Paris has some of the finest art galleries and museums in the world. These are the very reason why many people visit the French capital. As with visiting more than a few attractions in any city, entry costs soon start adding up. There are a number of passes available and everyone wants to known which pass is better? Based on many visits, both personal and as a tour guide, I offer various tips and suggestions to help you decide which pass is suitable for you. Also, I outline how I spent four days using a Paris Museum Pass.
EXCLUSIVE TO ARCHAEOLOGY TRAVEL: 5% Discount on Paris Museum Pass from Tiqets
- Thomas Dowson
- Last Checked and/or Updated 17 April 2024
- No Comments
- France Travel Tips, Travel Tips
There are two city passes for Paris that stand out from the many, and largely because they have been around the longest and they are the most comprehensive. They are: the Paris Museum Pass and the Paris Pass by Go City. Both passes are designed to reduce the costs of visiting a number of attractions in a short period of time period. And there is also a convenience factor for pass holders. Having a single ticket is just easier than having to stand in queues at every attraction you visit.
Buy the wrong one, however, or even worse, use them incorrectly and you might not save much, time or money. You could end up wasting your money entirely. In this post I take you step by step through each of the two passes, outlining what they are, their differences and offer tips on which of the two to buy and how to make the most of your purchase and get good value for money.
One point I should make at the outset. As I mentioned above, these two are the oldest and most comprehensive city passes for Paris. And of their type, the best to consider. They are not without their limitations and some ticket providers have produced more specific bundles that could turn out to be better. I mention I few at the end.
Please note: although my use of the 4-day Paris Museum Pass was not in 2024, I have used 2024, correct as of April, prices to illustrate potential savings.
Quick Links for Recommended Paris Passes
Paris Museum Pass
Includes entry to more than 54 of the top museums and attractions in and around Paris. From the Louvre to Versailles. From Sainte-Chapelle to the National Museum of the Renaissance.
Paris Museum Pass Discount Code ATPARISMP5 for a 5% discount – exclusive to Archaeology Travel.
Go City's Explorer Pass
Includes many popular attractions Paris is known for. Choose your experiences as you go. From cheese tasting to a balloon ride above the city. From climbing the Eiffel Tower to going to Disneyland.
► Choose a pass based on the number of experiences and attractions you wish to visit.
► Available for 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 attractions.
► Valid for 60 days from your first visit.
► Disneyland included in the 5, 6 or 7-choice pass.
► Download the app and check attraction details from your smartphone.
► If your plans change your purchase is refundable up to 90 days from the time of purchase.
► More information and buy the Paris Explorer Pass on the Go City Website.
Go City's All-Inclusive Pass
Includes a number of the top museums, attractions and experiences in around Paris. From Parc Astérix to the Louvre Museum. From breakfast in a Parisian café to champagne in Montmartre.
► Choose a pass based on the number of days you require: available for 2, 3, 4 or 6 days.
► Valid for 4 days from first use.
► The Paris Museum Pass is included when you purchase a 4 or 6 Day Paris Pass.
► Download the app and check attraction details from your smartphone.
► If your plans change your purchase is refundable up to 90 days from the time of purchase.
► More information and buy the All Inclusive Paris Pass on the Go City Website.
Or, continue reading this page for all the information you need to choose which Paris city pass is right for you.
Archaeology Travel may earn a commission at no extra cost to you should you decide to purchase them.
The Convenience of a Pass
Understandably, particularly for budget travellers or families on holiday, when we think about museum passes and other such schemes, it is often with saving money in mind. Travelling can be an expensive past time. And for a city like Paris, where there are many wonderful museums and monuments people come to see, admission charges soon start adding up.
The passes outlined on this page are not just for people who need to watch their spending. They also have a significant convenience value:
- Standing is a queue is not a great way to spend a holiday. While you can avoid a queue to buy tickets, it is not possible to avoid security checks.
