Paris Transit Tickets: How to Choose the Right One

Central Paris is compact enough to cover many sights on foot, but pacing yourself matters on a trip, so you'll probably end up on public transport more than once. Metro tickets can be confusing, so here are the essentials.

The basic single ride is sold as Ticket+ and costs 1.90 euros. For a ten-pack (a carnet), choose Ticket+ at the machine and set the quantity to 10. Plenty of travelers miss this option. The ten-pack costs 14.90 euros, about 4 euros less than buying ten single tickets separately, so it's worth it if you'll be riding a lot.

A single ticket is exactly that: one ride. In Paris, you can transfer between buses, but once you exit the metro gates, re-entering counts as a new trip. Don't throw the ticket away right after you tap in. Hold on to it until you've left the station at your destination, because inspections often happen on board or at the exits, and if you can't show a ticket you'll be fined 50 euros, even if you validated it properly. Travelers have really been caught out this way. Keep used tickets separate from unused ones. If a ticket with a damaged magnetic strip gets spat back out at the gate, don't panic. Take it to a nearby information desk (look for the "i"), and staff will check whether it was used and swap it if it wasn't.

For trips out to the airports, La Vallée Village, Versailles, Auvers-sur-Oise or Disneyland, you'll need the RER rather than the metro. It is a regional express railway linking central Paris with the suburbs. Riding it on single tickets means buying a separate fare for your destination, and it isn't cheap. If you're heading to places like these, the Navigo unlimited pass is the better choice. It comes as a weekly pass at 27 euros or a monthly pass at about 75 euros. That sounds steep, but public transport from the airport into the city runs around 10 euros each way, so 20 euros round trip. Buying a Navigo at the airport pays for itself quickly.

You'll need an ID photo for the Navigo. Stick it on and write your name as soon as you buy the pass; photo booths are always available in metro stations. Also note that the weekly pass doesn't run for seven days from the day you buy it. It resets every Monday, and the monthly pass resets on the first of each month. If you arrive on a Friday and buy a weekly pass, you'll only get Friday through Sunday. Pick the ticket that fits your itinerary.