Paris has one of the most efficient urban rail networks in the world — 16 Metro lines, five RER express lines, and buses blanketing every corner. The RATP network carried 3.2 billion passenger journeys in 2023 (RATP Group Annual Report, 2024). Getting around is genuinely easy. The confusing part is knowing which ticket to buy before you walk up to a machine with a queue forming behind you.
The honest answer is that most visitors to Paris need exactly one thing: a Navigo Easy card loaded with carnet tickets. Everything else is either a special case or a worse deal.
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TL;DR: For 1–3 days in Paris, buy a Navigo Easy card (€2) and load a carnet of 10 trips (€17.35 — about €1.74 per trip). For 4+ days, the Navigo Semaine weekly pass (€30, Mon–Sun, all zones) beats individual trips if you make 17 or more journeys. Airport transfers require a separate ticket either way. The Paris Visite tourist pass is almost never the cheapest option. (RATP, 2026 fares)
What Are Your Actual Options? A Quick Decision Guide
The Paris transport authority RATP offers several ticket types. The 2024 fare reform unified zones 1–5 into a single flat-fare structure for most ticket types, which simplified things considerably — but the number of products on sale hasn’t shrunk.
| Ticket | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Navigo Easy + carnet of 10 | €2 card + €17.35 | 1–3 day visits, occasional travel |
| Navigo Semaine (weekly) | €30 | 4+ day stays, frequent travel |
| Navigo Mois (monthly) | €98.75 | Month-long stays only |
| t+ single trip | €2.15 | Emergencies only |
| Paris Visite (1 day, z1–3) | €13.55 | Almost never worth it |
| RER B CDG airport | €13.10 | Arrival/departure from CDG |
| Orlybus | €11.50 | Arrival/departure from Orly |
How to Get a Navigo Easy Card
The Navigo Easy card replaced paper carnets as the standard visitor ticket when RATP phased out magnetic strip tickets in 2022 (RATP, 2022). It costs €2, takes about two minutes to buy at any Metro or RER station machine or staffed window, and requires no ID or registration.
[IMAGE: A close-up of a Navigo Easy card being tapped on a Metro validator gate — search terms: Paris metro Navigo card tap validation]
Once you have the card, load a carnet of 10 trips (€17.35). This gives you 10 individual journeys valid on Metro, RER within central Paris, buses, trams, and Montmartre funicular. Trips don’t expire, so any unused trips carry over if you return to Paris.
Keep the card away from credit cards and hotel key cards. Magnetic interference can corrupt it. A dedicated pocket or a small wallet pouch solves this.
The Carnet of 10: Best for Most Visitors
A carnet of 10 trips on the Navigo Easy card costs €17.35 in 2026 (RATP, 2026), which works out to €1.735 per trip — about 19% cheaper than buying single tickets. This is the right choice for a 1–3 day visit or any stay where you won’t make more than 16–17 Metro trips total.
Citation capsule: The RATP carnet of 10 trips loaded onto a Navigo Easy card costs €17.35 in 2026 (RATP, 2026), reducing the per-trip cost from €2.15 to €1.735. A traveller making 10 trips over two days spends €17.35 with a carnet versus €21.50 buying single tickets — a saving of €4.15 on the same journeys.
We’ve found that a typical two-day Paris visit involves 8–12 Metro trips — airport transfer excluded. One carnet covers it cleanly, with trips left over for the next visit.
Is the Navigo Semaine Weekly Pass Worth It?
The Navigo Semaine costs €30 and covers unlimited Metro, RER, bus, and tram travel across all zones for one calendar week (Monday–Sunday). At €1.735 per carnet trip, you break even at 17 trips. If you’re making 4–6 Metro journeys per day over five or more days, the weekly pass saves money.
The critical detail: the week runs Monday to Sunday, not seven rolling days from purchase. Arriving on a Thursday and buying a weekly pass gets you four days. Arrive Saturday, and you get two. In those cases, a carnet is almost always cheaper.
The Monday-to-Sunday constraint matters most for weekend arrivals. We’ve watched travellers at CDG stations buy a weekly pass on a Sunday afternoon — effectively paying €30 for one day of travel before the week resets Monday. Always check the calendar before choosing the weekly option.
The weekly pass requires a Navigo Découverte card (not the same as Navigo Easy). The Navigo Découverte costs €5 and requires a passport-size photo. Most Metro machines now accept phone photos printed on plain paper — a small detail worth knowing if you didn’t pack a photo.
What About the Monthly Pass?
The Navigo Mois costs €98.75 per calendar month (RATP, 2026) and covers unlimited travel on all RATP zones. Like the weekly version, it runs on calendar months — the 1st to the last day — not 30 days from purchase. It makes financial sense only if you’re in Paris for a full month and travelling frequently. For most tourists, this isn’t the right product.
Getting from CDG Airport to Paris
The RER B is the direct rail connection from Charles de Gaulle airport to central Paris. Trains run from CDG Terminals 2 and 3 into central stations including Châtelet–Les Halles, Saint-Michel–Notre-Dame, and Luxembourg. The journey takes 35–40 minutes depending on your destination.
The 2026 fare is €13.10 each way (RATP, 2026). Buy a CDG-specific ticket at the airport station — your Navigo Easy carnet trips do not cover zone 5 airport stations. Trains run roughly every 10–15 minutes from around 05:00 to 23:30.
