Traveled to Paris August 2019
The Navigo pass if WONDERFUL. It can save you a lot of money and hassle. However, it can also cost you a lot of wasted time when 1st arriving in CDG. You are required to have a passport like picture to put on the pass. Here are our tips and mistakes. 1) Bring with you extra passport pictures from home. We did not know this. Repeat, bring passport pictures from home. We were an hour plus in the airport just trying to find a place for a picture, wait in line and learn how to operate the machine. The little photo booth machines at the airport do not always work and are difficult to use. They do not make change so you must have exact amounts upon arriving. There is no one around to help you. If we had just done this it would have saved us huge amounts of time and running between floor terminals at CDG. The machines are 5.00 Euro for pictures per person.
2) Go to the SNCF main office to get your Navigo pass. Once again we were sent running around. The kiosk machines (after waiting in line) could only recharge not issue the pass. The pass is good for 10 years, we now keep it with our passports.
Luggage storage. Most important. Have exact coins for locker storage. There are some accessible for credit cards, but they fill up fast and lockers do not take bills only coins. There is a coin machine, but it was out of order. DO NOT expect any help from attendants. Our mistake was not having coins and having to run around the station to purchase something and receive coins. Locker location: Gare Du Nord. If you come by subway, go upstairs to the main train lines and go train track line #3. Just to the left you will see an escalator going down. Sign says "Consignes" left luggage, "Location de voitures" and "Objects trouves". At the bottom of the escalator turn right. There is metal detector. This is the entrance into the luggage storage lockers. There are small, medium and large lockers 24 hr. 5,50 7,50 and 9,50 Euro REMEMBER have coins and have .50 amount.
Subway: Double check subway lines and apps because some stops are closed due to Notre-Dame fire