pass.

Yes. But, the way I understand it, you have to enter the pass number in order to book your reserved time. So, I would have to buy the pass online and have it shipped to my house ahead of time. And I think there is a shipping charge, but I am not positive. For me, the hassle does not seem to be worth the savings.

We arrive in early September and will buy a Museum Pass at the airport. Once we have the pass we'll book our tickets to the Louvre then, can't imagine there won't be a slot available for the days ahead.

Linda,

It has been reported on at least one thread that the mail order fee is around $25. Thus more expensive then an extra separate pretimed Louvre ticket if your ordering 1 Pass. With multiple passes the fee gets spread out a bit but the savings are still minor.

On another board I frequent someone said they contacted the Louvre regarding the timed entry for Museum Passes requiring the pass number but she wasn't intending on purchasing until arriving in Paris. She was told to leave it blank, hit submit, the timed entry will go through and then when arriving at the Louvre bring the timed entry paperwork with the Museum Pass and they will let you in.

Interesting news sportkite1.

I would still advise everyone to go wild, throw money to the wind, and blow $20 on a pretimed ticket if you want guaranteed admission to the Louvre.

I strongly suspect that “blank” loophole will quickly disappear. It won’t take long for tour guides, independent travelers, etc to figure that out .....not sure which day you want to go to the Louvre during your week in Paris. Well all you need to do is book 12 preentry tickets for the Museum Pass; one for the am and pm of every day of the week.....and just use the one you eventually need....

I was able to obtain DaVinci exhibit tickets without cost for our upcoming November visit. The tickets show that I will have a museum pass which I will have to show at entry. It did not require me to enter in a museum pass number at the time of booking.

Amanda

I purchased my Museum pass online to be picked up once I get to Paris. I reserved my Louvre timed entry & used my voucher number that was on the emailed receipt from Paris City Vision.

Linda, have you tried the online tickets for Orsay and Sainte Chapelle yet? If so, did you get an email with a ticket you can print off? I really don't want to find an FNAC or Carrefour and hope the clerk understands I just need my ticket printed. I was also going to use the Paris Museum Pass for the Orangerie and the Cluny, but both are under major construction and important parts of the museums are not available. So I am thinking of going through my list of desired places to visit and hopefully get my tickets online/print at home rather than buy a museum pass at all.

Hi,
See the louvre thread,, but FWIW,
Orsay priority line yesterday at 12:30 was no one, and that was inside at the scanner, while the “no ticket”entry into security was lengthy, with a full line inside to buy tickets.

Passes -I still look at their “skip the line” value, rather than “oh boy I’m saving €10”.
I did buy 4 days passes, that suited our program. In hindsight, I should have done an on line louvre ticket, then a three day.
Regards

Amanda, how did you book the Da Vinci ticket on the Louvre website? Did you book through the "free ticket" option? I didn't see a choice there for people with Museum Passes. Or did you use the 17 Euros option? I suspect that the Louvre will close this loophole, as they did for general admission timed tickets for Museum Pass holders. (One needs to actually have the pass to book it.) Thanks for your help! I had been planning to spring for a ticket to get my choice of times, although I will have a Museum Pass when I am in Paris.