Discount Passes in Paris

There are a number of different Paris discount passes which are intended for tourists to maximise their holidays in the City of Light and sometimes significant savings can be made. Most cards will allow cheaper entry into museums and monuments, discounts on tours and in some cases includes free travel on public transport. It is important to discover what is included in each of the discount passes listed below as sometimes you need to fit in a lot of activities to actually save money. The best advice we can give is to carefully consider what you would like to do in Paris and then see if this corresponds with what is available with the card.

Paris Museum Pass

Paris Musuem

The Paris Museum Pass has been one of the most popular discount passes in Paris since 2001. The pass allows you free access to 60 museums and monuments in either a 2, 4 or 6 day format. Obviously, the more you visit, the more you will save, so bear this in mind if you intend to use the card to visit some of the larger museums or monuments in Paris, such as the Louvre or Chateaux de Versailles. You can make a big saving if for example you want to go up the Arc de Triomphe, visit the Musée d'Orsay and some of the other smaller museums. A list of the museums and monuments in Paris that include free entry with the Museum Pass can be found on their website. You should also get priority queuing with the card.

Discount Passes in Paris

Please also bear in mind that some museums on the list are open for free on the first Sunday of the month and many can be closed on a Monday or Tuesday (and some other days) as well as some public holidays. Children under 18 years old and those under 26 years olds from the EU also usually get a discount or can enter for free to most sites without the need for a Museum Pass.

2 Day Pass - €39
4 Day Pass - €54
6 Day Pass - €69

The Museum Pass can be purchased from most of the museums on the list and from Tourist Information desks around Paris and the main airports. You can also buy them online in advance of your trip.

Paris Visite Card

The Paris Visite card is a long standing discount card produced by the RATP and is available in 1, 2, 3 or 5 consecutive day formats. The card allows unlimited journeys on the bus, metro, RER, trams and Transilien SNCF trains (see the separate article on Travel Passes in Paris) but also provides a reduction on entrance prices to certain monuments, museums, tours and theme parks as well as a 10% discount with shopping at Galeries Lafayette. There are 14 partners, some of which are given below:

Arc de Triomphe: 20% off entrance price
Montparnasse Tower: 30% off entrance price
Bateaux Parisiens: 25% off a cruise
Disneyland Paris: 20% off a 1 day / 2 park ticket
Galerie Lafayette: 10% off purchases

The price of the card depends on the tarif zone chosen and there is also a reduction for children (4-11 years old):

Tarif Zones 1-3
Adult / Child: 1 day: €9.75 / €4.85
Adult / Child: 2 days: €15.85 / €7.90
Adult / Child: 3 days: €21.60 / €10.8
Adult / Child: 5 days: €31.15 / €15.55

Tarif Zones 1-5
Adult / Child: 1 day: €20.50 / €10.25
Adult / Child: 2 days: €31.15 / €15.55
Adult / Child: 3 days: €43.65 / €21.80
Adult / Child: 5 days: €53.40 / €26.70

Tickets can be brought from metro stations, airports and some tourist offices.

Paris City Passport

This is a new discount package for Paris (released in 2012) which has been created by the official Paris Tourism office. The Paris City Passport aims to be a complete Paris sightseeing package and comes in either a 1, 2, 3 or 5 day format. Each passport includes the Paris Visite Card, the Museums Pass (except 1 day passports which includes entrance to the Louvre museum only), a River Cruise with Bateaux Mouches and a special Paris City Shopping discount card. This shopping card gives you a 10% discount for 3 consecutive days at a selection of Paris shops such as L'Occitane, Nina Ricci, Marionnaud (Champs-Elysées store only) and Aigle. The exact shops in the promotion can be found on the official website.

This discount pass is available to buy on the internet and or it can be purchased in any of the Tourist Offices in Paris. If you decide to order via the internet, you can choose to get the passports delivered to your home or hotel in Paris (at a cost) or to pick them up for free at the main Paris Tourist Information office on rue des Pyramides, 75001. You must order at least 4 days in advance.

Paris City Passport 1 day
Adult: €32
Paris Visite card 1 day (zone 1-3)
Priority entrance ticket for Louvre Museum
Bateaux Mouches sightseeing cruise
Paris City Shopping Card 3 days - 10% discount on a number of shops in Paris

Paris City Passport 2 days
Adult / Child: €66 / €13
Paris Visite card 2 days (zone 1-3)
Paris Museum Pass 2 days
Bateaux Mouches sightseeing cruise
Paris City Shopping Card 3 days - 10% discount on a number of shops in Paris

Paris City Passport 3 days
Adult / Child: €72 / €16
Paris Visite card 3 days (zone 1-3)
Paris Museum Pass 2 days
Bateaux Mouches sightseeing cruise
Paris City Shopping Card 3 days - 10% discount on a number of shops in Paris

Paris City Passport 5 days
Adult / Child: €97 / €21
Paris Visit 5 days (zone 1-3)
Paris Museum Pass 4 days
Bateaux Mouches sightseeing cruise
Paris City Shopping Card 3 days - 10% discount on a number of shops in Paris

Please note that the Child passport (4 to 11 years old) does not include a museum pass as the majority of museums are free or discounted for under 18 year olds.

Paris Pass

The Paris Pass is an all in one sightseeing and travel card for your visit to Paris. It not only includes in its package the Paris Visite card indicated above, but also a museum pass, an attractions pass, a bus tour pass, a guidebook and a number of special offers in restaurants and shops in Paris. Further details of what you get in the package can be found on the official website. The Paris Pass is available in 2, 4 or 6 consecutive day formats and there are reductions for Children (4-11 years old) and Teenagers (12-17 years old).

2 Day Pass
Adult / Teen / Child: €105 / €61 / €34

4 Day Pass
Adult / Teen / Child: €153 / €82 / €44

6 Day Pass
Adult / Teen / Child: €186 / €93 / €55

If you are intending to do many of the attractions on the card, it can work out to be good value for money but proper research should be carried out beforehand.

Discount Passes in Paris Classic Young Stars: Hahn-Bin Tube. Duration : 7.65 Mins.

A special protégé of the legendary Itzhak Perlman, the dynamic 22-year-old violin virtuoso Hahn-Bin embodies the renaissance of classical music, fusing his highly evocative repertoire with pop performance art in the "extraordinary, intelligent and beautiful" (The Washington Post) concerts of his "inspired, innovative and bracing" (The New York Times) programs. Born in Seoul, Hahn-Bin made his international debut at age twelve at the 42nd Grammy Awards in an event honoring Isaac Stern. Following a decade under the tutelage of Itzhak Perlman at The Juilliard School, Hahn-Bin made his critically-acclaimed debut in 2009 at Carnegie's Zankel Hall as the recipient of the Peter Marino Concert Prize, following his First Prize win at the prestigious Young Concert Artists International Auditions. This season, Hahn-Bin returns to Carnegie Hall, performing the world premiere of "Still Life" for Violin and Orchestra, written by Christopher Cerrone and commissioned for Hahn-Bin by the New York Youth Symphony. The tour of his new recital project "The Five Poisons" will include performances in New York at the Rubin Museum of Art, and in Berlin at the Konzerthaus. Hahn-Bin's recent engagements include Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, as well as appearances with the Queensland Orchestra in Australia, and all the major Korean orchestras including the Seoul, Bucheon, and Daejeon Philharmonics, both in Korea and on ...

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