Buy Paris Navigo Pass Ahead of Entry?

The weekly pass, the one that runs from Monday to Sunday and costs around 32 euros, cannot be purchased before you get to France.

You can however purchase single tickets (and the overpriced tourist passes) from anywhere in the world very easily -- if you have an iPhone. Open the Wallet app, tap the plus sign at the top of the screen, select Transit Card, then scroll to France and select Navigo. The various ticket and pass options will be there and purchasable using Apple Pay. To use them, you will tap your phone on turnstiles/card readers. I've done this with single tickets and it worked perfectly.

On Android there is apparently a workable but more involved process. I know nothing about it, you would have to look it up.

If you do not already currently have a physical Navigo Découverte card (this is the name of the physical card on which you can load the Navigo Semaine AKA weekly pass), you will almost certainly not be able to purchase a Navigo Semaine pass prior to arrival.

This is because the other way to load a Navigo Semaine pass is to buy it through the IDF Mobilités app, but you need to set up an account, and IDF Mobilités will geoblock you from creating an account if you are in the US. (This is because the Navigo Semaine pass was never intended to be a tourist product in the first place.)

However:

• In the future, should you return to France (let's hope!) you can recharge a physical Navigo Découverte card that you already possess via the app from anywhere in the world.
• The IDF Mobilités app will allow you to buy single tickets and the expensive Paris Visite tourist pass without opening an account. As the poster above notes, you can also buy these single tickets or Paris Visite via the iOS Wallet app.

Thank you both. Unfortunately, neither of us ApplePay on our iPhones.

When I arrived at CDG in April, I followed signs to the lower level where the RER train departs, and there was a Navigo information desk where I bought the card and loaded it with enough money for the train to central Paris and our hotel. It was pretty easy. After you have the card, you can use the machines in the stations to load more fares.

Unfortunately, neither of us ApplePay on our iPhones.

This has no bearing on whether you can purchase the Navigo Semaine on your phones. Only French residents can buy them on their phones

I'm not sure why my father and I are the exceptions to the above information, but we both downloaded the IDF Mobilites app several years ago on our Android phones and set up accounts while in the US. We visit Paris annually and always buy the Navigo Semaine pass via the app before we arrive.

@ Kim, no one said it was possible to get the Navigo Semaine using Apple Wallet. The suggestion was to use the iPhone to purchase single tickets instead. (I wouldn't recommend the overpriced passes available with this method.) Moot for OP of course as they don't use that feature at all.

@ Abby, you're probably an exception because you set up your account before they started using geoblocking.

simply pay for the ticket at the fare gate by tapping your contactless card

Does this work for buses and trams as well as the metro?

To be clear: there is NO tap-in tap-out for the Paris metro/buses/trams.

(You can use an Apple Watch or phone or Android to tap in and out, on the condition that you have IDF Mobilités TICKETS loaded on that device.)

Thanks for the clarification Kim. I personally have decided to just buy a physical card when I get into Paris rather than try to figure out the nuances of the apps.