Paris Museum pass, yes or No

Hi Judy, I think the Museum Pass is a great deal but you really need to check out the site to see if it will be the best choice for you. The website lists all the covered museums. You need to check the individual museum sites to see if they're open on Monday.

PS - we did the steps at Notre Dame in May 2015. Get there early! We waited in line 1 hour but it was totally worth it. Great views of the city and the gargoyles.

Hmmm, sounds like Paris and the Heart of France, lol! An EXCELLENT tour!

So...open Monday are the Cluny, Army Museum (but I think once a month it is closed on Mondays, maybe the 1st Monday? check their website), Pompidou. I would probably pick what you might want to see and compare the numbers.

On Tuesday AM you could also consider doing the Marmottan Museum. This is the Monet museum and is not covered by the Museum Pass but is open on Tuesdays.

In general it's a good value IF you have the energy to use it strategically. As suggested, look at the museums it covers that you would want to visit and are open Monday, then compare their admission charges (plus Versailles) with the cost of the pass. Apart from this basic math, the pass offers two more advantages. First, it lets you skip ticket-buying lines at the more popular museums, like Louvre and Orsay. Second, it enables you to pop in and out of museums you might want to see briefly (even for bathroom purposes!) but wouldn't invest in otherwise.

Pass or not, enjoy your trip.

The Louvre is open on Monday so you will certainly get your money's worth with Versailles and this. As noted -- get to the Notre Dame tower at least half an hour before opening. If you don't get the pass get a ticket for Versailles before you go -- it doesn't save you from the security line which stretches for blocks if you don't get there very early, but it does save you from the ticket lines. Get to Versailles a half hour before it opens as well. We were there in late October and mid-morning the line stretched many blocks -- we were not going into the chateau but if you are -- get there very early.

Be careful about planning a trip to Versailles on Sunday—we ignored RIck's advice on our 2010 trip and it was a complete nightmare in terms of being over the top crowded. Maybe it's not the same now, but definitely do your research. In our experience the museum pass was a good deal, but I did not do the math so much as we built our days around shorter visits to museums that we might not have otherwise visited. We found a lot of value in being able to pop in for a short visit without having to stay a long time in smaller museums to make the most of our admission fee.

This really depends on what museums are potentially covered in your tour, and how many days prior you are looking to fill (and what days of the week they are).

If it is Rick's Paris and the Heart of France, then probably Sainte-Chapelle and d'Orsay on day 1 and Louvre on day 2. The afternoon of the 2nd day is open so that's a good time to work in Orangerie on the Museum Pass you'll get with the tour.

We were at Versailles on a Sunday in late October this year because we wanted to see the fountains in operation; this was great and I highly recommend it and there were no lines to speak of to enter the gardens BUT as others have noted the lines for the chateau were laughable. We arrived mid morning and the lines stretched many blocks; I can imagine that it was shoulder to shoulder inside. Not something I would subject myself to.

Thanks Pam.

Versailles would be the big one.
Others to look at (and close together)
- Cluny and Pantheon
- Rodin and Invalides
- Pompidou and Picasso
- Towers of Notre Dame and Conciergerie
- Arc de Triomphe

You would need 4 days to comfortably get through this lot.

VS,

I only wish I had a different day to go to Versailles but it is really the only good day. I don't think I have enough time on the day the tour starts to do Versailles and make it back in town and change hotels that day as well. Crowds don't bother me so I should be fine. I will just have to make the best of it.

Thank you everyone for all your advice in the matter.

I think if you are super organised you could do Versailles on Tuesday, the starting day of your tour.
Breakfast at 7am. Checkout at 730am. Drop bags tour hotel at 8am. Versailles at 9am (or at least by 10am).
This would give you approx 6 hours at the Palace, to make it back for 5pm tour meeting.