Paris Passes

Many will recommend the museum pass but not the Paris pass. The museum pass allows you to bypass regular ticket lines. We had the museum pass on our last trip to Paris, and enjoyed not feeling like we had to stay a long time at each museum.

I vote for the Museum Pass! It comes in 2, 4 or 6 day increments. The days run consecutively from the first day you use it (not the first day you buy it). The pass helps you skip the ticket line but you still have to stand in a line for security at most museums.

If you are there in the right time frame the Metro Navigo Decouverte pass is good, but it runs from Monday thru Sunday so if you aren't there for most of that time frame you may do just as well to by a carnet of metro tickets (10 tickets for a reduced pass).

The Paris Pass includes a Museum Pass and a Paris Visite Metro pass. The purchase for a single day is 11.65E whereas if you used 2 or 3 tickets from your carnet of 10 it's 1.49E per ride. I'd not expect you'd travel enough to need 11.65 worth of travel on the Visite Pass. The Paris Pass also includes a hop on - hop off bus ticket which are easily purchased if you want to spend the time doing this. To me this is why the Paris Pass is not worth the money.

Rick has only ever recommended the Paris Museum Pass, not other products that promise to include transport and everything. In RS Paris 2019, see pages 43-46.

I'll also add not to bother buying your Museum Pass ahead of time. They are easy to buy once you are in Paris. Just head to either a smaller museum venue first OR I've purchased at the Tabac (tobacco shop) down the street from my hotel which is even easier. My hotel also sells them but only the 2-day ones. I usually get the 6 day one.

I'll also chime in that the Museum Pass is the way to go. I prefer buying it ahead of time and having it mailed to me before I leave for Paris simply because if you buy it at your first museum - you'll have to wait in the ticket buying line (which in some cases like the Louve or D'Orsay or Versailles) can be pretty long. But this is probably just a personal preference.

Those who do not do their homework and purchase the Paris Pass or any of its derivatives will pay far more for what they see in Paris than is necessary. I should avoid the Paris Pass and anything similar.

The Museum pass can be useful for these who spend a lot of time in museums but anyone purchasing museum tickets in advance, from a museums own website, has the same museum access (skip the line) as do Museum pass holders.

But Tocard - if someone is wanting to visit more than a couple/few of the museums/attractions covered by the Museum pass - then its financially beneficial to purchase the Museum Pass.

We've purchased the museum pass for 3 different trips to Paris - and each time we saved money over purchasing the tickets in person or online.

Well Dave, museums for many are not a race to see how many can be visited in two or three consecutive days. Personally, I might spend ½ day at the Musée d´Orsay and not visit another museum until a day or two latter. I am only pointing out that visitors can have almost all the museum pass advantages by simply purchasing tickets individually on line.

Another big advantage of the Museum Pass is that it lets you visit really big museums like the Louvre and the Orsay on two different days, so you can really explore them and not exhaust yourself trying to see everything in one visit.

Meemarj,

You may be interested in reading this post where I compared the Paris Museum Pass vs Paris “Pass”

If you’re planning to go up the Eiffel Tower, make sure you book your tickets 3 months in advance!

Enjoy your time in beautiful PAris!

You can also purchase the Museum Pass at CDG airport after walking through the baggage claim area into the unsecured zone as well at most of the train stations if coming in that way, Paris Tourisme booths or offices.
Enjoy your trip.

Another advantage of the Paris Museum Pass, is that it takes the "risk" away from going into a sight and deciding its not for you or, allowing a visit for a short time not feeling you need to get your "money's worth". On our first trip to Paris, we didn't place the Louvre very high on our priority list. In general, its not the time period of art we enjoy. Because we had the museum pass we went in about an hour before close. Wow, we found a lot to love. We hadn't thought about the fact that we'd enjoy the architecture of the museum, its a former royal palace after all. It was interesting to see the "spectacle" around the Mona Lisa, Napoleon's apartments are fun to see, too. Now, each time we return to Paris, we go into the Louvre for a short time and always find something of interest.

"Another advantage of the Paris Museum Pass, is that it takes the "risk" away from going into a sight and deciding its not for you or, allowing a visit for a short time not feeling you need to get your "money's worth"."

I agree with Jules as this is partly my motivation as well. I've gone in to both the Picasso and Pompidou Museums because I had the Museum Pass and they were included. I'm not a fan of Picasso or the more modern era hanging in the Pompidou but I went, found interesting things to see in both(including the postcard in the Picasso sent to maybe his son and signed by Monet, Degas, Victor Hugo, Renoir!). I probably would not have taken a chance if I had had to pay separately. It also means if you are not enjoying a museum you can leave without guilt, lol.

I also find some of the museums are easy bathroom stops. One April visit there was no crowd at the Orangerie and I wound up stopping by there 2 or 3 times just for a pit stop. I hate the pay toilet at the end of the Tuileries.

If you looking for skip the line tickets for museum or other monuments in Paris I recommeded this site : https://fastpasstours.com/. My husband and I tested it last summer for the Louvre museum and it was very useful !

Here´s another place you can get skip the line tickets for le Louvre and it will not cost you one penny extra:

The Louvre tickets

Yes but you don't skip the line with this tickets, it is ?

Yes but you don't skip the line with this ticket

You absolutely skip the ticket line with the tickets I suggest. You use the same entrance(s) as do pass holders.

Pam, I, too, was pleasantly surprised by the Pompidou. I only went inside because I had the Paris Museum Pass. I did find some art I enjoyed, PLUS, at dusk/sunset the views on their deck are pretty spectacular.