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Public
transport throughout Paris is FREE - once you
have a cheap pass
USING
PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN PARIS for FREE

Paris
has a great public transport
network, with a fast underground or subway network that
stretches well
into the
suburbs. And believe it or not, you can travel anywhere in the greater
Paris area for
FREE
once
you've bought a Navigo pass for a day or longer. And daily passes for
the whole Paris are start at just 12.30 €... just
over
£10 or under $ 15 for a whole day's free travel throughout
Paris and its suburbs.
1. How do you start?
Firstly, understand that
there are two principal types of card
(the holders) and a choice of
passes (the products) .
First you choose between a Navigo Easy and a Navigo
Découverte card, or get an app.
2. What's the difference between Navigo
Easy card and Navigo
Découverte card?
Navigo Easy cards are not
personal, and can be loaded only
with a Paris
Visite weekly card, or individual tickets. Navigo
Découverte (Navigo Discovery) cards
are personal,
and can be loaded with normal Navigo
Semaine (weekly) or Navigo
Mois
(Navigo Month) pass.
3 How / where do I get a Navigo
card?
Navigo
cards can be bought
at multiple locations in and around
Paris. These include
- Ticket sales counters in metro stations and RER
stations
- In SNCF "Transilien" suburban train stations
- At ticket offices or machines in stations such
as
Gare du Nord, Gare de Lyon
- From authorized newsagents, tobacconists
4. Is there an app?
Yes, you can download a
free app onto your phone, and load Navigo
products onto it.... avoiding the cost of a plastic card.
The Bonjour RATP app can be downloaded from the
Apple
App Store or for other devices from the
Google
Play Store
5. How much does it cost?
The
plastic
Navigo Easy card itself
costs 2€ - a once-only payment.
The plastic
Navigo Découverte card
itself costs 5€ - a once-only payment. - and
requires a passport-size photo
Once you have a card, you just "load" tickets onto it at any
sales point
A Navigo
Day Pass for the Easy
card costs €12.30, a Navigo
Weekly Pass for
the Découverte
card costs €32.40, valid
for a calendar week, i.e. Mon to Sun. There are also monthly
and annual passes, which are even better value for long-term
use.
6. Are there any other passes I should know about?
Yes, there's the Paris
Visite card,
which is more expensive, and can only be purchased in some spots, such
as airports and main train stations. There's a free app, or a charge of
2 € if a plastic card is required
This pass is valid for any consecutive period of 1, 2, 3, or 5 days ,
but is more expensive, costing 45.40 € for 2 days...
and up
to 78 € for 5 days .
7. What area is covered?
With limited exceptions, Navigo passes
cover the whole
of the Greater Paris public transport area. This reaches
as far as Versailles and Rambouillet in the west, Pontoise in
the north, Chessy in the east (for Disneyland) and Fontainebleau in the
south.
8. What means of travel are included in the pass?
All
standard public
transport; buses, metro, RER (express suburban
transit), suburban trains, trams. Even the funicular up to Montmartre.
9. What is excluded?
Transport by RER to and
from Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports is not
included in the daily pass,
though is included in the weekly pass.
Other forms of transport - river buses, taxis, rickshaws, are
not included. Some long duration passes only cover limited zones, but
these are not usually intended for visitors.
10 Can I buy a ticket for a single journey?
It depends. By
summer 2026 contactless payment by credit / debit card
will be available on all bus lines in
Île‑de‑France, meaning that you can board a bus and pay for
that journey by Visa or Mastercard. The cost is €
2.10. You can still buy a single ticket for the metro in some stations,
but you'll have to buy a plastic Navigo Easy card (cost € 2)
to hold it, or load it on your phone.
Note
that you cannot tap a
card twice for two people on the same journey. Two people traveling
together need two cards.
Family travel : each
member of the family needs a card, except children under
4, who can be carried through turnstiles. Kids 4 - 14 need a card
loaded with half-price tickets.
Other tourist transport :
In addition to hop-on hop-off tour buses (see
tourist passes),
there is a range of other travel options for tourists. Apart from
taxis, other more picturesque options include pedicabs and rickshaws,
tours by
historic 2CV (the iconic little
French car),
Segway
tours,
bike tours and walking trips.
There is also a city-wide bike share system known
as "Velib". How to make use of this system is explained on the
Budget Paris page.
Finding
your way in the metro.
This is no big problem. Using the maps available, check the line number
and
terminus station of each line you want to take. If you need to change
routes, follow the "Correspondance" signs on the platform and through
the foot tunnels; these indicate the line numbers and the termini.
Travelling
outside Paris: use the
trains
or hire a car
at a location on the
outskirts
of Paris, to avoid having to drive in the streets of Paris.
See tips on
car hire on the
outskirts of Paris. Click here for travel to and from
Paris airports
► Don't buy
the Paris
Visite
bus and metro pass online
in advance, buy it when you arrive. Apart from the
official
site, other sites selling this pass charge inflated prices
and
high delivery costs.... up to 29.90 € for delivery to North
America,
and even more for "rest of the world". You can buy the pass at
airports, main train stations, and all Paris urban transport stations.
What
to see and do in Paris:
If your budget is limited, visit the
Paris
for Free page. Even
the Louvre is free, if you know when to go or - in many cases - if you
are under 26 !
Click here for
Paris
tourist
attractions info
: Notre Dame, the Louvre, Montmartre, Moulin Rouge, and
much more.
Or see the Eiffel
tower info page,
Copyright © About-France.com 2026
The About-France.com guide to
Paris:
getting round Paris, main tourist attractions and other things to see
and do .
In
an emergency
in Paris:
24
hr chemist / pharmacies:
About a dozen pharacies are open 24/24 in Paris. Here are five of them
in different parts of the city.
a) Pharmacie 5 place de la République,
75003
0147 00 18 08
b) 84, av des Champs-Elysées
75008,
tel
0145
62 02 41
c) 6, place Clichy
75009,
tel
0148
74 65 18 .
d) Pharmacie Bastille - 6 bd Richard Lenoir
75011
0147 00 49 44
e) Pharmacie d’Italie - 61 avenue d’Italie,
75013
0144 24 19 72
For other addresses, search on the
Paris Area Health Service website
(in French).
English-speaking
pharmacies:
British Pharmacy
62, Avenue des Champs-Elysées
75008 Paris
0143
59 22 52
British-American pharmacy,
1 rue Auber, 75009
0142 65
88 29
English-language
crisis line;
SOS-Help
Daily 3 pm - 11pm
01 46 21 46 46
Ambulance:
Call/phone: 15
Hospitals:
Hertford British Hospital: 3, rue
Barbès, 92300 Levallois-Perret
Tel
0146 39 22 22
American Hospital of Paris
63, Bd Victor Hugo
92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine
0146
41 25 25
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Disneyland
Paris... just click
The
Louvre museum, and its glass pyramid.