- You get one entry to many great museums – perhaps some you might not have considered before you saw the list of participating attractions.
- As long as you do not lose your cards, there is no need to worry about paying for tickets every time you go into an attraction – it’s all already prepaid.
- Besides all the museums and monuments, the All-Inclusive Paris Pass has a number of great activities that many people think of doing anyway – a boat ride down the Seine River – its a must. The pass has so much already there for you, all you need to do is decide what to do when.
***The longer the pass is valid for, the better value-for-money it is. Either of the six-day passes are good value for money, even if you take your time while enjoying the highlights they include. But for those with more limited time, a two day passes can be worth it.
What is the Paris Museum Pass?
A Paris Museum Pass gives you access to 54 of the more popular museums and monuments in and around the city. Although there are some places you may never have heard of, the scheme does include all the popular museums and galleries most visitors want to visit – in Paris and nearby. Including for example, the Louvre Museum and the Archaeological Crypt at the Notre Dame, the Palace of Versailles and the National Renaissance Museum.
Your options are a pass that is valid for 2, 4 or 6 days, and costs €62, €77 and €92 respectively (as of April 2024).
The Paris Museum Pass only includes museum entrances, it does not include other services such as public transport or guided tours. Also note, entry is covered for permanent exhibitions only, not to temporary or special exhibitions where there almost always is an added entry fee. If, however, entry to these special exhibitions is included in a standard ticket, then your pass will cover entry to these.
Entry to most museums is free for anyone under 18 years of age, from anywhere in the world, and up to 26 years of age for nationals of countries in the European Union. British nationals remember this no longer includes you (I do get asked this question quite a lot). For British visitors to Paris, there is only free entry if you are under 18 years of age.
Is the Paris Museum Pass Worth Buying?
The Paris Museum Pass is available for two, four or six days, for which the costs are €62, €77 and €92 respectively, as of April 2024.
To see whether the Paris Museum Pass is worth the money, consider the following list of popular museums and historical attractions in Paris. These are the prices one adult would pay at each venue (also as of April 2024). All of these venues participate in the scheme.
Musée d’Orsay €16
Musée du Louvre €22
Musée Quai Branly €14
Musée Rodin €14
Musée Picasso Paris €16
Palace of Versailles €32.00
Arc de Triomphe €16
Sainte Chapelle €13.00 (Together with the Conciergerie €20.00)
Musée Cluny €13.00
Château de Fontainebleau €14
While these may not be on everyone’s choice of must-see attractions in Paris, they can be used to give a good idea of the kind of savings that can be made. Remember, there are 54 museums and monuments on the list.
As part of my research for this article, I bought a 4-day Paris Museum Pass. And the following is how I used it, and would recommend others to think about.
My First Two days on the Paris Museum Pass
If you only have two days in Paris and you would like to see some of the more popular museums and include the Palace of Versailles, the following is what I did for the first two days of my four days in Paris.
Day One: Start at the Musée Cluny (€13.00), where anything between 2 or 3 hours would be a very good visit. Then leave the museum via the Boulevard Saint-Michel and walk north across the Seine River on to the Île de la Cité, and Sainte-Chapelle is on your left (a 9 minute walk). Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie (twin entry ticket for €20.00) can be seen in under two hours. After a 15 minute walk you would be at the Louvre Museum (€22.00). Grab a bite to eat on your way and you have plenty time to spend at least 3 hours exploring more than just the highlights. After the Louvre walk through the Tuileries Park to the Luxor Obelisk (free) on Place de la Concord (15 minutes) and then carry on up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe (30 minutes, €16.00), which stays open until quite late, for spectacular view over Paris at dusk in all directions.
Day Two: Take a metro out to Versailles to visit the Royal Apartments and Gardens (€32.00). There is still plenty of time to head back into Paris and see another museum or landmark or enjoy the sights of Paris at a slower pace.
