ABOVE:
Multilingual vending machines make it easy to buy tickets and Navigo Easy
cards in any Métro or RER station.
Single tickets and carnets
The
traditional Métro ticket is a small piece of cardboard (formerly
mauve, now white) with
a magnetic strip that costs €1,90. It's
issued by RATP, the transportation authority for the Paris region, and it will
soon be replaced by electronic cards such as Navigo Easy
(see below).
You can save money by purchasing a carnet of 10 tickets
for €16,90 (adults and children 10 or older)
or
€8,45 (children ages 4-9) from vending machines near the turnstiles in Métro
stations. An
electronic carnet for the Navigo Easy card is even
cheaper.
If you're
traveling with a children, see the "Tips" section below.
A
single ticket will take you anywhere within the city of Paris on the Métro and
RER networks, and you can transfer between lines--or between the Métro and the
RER--on the same ticket.
You can also use T+ tickets on buses and trams, although you can't transfer
between the Métro and RER and buses or trams on the same ticket.
Tips:
-
Unlike T+ tickets, bus
tickets purchased on buses are good only
on buses and trams (they also cost a few cents more), so buy a carnet
of 10 or a few tickets ahead of
time in the Métro if you plan to ride the bus in the future.
-
Métro ticket machines accept coins and
credit cards, but not banknotes. If you pay by credit card, don't withdraw
the card too quickly: It may take half a minute or longer for the machine to
scan the card and process the transaction, especially if you're using a
magnetic-stripe credit card from abroad.
-
Children under age 4 travel free. Kids from ages 4 through 9 pay the
full adult fare for single tickets, but a children's carnet of 10
tickets is half price, so it pays to plan ahead.
For details on the current generation
of tickets and carnets, including what kinds of transfers are allowed, see the RATP's "T+
tickets" page.
Navigo Easy: a replacement for paper tickets
In June, 2019, the RATP introduced
Navigo Easy, a rechargeable stored-value
plastic card designed for tourists and other non-commuters who use the Paris public-transportation
system.
Navigo Easy will replace the traditional T+ tickets
altogether by 2021, but you can purchase and use it right now.
To use Navigo Easy, you first buy a card for
€2,-- from a ticket
booth in any Paris Métro
station. You then top it up with fares, which cost the same as today's
existing paper tickets: €1,90 for a single ride,
or less if you buy a carnet of 10 rides. (The Navigo Easy version
of a carnet is actually cheaper than a traditional paper carnet, and you get
a hefty discount for children from 4 to 9 years old.
(Simply ask the ticket agent for "Navigo Easy avec un carnet.")
Navigo Easy is currently valid
on the Métro, RER trains, buses, and trams. It's being rolled out gradually
to the entire Île-de-France transit and commuter-rail
network.
For now, Navigo Easy is just an optional alternative to
T+ tickets, but the convenience of not having to carry a stack of cardboard tickets makes it worthwhile
if most of your travel will be on the Métro--especially since T+ tickets are notorious for
becoming demagnetized, which makes them unusable until a station agent runs
them through an electronic device to fix them.
Money-saving
passes
If you plan to use public
transportation extensively, you may find it worthwhile to buy one of the
passes described below. Or maybe not: A carnet of 10 tickets is simpler
to buy, can be shared by several people, and is likely to be cheaper if you
don't spend a lot of time on trains and buses.
Paris Visite
is an unlimited tourist travel pass that you can buy for one, two, three, or five calendar days.
The "Paris Centre" version covers transportation in zones 1-3. For travel to
zones 4 and 5 (including Charles de Gaulle Airport, Orly Airport, and
Versailles), you'll need the more expensive "Paris and Île-de-France
region" version, which covers all zones.
Children from 4 to 10 pay half-price (again, kids 4 and under are
free), and Paris Visite offers discounts on boat cruises and certain other
tourist attractions.
Mobilis is a pass for one
calendar day. The price depends on the zones where you intend to travel; if you
plan to stay within the city, a Zone 1 pass is all you need.
In addition to the Navigo Easy stored-value
ticket card, the Paris transportation network offers
Navigo Weekly and
Navigo Monthly passes. (The weekly passes
run from Monday through Sunday, and the monthly passes are for a calendar
month.)
For more information on these and other tickets, see the RATP's
Travel passes and prices
page.
Where to buy passes: You can buy Paris Visite,
Mobilis, and other passes at major Métro stations, RER stations, and railroad
stations in the Ile-de-France region, including those at Paris airports. Paris
Visite is also available at branches of the Paris tourist office.
Tips:
-
Paris is a city that's best
enjoyed on foot, so a carnet of 10 tickets is likely to be your best value
unless you have limited mobility, are pressed for time, or are staying a
long way from tourist attractions.
-
Métro and RER ticket machines accept nearly all credit and debit cards,
including American Visa and MasterCards that lack PINs.
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Paris Métro
