My Fiance and I will be in Paris for 8 Days and wondering the most cost effective Metro Pass to get. We are staying right by the eiffel tower which isn't close to a lot of sites so we will be using the metro everyday. We want to take a day trip to Versailles but besides that will stay in the city. Suggestions on which pass to get and where to get it? Thanks!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32747 posts
What day of the week will you be starting to use the Métro?
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
The best pass is the zone 1-2 passe Navigo Semaine loaded on a Navigo Decouverte card. It's good for one week (Monday-Sunday), not any seven-day period. It can be a good value even if the days of the week you will be in Paris don't exactly coincide with its validity. However, if you plan to walk a lot, it works well to buy ten-ticket carnets as needed and share the tickets.
Posted by
OP
Denver, CO
13 posts
Wendesday or Thursday is when we would start using it.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Allie, How old are you and how old is your fiance?
Posted by
OP
Denver, CO
13 posts
We are 28
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
The reason I asked for your ages is because there is a one-day pass good on Saturdays or Sundays that is very cheap, but it is only for people under 26. If you plan to take lots of rides every day and start on Wednesday, then a zone 1-2 passe Navigo Semaine loaded on a Navigo Decouverte card would be worth it. The re-loadable Navigo Decouverte card costs €5.00 and is good for ten years. You must attach a small (3cm high x 2.5cm wide) photo of yourself to it. Scan your passport photo and reduce the copy to the proper size. The pass costs €19.80. Buy it at any staffed Metro or RER station. For Monday-Wednesday buy ten-ticket carnets (€13.30) as needed and share the tickets. A ticket is good anywhere the Metro goes (some lines end in zone 3) and on the RER in zone 1 (all of central Paris). It is good for bus transfers up to 90 minutes after boarding the first bus, but you cannot transfer between bus and Metro/RER on the same ticket. It also is good on the Montmartre funiculaire that goes up the hill to the base of the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur. Versailles is in zone 4. A ticket between central Paris and Versailles-Rive Gauche on the metro and RER C costs €3.35 each way.
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
Allie honestly with a thursday start I would not get a pass. I would simply buy carnets, but then I am a walker and would walk to many sites anyways even from the 7th,, but suppose that depends on where you are exactly you are staying in the 7th. I would ( and usually do ) just buy a carnet or two , they are shareable, so you can just buy one or two to start and see how that goes.. Also remember the day you go to Versailles you don't have use a metro ticket at all, you can just buy your RER ticket and it takes you from any metro stop through to RER and back home. So even if you buy a pass time that day in so its before or after pass validity. Tim is the expert on transport though so his thoughts are pretty good, I just am such a walker that for me personally a pass wouldn't be worth it . ( ps with normal use I find a carnet lasts me 5 days )
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
I agree with Pat. If you start on Wednesday, consider a pass. If you start on Thursday, just go with carnets.