Passlib' versus Paris Museum Pass

I don't think you need more than the Paris Museum Pass. That pass covers so many sites it will fill your entire stay. If you haven't been to Paris before, the 4 day pass might be nice as you'll be able to cover a lot of ground. The transportation part of the Passlib is the big addition to that pass...otherwise it's basically a Paris Museum Pass with a few other options thrown in like a Seine cruise and one of those big tourist bus tours. You don't really need it. We mostly walk from site to site in Paris. Even if you don't like walking that much, you can just buy a shareable 10 ride Metro carnet for about 14 Euros. That will last you quite awhile.

The Passlib is a new brand for the Paris Pass, probably because so many people on websites like this are explaining what a rip-off it is. It is simply a combination of the Paris Museum Pass with the Paris transport authority's over-priced tourist-aimed Paris Visite passes. If you are in Paris for three full days, your most efficient means of paying for transport will probably be to buy "carnets" (pronounced CAR-neh), which are packs of ten single-journey tickets, which can be used for both buses and Metro/RER, sold at a discount rate. If there are two of you, you can share a carnet between you, but each of you must have a ticket for each journey. You can use the same ticket to change between Metro/RER lines on a journey, or to change from one bus to another, but you must use a new ticket if you change from Metro to bus or vice-versa.

The Paris Museum Pass may or may not be good value for only two or three days - I would check carefully to see whether it is actually cheaper than individual tickets for the museums you intend to visit. Having a Paris Museum Pass will now not usually let you get into a museum faster, as the longest delays are for compulsory security screening rather than buying tickets.

having the museum pass DOES get you in quicker. The worst lines are at the Orsay and pass holders use a different door for security that often has no line at all and at worst high season times rarely takes more than 15 minutes while those without passes or tickets wait a couple hours in high season. At the Louvre you can use the Richelieu Entrance and sometimes are allowed to bypass the long security line at the Pyramid. At the Orangerie there is a different security line for passholders. And this is true at other museums as well. It is convenient to have the pass on a short first trip where you will be visiting many attractions on the list. It also allows multiple visits (two medium length visits to the Louvre sure beats one marathon) and to do a brief drop in at places you might otherwise not choose.

The combo passes are not 'passes' they are kits of products and any that includes transport is going to be a bad deal as the Paris Visite is an overpriced product.

Valerie and Phillip nailed it: the Passlib card is just another version of the ridiculously over-priced Paris Pass. We did buy the Paris Museum Pass and got our $$ out of it but we had the 6-day version and visited some of the museums more than once (the Louvre 3 times). I don't recall that the security checks took that long with the exception of Sainte-Chappelle, where those checks took place BEFORE the ticket line. The Towers at Notre Dame does not have a separate line for the pass so it's just one queue.

But the tall and short of it is to do the math: make a list of what you want to see and what normal entry ticket prices are for them. If you decide to go with the pass, then follow Phillip's advance to purchase a carnet or two for hopping the metro or buses. We shared one carnet between us and barely used it all over the course of a week but with your time being shorter, you may want to cover some of the distances more quickly.

Tickets for the Louvre and D'orsay (and probably a few others) may also be ordered online if you decide against the pass.

http://www.louvre.fr/en

http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/visit/admission/ticket-purchase.html

(Editing to add). I just took a very quick look at the Passlib and one difference between this and Paris Pass (which appears to still be available) is that it allows fast-track access to the 2nd floor of the Eiffel. Neither of the other passes apply at that one. Still you can pre-order Eiffel tickets so that benefit isn't enough to justify the price.

I agree that taking the Passlib isn't the best deal. The Museum Pass may be worthwhile depending on what you want to see. As far as transportation, a navigo devouverte pass might be a good idea for you. It's a weekly transportation pass good on the metro/bus/rer good from Monday - Sunday. It costs 21.25 euro, plus a one-time fee of 5 euro for the actual card. If you're flying in/out of CDG, then this would definitely make sense, because the pass covers the RER B ride to and from the airport, which is 10 euro each way.

The Navago pass also includes train to/from Versailles.