Hello travellers! We are doing London and Paris this summer. While an Oyster card will take care of things for us in London, Paris is a bit more confusing. We are flying in to and out from Orly. Staying 8/13-8/16. We plan to take RER to and from. While in Paris we plan to use the Batobus. We may nip out to Versailles (also RER, as I understand it). I'm thinking the Navigo card looks like our best bet for cost. It also gets us a discount on the Batobus tickets. Am I right? Any advice? Thanks. Keith Vreeland
Posted by
Green Bay
21150 posts
I don't believe the Navigo Decouverte, which is an official RATP card, has anything to do with the Batobus. You'll need to bring 1" x 1.25" passport type photo for each person. It can be a good value if you plan on a lot of journeys in your 4 days. To use from Orly, you will have to take a shuttle bus from Orly to the nearest RER station, because it does not work on the Orlybus or the Orlyval shuttle train. You will also need to by the more expensive all-zone pass to get from Orly to Paris central and back and to nip out to Versailles. Also there is a 5 Eu one time processing fee. Its very convenient, and you can reload it when you come come back. It only goes Monday morning to Sunday night, so not for a short trip that overlaps a weekend.
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
The Navigo Decouverte (the kind you have to get if you're not a Paris region resident) is only good for Monday through Sunday. So, since you're staying Friday through Monday, it's not a good deal. (I think they stop selling it on Thursday, so you probably can't get one anyway). And it's only good for the Metro, buses, and RER within city itself, so not for the airport or Versailles (not sure about a Batobus discount). You'll probably do best with carnets of metro/bus tickets, and separate tickets for the RER to Versailles, the RER to and from the airport, and Batobus tickets. A carnet (pronounced car-NAY) is group of ten tickets that cost substantially less than ten single tickets. These are splittable. So, just buy them as you need them. Between your Batobus and seeing Versailles, and of course walking, you not need too many tickets. If you are having a heavy day of transit within Paris, you can get a Carte Mobilis, which is good for a whole day (particularly useful for Montmartre, since many take a Metro and then the funicular, which is a separate Metro ticket). Your RER tickets for Versailles and Orly are also good for any Metro you need to connect to the RER, as long as you keep your uncrumpled ticket to work all the necessary turnstiles and you don't exit the system in the middle of the journey. So, no need to buy or use separate Metro tickets for those journeys - yet more reason you probably won't use too many from your carnet.