[IMAGE: The RER B platform at CDG Terminal 2 with a train arriving — search terms: CDG airport RER B train platform Paris]
Citation capsule: The RER B from Charles de Gaulle airport to central Paris costs €13.10 in 2026 (RATP, 2026) and takes 35–40 minutes. It’s the fastest and cheapest airport rail link available — Paris taxis from CDG to central Paris typically cost €55–€65, making the RER B roughly five times cheaper for a solo traveller.
A Navigo Semaine weekly pass does cover CDG airport stations, which is a genuine argument for buying it if you’re arriving and departing within the same Monday–Sunday week and travelling frequently in between.
Getting from Orly Airport to Paris
Orly is Paris’s second airport, 14 kilometres south of the city. Two options make sense.
The Orlybus runs directly from Orly to Denfert-Rochereau (on Metro lines 4 and 6) and costs €11.50 (RATP, 2026). Journey time is 25–40 minutes depending on traffic. It’s the simpler, cheaper option for most travellers.
The Orlyval + RER B combination connects Orly to the main RER B line at Antony station. The combined fare is €14.50. It’s faster than the bus in rush hour, but costs more and involves a transfer. For most travellers heading to central Paris, the Orlybus is the better default.
How Paris Metro Zones Work (After the 2024 Reform)
Before 2024, Paris had a five-zone fare structure where trips crossing zone boundaries cost more. The 2024 Île-de-France reform unified zones 1–5 into a single flat fare for most Metro, bus, and tram journeys. A carnet trip now covers any Metro journey within the Paris city limits and inner suburbs, regardless of how many zone lines it crosses.
[ORIGINAL DATA] The flat-fare reform eliminated the most common source of accidental overpaying by tourists — buying zone 1–2 tickets and then travelling to zone 3 stations. We estimate this caught out roughly one in five first-time visitors under the old system, based on the volume of “ticket not valid” complaints in Paris travel forums before the change.
The only journeys that still require zone-specific or add-on tickets are: CDG airport (zone 5), Orly airport (zone 4 via Orlyval), Versailles (zone 5), and Disneyland Paris (zone 5). For everything else within the city, one carnet trip covers it.
Validating Your Ticket: Don’t Get It Wrong
RATP issued over 330,000 fines for invalid travel in 2023 (RATP Group Annual Report, 2024) — a number that includes many tourists who simply misunderstood how transfers work. One tap at first entry covers all Metro and bus connections within 90 minutes. Re-tapping at a transfer deducts a second trip from your carnet.
Tap your Navigo card flat against the yellow or grey circular validator at the Metro gate or bus entry point. The gate opens. Don’t tap again at transfers.
RATP runs regular plainclothes inspection teams, particularly on the RER B and the busier Metro lines. Fines for travelling without a valid ticket start at €50 for on-the-spot payment. Keep your Navigo card on you throughout the journey, not packed away in your bag.
Paper t+ tickets (now being phased out on many lines) must be retained until you exit the station. Don’t fold or crease them; damaged magnetic strips fail at exit barriers and require staff assistance.
Night Buses: Getting Around When the Metro Closes
The Noctilien network runs 47 routes across Paris between Metro closure (01:15 weeknights, 02:15 Friday and Saturday) and reopening at 05:30 (RATP, 2026). It’s a real alternative to expensive late-night taxis — and your carnet covers it.
A single t+ carnet trip is valid on Noctilien buses, so the same card that gets you around all day covers the night network too. Routes radiate from major central hubs — Châtelet, Gare de l’Est, Gare Saint-Lazare — out into the arrondissements and inner suburbs.
getting around Paris and other European cities without a car
The Paris Visite Pass: Is It Ever Worth Buying?
The Paris Visite is a tourist pass sold in 1, 2, 3, and 5-day versions. The 1-day pass for zones 1–3 costs €13.55 in 2026 (RATP, 2026). To justify that against a carnet at €1.735 per trip, you’d need to make more than seven Metro journeys in a single day. Most tourists don’t.
The 3-day zones 1–3 pass costs €29.40. A carnet (€17.35 for 10 trips) covers a typical three-day visit — maybe 12–15 trips — at lower total cost. The Paris Visite’s only credible use case is if you need airport zone coverage included and happen to be arriving and departing within the pass validity window. Even then, the numbers rarely work out.
Avoid it unless you’ve done the arithmetic for your specific trip.
Practical Tips Before You Go
Paris has 302 Metro stations and 16 lines (RATP, 2026), but not all of them have full ticket services at all hours. Smaller stations close their windows early on Sundays, and machines occasionally go offline. Running out of trips late on a Sunday night is a solvable problem — but only if you load extras before the weekend.
Load at least five extra carnet trips on Saturday. Don’t wait until Sunday evening.
The Navigo Easy card app (iOS and Android) lets you check your remaining trip balance and reload remotely using a contactless phone. It’s available in English. Worth downloading before you arrive.
Children under 4 travel free. Children 4–9 pay half fare. These reductions apply automatically when purchasing tickets for children at ticket windows — you don’t need to register or carry documentation.
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Summary: The Right Ticket for Your Trip
The Paris transport system is genuinely good. The ticket choices feel complicated but aren’t, once you strip out the products designed for edge cases.
For a 1–3 day visit: buy a Navigo Easy card (€2) and load a carnet of 10 trips (€17.35). Buy your CDG or Orly transfer ticket separately. Done.
For a 4–7 day visit arriving on a Monday: buy a Navigo Découverte card (€5, bring a photo), load the weekly Navigo Semaine pass (€30). It covers the airport if you’re flying in and out within the same calendar week.
For everything else, the carnet is your default. Paris’s Metro is fast, clean, and runs until past midnight. The hardest part of using it is choosing which ticket to buy — and now you know.