I guess I’ll buy the ParisMuseum Pass and then line up tined entrance orders. Seems an odd system: what if—2+ months in advance—- I cannot get the days and times I want? How far in advance can I even book? If I try to buy a ticket off the attraction’s site, it seems many are not active that far out.
Direct tickets are not refúndble. The Pass is—as I understand it. How they calculate pass usage hours is confusing too.
There is no advantage in buying a pass, unless you just want one. Just book a time slot, whether you show up with a ticket or a pass makes little difference.
I am also researching the Paris Museum Pass for our April trip. Not every museum on the list requires timed reservations, only the most popular. For example, the Cluny museum does not require timed entrance tickets. Therefore, if the line is long you can just bypass it with your Museum Pass. Since we will be there for 9 days, I will purchase the 6 day pass and do activities not on the pass the first 3 days such as the Eiffel Tower.
I did the calculations and we will save a few euro with the pass.
And yes, I also see some attractions only sell tickets 60 days out. I just put a reminder in my phone.
It's not really an odd system at all. Many of the most popular museums in many cities have had to go to timed-entry reservations, even with passes, to manage crowd sizes. The Accademia and Uffizi in Florence, Italy require advance, timed-entry reservations if using the Firenzecard, and The Colosseum and Borghese Gallery (Rome) require the same if using the Roma Pass.
As Barbara said, just a few of the attractions on the Museum Pass mandate timed-entry reservations, and just make a note to start checking availability on others you wish to visit abt. 2 months out. Whether with the pass or not, it's all the same when it comes to reservations.
It's not especially confusing how they calculate usage: it's by hours after first activation. It's easiest not to think about it terms of DAYS but in HOURS. For instance, it you have a 2-day, 48 hour pass, you have 48 consecutive hours to use the card until it expires. So, if you visited your first museum at 10:00 on a Tuesday morning, your pass would run out at 10:00 on Thursday morning. Make sense?
Whether a pass makes economic sense comes down to the math; how much will individual tickets cost if purchased separately? As well, it's possible you'll stop into some smaller museums you wouldn't otherwise visit without the pass. Don't care for what you see? Move on; nothing lost. :O)
Thanks for all these replies. The day/time explanation is helpful. The Museum Pass can be cancelled. If I buy tours or individual museum tickets, those cannot be canceled for a refund. I guess that seems to be the big plus for the Pass. Thanks again. This Travel Forum is great!
how far in advance can you book? Depends on the venue, some are 60 days, some 90.
the PMP has a barcode, the first time you scan into the 1st museum begins the time.
you can reserve in advance, w/o the PMP, by just using a dummy ## as the PMP ## on that site's website.
Anyone who purchases a ticket in advance uses the same entrances as do pass holders. You do not need a museum pass to be able to skip the ticket line.
