If you’re visiting Paris for any extensive amount of time, you should get a Navigo Decouverte pass for the Paris Metro. It’s so much more convenient to swipe a pass rather than deal with paper tickets — or worse yet, deal with cash or coins to buy paper tickets — every time you want to go somewhere. The pass gives you unlimited rides for whatever duration of time you load on the pass (a week, a month, etc.). Here’s how to buy a Passe Navigo Decouverte.
Planning your vacation in Paris? Buy a Paris Visite Pass for the Metro online.
Buying a Navigo Decouverte pass is easy. You just need to find a Metro station with a staffed ticket window (guichet) and ask for a Navigo Decouverte. If you don’t speak French, you can first ask the attendant if they speak English, or you can say this: “Bonjour. Je voudrais un passe Navigo Decouverte, s’il vous plait.” Phonetically, that’s “Zhay voo-dray un pahs navigo day-coo-vair, see voo play.” The clerk will get up and go to wherever the stash of seldom-sold Navigo Decouverte passes are kept and retrive one for you.
Next, they’ll ask you which zones you want to load onto the pass. Zones 1 and 2 will cover all your travel within central Paris. Places like La Defense, Versailles, and Charles de Gaulle airport are beyond zones 1 and 2, but you can just buy an individual ticket for the rare occasions when you’ll travel out of your zone.
Then the attendant will ask how much time (combien de temps) you want to load onto the pass. You can load the Navigo Decouverte by the week or by the month (une semaine, un mois). A monthly pass works out cheaper on a weekly basis than a weekly pass. (For 2012, a weekly pass costs 19.15 euro, and a monthly pass is 62.90€). Be aware that unlike the other Navigo passes for French residents, the Navigo Decouverte can’t be replaced or refunded if it’s lost or stolen. It’s up to you to keep track of it.
A Navigo Decouverte pass for a one-week trip to Paris will cost you 24.15 euros. (That includes a one-time 5 euro fee for the card, plus 19.15 for a one-week pass for metro zones 1 and 2). You would still need to buy separate RER tickets for your trips to and from the airport.
If your trip runs from the end one week through the beginning of another, then a Navigo Decouverte pass won’t work for you. A “Navigo week” is Monday to Sunday. If you’re traveling to Paris Friday through Tuesday, then one weekly pass wouldn’t cover you. You might want to look into a Paris Visite pass or Mobilis one-day pass.
If your Paris trip is only 2 or 3 days long, the Navigo is more than what you need. Buying multiple 1-day “Mobilis” passes a la carte would be a better buy.
To get a Paris Metro pass for a month, you’ll pay a total of 67.90 euros. (That’s a one-time 5 euro fee for the card, plus 62.90 for a month for zones 1 and 2).
Navigo Decouverte Instructions
The station attendant will hand you a plastic pack that contains 3 pieces. First, there’s the ID portion, where you need to sign your name (bring a pen), peel off the lining to reveal the adhesive and affix your photo (see below). The second piece is the card with the pass ID number and chip in it. This goes on the bottom so that it shows through the oval cutout on top. Then you insert both pieces into the third piece, the plastic cover. To use your pass, you just swipe it over the ticket reader at any Metro turnstile.
For the photo, you will need to affix your 2.5 x 3 cm photo to the pass. (That’s smaller than passport photo size.) I would recommend bringing a photo with you from home. It doesn’t need to be a Glamour Shot. It just needs to show your face. If you can follow instructions in French, you can just use one of the photo booths in the Paris Metro stations (available at many stations right next to the ticket window, and also at CDG airport) but you’ll be taking your chances on the machines being in service, and you will need 5 euros in coins. If you do come with your own photo, bring your own pair of small safety scissors to the Metro station with you so you can trim the photo yourself if needed, without being at the behest of the Metro clerk.
A couple of days before your pass expires, you’ll start get a warning beep and turnstile message whenever you swipe the pass that says, “Fin du Forfait,” with the expiration date.
That’s it. Now you’re ready to swipe and ride the Paris Metro with ease.
