Paris Pass Review: Is It Worth It & Tips

If you’re considering purchasing the Paris Pass, you’ll want to read this blog post because we talk about it in detail.

Many major cities worldwide have adopted the concept of an all-inclusive pass that grants its holder direct access to the highlights of a city.

The Paris Pass is one such product that gives visitors to Paris the opportunity to experience over 80 of Paris’ top attractions for one price.

This post will explain exactly what the Paris Pass is, how to use it, and how to get the most out of it.

It explains what is included in – and excluded from – your Paris Pass, the different types of passes, and where to collect your Paris Pass. It also weighs up the pros and cons of purchasing a Paris Pass.

By the end of this post, you will have learned all about what the Paris Pass has to offer you as a visitor. You will be able to gauge if the Pass will benefit you and your individual circumstances.

This will help you decide if the Pass will be worthwhile and if it will actually save you money throughout your visit.

Click here to buy your Paris Pass!

What Is The Paris Pass?

The Paris Pass is a single-purchase access pass that gives you entry to over 80 attractions, monuments, and museums across the region of Paris. It comprises two passes, namely the Paris Museum Pass and the Attractions Pass.

The Paris Museum Pass (review – tickets here) gives you access to museums across Paris, including the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, Espace Dali, and the Centre Pompidou.

The Attractions Pass grants you access to an array of other interesting attractions and activities such as the Eiffel Tower, the Seine River Boat Cruise, a hop-on-hop-off Paris bus tour, and a Parisian wine tasting in the heart of the city.

By purchasing the Paris Pass, you will be able to enjoy as many of these activities as you can without having to purchase any individual entry tickets. This can save you time and money while allowing you to enjoy the city to the utmost.

Attractions Included

Over 80 popular museums, attractions, monuments, and activities are included in the Paris Pass.

This includes the 50+ museums and monuments ordinarily included in the Paris Museum Pass and countless other non-museum activities that are sure to make the purchase worthwhile.

Besides all of the museums included in the Paris Museum Pass, such as the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay, the Pompidou Centre, Musée Rodin, and the attractions such as the Arc De Triomphe and Eiffel Tower climb, the Paris Museum Pass grants you access to many other Parisian sites that will delight almost any traveler.

 Here are some popular attractions and experiences you get access to:

• Notre Dame & Archaeological Crypt
• Eiffel Tower Guided Climb
• Louvre Museum
• Seine River Cruise
• Paris Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour
• Montmartre & Sacre Coeur Walking Tour
• Parc Asterix
• Arc de Triomphe
• Dalí Paris Museum
• Montparnasse Tour
• Rodin Museum
• Palace of Versailles
• Musée d’Orsay
• Orangerie Museum
• Centre Pompidou
• Sainte Chapelle
• Musée Grevin
• Bateaux Parisiens River Cruise
• Wine Tasting At Les Caves du Louvre
• Château de Vincennes
• Château de Compiègne
• Château de Fontainebleau

Please note that the above list is for your reference only and may not reflect recent modifications to the pass. Make sure to double-check the museum list included with your pass for the most updated information. 

Despite the lengthy list of attractions included in the Paris Pass, some of the city’s best attractions are not included in the Pass. 

One of the most spectacular landmarks in Paris that is a must-see for any visitor to Paris is the Palais Garnier, most often referred to as the Paris Opera House.

This incredible architectural marvel served as the inspiration for the acclaimed musical “The Phantom of The Opera” and has become one of the most visited spots in the entire city.

However, access to the Paris Opera House is not available through the Paris Pass, so these tickets must be purchased separately.

Other popular attractions that are not included are Disneyland Paris, Sacré-Coeur Dome, Paris Catacombs, and a few others. 

Benefits Included

Besides the access to over 80 Parisian destinations, the Paris Pass boasts several other benefits that ought to make the purchase of this pass all the more worthwhile.

You Can Save Money

Firstly, the biggest benefit is the potentially significant savings in money through the Paris Pass.

Instead of having to purchase individual tickets to gain entry into the sites of your choice across the city, you will be able to purchase one Pass to give you access to all of them at a discounted rate.

Also, depending on how many attractions you visit using your Paris Pass, you can potentially save a significant amount of money compared to purchasing individual tickets.

