Is the Paris Pass 2024 worth it? We review prices and value here
After a couple of slow years like every other city, Paris is booming again and 2024 looks like another busy year for the city and its major attractions. The Paris Pass made some changes and then changed back last year and now in 2024 it’s easier and more straightforward than it’s been in a while. And unlike many other major tourist cities, most attractions in Paris didn’t increase prices in 2023 so the Paris Pass is about the same price as last year as well.
The Paris Pass can be a great tool for many visitors. Not only does it allow free entry into most of the top tours and attractions that are most popular with first-time visitors, but it also helps you plan an efficient itinerary that will save you a lot since so many of the best attractions are close together. As we will discuss below, I highly recommend both the hop-on, hop-off bus tour (in the morning) and the 1-hour Seine cruise (around sunset) whether you buy a Paris Pass or not. Fortunately, they are both included.
Note: This article was last updated in March, 2024. This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated (at no extra cost to you) if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. This helps to keep this site going.
The main Paris attraction passes
- Paris Pass – This includes a Paris Museum Pass (see below) and an All-Inclusive attraction pass, which includes entry to most of the famous attractions and tours that are not specifically museums.
- Paris Museum Pass – This includes only admission to nearly every major museum in Paris.
If you are NOT interested in things like the Hop-on, Hop-off bus tour, the Eiffel Tower guided climb, the (highly recommended 1-hour Seine Cruise or the wine tasting experience, then the Paris Museum Pass alone will save you money.
Prices for the Paris attraction and transportation passes
Paris Pass 2024 prices
2-day passes
- 2-day Adult Paris Pass: (including a 2-day Museum Pass) €179
- 2-day Child Paris Pass (ages 4 to 11): €94
3-day passes
- 3-day Adult Paris Pass: (including a 2-day Museum Pass) €214
- 3-day Child Paris Pass: €109
4-day passes
- 4-day Adult Paris Pass (including a 4-day Museum Pass): €275
- 4-day Child Paris Pass: €130
6-day passes
- 6-day Adult Paris Pass: (including a 6-day Museum Pass) €300
- 6-day Child Paris Pass: €140
Exclusive discount for Price of Travel readers
- Get 5% off all Paris Passes
Use coupon code: GO5POT – Look for “promo code?” in Step 4 of checkout)
Prices of the most popular museums covered by the Paris Museum Pass, which is included with the Paris Pass
Palace of Versailles: €18
Built during the 1600s and 1700s, the Palace of Versailles is one of the largest and most famous palaces in the world. Always one of the most popular attractions in the Paris area, it’s outside of town and it takes 60 to 90 minutes to reach, depending on your starting point. Admission is included with a Paris Museum Pass and you’ll have to make a reservation as well.
Louvre Museum: €17
Obviously you can visit Paris and not visit the Louvre, so it’s good that it’s included in the Paris Pass. You now have to make reservations for your visit, but it’s an enormous place so that is usually simple. The building itself is a historic palace that would be worth a tour even if it didn’t contain the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, among thousands of other important pieces.
If you are an art fanatic, feel free to spend 4 or 6 hours in the Louvre or even visit twice. But honestly for most people, it gets overwhelming after an hour or maybe two. When I bring new people to Paris I walk them to the Mona Lisa and then to the Venus de Milo. By that time we’ve passed by thousands of paintings and sculptures and been there 45 minutes. After that we look around at anything else that has caught our eye, and then exit through the gift shop. A focused hour is more enjoyable for most people than wandering around for four hours unsure of what you are looking at. It’s also always pretty crowded.
Musée d’Orsay: €16
Located across the Seine from the Louvre in a gorgeous former train station, the Orsay Museum is actually more enjoyable for most people because it’s far more compact and yet also filled with super famous pieces. Here, along with smaller crowds, you’ll see one of Van Gogh’s Starry Nights, Whistler’s Mother by Whistler, and Bal du moulin de la Galette by Renoir. Honestly, you’ll probably recognize at least 10 or 12 famous paintings and you won’t wear out a pair of shoes in doing so.