Total Costs of Entries: €103.00
Cost of 2-Day Museum Pass: €62.00 (€75 with Tiqets)
(Excluding the cost of transport to Versailles, or into the centre of Paris.)
The first day may seem a bit rushed, but it is easily achievable as the venues are with in easy walking distance of each other for people without mobility issues. Also, this 2-day itinerary takes in some of the best museums and monuments in Paris. You would not leave disappointed.
My final two days on the Paris Museum Pass
With these passes, it is usually the case that the longer you have it for the easier it is to recover the initial cost and the more savings you make. If you have four days in Paris, the following is how I spent my third and fourth days in addition to the first two days outlined above.
Day Three: Depending where you are staying in Paris, either start as I suggest, or reverse the day – whatever would suit your travel. Start at the National Archaeology Museum (€6.00) at Saint-Germain-en-Laye Musée (under an hour by metro from the centre of Paris). After a couple of hours in the museum you could explore the Royal castle, or head back to Paris and visit the Musée Quai Branly (€14.00), and still have time for more sightseeing – even the Eiffel Tower, which is nearby.
Day Four: Take a metro out (1.5 hours) to the extraordinary Palace of Fontainebleau (€14.00) – one of the finest Renaissance castles in France, and certainly the largest royal palace. There is still more than enough time to head back into Paris and see another museum, depending on your interests. I would visit the Musée d’Orsay (€16.00).
Total Costs of Entries: €153.00
Cost of 4-Day Museum Pass: €77.00
(Excluding the cost of transport to Versailles, or into the centre of Paris.)
With more days to explore the city, you can spread the sites more evenly but can also get to visit a few stellar attractions on the outskirts of Paris. Depending on your sightseeing habits, and whether you want to see as much as you can or have a relaxing break, you could actually fit more into the four days, I know I would. But I am not most people; I go to destinations to see as much as I can.
Not everyone’s visit is the same, but I think what is clear from the above two illustrations is that it is not actually that difficult to save money with a Paris Museum Pass. And remember that there is also the convenience factors to include.
Below I give more tips and suggestions for how to create your own itinerary and and work out whether the Paris Museum Pass is good for you. How to take into account the location of the venues, which days they are closed (the Cluny is closed on a Monday, while the Louvre is closed on a Tuesday), etc. Also, just because you are in Paris for 4 days it does not mean that you need a 4-day pass, if all you want to see if a few museums and Versailles perhaps the 2-day pass is more than adequate.
What Happened to the Paris Pass?
For as long as I can remember there has been the Paris Pass. You would choose the number of days your pass would be valid for, pay accordingly and then rush around trying to fit as much in to the chosen number of days to make the purchase value for money. And this suited a lot of people, but not everyone. The frequent criticism is that it is difficult to visit the required number of experiences to cover the initial outlay of the pass. And if you did manage to do this, you were not able to spend much time in the attractions.
The company that produced the Paris Pass, Go City (formerly Leisure Pass), now offers two different passes for Paris: the Explorer Pass and the All-Inclusive Pass.
The Explorer Pass is mostly experiences and some of the more popular attractions. You purchase a pass based on the number of activities or attractions you want to do while in Paris. You can choose from a list of 47 experiences and attractions. Passes are available for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 activities. The pass is activated at the first attraction and is valid for 60 days to visit the rest.
The activities are some of Paris’s top tourist attractions, from the Louvre to Disneyland (only included with a 5, 6, or 7 choice pass), from breakfast in a Parisian Café to a tour of Sate de France. There is a great selection of tours and culinary experiences. See the full list of experiences and attractions included in Go City’s Paris Explorer Pass. The cost of a 3-choice pass for an adult is €104, and €69 for a child (2 – 17), while a 7-choice pass is €204 for an adult and €154 for a child.