You will also have more freedom to decide how long you want to spend in specific locations.

Say, for example, you have entered a museum only to realize you don’t enjoy being there.

If this is the case, you can feel free to leave without feeling like you have to stay to ensure you “get your money’s worth.” You can simply move on to another attraction, saving you time and money in the long run.

 You Can Save Time

One of the most significant benefits of purchasing the Paris Pass is how it allows you to skip the ticket queues at most attractions across the city.

Enormous amounts of time can be wasted by waiting in ticket lines under ordinary circumstances.

While the Paris Pass will not allow you to skip the security checks, you will be able to bypass the ticket queues and gain fast access to the site.

There are often separate security checkpoints for Paris Pass holders, which will help speed up the entire process.

 You Can Join Guided Tours

Guided tours are another excellent feature of the Paris Pass. A guided tour is often the best way to experience a location.

The tour guides can give you a far better, more in-depth understanding of the attraction while ensuring you don’t miss out on any interesting information about its history.

 You Get a Guidebook

The Paris Pass also comes with a free guidebook that will serve as an indispensable resource throughout your Parisian adventures.

It allows you to check venues’ opening and closing times while serving as a geographical reference to help you plan your excursions.

 You Get Access to Public Bathrooms

Another benefit of the Paris Pass is the unlimited access to clean and pleasant bathrooms in museums.

While this might seem like an odd benefit that was not intended by the Pass makers, having free access to over 80 sites across the city ensures there is always a clean bathroom in whichever part of the city you find yourself.

Pros & Cons

There are several pros and cons to the Paris Pass that will determine whether or not it will be a worthwhile purchase for you.

Besides the potentially significant financial savings to be made through using the Pass, the other main advantage of the Pass is the time savings.

Nobody wants to waste precious time visiting a city such as Paris by standing in long queues awaiting their chance to purchase a ticket and gain entry to an attraction.

The time saved through being able to skip the ticket lines may make the Paris Pass worthwhile to most people.

That’s why the Paris Pass can be an invaluable tool if you plan to do a significant amount of sightseeing in a relatively short space of time.

To make the most of the Pass, you will ideally need to visit at least three attractions per day.

Three excursions per day can be quite taxing to some travelers who prefer to do only one.

This is especially true if you also want to have the time to relax and enjoy the city at ease instead of jumping from one sightseeing expedition to another.

If you only plan to visit one attraction per day, the Paris Pass may be a waste of money.

Say you are the type who only enjoys visiting museums, and you have no interest in enjoying any other non-museum activities such as river cruises and wine tastings.

In this case, you will be better off purchasing only the Paris Museum Pass instead of the all-inclusive Paris Pass.

The Paris Museum Pass is significantly cheaper and will give you access only to the activities you want to enjoy without spending unnecessary money.

The Paris Pass takes a certain degree of pre-planning to make the most of it. Suppose you are not the type of person to plan your activities.

You may find yourself rushing from one activity to another while wasting significant time in transit from one location to the next.

Because planning is required to get the most out of your Pass, travelers who enjoy spontaneous adventures may feel restricted when using the Paris Pass.

It’s important to note the Paris Pass doesn’t include the Paris metro or other public transport pass (Paris Visite travel card). This can be seen as an advantage, however.

It means that the price of the Pass is lower, and those who prefer to walk will not be forced to pay for a transportation pass that they don’t plan to use.

However, it does include the hop-on hop-off bus, which comes every 10 to 15 minutes. Its route has nine different stops, like Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, and Trocadéro. 

Type of Paris Pass and 2022 Prices

The Paris Pass is available in two types. One for adults and one at a much lower rate for children (ages 2-17). Here are the 2022 prices:

2-Day Paris Pass

• 2-day Adult Paris Pass: €124
• 2-day Child Paris Pass (ages 4 to 11): €42

3-Day Paris Pass

• 3-day Adult Paris Pass: €149
• 3-day Child Paris Pass: €52

Note that the 3 Day Paris Pass includes a 2 Day Paris Museum Pass.

4-Day Paris Pass

• 4-day Adult Paris Pass: €169
• 4-day Child Paris Pass: €62

6-Day Paris Pass

• 6-day Adult Paris Pass: €189
• 6-day Child Paris Pass: €72

How Does It Work?

