Museum Passes

Help please!

We are in Paris the first week in July and we are unsure if Museum Passes are the way to go?

Are they worth it?

Are there any other places to get passes than from the Rail Europe website?

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It is definitely worth getting a museum pass, even for 1 day. We were there in April, which is not peak season, and the lines for the Louvre and D%26#39;Orsay were quite long. With the pass, you walk to the head of the line and are immediately admitted. This alone, saves you hours of time, which is precious to a tourist, and is kind to your feet. If you get tired or hungry and want to leave, you can always return using your pass. You can also use the pass at many other places, which you might pass over if you had to pay to see. You can access most major sites with the pass in addition to the museums, such as St. Chappelle, Arc de Triomphe, Versailles. I would wait until you arrive to purchase a pass. They are easily bought at major Metro stations, and are cheaper than what you might pay online. The only way you can lose money with a pass is if you lose the pass.

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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt;We are in Paris the first week in July and we are unsure if Museum Passes are the way to go?Are they worth it?

Are there any other places to get passes than from the Rail Europe website?%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;

Apart from any cost savings derived from the CARTE MUSEE et MONUMENTS there are two intangible benefits of the pass--especially in hightourist season. The first is that you will usually save PRECIOUS TIME by by-passing sometimes VERY long ticket lines, especially at major attractions. The second is %26#39;serendipity%26#39;%26#39;--the ability to simply %26#39;drop-in%26#39; on places that you might not otherwise if you had to stop and calculate the cost of admission and time spent to buy tickets for somewhere you don%26#39;t know very much about. You can simply drop in, take a look around (use the bathroom); if you like what you find stay (in the museum), if not leave and move on to somewhere else.

You can purchase CARTE MUSEE et MONUMENT pass at almost any Metro station in Paris for the LOWER official price. ALL of the thrid-party agencies (like RailEurope) tack on their own premium/surcharges to the price of 25-35% for little or NO convenience. If you insist on spending the extra money, then figure out the official purcahse price in Paris and the price of the agent, then take the bills, tear them up into tiny pieces,drop them into the toilet and flush. At least this way you have the pleasure of seeing your money make pretty patterns in the bowl before it goes down the drain.

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The real value to the Museum Pass is that you don%26#39;t have to wait in line for many of the attractions.

You can buy your Museum Pass at any attraction. However, I suggest you buy it at one where there is usually no line or a very short line (the Cluny comes to mind). Otherwise, you will have to wait in the regular line with everyone else to purchase the pass.

I have heard that Museum Passes are sold at metro stations, too.

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Totally worth it. I calculated that we would have spent the following (based on prices in my guidebook, which might be a little out of date):

orsay 7euro

cluny 5.5

louvre 12.5 (we went 2x - 1 time in evening when it%26#39;s cheaper)

conciegerie/st chappelle 8

versailles 7.5

trianon at versailles 5.00

this adds up to 45.5 euros %26amp; a 3 day pass is 36 euros. Not to mention by passing lines. Although sometimes you have to be a little forward %26amp; walk past all of the people on the line to get to the person to show your ticket to %26amp; this may irritate some of the people in the line - or confuse them if nothing else. At Versailles the inital line we got stuck on was the line to scan your bag %26amp; go through the metal detector, so there was no avoiding that one, but once inside we could skip the ticket line. I bought ours at the Cluny. There was no line, so it was fast. But you can get it at a metro station too. Just fill out the date on the first day you use it %26amp; sign it. It also comes with a handy list of places that accept it - although I%26#39;m not sure it was a comprehensive list. I brought a print out from home to refer to...