We're going to be in Paris from Friday to the following Wednesday, but I understand that a 1 week transit pass is good for Monday through Sunday! Can anyone suggest how we can make this work for us? We'd like to have a transit pass for the full time we're there, but not pay for 2 weeks.
I believe that I got a metro/bus pass on a Tuesday and used it until Saturday. I don't remember that it was only good from a Monday to a Sunday. I think that what they mean is that it is good for seven days. I think that it is good for seven days from the first time you use it. You can check with parisinfo.com and get detailed info about the various transportation passes. I believe that we had an orange pass. Be sure to get a pass that will cover all the districts you will be traveling in.
There are two types of passes.
The Carte Navigo s good only Monday - Sunday and is a good deal.
The other is a Paris Toursit card, Viste. It costs more then the weekly pass and IMHO really is not worth it. According to Rick's book a five day pass is 28 Euros.
I generally just use individual tickets if I don't hit the weekly requirement for the Navigo.
If you plan to do much walking, I suggest that you buy ten-ticket carnets (€11.40) as needed and share the tickets. If you know you will take six or more rides on any given day, buy zone 1-2 Mobilis passes (€5.80) for that day. For a list of all your ticket and pass choices with links to detailed explanations of each one, go here.
My husband and I ordered a 5 day metro pass for zones 1-3 from discoverfrance.com. It is good for 5 days from the first day you use it. You can also buy 3 or 1 day passes and it was a lifesaver! We used it on the metro, the busses and it is good for unlimited travel. I think the 5 day is $43 so for us it was $86. They send it with a map of the metro and we were happy we had it.