Paris Public Transport Fares & Travel Passes
Including single tickets, the Paris Navigo Decouverte Pass & Paris Visite Card
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Paris Navigo Decouverte Pass |
Paris public transport, (the Metro, buses and RER trains) is highly integrated - this includes the ticketing system.
Paris uses a zonal system with six circular zones radiating out from the centre. For perhaps the majority of visitors they will not go outside the central zone (zone 1). Zone 1 is where nearly all hotels are and where all the city centre sights are located.
Destinations that visitors will often go to outside the central zone include:
- Charles de Gaulle Airport CDG - zone 5
- Orly Airport - zone 4
- Eurodisney - zone 5
- Versailles - zone 4
Maps & Finding Your Way Around
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Its hard to go wrong on the Paris Metro and RER suburban trains, the availability of maps in stations and signs are very good.
Buses are another matter. For the first time visitor planning on using the buses for more than just occasional very short trips you will really need to study a bus map prior. You can get free maps very widely within Paris, perhaps the easiest places are the tourist offices.
If you are looking to see where the various travel zones are, the RER train map linked below is the best map to see where the zones start and finish.
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Tickets Prices On Paris Public Transport
Single Tickets
The RATP run the Metro, RER and buses within Paris and a single ticket can be used on any of the three modes for a single journey.
Single tickets can be purchased from , metro/RER stations, some bus terminals, and registered retailers, usually tobacconists and bookshops, displaying the RATP sign.
You can also buy from the same sources a booklet of ten, called a carnet (kar-nay), offering good savings.
| Paris Single Ticket Fares (€)- July 2011 - June 2012 | |
| 1 Ticket Metro, Bus or RER within Paris | 1.70 |
| 1 Ticket sold from a bus | 1.90 |
| Carnet of 10 tickets, as above for Adult | 12.50 |
| Carnet of 10 tickets, Child (4 to 10 years old) | 6.25 |
Day Tickets - Carte Mobilis
A single calendar day card provides unlimited rides on the transport system of the Ile-de-France region: Metro, RER (express regional trains), bus, tramway, funiculaire de Montmartre, Montmartrobus, Noctambus (night bus) within a given fare zone.
Most visitors will only need zones 1&2, broadly coinciding with the extent of the Metro system. If in doubt about zone coverage the zones are marked on the RER map (above).
| Carte Mobilis Prices July 2011 - June 2012 in Euro | |||
| Fare Zone | Price | Fare Zone | Price |
| Zone 1 - 2 | 6.30 | Zone 1 - 4 | 10.40 |
| Zone 1 - 3 | 8.40 | Zone 1 - 5 | 14.00 |
| Available at all metro, bus and RER stations. Mobilis is valid for one day during the hours of 5:30 a.m until 1:00 the next day and until 2:30 on Fridays, Saturdays and eve of public holidays and until 5:30 on the Noctilien. |
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Youth Weekend Ticket (Under 26, Saturdays & Sundays Only) - Ticket Jeunes Weekend
A day ticket restricted to use on Saturdays, Sundays and national holiday days.
The ticket is available to all under 26. Be ready to be able to prove your age both at times of purchase and by inspection teams that frequent the transport network.
| Ticket Jeunes Weekend Prices July 2011 - June 2012 in Euro | |||
| Fare Zone | Price | Fare Zone | Price |
| Zone 1 - 3 | 3.50 | Zone 1 - 5 | 7.00 |
| Available at all metro, bus and RER stations. Note this ticket is for one day, not a weekend. Valid for one day, from 5:30 to 2:30 the next day (until 5:30 on Noctilien) |
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Paris Visite Card
This is the ticket heavily promoted to tourists and visitors.
The pass doesn't really stand up to financial scrutiny too well though its hard to compare like with like as the Visite Card as well as being a travel pass also provides discounts to tourist attractions.
Lots of people like the convenience of buying them before they travel from an agent. Though convenient, the markup against the price bought in Paris can be eye popping so do look around.
Its worth checking out whether the premium paid for the 'special offers' is worthwhile to you. Don't expect free tickets for the Eiffel Tower or The Louvre, most are discounts on department stores and second tier attractions many people would not consider visiting without the discount.
| Paris Visite Card Prices From November 2010 in Euro - purchased in Paris | ||||
| Fare Zone | 1 Day Children* / Adults |
2 Day Children* / Adults |
3 Days Children* / Adults |
5 Days Children* / Adults |
| 1 - 3 | 4.65 / 9.30 | 7.60 / 15.20 | 10.35 / 20.70 | 14.95 / 29.90 |
| 1 - 5 | 9.80 / 19.60 | 14.95 / 29.90 | 20.95 / 41.90 | 25.60 / 51.20 |
| * children between 4 and 12 years old. Hours of validity of each day from 5:30 a.m to 5:30 the next morning |
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Weekly / Monthly Tickets - Navigo Decouverte Pass
This is an electronic smart card similar to schemes introduced recently worldwide into mass transit systems. The smart card stores electronically the fare product you choose. Its reusable so if you return to Paris you can load up fares onto the same card. The first time you buy, you have to pay a €5 deposit for the card itself and then you buy a week or months worth of transportation that is loaded onto the card.
Most visitors will go for the weekly fare. Key point about this product is that the week runs Monday to Sunday. If you purchase a weekly ticket on a Friday it runs out on Sunday, not the Friday after.
You also need to bring along a passport sized portrait photo, the size of 25 x 30mm (0.98" x 1.18"). There are plenty of photo machines in the stations that produce such a photo if you need it.
A convenient place to purchase these cards for many visitors is the RER train ticket offices at Charles De Gaulle Airport or the major train stations in Paris like Gare Du Nord.
| Navigo Decouverte Pass July 2011 - June 2012 in Euro | |||||
| Fare Zone | Week | Month | Fare Zone | Week | Month |
| Zone 1 - 2 | 18.85 | 62.00 | Zone 1 - 4 | 29.80 | 99.10 |
| Zone 1 - 3 | 24.50 | 80.30 | Zone 1 - 5 | 33.40 | 109.90 |
| Weekly tickets available from the Friday preceding the Monday starting the week of validity until Thursday of the week included in the 7 days of validity | |||||
Purchasing Tickets
You can buy tickets at Metro and RER Railway Station ticket offices which have manned ticket offices. The ticket offices at places like Charles de Gaulle Airport have helpful, competent English speaking attendants well used to overseas travelers not confident in what they need and are for the most part remarkably patient.
You will also find multi-lingual ticket machines like the one pictured right, and machines for topping up the Navigo Cards everywhere.
You can buy single tickets and carnets of tickets on buses, but you do pay a premium for this.
The Paris Visite card is relentlessly pushed at visitors, fuelled by good commission rates and can be obtained by almost anyone and everyone including overseas agents.
Transfers
In the Metro you can use 1 ticket and make any transfers between lines with only that 1 ticket so long as you're underground and in the Metro system itself. Keep it with you until you exit because some Metro or RER stations require it for you to leave. So long as you stay underground a single Metro ticket also lets you use and transfer between the RER and Metro stations that are inside the 2 zones of Paris itself.
On a bus or tram you can use a single ticket to make transfers within a 90 minute timeframe.
Save on Sightseeing in Paris with the Paris ComboPass®Benefits of the Paris ComboPass® include:
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