The Paris Pass is available in four options with varying validity periods. The options are for 2, 3, 4, and 6 days.

The longer the Pass duration, the cheaper the Pass becomes per day. This means that the 6-day Paris Pass gives the most value for money.

Your Paris Pass is activated the instant you check in to your first activity. From this moment onwards, the validity period of your Pass starts to count down. The Pass is then valid for the number of consecutive days stated on the Pass.

Despite having a pass, you may be required to make reservations for certain activities and locations. It’s important to check out the reservation requirements for the attractions you hope to visit before simply arriving on site.

Oh, and it’s important to note that the Pass allows only one entry per attraction.

Is The Paris Pass Worth It?

Whether the Paris Pass is worth it will depend on your individual circumstances. You will need to determine how many days you will have in the city and what sights you wish to see.

The best approach would be to add up the total cost of the individual tickets for the attractions you would like to visit.

Compare this figure with the total cost of the relevant Pass, and you will have an indication of how much money you will save on tickets. Either way, the time saved on ticket queues alone may make the Pass worth your money.

If you are a first-time visitor to the city of Paris and hope to do a significant amount of sightseeing in a short time, the Paris Pass will be worthwhile for you.

If you enjoy the non-museum activities such as wine tastings, boat tours, and theme parks, you will thoroughly enjoy all the offerings of the Paris Pass.

For example, if you purchased the 3-day Pass costing €149, and you wanted to visit the following attractions over those three days:

• Eiffel Tower Guided Climb at €34
• Big Bus Tour at €42
• Bateaux Seine River Cruise at €17
• Louvre Museum at €17
• Montmartre & Sacré Coeur Walking Tour at €34
• Arc de Triomphe at €13
• Notre Dame and the Archeological Crypt at €34
• Montparnasse Tower Tour at €18
• D’Orsay Museum at €16
• Palace of Versailles at €18

The total cost of tickets for these individual activities would be €243. Compare this to the three-day pass price of €149, and you will be saving €94.

This is a rather significant saving over three days, and the savings grow exponentially depending on the validity period of your Pass.

Naturally, it would be in your best interest to opt for some of the more expensive activities with your Pass to visit the cheaper ones out of pocket once your Pass expires.

Tips For Taking Full Advantage Of Your Pass

To take full advantage of your Pass, you must maximize the number of attractions you visit without overcommitting yourself and burning yourself out.

The best approach would be to visit three attractions per day. This is best achieved by interspersing non-museum activities amongst the museums.

For example, you could aim to see two museums per day and then enjoy one non-museum-related activity. This will ensure that you can spend plenty of time at each individual attraction while ensuring some leisure time.

Plan your activities according to geographical location to minimize the time wasted in transit, and take note of the attractions’ opening and closing times.

Some are closed on certain days, while others are open until late in the evening, allowing you to maximize the use of your Pass.

Oh, and very important: Take note of free museum days and free entry given to under 18s and EU citizens under 26.

Remember to check reservation requirements to avoid disappointment, and take full advantage of your first pass day by getting an early start.

Lastly, be sure to use your Pass for the most expensive attractions and experiences, like the Eiffel Tower climb, the Montmartre & Sacré Coeur walking tour, and the Notre Dame and the Archeological Crypt.

How To Buy Your Pass?

You can buy your Paris Pass online here. You will receive a QR code for the Paris Attractions Pass that you can keep on your mobile device or print at home.

However, you must collect the physical Paris Museum Pass at the redemption center (Big Bus Information Center and Ticket Office) located within walking distance of the Louvre Museum.

Final Thoughts on the Paris Pass

On the whole, the Paris Pass can be extremely worthwhile to purchase. This depends, however, on the type of traveler you are and how much time you have in the city.

It also depends on how much interest you have in museums and other attractions in Paris. Bear in mind that in order to make it worthwhile, you will most likely have to visit around three sites per day.

This can be a rather taxing undertaking, so the Paris Pass is not necessarily a worthwhile purchase for anybody who would rather enjoy the city at a more leisurely pace.

Anyway, we hope this article helped you make a decision. Enjoy Paris!