Paris Transportation: Paris Visite vs. Navigo Decouverte

Paris is an amazing place to visit.  There are sights, tastes, activities, smells (some of them good) all awaiting American tourists.  What is the best, cheapest way to get around Paris and enjoy everything that France has to offer?  Our family saved over $100 by skipping the Paris Visite and choosing Navigo Decouverte.  The information below summarizes our experience in Paris in August 2021.  We hope it will help you enjoy this amazing city!  Make sure you also check out our other blog posts about Paris: our top recommendations with kids and ways to save money in Paris.

You will not want a rental car in Paris.  We did get a car upon arriving at the airport on a Sunday for 2 days/1 night.  Jon and Abigail flew into CDG and Ashley and Brandon arrived later at Orly, so Jon grabbed a rental car.  This allowed for family pick-up at Orly, free Sunday night street parking, and to drive to Normandy the next day.  However, outside of free street parking on Sunday nights, there is nothing good about having a car in the city.

Many tourists opt (are pushed towards) buying the Paris Visite pass.  It allows for most public transportation around Paris and some attraction discounts.  The pass is good for a variety of areas and can be purchased easily, but is very expensive.  The other option is the Navigo Decouverte, which is much cheaper than the 5-day Visite pass.  The Navigo pass always starts on Monday and ends on Sunday, regardless of the day you buy it.  Going into a Monday through Sunday week in Paris, it was an easy decision to use the Navigo Decouverte pass.  Here is an excellent, in-depth explanation of these two options.

The upside to the Paris Visite:

• Easy to purchase.
• Valid for up to 5 consecutive days from time of purchase.  If you are only going to be in Paris from Thursday to Monday, this MIGHT be a good option for you.
• Has a discount for children.

The downside to the Paris Visite:

• Very expensive.
• Excludes getting to/from Orly Airport.
• Requires you to determine which zones around Paris you will need to travel in order to determine total pricing.
• Very expensive.
• The discounts on attractions are extremely minimal.
• Very expensive.

Continue to read up on the Paris Visite pass if you’d like; it may have some benefit for using 1-3 days at the end of a week.  However, while researching online to prepare for our trip, we knew for sure we wanted the Navigo Decouverte passes.  We still weren’t sure how easy they would be to obtain, so here’s the process and tips:

• Bring with you a color passport-sized headshot for each person.  Jon forgot to do this, so we made a single photocopy with all our passport pictures for less than $1.  Copy shops in Paris are plentiful.
• The Navigo pass requires taping the picture to the pass.  At least in theory.  At our ticket station, the attendant had no tape or scissors to adjust the initial sizing.  We did our best to slide the picture into the holder in the right spot.  As you can see from the picture it looked a bit rough, but it worked!
  • Pro tip: Bring a small roll of scotch tape for proper set-up of your pass.
• The pass itself does cost €5, and an additional €22,90 for the Monday through Sunday activation, making the total cost less than half of the adult Paris Visite.
• Once you get your pass, simply scan your way all week onto any bus/metro/tram/rail that is within the Paris Zones 1-5.  We used the cards on all those forms of transportation around Paris as well as to Disneyland, Versailles, and the OrlyBus to the airport.
• The pass itself is good for 10 years after the initial purchase.  Keep it: you will save €5 on your next trip to Paris and can activate it at a self-serve kiosk. This saves even more time and hassle!
• The total cost of the 4 Navigo Decouverte passes: €111.6 (roughly $132) 
  • Cost of 2 adult/2 kids 5 Day, Zone 1-5 Paris Visite: €197.4 (roughly $233)
  • Cost of paying for individual tickets for our itinerary (plus the hassle!): €300+ (over $350)

If you are spending a Monday through Sunday week in Paris, use the Navigo Decouverte card for a cheap, easy way to navigate to everything!

Paris was one of our first stops during a year-long trip around the world!  To see all our travel adventures, head over to our Instagram page.

If you have questions or tips for getting around Paris, let us know!