Compare Paris tourist passes - pros and cons (2024)

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Update 2024. Covidrestrictions no longer apply for entry tomuseums, restaurants and other public places. Masks remain recommendedonpublic transport, and may be required for hospital / surgery visits.

There are currently no covid-relatedrestrictions on visitors entering France, but the situation couldchange at any moment in the event of a new outbreak. Visitors aretherefore advised to make sure that they are fully protected againstcovid, before traveling.

Visitor passes

There's a massive amount of advertising on the Internet toencourageanyone interested in visiting Paris to buy a tourist pass. For somevisitors, a pass will definitely be worth having; but for others a passis quite unnecessary. Check out the pros and the cons withthis clear guide.

Visitorpasses are not essential, but they arevery valuable

Ticket queuesand security queues

Even if you have a pass, you may need to queue to get past security...or just to show the pass. But you won't need to waste time standing ina line to buy aticket for each visit you make . If you have a combined transportand attractions pass, you won't have the hassle of needing to buy aticket eachtime you take public transport.

Compare the main different Paris Passes:updated 2024 prices

• ParisCityPass: Recommendedby About-France.com The cheapest and best value oftheall-in-one pass:includes museums (Louvre, Orsay etc.) ,travel andsightseeing. Adult passes start at 109.90 € for two days. Checkout or buy
• Go CityParis inclusive: Checkout or buy . More attractions to choose from, but most of the additional ones are less known and others are outside Paris
• GoCity Paris explorer:Does not include public transport Provides accessto between 2 and 7 attractions only; includes a Disneylandoption Moreinfo here
• ParisPass'Lib. Access to between 3 and 6 attractions only, tobe chosen from a list. Four tarifs with different lists.
• Parisvisite: Travel only -just a Paris public transport pass.2 day adult pass zones 1-3: 19.50 € Moreinfo here
• ParisMuseum pass : Museums only : just gives entry into themain museums(Louvre, Orsay etc.) 2 day pass 52 € . Moreinfo here

Note: Mostpasses are offered for periods of 2 days, 3 days, 4 days,sometimes 5 days, and 6 days. The Paris Pass'lib is alsoavailable for just one day, this "mini" version justincludes the hop-on tour bus and a Seine river cruise; but at40 € for one adult, it is 20% more expensive than the Combo bustour + Seine cruise offered by Paris City Vision

IMPORTANT: Eiffel Tower :Noneof the Paris passes include a lift/elevator ride up the Eiffel Tower. (Onepass offers a second level Eiffel Tower ticket onfoot....but a second level ticket is only € 10.50 on foot, or €16.70 bylift/elevator on the official EiffelTower site !) Access to the top of the tower must alwaysbe purchased separately, or as part of certain specifictours. It cannot be bought once you reach the second level.Buyyour ParisCity Pass or your Go city Paris inclusivepass online, then buyEiffel tower ticketonline from the official site. See EiffelTowerinformation.

The passes in more detail....

• The Go CityPass, and the ParisCity Pass
  Theseincludeattractions and Seinecruise
  

  
  
  Click for selected
  Paris hotels map

  These are both general limited-time passes for museums andattractions.
  All these passes include aSeine river cruise,a free Paris guidebook,andlots more - but no Eiffel Tower lifts / elevators. These may bepurchased as optional extras. For key locations, users should booktheir time slots in advance.
• Buyyour pass in advance, and avoidthe queues to get in.
  Itis pretty well impossible to visit everything covered by these twoinclusive passes, even with a five or six day pass, as the list ofattractions covered includes several that are well outside Paris. Andthe passes do not include cafés and restuarants where youwill want tostop off and relax
• ParisPass'Lib Culture .this has replaced the "museum pass". This pass keeps changing. Now itcomes in 2 versions, offeringentry to between 3 and 6 attractions out of a list. With the cheapestversion (35€), choose 3 activities out of a list of 17. With the moreexpensive version (75€) choose five out of a list of 18 attractions -the difference being the Eiffel Tower. A Pass'Lib is valid a year.
• Go City Paris explorerThis may be a good idea if you want to include aday at DisneylandParis, since the 104€ cost of a 3-attraction pass is the same asthe indicated "normal" adult day-ticket to Disneyland alone. (For therecordfixed-date adult day passes for Disneyland Paris costbetween 81€ and 124€ on the Disneysite depending on date). Otherwise, it is mainly useful for peoplespending up to two months in Paris,whoknow that they will want to visit certain attractions. Passesare validfor between 2 and 7 attractions only.
  Take care:the choice of attractions is capped by a "purse value" whichisthe maximum amount you can use based on the standard gate price foreach attraction. For example, with a 3-choice adult Explorercosting119€, you can visit three attractionsthe sum of whosenormal ticket prices is not greater than €205... which could includeboth Disneyland and Parc Astérix.
  One advantage of the Paris Explorer pass is that it caninclude the second floor (not the top) of the Eiffel Tower. However, bewarned; the date and time of the Eiffel tower visit has to be booked inadvance, and the claimed42€ value of thetour tothe secondflooor of the Eiffel Tower can be misleading. The actual cost of accessto the second floor of the Eiffel tower is not 42€ but just16.70€ if you take the elevator (lift), and just 10.50 €if you walk up (Prices as from 2023) (seeEiffelTower )

• Paris visite:[Public transport only ]

