The theme of tourist cards it is quite an issue, worth the redundancy. Do they agree? Don't they agree? Who do they suit? I think the third question is the crux of the matter. It all depends on your tastes, your time, your money. Only by evaluating well what you like, how much time you have to see it and how much money you plan to spend, we get the answer.
Paris is one of the most expensive cities in Europe but there are always good and cheap ways to do tourism. And as Paris receives thousands of tourists per year, the city offers its visitors tourist discount cards. There are transportation cards and attraction cards and the city recently introduced a new card. Let's see what are the tourist cards of Paris like and if they suit us:
Paris Visit Transport Card
Allows us unlimited travel by bus, tram, metro and RER networks in Paris and its suburbs. It is the best if you want to ignore the transport issue. There are four categories of this card: 1 day, two days, three days or five consecutive days in 1, 2 and 3 (the closest suburbs) or in zones 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 including CDG / Orly and Versailles airports .
Depending on the areas you select when buying the pass, you can travel on the metro, the RER lines (RATP and SNCF), the Montmartre funicular and the Ile-de-France buses. Once you buy it, it is valid from the first day you use it and until the last chosen day. The day begins at 5:30 am and ends at the same time the next day. It also brings a brochure and some discount tickets in establishments attached to the pass. What are the prices?
- Paris Visit Pass Transport 1 day (zone 1 to 3) Adult: 12, 30 euros.
- Paris Visit Pass Transport 2 days (zone 1 to 3) Adult: 20 euros.
- Paris Visit Pass Transport 3 days (zone 1 to 3) Adult: 39, 30 euros.
- Paris Visit Pass Transport (zones 1 to 5) Adult: 67 euros.
You can buy online and have it delivered to your home or compare and pick it up at local offices.
Paris Museum Pass
This is a pass for fans of museums and their collections. Allows the free access to museums without queuing as many times as you like. The list has 50 museums and monuments in all the city. Actually, the more visits, the more you save.
You have three modalities: 2, 4 and 6 consecutive days. Thus, it is best to start using it early in the morning to have time and that it does not expire soon. You must write your first name, last name and date behind the pass and then activate it. You may buy it online at the official rate but it has a delivery fee that in the case of being outside of France is borne by DHL. To Spain for example shipping costs € 14,50 and the rest of the world 24 euros.
If you don't want to pay for shipping, you can buy it and pick it up in Paris, at the Central Tourist Office on rue des Pyramides. The pass comes with information about all the attractions. Is it convenient? If you are a crazy person who enters and leaves museums or you love museums and you dream of spending days in paris soaking up culture, then yes. If you are in the city and only the most touristy attracts you and you are not dying to see much more, the truth is that no.
The entrance to the Arc de Triomphe costs € 12, the Musée du Louvre costs € 15, the Musée D'Orsay costs € 12 and the Château de Versailles is the most expensive entry, € 18. Knowing these prices maybe you can give yourself an idea if it suits you or not buy the Paris Museum Pass at these other prices:
- Paris Museum Pass 2 Days: € 48
- Paris Museum Pass 4 Days: € 62
- Paris Museum Pass 6 Days: € 74
Paris Passlib '
It is the newest tourist card in Paris, a way to expand the benefits for tourists. Is a combination of several tourist passes that the city has. They have brought them together in a mega pass: is the union of the Paris Museum Pass and the Paris Visit Pass.
The first offers unlimited transportation, the second free entry to many museums, galleries and other important sites. And the Paris Passlib is a single card that integrates these two and It adds hour-long boat cruises and day trips by tourist bus. As well has three categories: 2 days, 3 and 5 days. These are the prices:
- Paris Passlib 'Mini - Adults: 40 euros.
- Paris Passlib '2 Days / Adult: 109 euros.
- Paris Passlib '3 Days / Adult: 129 euros.
- Paris Passlib '5 Days / Adult: 155 euros and if you add the Eiffel Tower, second level, there is an extra 15 euros.
If you are between 12 and 25 years old and you are a citizen of the European Union or you are between 12 and 17 years old and were from outside the EU, you have interesting discounts. The same for children between four and eleven years old. The supplement of 15 euros for the Eiffel Tower is always maintained and it is because you do not have to wait to go up, which can be convenient. But you only go up to the second level, to go higher you must continue paying so that must also be considered.
Is the new Paris Passlib 'appropriate? We go back to the beginning. It's depends. Buying separately the Paris Visit at € 18, 15, the Paris Museum Pass at € 48, the bus tour at € 32 and the boat tour at € 14 ... really what you are saving is little. Are you going to travel that much? Didn't you think about walking? Didn't you think about renting a public bike? Paris is a small city and is very easy to get around. You can even buy ten metro tickets and move wisely enough not to overspend.
The idea of such a megapass is not bad, it seems to me that for a solo traveler or someone traveling as a couple it is not so convenient. Now, if you travel in a group or with the family, it is possible that more than convenient or cheap it is comfortable. You buy the Paris Passlib 'and you forget everything, you have everything insured. Of course, buying passes for all family members is an expense, but in return you organize better.
But if you don't have a lot of money to spend, don't think that a tourist card is going to save you a lot. What you can gain is stress by moving from one place to another and visiting places that may not interest you. I have been in Paris and the truth is that I moved very well by bicycle and if you go from museum to gallery and from gallery to monument, all quickly, you cannot say that you know Paris ... Now, if you don't have money but you want to see as much as possible then the Paris Passlib 'can result with some organization of your account.
Well, I believe that tourist cards always have more against than pro But they exist for a reason and are sold, so my advice is that you always, always, have to evaluate things well before buying any.