Arc de Triomphe: €13
You already know what the Arc de Triomphe looks like, and it’s definitely worth going up to the observation deck on top because you’ll get many of your best Paris photos from there. Most people will climb the 234 stairs, but they also have an elevator for anyone who doesn’t look like climbing 234 stairs is possible (or a wise move). The HOHO buses stop here and it’s a good place to get off for a visit because many other people also get off so there will be empty seats on top when you want to get back on. That isn’t true of several other stops.
Sainte-Chapelle: €11.50
Conveniently located just a short walk from Notre Dame cathedral, the Sainte-Chapelle church will be another unexpected highlight of your Paris visit. This 800-year-old church has easily the world’s most impressive and beautiful stained glass windows in several different rooms. It’s breathtaking when you first see it, and one other great feature is that it’s small enough that you can easily enjoy it in less than an hour. The Paris Pass allows you to pack in many smaller and quicker attractions like this without worrying about going broke in the process.
What ISN'T included in the Paris passes
- Eiffel Tower Elevators – 2nd floor elevator: €18.10, 3rd floor elevator: €28.30
- Catacombs of Paris: €18.00
The Paris Pass DOES now include a guided walk up the 700 steps to the 2nd Floor including expert commentary, but obviously the climb isn’t ideal for everyone.
Extras included in ONLY the Paris Attractions Pass
Eiffel Tower guided climb to 2nd floor: €38
This is an exclusive deal for Paris Pass holders and it’s not for everybody, but it will be the highlight of your Paris trip for many. This is a climb of the 674 stairs up to the 2nd Floor (out of 3) with interesting live commentary and explanations in English. It takes 3 to 4 hours in total, so you won’t be racing up. If you are fit enough this will be amazing. And honestly, the 3rd floor isn’t much higher and it’s so high that all of your best photos will be from the 2nd Floor anyway.
Wine Tasting: €36.00 (includes free full-size bottle of wine for each person)
If you want to learn more about wine and try a few interesting French bottles then this is perfect. It’s a long block from the Louvre but an easy walk along the Seine, so it’s an ideal activity to schedule for after your Louvre visit. You get an English-language mini tour in a historic cellar explaining the key aspects of wine making, and then samples of three different wines near the end. They even send each visitor away with a full bottle of French wine to take with you, so it’s a hard one to pass up.
1-day Big Bus Paris hop-on, hop-off tour: €45.00
This is a full-day hop-on, hop-off pass on the double-decker bus that goes by and stops at almost every major tourist attraction in Paris in about a 3-hour loop. You can use it as transportation to get from one attraction to another, but I highly recommend starting early and doing the full loop once before hopping off. I’ve done at least 25 similar HOHO bus tours in major cities and the Paris one is easily my favorite. Paris is compact enough that the loop isn’t too long, and all of the main sights are clustered on either side of the Seine, so you don’t waste much time driving through random areas.
Whether you buy a Paris Pass or not, I highly recommend you take the HOHO bus tour on your first full morning in the city, and you will have seen all of the main sights and know how to get back to them later before noon.
Bateaux Parisiens River Cruise: €18.00
In my opinion, this is the other must-do tour in Paris, whether you buy a Paris Pass or not. These large boats with plenty of top-deck outdoor seating leave from near the Eiffel Tower on a frequent basis, but they are popular so it’s wise to get there a bit earlier than you want to depart. The trick is to select a departure right around sunset. Paris is stunning as it is lighting up for the evening, and you pass under 18 bridges that are each lit up in a unique way. By the time you get back to the Eiffel Tower an hour later, it will also be gorgeously lit up for amazing photos.
Parc Astérix: €59
This large theme park in the northeast suburbs of Paris is based on the Astérix comic book and characters, so it’s a great option and compromise if you are traveling with young ones. The place has many roller coasters and other thrill rides to go along with the character-themed attractions. There are buses that leave from central Paris that take you to the park for a fee. You can also take the RER train to Charles de Gaulle Airport and then a special shuttle from that train station to the park.