  Visitors who plan to use lots ofpublic transport in Paris but don't want to visit lots of museums andsites may find that the best or cheapest solutionis to take a visitor'spass, "ParisVisite", though this is not necessarily thecase(see below).The Paris Visite passes are available on a 1, 2, 3 or 5 day basis, andcover all types of official public transport in the central area orcentral area and suburbs, depending on the option chosen.
  DO NOT BUYAPARIS VISITE PUBLIC TRANSPORT PASS if you have bought, or plan to buy,aParis City Pass for visiting attractions and museums.Public transport isalready included in the Paris City Pass. See above
  ParisVisite - gives unlimited use of the metro / RER / busnetwork for a given numer of days. Pricesstart at €14.90 for a one day adult pass covering zones 1 to 3or 24.30€uros for 2 days(As of Jan2023).Full details in English, plus downloadable ParisMetroandpublic transport maps from the officialParis visitor website. However,it's worth noting that a two-day Paris visite pass is only worth it ifyou plan to do a lot of trips on the metro or buses in a day.Downloading apack of ten individual journey tickets - a "carnet"- (valid until they are used) fromthe machine at any metro station will cost you € 17.90,whereas buyinga two-day Parisvisite card will cost you €24.30 (see below) . You buy packsoftickets from the machines in all stations or, when there is one, from aticket booth. Paper tickets are no longer sold, though existing papertickets can be used until 2025.
  To download tickets or a carnet,visitorsneed first to download to their phonea"Navigo Easy"pass, which costs 2 €, onto which they can then load individualtickets, or more sensibly a carnet of ten trips... plus any suburbantravel tickets they may need. Navigo Easy cards are available from allmachines and also in some shops. Each traveller needs his or her ownNavigo Easy card... including kids. So four people travelling togetherneed four cards, as each will need a card to get through the turnstiles.
  
  Take care... Whereto buy Paris visite pass ?
  The simplest is to buy it whenyou reach France,from any Paris area train / metro station, airport, information pointor tourist office. Buy it at the ticket office, not from a ticketmachine(unless renewing). If you want to buy it on line in advance,only do so here (official site):you'll get the tickets at the official price, but you will pay extra(at least 9 Euros) to have them mailed to you. DONOTpurchase in advance from other online websites that sell these ticketswell above the real cost, and charge excessively for delivery too. Youcould end up paying double the cost......
  
• ParisMuseum pass [Museumsonly ]
  -giving unlimited admission to some 60monuments / museums in and around Paris, excluding the Eiffel Tower. Pricesstart at 52€uros for two days or 66€ for four days.This pass - bestpurchasedon the day atthe first museum you visit - doesnotinclude any transport, so things like Seine river cruises, metrotickets and sightseeing tours must be purchased separately. See below.The Paris Museum Pass is included in the Go City inclusive pass and theParis CityPass (seeabove).
• Choosetickets à la carte :
  Just buy ticketsfor whatyou have time to see. Check out sightseeing bus tickets andriver-bus tickets below; check out prices for individual monuments ontheir websites, which are listed at the foot of our Paris tourist attractions page.Tickets for many attractions can now be bought on theattraction's own website, and with an online ticket (print your own oron your phone) you don't need to stand in a queue to buy on the spot.

Otherpasses:

• Hop-onhop-off sightseeing bus passThe Open-Tour/Cityramaservice, has a choice of hop-onhop-off passes from 39 € for a one-day pass, and covers fourdifferent routes(plusoptional Batobus service on the Seine). Alternatively BigBus Tours (formerly les Cars Rouges) run open-topguided tourbuses linking nine majorsites; a two-daypass costs 45€.
• The"Batobus" and travel on the Seine.The Batobusare river buses that go up and down the Seine from the Eiffel tower tothe quai de Montebello (near Notre Dame). There are 8 stops in all. Anadultday pass at the start of 2022 costs 19 €, and a 2-day pass(consecutive days) costs 21€ per adult.

WHICH PASS BEST SUITSYOUR NEEDS?

PASSES areoften the easiest solution, but not necessarily the cheapestway to visit Paris ...

►Choosing whichpass is best for you, or whether you actually need a pass at all, willdepend untimately on what sights you want to see, what you want to doin Paris, and how long you are staying. Paris has litterallyhundreds of different tourist sights (see Paris touristattractions),including museums, monuments, views, places to walk, tours, concerthalls, cabarets, restaurants and cafés. No-one has time toseeeverything. In fact, most tourists, in the space of a short trip toParis, can do no more than scratch the surface.
So before choosing a pass, or no pass, ask yourself thefollowing questions.

1. Doyou want to take in at least three paid entry attractions a day(between monuments, museums, river cruise...) . If so,theParisCity Pass is probably your best value option,
2. Do you want primarily to visit Paris's world-class museums,more than other attractions? If so, theMuseum Pass may be your bestsolution.
3. Doyou want to avoid the big paid-entry sites, with their queues, andenjoy Paris by visiting smaller museums, taking in Paris's free attractions (includingmuseums),soaking in theatmosphere of the oldstreetsandriverbanks, and enjoying the bars and cafés ?If so, youdon'tneed a pass at all, it would be a waste of money. Justpay at the entrance to the paid-entry sites you visit, and enjoy theothers for free.
4. Doyou plan to use the metro or buses several times in a day,including getting to and from your hotel located in central Paris orthe inner suburbs? If so, the Pariscity pass will give you free public transport plus entry todozens of attractions. Alternatively the ParisVisite transport pass will just provide you with free travelin the city for the duration chosen.
5. Do you want to pack in as much as possible in a short spaceof time, including the main sights ? If so, theParisCity Pass is your best value option. If you want a passincluding hop-on hop-off buses, the go for theGo city Paris inclusivePass
6. Areyou spending a few weeks in Paris, during which time you'll visitdifferent attractionsin your own time, on different days? Then maybethe Go city Parisexplorer pass is best suited to your needs.

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