Paris Visite Pass?

Hello Diane, Not sure how long you will be in Paris but as a general rule, the Paris Visite Pass is not a good bargain -a look at the website indicates that a two day Paris Visite Pass is 105 Euros - definitely not a good deal since if you paid for a metro pass (less than 8 euros per person per day for zones 1 and 2) and even full admission to three museums/sites (about the most I'd recommend you try per day!!) you would still come out way ahead of the cost of the Visite pass. The only way to really figure out what is the best option for you is to figure out what you are planning to see in the time you are there - if only a few days you may be best served by buying a "carnet" of metro tickets (10 tickets for about 11 euros and good for one trip on the metro) and then, depending on how many sites you plan to see a two to 4 day Paris Museum Pass - but again, whether the pass is a good option depends entirely upon what you realistically plan to see while you are in Paris. Last time we were in Paris we used the Navigo Decouverte pass (one week metro pass which is valid from Monday through Sunday only) and a 4 day Museum Pass - and this did end up being economical for us. We are leaving again in a few weeks and since we have seen most of the major sites, we won't be getting the Museum Pass - we'll just pay the regular ticket price for the 2 sites we wish to vist. As for the Metro, we will just a combo of day passes and then for the balance of our stay use the Navigo Decouverte - probably would be cheaper to use the day tickets but I like the convenience of the Navigo and we still have our old ones from our last trip so the cost difference will be minimal.
Good luck with your planning!!!

Well first,, your post is mixed up,, you are arriving and leaving same day, guess that is a typo? ParisViste is almost never a good deal. The price you quote doesn't look accurate,, perhaps if we knew exactly how long your stay was we could offer more help. I usually stay central, walk to most sites, and just jump on metro when beat or to get to a few of the further out sites. I buy a carnet, which is simply 10 one way tickets , sold at a discount( think its 11-12 euros) and that easily lasts me 5 -7 days,, but can depend, I like walking some people do not. Yes the RER is 9 euros,but hey 18 euros isn't bad compared to a taxi at 45-55,, which brings me to this, if you are a group of more then 3 people then a taxi works out to be only a bit more, and worth the splurge.

Oops. Arriving May 9 (am) departing May 11 (pm). Edited first post to correct the dates. This is not our first trip to Paris and we have no plans to visit musems. Walking, eating, resting and perhaps a river cruise (which we did not do on a previous Paris visit). This website http://www.pariswelcome.net/metro/paris_visite.htm has a price of 20.7 euros for a 3 day adult pass for zones 1-3. Since an RERB ticket will be a bit over 9 euros, that seems to be an additional 11 euros for 2 1/2 days transporation...... There are only the two of us.
At least that was my thinking.

Just found this site...
http://www.paristoolkit.com/briefing/paris_metro.htm It quotes 12.50 for a carnet of ten one way tickets and 20.7 for a 3 day Paris Visite card. If I subtract the known cost of the RER ticket of 9+ euros, that would leave a balance of almost 11 euros - cheaper than the carnet. It might be cheaper to buy tickets each time I travel, but I'd like to avoid the time and hassle. The Paris Decourvert pass might be worthwhile if we were planning to be there a week, but seems too much for only three days.

Diane, a pass good for zones 1-3 won't get you to airport. You would need the 1-5 pass.That changes the price I imagine.

Ah, that was the information I need. Thank you Victoria.... Back to the drawing board..... It would appear, then that the most economical way to get around would be paying for a single RER ride then buying a carnet..... (since we are leaving by train)

Well if you are staying central , you know you can walk to alot of things,, I mean I can use one carnet in maybe 5-7 days cause I walk so much,, so if we figure for basically 2.5 full days, two of you could split one carnet( so each get 2 return tickets and one way each, you know , like you walked all the way there and take the metro back, lol) thats 12 euros, plus your return tickets for CDG, thats 19, , so thats total transport costs of 50 euros,, with possibilty of having to pick up a seperate metro tickets if you want,, but for 2 days I can't imagine you would need to.. ) so thats 25 euros each,, hope my math is right on that, I am rather flippity with this stuff. lol looks like you would need the three day Visite Pass zones 1-5 at 41 euros each...

Well we are not leaving Paris by air. We are leaving from the Gare du Nord station. So we will only be taking the RER once. We are staying centrally, near the Luxembourg gardens. That is where we stayed before and liked the location. We like to sightsee mostly by walking and then taking public transportation when we get too tired to walk anymore. So a carnet would probably work out fine. Use two each on the 9th and 10th and one each on the 11th to get to the Gare du Nord station. And if we have one or two left over, that is fine. Thanks!