Unlimited Travel on the Metro?

Hi all. I will be arriving in CDG on July 11, and will be departing on July 19. OUr hotel is the Amarys Simart, which you need the subway, downtown is too far too walk... On Saturday when we arrive, can we get an unlimited weekly card that will go to the next Sunday? Carte Orange? I believe its called?

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The validity of the Carte Orange runs from Monday morning until Sunday night, so you will need something like a 2-day Paris Visite, or two Mobilis day passes for your first two days.

For the Carte Orange, you will need a passport picture so you can buy a %26quot;Navigo Découverte%26quot; chip card (€5, valid for 10 years). On this Découverte card, you can then load a weekly Carte Orange.

www.transport-idf.fr

www.ratp.fr

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Thanks JanToo...where, when, and how to we get the Chip Card, and then where, when, and how to we load the carte d%26#39;orange (Sunday night? for the next Monday morning?)....--is there a better way for unlimiited travel that week?

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There is no %26quot;downtown%26quot; in Paris - just about anything north of the seine and inside the peri is the equivalent of downtown, and your hotel only about half an hour%26#39;s walk away from the Louvre.

If you%26#39;re taking teh train to your hotel all you need do is buy a ticket that gets you from CDG to your hotel and then buy Mobilis cartes for the days you want to be travelling on the metro. Most of what you will want to see will be covered by zones 1 and 2, so buying a card that covers the whole of the greater Paris Urban Atrea for a week is an unnecessary expense.

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So Wizard, you are saying we should get Mobilis cards for each day instead of Carte d%26#39;orange?

How much are the Mobilis passes?

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it depends on how much you use the metro -- when we stay in the inner ring we don%26#39;t get the Carte Orange -- just a carnet -- but when we stay further out e.g. the 18th we do because we use the metro more

if you are in the 4th or 5th or 6th etc you can easily walk most places

but the carte orange is only slightly more than a carnet, so the convenience if you are doing lots of moving around in Paris is worth it

the Carte Orange that most tourists buy covers just Paris -- not into the suburbs and is a better deal than daily or two days mobilis passes

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It might not be worth buying a Mobilis pass. It might be more financially prudent to get a carnet for 11.60 euro. (10 tickets) for 1 1/2 days. It depends on how much you can walk and if you intend to walk if it is financially feasible. The carte orange in July will cost 17.20 euro plus the 5 euro for the holder. Prices go up in July for the metro.

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Forgot. You get the carte orange from a machine or the information counter in the metro. I have heard the machines do not take American credit cards, but the information counter does. You want to ask for a Decouverte carte orange hebodomaire (week). If you ask with the word %26quot;Navigo%26quot; in the request, you might get turned down. I have had/seen this happen. You can buy it on Saturday when you get there for the following Monday thru Sunday. Get it for two zones only. That gives you travel within the %26quot;periphique%26quot; (spelling??) and that%26#39;s all you would need to see the tourist stuff. You can use the carte orange a zillion times a day.

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re US credit cards -- while many machines don%26#39;t take them -- sometimes some do -- but in the US we put a card in and quickly remove it i.e. machine swipe -- but in Europe, you leave the card in the machine until it registers (or tells you it is not accepted)

we got tickets from the machine at the Louvre this time while most USers were having theirs not work because they put it in and pulled it out as we do in the US

The metro ones don%26#39;t take our cards though -- they take Euro cash and give change

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When we got our Navigo Decouverte/Carte Orange, the attendant didn%26#39;t use our credit cards either, she used the same machine we would have used on our own, one of which would take euro paper money, and one only coins. I don%26#39;t know what she would have done if we didn%26#39;t have enough cash.

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Thanks for all the insight everyone.

Just one quick item i found out.

I was doing simple math online.

And its funny-- getting a Paris Viste for 5 days will cost A LOT MORE $$$$$$$ than just getting a Hebdomedair Carte Orange (which is 2 days longer!!!) ...do people realize this?