Do you buy the Paris Museum Pass before traveling or once you are there?

You can also buy it at the airport when you land. At the many official tourism offices.

I believe you can only buy it in Paris, but I could be wrong. The best place to buy the pass? The Orsay Museum, because there is a separate ticket counter located by a different entrance for this purpose. You don't have to wait in line even once.

I am the ultimate planner. I checked many websites & finally found the one below which was the least expensive as it is the official museum site. Of course you have to pay for shipping. I always like to have all my tickets in hand before I leave so I am willing to pay a little more.

Tickets sales customer services of paris-museum-pass.fnacspectacles.com

It's very simple to buy the pass when you are in Paris. Why pay shipping? Shipping to the U.S. from the official site is another 13.50 Euro.

I got mine at the Orangerie - no line at all and it was summer and height of tourist season. Best to get it from a small museum (Orangerie, Cluny, Rodin) at the beginning of the day.

All ticket agents speak English, so even if you don't speak any French you'll have no trouble getting the right pass.

Just plan your time in Paris accordingly as not all sights covered by the pass are open every day, and others (i.e., Eiffel Tower) are not covered at all.

paris-museum-pass.fnacspectacles.com is actually a website of one of the authorized distributors of the Paris museum pass. It'll cost you an extra $20 to have it shipped to the U-S. Check http://www.parismuseumpass.com/en/home.php for the official site, listing all the locations it's valid for, and their hours. Also find "points of sale" for a listing of where you can get them. They even sell them at the touist info areas at CDG airport (one in Terminal 1, three in Terminal 2) so if there's no lineup, get them there.Many of the participating monuments will sell them, plus any FNAC store. As they say on the ING ads, "save your money."

I would add another option for purchase is the FNAC on Champs Elysees - because this store is open late (11pm ) and is open every day of the week. Thus, you can pick up the museum pass at your leisure.

www.parismuseumpass.com

Select "Points of Sale" - then "In Paris" - many, many options to choose from.

Fabulous deal overall and more than just museums.

If you're staying in the Latin Quarter area, the Pantheon is a good option too. We went first thing when they opened and walked right up.

Cecily, we got ours at the Louve. When you enter, ask them to direct you to the Starbucks (yes, there is a starbucks inside the Louve!). Across from the cafe is the museum pass office. When we got there at 10 am, there was no line.

There's an entrance off the Caroussel Mall which leads you directly to the Starbucks and the Museum pass office. If you want to by pass the pyramid entrance, enter the Louve thru the Caroussel Mall.

Cecily, We bought a hop on hop off bus pass our first day in Paris and stopped at the first museum which was Napoleons's Tomb and bought our Museum Pass there. Very easy to do. You buy the bus pass right on the bus if you are interested in doing that. Have a great trip.

We got ours at the Eurostar terminal in London while waiting on our train to Paris.