The All-Inclusive Pass is the traditional Paris Pass. You purchase this pass by choosing the number of consecutive calendar days required, namely 2, 3, 4 or 6 days. It includes most of the experiences of the Explorer Pass (not all, for example Disneyland is not included in the All-Inclusive Pass) and the Paris Museum Pass described above (only included in the 4 and 6-day passes). See the full list of museums, experiences and attractions included in Go City’s Paris All-Inclusive Pass. The cost of the All-Inclusive Paris Pass starts at €179 for an adult at 2 days, and €299 for an adult at 6 days. For a child, a 2-day pass is €94, while a 6-day pass is €139.
Are Go City's Paris Passes Worth Buying?
The first thing to consider with both Go City passes is that they have a purse value. This is the maximum amount you can ‘spend’ using your pass. For example, the purse value for a 3-choice Explorer Pass for an adult is €180. This means that the total of the entry prices for the three attractions you choose can not exceed €180. With the cost of an adult 3-choice pass currently at €104, the maximum you can save with this pass is €76. Full details of the purse values for all options of both passes are supplied online, but I think these are generous limits and very good value for money – if the choice of attractions on offer are those you want to visit.
As with the examples I outlined for the Paris Museum Pass, it is easy to work out on paper what attractions and activities need to be ticked off to cover the cost. You also need to consider if what is on offer is what you would really want to do while you are in Paris. Do not blindly buy these passes (or any pass for that matter) thinking they always save you money. Read the reviews, it is very clear that most people who give negative reviews did not know the details before they purchased their passes. For example, a recent 1* review complained that the Paris Museum Pass is only available with a 4 or 6-day All-Inclusive Pass. This information really is very clear on the website.
What is the Difference Between the Paris Passes & the Paris Museum Pass?
The difference between the Paris Museum Pass, the Explorer Pass and the All-Inclusive Paris Pass is simple.
The Paris Museum Pass is only for entry to 54 monuments and museums in and around Paris.
The Explorer and All Inclusive Paris passes include a number of experiences and attractions other than museums and monuments, but each in different ways. With the Explorer Pass you buy a pass according to the number of experiences (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7) and attractions you want to visit. Whereas with the All-Inclusive Pass you base your choice of pass on the number of days (2, 3, 4 or 6) you wish to use the pass to explore the sights in and around Paris.
Which City Pass for Paris to Buy?
No Pass, anywhere, is suited for every visitor to that destination. And the same is true for Paris. People frequently ask “is the Paris Pass legit?”, or “is it worth the money?” The answer is yes, the Paris passes do provide a way to save money while travelling; but perhaps not for everyone. For the business traveller, or anyone visiting Paris for a relaxing getaway, who is spending a few days in Paris, and only gets the opportunity or only wants to visit one or two museums, these Paris passes are definitely not going to be worth it. For these kind of visitors, the ticket provider Tiqets has a number of what they call bundles that might suit you. For example, you can buy a ticket combination that includes entry to the Louvre Museum and a Seine River cruise. If this combination is not for you, there are others to choose from, see the Tiqets Page and all their tickets.
As I state in all the articles I have written about passes around the world, including Chicago, Berlin and Rome, the visitor needs to be savvy and work out whether buying a pass is good value or not. Given the difference between these Paris passes is basic, it is quite easy to decide which of the passes outlined on this page pass to buy.
1. If you want to see as many museums and monuments over a few consecutive days, start by considering the Paris Museum Pass.
2. If you want to include a few popular experiences as well as museums and monuments over a period of 4 or 6 days, then the All-Inclusive Paris Pass from Go City will probably suit you better.
3. If you are more interested in having a few poplar or typical Parisian experiences , and not be tied to these being on consecutive days (perhaps you are spending a few days at the front and back ends of a trip to France), then the Explorer Pass is what you want . If you need to include a Disneyland experience for the kids (or the child at heart) then you need to buy either the 5, 6 or 7-choice Explorer Pass.