Montmartre & Sacré Coeur walking tour: €36
Leaving three times per day (10AM, 2PM, 5PM), this 90-minute walking tour is a highly recommended way to get to know perhaps Paris’ most interesting neighborhood. Especially gorgeous at night (so the 5PM tour could be perfect), Montmarte is the city’s most famous art district and community. At its center is the namesake hill with the stunning Sacré Coeur cathedral perched on top. This will be one of your favorite stops in Paris and some of your favorite photos as well.
Emily in Paris: The Unofficial Tour
Fans of the hit Netflix show will definitely be interested in this 2-mile guided walking tour of some of Paris’s loveliest neighborhoods. It only goes on Tuesdays and Fridays as of now at 1:30 PM so you’ll want to plan well in advance and make reservations. You’ll see the character’s apartment and other famous exteriors including Gabriel’s restaurant along with the bakery where she has her first pain au chocolat. If you don’t watch the show it’s definitely not worth it, but if you do this will be a major highlight.
Grevin Wax Museum: €26.50
This is the French equivalent of Madame Tussauds and it’s far more enjoyable than most people expect. With a central location close to several other included attractions, the Grevin Wax Museum is in a gorgeous building filled with over 450 characters that look so lifelike that you keep expecting them to move. There are obviously many French historical figures, but also international historical figures and athletes and actors and pop stars. You’ll know scores of them. While it’s true that you might not normally pay €26.50 to visit a wax museum, it’s great with the Paris Pass because you can just pop in for an hour or so in between other places. Most people are very impressed.
The Paris Big Bus Tour and Seine River Cruise are great ways to get oriented for first-time visitors
On your first visit to Paris you definitely want to visit the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, and hopefully the Palace of Versailles (a bit outside the city center), but you also want to have a good look at the city of Paris itself.
Whether you buy the Paris Pass or not, you’ll want to strongly consider taking the Paris Big Bus Tour (included in the Paris Pass) as well as the Seine River Cruise. Both of these offer an excellent and efficient look at all of the famous places you might want to visit later, and you can do both of them in half a day. Take the hop-on, hop-off bus tour as early in the day as you can, and plan on doing the Seine river cruise just after sunset in order to see how beautifully lit the bridges and famous buildings are at night.
Is the Paris Pass good value?
If all of the above seems confusing, you are in good company. These ‘city cards’ can be a great tool for many first-time visitors to destinations, but in some cases they cost too much or disrupt your trip in other ways. Before a trip it’s easy to plan 4 or 5 museums and attractions for each day, but once you arrive that always feels too ambitious. A big part of what makes Paris so incredible is the gorgeous city itself, not just the museums and main sights.
Another thing to consider is that if you lock in your sightseeing expenses before you arrive there will be the temptation to just rush from one thing to the next to get the most from your money. If you happen to have a day when you only get to one or two attractions, you might have a sense of guilt over missing your pre-trip goals.
On the other hand, if you prefer to pay in advance and then challenge yourself to make sure you see all the amazing sights that Paris has to offer, then the Paris Pass can be a great deal. If you are mostly interested in the museums then the Paris Museum Pass is probably the better deal, but if you also want to take a bus tour or a river cruise or do the wine tasting then the Paris Pass is the way to go.
For great value hotels check out our recommended Paris hotels section, which gives you 5 excellent choices without the hassle of going through nearly two thousand hotels in the area.
New: How to get the most out of a 2-Day or 3-Day Paris Pass
Important advice for getting good value out of a Paris Pass
After using so many of these city passes through the years, and also getting some comments from customers who don’t feel like they got good value out of the Paris Pass, I can reveal two important bits of advice for Paris Pass holders.
1. Start early in the day, at least on your first couple days using the pass
The number one struggle for those who regretted buying a Paris Pass is starting early enough. Especially on your first couple of days using the Paris Pass you are strongly encouraged to leave your hotel by 09:00 or so, and go to the most popular attractions first. Places like the Louvre or the bus tour tend to not get too busy until 11:00 or so, which means that if you start on those things right after breakfast you will have time to do TWO top attractions before lunch. After that you’ll have the rest of the day to do one, two, or three more activities, and you’ll still have the whole evening free to have a long dinner and wander the beautiful neighborhoods.
