Paris Newbie question on transport

[jand]

Hi, I am so glad I found this site. We (my husband, 13 year old son and me) will be visiting Paris in mid-Oct. This is our very first trip. We will arrive at Garde du Nord on a Wednesday afternoon and leave on Sunday from CDG. We plan to visit Versaille, but other than that plan to be in Central Paris. So basically we will be in Zone 1 except for Paris - Versaille and Paris - CDG.

Should we get the Navigo/Carte Orange Zone 1 pass? Or should we go with Carnets of 10? Would my son have a discount? We love to walk but our hotel is not very centrally located, so we expect to use the metro at least twice everyday.

I would really appreciate your suggestion - I am kind of breaking my head over this!

Thanks!
Jan

[ben]

Hi Jan,

If you were to only take 2 metro rides per day (each of you) for 4 days, and you were using carnets of tickets, you'd need to buy 3 of them (30 tickets total) to have enough: 3 people x 2 rides x 4 days = 24 tickets.

That would give you 6 extra tickets, good for one extra round trip for your family during your stay.

Total cost of that would be 3 x 11,40€ = 34,20€

Let's compare that to buying 3 Pass Navigo Decouverte:

5€ card fee + 16,80€ week pass x 3 = 65,4€

That's double the price. If you were making 4 one way trips per day instead of just 2, that would make the Carte Orange much more attractive. But, as it stands, I would say carnets of ticket t+ would be most suitable.

Your son, being 13, is above the age limit of 10 for reduced fares, so he must use full fare tickets.

Paris is a great city for walking. You'll love it. There's so much to see in such a compact area.

Have a great trip,

Ben

[jand]

Thanks - I think I will follow your advice.