Skip the line passes for Paris

The Paris Museum Pass is very popular. The main difference between that and pre-purchasing separate tickets comes down to price and to whether you think you'll have time to pop into any additional covered museums with the pass. Using the rates in Rick Steves Paris 2017, the tickets add up to €51, the 2-day pass costs only €48 and the 4-day pass at €62 would cover more.

Any time I've priced out a museum or visitor's pass, they've not made economic sense to me; your experience may be different.

Note that if you purchase your tickets, in advance, online, which is what I do, you will be able to skip the ticket purchase lines and only have to go through the security lines.

Hi Lauren. I recommend the museum pass. One big advantage we found is that we went in a wider variety of museums than we would have if we had to stand in line and pay for each. For instance, we tried Pompidou; didn't care for it, so left after a half hour. But then tried Picasso and Rodin and really enjoyed them. Also went back to the Louvre in the evening for 45 minutes just 'cause we happened to be walking by. Enjoy your trip!

In this case, based on the museums the OP wants to visit, the pass would be worth it. As Laura pointed out, the pass (depending on how many days) comes out to a couple of €s less or more than the individual tickets for those three museums so it would probably be a good deal. The pass also makes it easy to just drop in for a short visit to lesser known, but often very interesting, museums and monuments.

Bob's experience is precisely why the museum pass is such a great value. At no extra cost you can pop into a museum which wasn't even on your radar!

The PMP often gives you access to a designated security line that may be shorter than the line for those without tickets; on the other hand in May we walked through the Carrousel entrance of the Louvre with no line at all although we had tickets and could have used the designated line at the Pyramid; it was however blocks long. At the Orsay having a ticket or pass is a big plus as the designated entrance for ticket holders rarely has a security line of more than 15 minutes.

frankly -- if you plan to see many sites on the pass it becomes a nickel dime decision. If it is close get it; who cares if you end up paying 4 Euros more? And in the meantime you can do things like multiple visits to a place like the Louvre which is better in 2 or 3 hour doses than an 8 hour marathon, dip into places you would not otherwise visit, use museum restrooms etc.

I've been to Paris twice. The first time I did not use the museum pass instead opting to pre purchase tickets to museums. The second time I purchased the museum pass. The museum pass is definitely the way to go. Saint Chapelle was one of those places I went to just because I had the pass, and it was absolutely breathtaking. As Bob said, you can pop in to places multiple times. I stopped by the Louvre and D'Orsay again because I was near them and wanted to kill some time before eating dinner.