Some people complain that by the time they got to their first attraction of the day, the place was packed, so they started on a bad note and then felt rushed the rest of the day trying to catch up.
2. Plan your day and route before you leave your hotel
The Paris Pass comes with a very helpful booklet that shows all of the attractions on a map, with hours of operation. If you spend some time before you leave your hotel for the day, planning an efficient route that connects the attractions you want to see that day, it will all seem easy and you’ll get the most out of your Paris Pass.
If you aren’t able to plan ahead like this then maybe the Paris Pass isn’t ideal for you. If you aren’t able to spend a bit of time planning ahead, chances are you’ll be racing around and wasting a lot of time, and you’ll be unhappy with the Paris Pass.
The Paris Pass is ideal for:
- First-time visitors to Paris who want to cover most of the main sights in a few days
- Travelers who want to see and do as much as possible on a short trip
- Visitors who want to orient themselves with the bus tour and Seine river cruise
The Paris Museum Pass by itself is ideal for:
- Culture vultures who plan on visiting at least 2 museums each day but don’t care about tours or anything else
- Budget travelers coming during busy season who want to skip the ticket queues
Visiting with no pass is ideal for:
- Visitors spending more than 7 days in the city who might prefer to see only one sight per day
- Backpackers and other extreme-budget travelers
Exclusive discount for Price of Travel readers
- Get 5% off all Paris Passes
Use coupon code: GO5POT ( – Look for “promo code?” in Step 4 of checkout)
One last thing to consider about budgeting your time in Paris
There are plenty of free things to do in Paris, many of which should be high priorities for first-time visitors, including strolling the Champs-Élysées, exploring the Montmartre neighborhood, and admiring the Eiffel Tower and the Arch de Triumphe from the street, so spending a lot of money on museums and attractions isn’t necessarily the key to enjoying the city.
Also, remember that there are only so many hours in the day, and you can only do one thing at a time. The Louvre itself takes at least 3 hours even for a “quick” visit, and while you are inside it doesn’t matter if you get 50 or 100 other “free” things included, you’ll only have time to do a few per day at the most.
However…
The Paris Pass is a popular and efficient way for first-time visitors to see all the best sights in a short time, with little stress and almost no time wasted in ticket queues. Whichever way you decide to visit Paris, you will have a good time. If you can get a discount on the Paris Pass, it’s obviously a better deal and worth considering.
Hello Roger,
My husband & I will be visiting Paris between Dec 24th – 30th. We have been recommended to take a 5-day Paris pass(for Dec 24 – 28). On Dec 29 we plan to take the tour of the Loire Valley. Dec 30th we return to India.
Can you help me put down a day-wise itinerary ensuring we make best use of the Paris pass, visit as many must-do places – places to visit in plan in the Lourve, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Palace of Versailles, catacombs, Montparnasse, Champs élysées, Arc de Triomphe, Hop on hop Off tour, Siene River cruise.. and anything else that i might have missed. I would like to keep aside one of the days for generally strolling around the city.
Vinaya,
The Paris Pass comes in a 2-day, 4-day, and 6-day version, so I think you’d want the 4-day version, especially if you are planning a (wise) free day of just roaming around.
I don’t have time to type out a whole itinerary for you, and I don’t think it’s a good idea even if I did have time. Sightseeing is quite personal and you might not like some of my favorite things. That said, I will give you a few tips to help you plan your own itinerary.
First off, I highly recommend doing the hop on, hop off bus tour on your first full morning in Paris because it provides an excellent orientation so you’ll know where everything is and you’ll have more ideas for things you want to see up close. Then I also recommend the one-hour Seine River Cruise for the same reason. You see many different things from the river than you do from the bus, so there is very little overlap. The river cruise leaves from the base of the Eiffel Tower, so you can obviously climb it or take the elevator before or after the cruise.
Within a fairly short walk (or fast Metro ride) from there, you are close to the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, and the Champs élysées, just to name a few things. In other words, many of the top attractions are quite close together in that area, so you can see all of them that interest you in about two days there. Notre Dame is close by as well. Versailles Palace is about 30 minutes out of town on a suburban train, so it’s best to do that trip starting in a morning to avoid the heavy crowds close to noon.
