What type of tickets do we buy in Paris?

Question

We are 6 adults and two children age 3 and 9 and we will be in Paris from Friday to a Monday. We will be going to all the main sights in Paris and we're staying by metro station Grande Arche de la Defense.

Is there a 3-day travelcard? 1-day? What is the best option for us. With a small child we may walk less and use the metro more.

Answer 1

The zone cards are usually a rip off. Your best bet is to purchase the set of 10 tickets at a time. They can be used by all of you.

Answer 2

You'll definitely need to rely on public transportation every day since your hotel is not in Paris but in the suburb.

Your 3-year-old travels for free.

The 3-day travel pass is called Paris Visite, it is 19 € for each adult and 9 € for your elder child. It also gives you discounts on some attractions: http://www.ratp.info/touristes/index.php...

Your hotel is in zone 3 so you need the one that says zones 1-3.

Otherwise you can buy 3 carnets of 10 métro tickets. Each carnet of 10 tickets costs 11.40 € per adult and 5.70 € for your 9-year-old. Which comes to a total of 28.70 € instead of 47 € with the passes. But outside Paris (zone 1) they are valid on the métro only and not the RER so make sure to get to your hotel you use métro line 1 and not RER A (which both go to Grande Arche de la Défense). 10 rides should be enough for 3 days but if not you can always buy and share a 4th carnet if you run out of tickets. It is much cheaper to buy a carnet than buy tickets individually as they are 1.60 € each.

Here is an interactive map of the subway network: http://www.ratp.info/orienter/cv/cv_en/c...

The French version shows you the different zones outside Paris: http://www.ratp.info/orienter/cv/cartepa...

And more info on public transportation on the tourist office website (note that they haven't updated the prices, which went up on July 1) : http://en.parisinfo.com/paris-map/gettin...

Answer 3

You can buy a 3 day pass for 19 euros (3 zones) or 38.50 euros (all 6 zones). Children 4-11 are half price. Unless you are planning to spend time in the suburbs, a 3-zone pass should be sufficient.

However, passes are not necessarily a good deal unless you plan to make a lot metro rides. A 3-zone pass is the equivalent of about 12 regular metro tickets or four rides per day. If you're riding less than that, buying regular individual tickets is cheaper. You can buy them for 1.60 euros each or buy a carnet (pronounced car-nay) which is ten tickets. A carnet isn't cheaper, but you don't have to keep standing in line to buy tickets.

You can check ticket prices and download a map of the metro system at http://www.ratp.info/informer/anglais/pa...

Answer 4

Buy Metro Cards, and Museum Passes, anyone under 18 doesnt need a museum pass. There are different amounts of days u can get for the museum pass. Not sure about metro.

Ask your hotel where to get museum passes.