Hello all, thanks in advance for any help.
Here is what I'd like to do:
1. visit louvre
2. visit d'orsay
3. go up eiffel tower
4. train travel to/from versailles (already bought a ticket to palace)
5. train trave to/from giverny (already bought a ticket to monet garden)
Which of these need should i buy in advance (as in they are cheaper or sell out)?
Thanks again everyone
All of them (for the sites)! Great that you already bought Versailles and Giverny entry tickets.
(You don't have to buy the train tickets for Versailles and Giverny until you are here. Those are local trains with no difference in prices and don't sell out.)
What time of year is your visit ?
I'm visiting in two weeks.
So i have to book louvre, d'orsay and eiffel tower in advance?
and the travel to/from versailles/giverny i could just do on the day of.
Is that accurate?
Just went to the Louvre and D'Orsay today, and just figured out how to book and bought train ticket to Giverny tomorrow... so I understand this question!
We pre-bought Louvre tickets 2 months ago for 9 am.
It's like Disneyland, the first 1-2 hours are magical tolerable but after 11am, it's so crowded I'm just so exhausted from noise and people I didn't care anymore about art.
We decided impulsively to go by D'Orsay without tickets, and the wait time in line for security for us on a cold cold day was 30 minutes around 3pm ,while the security check line for timed entry tickets holder didn't seem that much faster, to be honest...( my husband spends his time in line keeping track of such things while I never care about other lines except the one I'm in). I would recommend buying tickets though. Interestingly, the line for ticket holders without a timed entry was very very fast-- like 3-5 minutes per husband.
As for tickets to Giverny on train, I downloaded the SNCF Connect app and just an hour ago decided to figure out how to buy tickets for tomorrow etc... easy peasy. Hardest decision was trying to figure out return train time, but turns out we can take later train same day if we wished according to email confirmation they sent me.
For Versailles, we used our Navigo Decouvert all zones passes which covers Versailles and we showed up at our convenience to take a RER train there and back. I get stressed trying to figure out ticket machines and how much etc for public transportation in Paris so the 35E for the week is so worth it. (We got it at airport -need passport photos we brought from home--and it covered our train ride from airport--an 11E per person cost already). (Navigo Decouvert does not cover the TER train to Vernon-Giverny.
Hope this helps
that was incredibly helpful HappyTrvler, thanks so much
ok, one last question, outside of d'orsay, louvre and eiffel tower, which i all bought tickets for now, is there any other big attraction that requires advance tickets? I know that's a vague question but please let me know if there is any other popular site for which I have to plan in advance for (if i choose to go)
The Catacombs require advance tickets, those are released 1 week in advance.
They are advisable for Sainte Chapelle as well.
No real need for other places AFAIK (nice to have at Arc de Triomphe, but not 100% needed).
*Agree with St. Chappelle. On a free wandering day, we impulsively decided to stand in line for sans billets- without tickets-- and waited 2 1/2 hours from 2:45pm to 5pm and was let in. It was TOTALLY worth the wait according to young adult daughter. (Of course she has no memory of having seen it previously and acting bored at 10yo.Sigh).
. After 4:30pm (close at 7pm) line guard were telling people they're very unlikely to get in today and their chance is best when it opens at 9 in morning. (There was no more online tickets).
While in line I read in RS we could try to buy combined tickets to Concierge and St Chappelle. We would have been able to get in the much much faster -tickets without timed entry-- but I didn't want to risk getting out of line in case.
FYI about journey to Giverny. I made a mistake and got on the slow 7:47 train to Vernon-Giverny instead of the 8:14 am Faster train, so our journey was 80 minutes instead. We ended up arriving about same time as original train because that one was delayed, and we had seats.
We thought we would take taxi to Giverney for ease but couldn't find one. We'd missed the shuttle but a very touristy and fun small shuttle "tram" was outside. Buy just one way, not return because tram runs every 2 hours back to train instead of every hour shuttle does. Tram was right outside of train station--hard to miss.
For the shuttle from Vernon Train to Giverny and back , the driver gave me a brochure in English to let me know what time it goes back to train station... this was incredibly helpful since I wasn't sure how long we would stay at Giverny. Playing by ear we did.
FYI, shuttle leaves (from same spot where it drops you off at Giverny Parking ) 20 minutes after hour (except 11am and 3:10 pm) , about 10 minutes or so before train back to Paris leave. (Small station, so that's plenty of time)
shuttle website is sngo.fr (don't know how to link on mobile).
