Saturday 14 July 2018

Visiting Paris with the Paris Pass - Was it Worth it?

arc di triomphe header

At the beginning of July I travelled to Paris with my Mum and brother for my Mums 70th birthday treat. We only had two full days in the city with travelling time on the two days surrounding them and having now returned home I wish we’d had three clear days for exploring, as Paris is just so vast and there is a crazy amount of things to do, especially included with your Paris Pass.

What is a Paris Pass you might be wondering? 
Well as the name suggests it is a pass that gives you access to most every attraction in Paris as well as a Paris Visite travel card for use on the metro, rail, tram and bus. I say most every attraction as there are a couple of exceptions, like the Eiffel Tower and the catacombs but it is very comprehensive and there are also a load of special shopping and restaurant discounts that you can take advantage of too. 

You can buy a Paris Pass for 2,3,4 or 6 days and there are differing prices for children (4-11 years), teens (12-17 years) and adults (age 18 plus).

The Adult price ranges from €131 for a 2 day pass to €244 for a 6 day pass
Teens - €81 - €135
Children - €44 - €75
So, as you can see the price per day gets better when you buy a longer pass but of course it depends how many days you'll be in Paris for.

Paris Pass



Where can you visit? 
I was truly amazed at all the places you could visit for this one price. Let me share a few of my favourites with you -

Museums and Galleries
Musée D’Orsay
Louvre
Musée Rodin
Centre Pompidou
Cité des Sciences eat de L’industrie


Statues at Musee d'Orsay

Monuments
Arc de Triomphe
Panthéon
Crypto archéologique du Paris
Château de Versailles
Tours de Norte-Dame

Attractions
Aquarium de Paris
Les Caves du Louve (wine tasting)
Montparnasse Tower 56th floor Observation Deck
Musée Grévin was works
Choco-Story Paris (rage story of chocolate and you can taste up to 10 types)


Family with Eiffel tower view

Tours
Bateaux Parisians 1 hour River Seine cruise
Opera Garnier Guided Tour
Big Bus hop-on, hop-off Tour
Petit Train de Montmarte (ride around the hilly artists area)

In total there are over 60 places that you can access without any extra payment once you have your Paris Pass so it does make things very easy and you also get an excellent guide book (or you can download the app for free) to help you plan your time in the city.


River Seine from the Big Bus

Where did we go?
All three of us who travelled have some health ailments that limit our ability to walk and I was interested to see if the Paris Pass would still turn out to be a good buy for those travellers who wanted a more easy pace for their Paris visit. So I’ll share with you what we got up to and the savings we made -

Day One
Opera Garnier Tour  €15.50
Entry to the Louvre  €15.00
Entry to Musée d’Orsay  €12.00
Big Bus Tour  €36.00
Arc du Triomphe entry  €12.00
Total cost for day one  €90.50 (all included with the Paris Pass, so no cost to us) 

Day Two
Eiffel Tower  €16.00
Bateaux Parisians Cruise  €15.00
Notre Dame Catherdral Entry €10.00
Montparnasse Tower  €18.00
Hard Rock Cafe - ice cream dessert each €6.00 (free with a main meal)
Total cost for day two €65.00 (all included except the Eiffel tower, so a saving of €49)

The 2 day Paris Visite travel card that we were given retails for €19.50 for an adult too.

My favourite activities using the Paris Pass were definitely the Big Bus Tour (red route), taking the river cruise and visiting the Musee d'Orsay.

Is it worth it?
If we had not of had our Paris Pass, the cost for each of us would have been €159 (€90.50 + €49  + €19.50) and as you know the face value of the 2 day pass is €131, so we definitely made a good saving and there was so much more we could have done if we had started earlier in the morning or been willing to walk/ travel around more.

The total saving for the three of us was €84 and as I mentioned before we didn't do as much as many people, nor visit some of the more expensive attractions like the wine tasting, aquarium or Musee Grevin (wax works).

I've also noticed that you can nearly always pick up a 10% saving on the cost of the Paris Pass, just have a google for the offers at the time you are looking to buy. A 6 day pass with the 10% discount is just €219.60 for an adult and that equates to €36.60 per day which is a real bargain!


Eiffel Tower from the River Seine

How easy is it to use the Paris Pass?
In short - super easy. We didn't have any hassle using it; every place we went to knew about the pass and it allowed us to pass the big long queues at many places too. This was a big plus point for me as I hate having to queue and its such a waste of time.

Your Paris Pass comes in three parts, that can be used separately. You get the Museum pass that is active from when you first use it, the Paris Visite travel card that is active on consecutive days from when you first use it and the Paris Pass itself which is activated when you collect it. Do make sure you start to use them nice and early in the morning so you can make full use. I thought I could use my travel card from 11am Friday to 11am Sunday but not so as the day starts and ends at midnight, so it was just Friday and Saturday. 

How can I buy the Paris Pass?
Go direct to the Paris Pass website and buy directly from them. Or can you can also buy it on the train if you are travelling by Eurostar or from the Big Bus shop once you are in Paris. You'll need to go to the shop (by Pyramides Metro station) when you arrive in Paris to collect your Paris Pass and this is a great place to start your day from. If you prefer you can have it sent to you but you need to allow appropriate time for shipping and it costs more.


Collection address: Big Bus Ticket Shop
11 Avenue de L'Opera
75001 Paris
Opening Hours: Monday – Sunday: 09.30am - 18.30pm


mother and son at dinner

We had a wonderful visit to Paris for my Mums 70th  birthday and I'd happily return again with my husband. If we do I'd definitely invest in a Paris Pass as I love the ease of queue jumping and knowing I can access anything I fancy. 

Why not pin this post for later?


paris pass pin


Disclosure: We received three 2 day Paris Passes for the purpose of this honest review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

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