Voice of Travel

Wish you didn’t have to stand in long lines while in Paris?

That dream can be a reality with the Paris Museum Pass.

You can walk right past the many people waiting in line at the Louvre, and go right in!

Plus, it’s really nice not having to get your wallet out all of the time.  All the attractions are paid for, so you just show your pass, and walk right along.

Here’s the confusing part.

There are multiple passes you can get for your Paris trip, and when you first look at them, they look pretty similar.

Here are the different passes, and what they contain:

• The Museum Pass – This is the main pass that you’ll need to get into most attractions. This is what lets you skip the line at the Louvre, D’Orsay, and many others. You just walk right in, show you pass, and continue on. Below you’ll see other passes that include this. (Prices for adults 2,4,6 days: €42, €56, €69)
• The Paris Visite Pass – This is a travelcard which will let you travel between zones 1 to 3 on the metro, RER, bus, Trams, SNCF, and the Montmartre Funicular. Basically you can use this to get around most of Paris, but not from/to the airports. (Prices for adults 2,3,5 days: €20, €27.30, €39.30)
• The Paris City Pass – This gives you both The Museum Pass, as well as the Paris Visite Pass. (Prices for adults 2,4 days: €99, €139 – Other options on website.)
• The Paris Pass – This is the all inclusive pass. It gives you The Museum Pass, the Paris Visite Pass, and an Attractions Pass. It’s by far the most expensive, but includes the most. (Prices for adults 2,4,6 days: €122, €182, €219) If you prefer to pay in US Dollars, you can order via Viator.

Not sure what’s included in the museum pass?  Here’s the link.

Note: Both The Paris City Pass and The Paris include a 1-day hop-on hop-off bus, as well as a Seine river cruise as free extras.

Here are the attractions included in the Paris Pass that are not in the Paris City Pass:

• Wine Tasting Experience (regularly €30)
• Paris Opera House (regularly €14)
• Paris Story (regularly €10.50)
• Grevin Wax Museum (regularly €23.50)
• Montparnasse Tower (regularly €14.50)
• Dali Museum (regularly €11.50)

So which should you do? It depends on what you’re interested in doing.

If you are interested in the hop-on hop-off or the Seine river cruise, it makes sense to get one of the two passes that have the Museum Pass as part of the package, instead of doing it individually. So that would mean going with the Paris Pass or the Paris City Pass.

If you are debating between the Paris Pass and the Paris City Pass, add up the things that you’d want to do that are the 6 attractions that are part of the Paris Pass and not part of the Paris City Pass. If you only want to do a few, then you’re still better off getting the Paris City Pass. If what you’d want to do adds up to more then you’d save by getting the Paris City Pass, then get the Paris Pass.

I hope that makes it easier to understand.  When I was trying to figure out what to get, it was really confusing!