Right there you have seen almost everything on your list, and you still have a day and a half left on your 4-day Paris Pass. Fortunately, there are quite a few more included attractions, including the wine tasting and some other tours, so you’ll have plenty of time to take even more advantage of your Paris Pass. I’m not a big museums guy, but if you are museum people there are plenty of excellent ones in Paris that are part of the pass. I hope this helps, and feel free to ask any other specific questions if you have them. -Roger
Hi Roger, thank you for taking time out and replying to all travel queries from travellers. Indeed a good deed. I need few suggestions from you:
I will be visiting Paris with my wife and 15 year old daughter as follows:
I will be landing in CDG at 5pm on April 9, take a cab to hotel in central Paris, after check in will travel to Trocadero to watch the Eiffel Tower illumination, have a dinner and head to hotel.
On April 10 we would like to do HOHO at 9am the full circle, walk a little bit, have a great lunch, walk a little more to see Arc de Triomphe from outside, stroll at Champs élysées than take a seine river cruise around 5pm, than visit Eiffel Tower at 6.30pm, have a dinner and back to hotel.
On April 11 we would like to take a tour of Roland Garros park since we are big fan of Rafa Nadal, have lunch nearby, come back to centre of Paris for some shopping, visit Montmartre in the evening, take a little walk, take funicular to see the cathedral and views, have dinner at Montmartre and head to hotel.
On April 12 we would like to visit Disneyland for the entire day and come back to hotel in the night.
On April 13 we take 11am Eurostar to London from Gare du nord
Do you suggest buying Paris pass as we don’t intend to visit any museums? Also should we buy metro travel pass for 3 days (April 10,11,12)? Please let me know your valuable thoughts and suggestions to make this better. Thank you very much for reading this and replying back…..
Kind regards,
Sanjay
Sanjay,
I’m happy to try to help when I can. It looks like you’ve got your trip very well planned out, and I think it’s clear that a Paris Pass would not be good value for you. The hop-on, hop-off bus tour is an excellent way to get oriented in Paris, especially when combined with the Seine River Cruise as you are doing. But it appears that those are the only Paris Pass attractions on your list, so it will be far better to just pay for those when you arrive.
As for getting a Metro Pass, it will mostly depend on the location of your hotel and your willingness to walk between things. In other words, many of the places are your list are, say, a 20-minute walk from each other, or 10 minutes using the Metro. If you think you might do more walking that Metro riding, you could just get a “Carnet” (10-pack) of Metro tickets for €14.10. That would allow you to take the Metro sometimes, without paying for an unlimited pass that you might not use fully. I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful trip. -Roger
Thank you Roger for your advice. Much appreciated.
Many thanks for the info, Roger.
Hi Roger,
We are having a 23 hour layover in Paris.We are planning on staying at CDG. We land at 10 am and leave at 9.20am the next day. How much can we achieve in a day? If possible we only want to cover the main attractions? Any recommendations HOP ON/ PARIS PASS? How do we get to the Eiffel Tower from CDG and back? Any inputs are high appreciated.
Amy,
The shortest Paris Pass is 2 days (as you probably know), and I think it would be challenging to get value out of that in one day. From CDG Airport you can take the suburban train called the RER, take the B line, and it will take you into central Paris in about 40 minutes for €10. Once you are there I do think the hop-on, hop-off bus would be a great idea to get a quick orientation and at least see all the main sights from the outside. Then you might also want to do the one-hour Seine River Cruise, which leaves from the base of the Eiffel Tower. It takes you down the river and back, explaining all of the main sights as you pass, and the views and quite different from the bus.
After that you’ll want to probably go up the Eiffel Tower since you are right there. After that you can head over the the Arch de Triumph and the Louvre. By then you’ll be exhausted and ready to head back to your hotel near the airport. If you pay to visit all of those things it won’t be cheap, but it should be at least a bit cheaper than the 2-day Paris Pass. Of course, while you are on the bus tour or boat cruise, you might see some sights that look even more interesting that you’d want to visit instead. You’ll have far more interesting choices than time at that point, and it should be a pretty amazing day. Bon voyage. -Roger
Hello roger ,
Great work on helping out tourists visiting Paris. I’d be visiting Paris with my wife in December for 2.5 days and then continuing my trip to Amsterdam.i would be staying in trocadero.
