Single Tickets and Discount Cards for Public Transport
During your stay in Paris, you can opt for a single ticket or choose a discount pass that allows you to travel affordably for one or more days. Below, we first list the single ticket options and then the discount passes for a Paris public transport card.
Please note: many inquiries we receive are about the Navigo Easy card. This pass replaces the old 10-ride tickets (carnet: a paper ticket with a magnetic strip for 10 rides) starting from 2021. Where can you buy the new pass and how can you top it up?
Single Ticket – within Paris
With the same ticket ‘ticket t+’, you can travel on the metro, tram, and bus during your trip. You can transfer from one metro line to another as long as you stay underground. Additionally, you can transfer only between buses or from a bus to a tram within an hour and a half, but not in combination with the metro. This hour and a half applies between the first and last validation. If you transfer on a bus or tram, you need to validate your ticket again in the validation machine.
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Tickets are available for purchase at metro and train stations from a green ticket vending machine labeled ‘Vente’ or a ticket office. Both accept payment by coins, Dutch debit cards, or chip credit cards, and some machines also accept banknotes. The ticket vending machines now look different at some stations.
You can also purchase them at tourist offices and at a ‘Tabac’ (a café that also sells cigarettes and newspapers) or kiosk. You can look for a sales point near your hotel here. Buying tickets in advance is also possible since there is no date printed on them. You can also easily purchase tickets or passes through an app on your phone. Check out the official information and the links to the apps here.
You can purchase a single ticket (2.15 euros) or a Navigo Easy Pass with 10 tickets (17.35 + 2 euros one-time fee for the card).
Children aged 0 to 3 travel for free, while children aged 4 to 11 travel for half price (only when purchasing a pass, not with a single ticket). If you are traveling with Eurostar, formerly Thalys, you can already buy (limited) metro tickets in the bar carriage. Old but unused metro tickets remain valid.
Single Tickets – outside Paris
If you want to travel by the RER commuter train from Paris to Disneyland, Versailles, Fontainebleau, or the airport, or if you want to visit Paris from those places, you cannot use a ticket t+. You will need an ‘billet Origine-Destination,’ the price of which is based on the distance between your starting and ending stations.
We always buy a separate ticket for the RER train and apart from the Navigo Easy Card. It’s convenient and much clearer that way.
For more information, see Transport around Paris.
NAVIGO SEMAINE PASS
The Navigo semaine is a weekly subscription that you load onto the Navigo Découverte pass. This is the most advantageous option if you are in Paris for 5-7 days. It is cheaper than a Paris Visite card. The weekly subscription is always valid from Monday to Sunday, so you have no choice in the days. If you want to save money, plan your stay in Paris between Monday and Sunday. Since September 1, 2015, the Navigo semaine has been valid in all five zones.
First, you purchase the (empty) pass at the counter in a metro station or at a Tabac (with coins or a credit card with a chip). It costs 5 euros, is valid for 10 years, and comes with a card on which you must fill in your name and attach a passport photo (2.5 x 3 cm). You will receive the pass and the card in a plastic sleeve.
You load the Navigo Découverte at the ticket vending machine or at the same counter: insert the pass, choose the subscription (e.g., ‘semaine’), and pay. After your visit to Paris, you take it home. When you return to Paris, you reload it. You can load the weekly subscription from Friday in the previous week to Thursday in the week of use. There is also a monthly subscription, the Navigo mensuelle. It starts on the 1st of the month. You can load it from the 20th of the previous month.
A Navigo semaine for 1 to 5 zones and 7 days (you cannot have fewer days) costs 35 euros. You can then travel throughout Paris, as well as to Versailles, Disneyland, or Fontainebleau. Unfortunately, you do not get a child discount with the card.
You hold the Carte Navigo Découverte in front of the purple electronic eye at the entrance gate in the metro station. If everything is correct, you will hear a beep and can walk through the gate. These devices are also installed at the entrance of buses and trams.
More information can be found on the RATP French website.
PARIS VISITE TRAVEL CARD
The Paris Visite card for 1-3 zones is available for 1 day (13.95 euros), 2 days (22.65), 3 days (30.90), or 5 days (44.45).
If you want to travel to more zones, for example, to Disneyland or Versailles, you can purchase the Paris Visite card for 1-5 zones: 1 day (29.25), 2 days (44.45), 3 days (62.30), or 5 days (76.25). There are separate cards for children aged 4 to 11, available at half the price. With the card, you get discounts at various attractions.
You can find current information about the Paris Visite Travel Card on the RATP website.
Please note! In most cases, the Paris Visite is more expensive than, for example, the Navigo Easy Pass.
Convenient! The Paris Visite is a magnetic card (like the ticket t+) on which you write your name and the start and end dates yourself. You can purchase the card at metro stations, train stations, airports, Offices du Tourisme, some hotels, and at Dutch travel agencies (if you book a trip to Paris there).
You can also book online on the Office du Tourisme website (at least 4 days in advance). You can then pick up the card(s) at the main office in Paris.