Children, Under 26s & Passes in Paris
As of 2009, any National of the European Union under the age of 26 is entitled to free entry to all museums and cultural attractions. And most institutions in France are good in adhering to this. All children under the age of 18, whatever their nationality, are allowed free entry to museums and monuments. A good tip here is never to assume anything, and always have proof of identity that will be required to gain admission for free.
This is why an EU National under the age of 26 or any child under the age of 18 does not require a Paris Museum Pass. For the Explorer Pass and the All-Inclusive Pass there is a fee for children and teenagers because that gives these individuals entry to attractions and experiences that are not normally free of charge for them.
Tips for Using the Passes
The following tips for using the Paris Pass and the Paris Museum Pass will ensure you get value for your money.
If you are strapped for cash but do want to see many of the museums and monuments included in the scheme, then choose two days as ‘museum days and see as much as you can in those days (keeping in mind the following tips about opening hours, etc.).
Your Paris Museum Pass is activated when you first use it. It is then valid for the number of days for which you have purchased. If you buy a 4-day pass and you first use it on Monday, it ceases to provide you the stated benefits at midnight four days later, ie Thursday. Therefore, you do not want to first use your pass half-way through, or later, your first day – you will have lost time on it.
If you can, choose consecutive days that will include days on which your museums of choice are open late. For example, the Louvre is open until 9.45 pm on Wednesday and Fridays, normally it shuts at 6 pm.
Also, believe it or not, many of the Parisian museums and monuments are shamefully closed one day a week – even during the peak tourist season. The Louvre, for example, are closed on Tuesdays, whereas the Musée Rodin and the Musée d’Orsay are closed on Mondays. But, on the plus side, most museums are free on the first Sunday of each month.
Just as you should consider opening hours in your planning, don’t forget to take into account where the attractions you want to visit are. There are a number of museums and monuments that are all quite central, and within walking distance of each other, or a quick metro ride. Some are further out, such as the castles of Versailles and Fontainebleau, and the National Archaeology Museum, and these require the better part of a day to visit.
Who Should Consider Buying These Passes?
- If you are travelling with kids, and you need to use public transport a lot and avoid queues.
- If you want to see and do a lot in a few days.
- If you are on a budget.
Who Should Skip these Passes
- If you are travelling on a tight budget, and usually look for free things to do (of which there are a lot in Paris).
- If you only have a few places on your ‘Paris Bucket List’.
- If you will be staying in the city for a longer period of time, ten days or more I suppose, and want to spread out your activities and visits rather than cram everything into two, four or six days.
Where to Buy the Passes?
The Paris Museum Pass is available almost anywhere and everywhere, from the Airports to the tourist offices, from the many iconic Parisian street kiosks to souvenir shops and certain stores. They can also be bought at many of the museums and monuments.
The Paris Museum Pass can be bought online at the Paris Museum Pass website. You will be required to provide the name for each passholder. A word of caution: read the terms and conditions. “Orders are final. Passes cannot be taken back, exchanged or refunded” (their emphasis).
The Paris Museum Pass is also available to purchase on reputable online ticket providers, GetYourGuide and Tiqets. The pass is normally €4 cheaper on Tiqets, but a further 5% discount is automatically applied here for readers of Archaeology Travel. GetYourGuide does allow the option of a Seine River cruise.
Both of Go City’s Paris Passes can be bought online, on their website. For more information and to purchase a pass, see the following pages:
Once you have purchased your Go City pass, you can donload the app, enter the details and all the information you need to manage your pass, make your reservations and watch your purse values is there. For those who have the option of a Paris Museum Pass, this has to be collected from the Big Bus Information Center (11 Avenue de l’Opéra).
Paris Travel Guide
From the Cathedral of Notre-Dame and the Sainte Chapelle, to the Eiffel Tower and the Palais de Chaillot, Paris is one of the most visited destinations in the world. Unfortunately it is also one of the most expensive. Our Paris Travel Guide, produced specifically for History Buffs, is not only packed with suggestions for what are the must see attractions and museums, but also money saving tips for what to see and do in Paris.