1. Plan on visiting louvre, Notre dam, Eiffel, arc de triumph, catacombs. All places I would be using the metro/ RER.
2. Also from and to the airport , from the hotel to gare du nord to catch the train by RER/metro.
3. Would u recommend the Paris travel pass.also have been told about a booklet that one can buy at the station of tickets that would turn out to be more economical?
Also any of the attractions I could visit at night as I would like to utilise the half day I get when I reach there. Would be arriving in Paris around 5pm.
Thank you
AJ,
Thanks. This thread is mainly dedicated to helping people decide if the Paris Pass is right for them, but I do try to answer other questions if I know the answers. It sounds like you are asking about the Paris Visite Travelcard that comes with the Paris Pass. That pass is good for unlimited travel within zones 1 to 3. CDG Airport is in Zone 5 and Versailles is in Zone 4, so you’d need to pay a supplement to reach either of them. Also, the Paris Pass itself activates once you first use the Travelcard, so most people don’t use it until their first sightseeing day.
So you’d want to buy a 2-day Paris Pass, and start using it on your first full day. As for your first evening, the Eiffel Tower and Arch de Triumph are both open well into the evening, and many museums are open late at least one night a week (usually a weekday). If this is your first visit to Paris then you will likely be overwhelmed by the sights and sounds on your first evening and you’ll see many things that interest you. I hope this helps. Bon voyage. -Roger
hi ,
My upcoming trip in Paris will be over 5 days. Following your recommendation, i will be visiting Montmartre area in the evening and taking the Paris big bus tour, together with Seine river cruise.
Need your recommendation on the following.
1) Having 3 full day, i am not sure to get 2 or 4 day Paris Pass? Will likely visit the top 5 attraction, and spend the rest of time wandering around.
2) I have managed to change some Euro dollar, but the smallest value given was 500 Euro dollar. My train will arrive in Paris Gare Du Nord station, and the first thing i would like to do was to buy the metro tickets to my hotel.
However, I heard that it will be very difficult to break down the 500 bill as it is not readily accepted in Paris.
Please advise what can i do , or where i can go to change to smaller note.
TW,
If you have 3 full days in Paris then get only the 2-day Paris Pass. You’ll be able to see all of the things on your list plus a few more in two days as long as you plan ahead and start early. Then it will be great to have that other day free so you can just wander around at any pace you prefer.
I’ve never tried to break a €500 note in Europe, but I really doubt that it will be a major problem. The Metro booths might not take it, but your hotel or obviously a bank should be okay with it. To buy your Metro tickets you should be able to use a credit card as long as it has a chip in it (most banks in the US have been sending these out all year). Or what I normally do is go straight to the ATM at the airport or in the train station and withdraw euros. The machine will dispense €20 notes, and you can save the €500 note for when you see an open bank. Let me know if you have any other questions. -Roger
Hi,
I am planning a Europe Tour with 2 days in Paris in June 2016. The itinerary is :
Day 1 : Visit Eiffel Tower, Musée du Louvre (Quick Tour in 3 hours..?) , Seine-River (Takes 1 hour max..?)
Day 2 : Disneyland Paris
I have 4 questions :
1. Would you recommend me to take the pass , and will it be a good deal for me?
– If I don’t benefit from the pass, then 3 questions:
2. Where can I get tickets for Eiffel tower, Seine river cruise and Louvre online via any website ?
3. How far is Louvre from Eiffel? Should I start with Eiffel, do the seine river and move to Louvre ? Also is it possible to see Eiffel in day-light as well as in night-light on the same day in the same ticket ? If so, how should I plan the day ?
4. Can the Seine river boat trip drop us at Louvre ? I don’t know how to travel inside the city, from Paris station to Hotel, to Eiffel, do sight-seeings and come back to hotel at night?
