Paris Metro Pass

Paris is a very walkable city. If you like to walk, you may take fewer metro rides than you think.

I suggest that you buy single tickets (8.50 EUR) to get from CDG to your hotel on the RER and metro.

Buy a ten-ticket carnet (11.60 EUR) for Saturday and Sunday and share the tickets. Each ticket is also good on the bus and allows unlimited transfers up to 90 minutes after boarding the first bus. However, you cannot use a single ticket to transfer between the metro and the bus. See how many you use in those two days.

If it looks like you're going to take lots of rides, buy passe Navigo Decouverte cards (5 EUR--photo required) and load each one with a zone 1-2 Carte Orange hebdomadaire (17.20 EUR). This will give you unlimited rides for Monday-Friday. (It's actually good for seven days, Monday-Sunday; but you wouldn't be able to use one on your first two days in Paris.)

If you don't think you'll take enough rides to benefit from the pass, then continue to buy carnets as needed and continue to share the tickets.

Buy individual tickets to Versailles and back. The fare each way is 2.95 EUR.

For a list of all your ticket and pass choices with links to detailed explanations of each one, go here.

Group your sites by area and you probably won't need to use the Metro/bus as often. We relied on individual tickets as well and our 4-person group bought a 10-ticket carnet. We bought the Versailles pass including transport and admission so we could skip the line.

Unfortunately, "the Versailles pass including transport and admission" is not available any more. Instead, purchase a Paris Museum Pass and the separate RER ticket, as Tim noted. The Paris Museum Pass will pay for itself with use at Versailles and two other sites in 2 days....and allow you to bypass any lines.

Thank you all! Very helpful!