Sourabh,
1. No, I don’t think you should buy a Paris Pass for only one day of sightseeing with it.
2. You can buy Eiffel Tower tickets online from the official website. You can buy Louvre tickets from their site, but at this point you still have to pick them up at a store or office in Paris (not at the Louvre itself), so it may not save any time. For the river cruise you can buy a ticket from the official website of the company. The cruise takes one hour and begins and ends next to the Eiffel Tower.
3. The Louvre is about 3 kilometers from the Eiffel Tower, which takes about 40 minutes to walk along the river, or about 30 minutes if you take the Metro and change lines once. Both things are just off the river and easy to find so I’d visit whichever is closest first and then take the Metro to the other. As far as I know you only get one entry into the Eiffel Tower per ticket, so I don’t think they’ll let you back in at night.
4. The Seine Cruise does take you right by the Louvre, but it’s not a hop-on, hop-off cruise so you can’t get off midway. The cruise is really interesting throughout so it would be a shame to miss half of it anyway.
The easiest way to get around Paris is by Metro (underground). There are stops every couple of blocks so you are always near one. It might seem a bit mysterious at first but once you try it once you’ll discover that it’s a really fast and simple system. If you are going to use it a lot you might buy an all-day pass (Paris Visite Pass), which is going for €12.30 at the moment and it’s also good on buses and even the Montmartre funicular. A single ride will cost €1.80 as of now, so you have to use it a lot to make it worth it. Or you could buy a 10-pack of passes called a Carnet for €14.10. The good thing about that is you can use the 10 passes among your group, so 2 people could take 5 rides each for that price. Bon voyage. -Roger
Great article and comment response section Roger. Our upcoming Paris stay is over the next 5 days and I unfortunately stumbled onto your site a bit late. Nonetheless, I have learned a lot and I am now wondering where the best place to buy the Paris Pass is located if we need to purchase the pass on our arrival via train station (and wanting to give you advertising credit with 10% discount of course)?
Also, if we use the 2-day Paris Pass on Days 2-3, what do you recommend for days 4-5 when we just want to meander the city and explore? Pay-as-you-go or some sort of Metro/bus pass?
Thank you!
Dan,
I’m always happy to hear that this information is helpful. The best thing to do is to buy the pass online and then pick it up at the Paris office for an extra €2. The office is a very central location and easy to find, and that way you can lock in the 10% discount.
If you use a 2-day Paris Pass on days 2 and 3 of your trip, I’m confident that you’ll have a long list of places you want to return to on your following days, just by moving pretty quickly around the city. And depending on where you are staying, you might not be taking too many Metro rides on those days, so you might be best off just buying a few tickets as you need them. You’ll discover that one of the great joys of a visit to Paris is just strolling the historic central neighborhoods. Montmartre at night is my favorite, but you’ll be stunned by the gorgeous parks and boulevards all over.
So long story short, you’ll be finding plenty of things to see on those last two days, so you’ll have no trouble filling them with interesting possibilities. I hope this helps. -Roger
If I purchase a Paris Pass can I use it more than once per attraction, e.g. do a bus tour more than once?
Also, do the River Cruise and Bus Tours have hop on/off points or are they start-to-finish tours with no chance to hop off (or on) at different points?
Thank you
Mario M,
Generally, you can do each tour or attraction only once during the valid period of your Paris Pass. The Seine Cruise lasts one hour and starts and ends from Pier 3, just next to the Eiffel Tower. For the hop-on, hop-off bus tour, you can get on and off for one full day at any of the 9 stops. One of those stops is in front of the Eiffel Tower, so if you plan well you can cover many of these things in a short time. Bon voyage. -Roger
I just purchased a 3 day pass and I.T. ticket for my wife and I for Sept 25-27 but either there was no place for the ^% discount code or I missed it. … is it too late to get that? .. if it’s too much of a hassle to deal with it after the fact, then forget it. It’s ok.
Wayne,
The discount code entry field can be hard to find, so I do mention it near the link on this site. But if you bought without using it, you’d have to contact the Paris Pass people to see about using it after. Best of luck. -Roger