Paris transport for tourists: which ticket should you choose?

The transport options for visiting Paris

Paris is a dense city where the metro and bus take you everywhere. In 2026, the old paper ticket has disappeared in favour of digital tickets loaded onto a Navigo Easy card, a Navigo Liberté+ card or straight onto your smartphone. Here are the four solutions that genuinely make sense for a visitor.

• The Metro-Train-RER ticket. €2.55 per journey — and since January 2026, that price is the same everywhere in Île-de-France, whatever the distance. Going to Versailles or La Défense now costs the same as a ride within Paris. Watch out: the paper book of 10 t+ tickets no longer exists since 5 November 2025. Tickets are now digital, loaded onto a Navigo Easy card (€2 once) or straight onto your smartphone.
• The Bus-Tram ticket. €2.05 per journey. Don't mix it up with the previous one: it doesn't give access to the metro or RER, and bus-to-bus connections are allowed for 90 minutes.
• The Navigo Day pass. €12.30 for one calendar day (until midnight), unlimited and all zones — zone pricing was scrapped in January 2025. Worth it from 5 journeys in a day. Its blind spot: it does not cover the airports.
• The Navigo Week pass. €32.40 all zones, airports included, valid from Monday 00:00 to Sunday midnight. It's the cheapest ticket per journey for anyone who travels a lot — but its main constraint is that it follows the calendar week, not your arrival date.
• Paris Visite. An "official" tourist pass of 1, 2, 3 or 5 consecutive days, in zones 1-3 or 1-5. It gives unlimited travel and a few partner discounts, but it's noticeably pricier than the Navigo for the same duration — we rarely recommend it, except in specific cases (see below).

Compared: price, validity and zones

Official Île-de-France Mobilités fares in force since 1 January 2026 (checked on 30 September 2026):

The reading is clear: for the same duration, the Navigo Week beats Paris Visite for a trip that falls within a calendar week. Paris Visite is only worth it if your stay straddles two weeks (for example Friday to Sunday) or if you care about the small partner discounts. For a very short, on-foot trip, single tickets remain unbeatable.

Airports: CDG and Orly

Both Paris airports need a dedicated airport ticket: neither a single Metro-Train-RER ticket nor the Navigo Day pass covers them. Your options to and from the centre:

• Charles-de-Gaulle (CDG). The RER B links the airport to Châtelet in 35-40 min for €14.00 one way. It's the fastest and cheapest option. Buses (Roissybus) run at a similar fare.
• Orly. Since late 2024, metro line 14 serves Orly directly, on top of the Orlyval + RER B. Expect the same airport fare. Check the exact ticket required for your chosen route before you set off.

Do I need a transport ticket if I already have a city pass?

This is the question that costs visitors the most money — in both directions. The answer depends entirely on the tourist pass you've bought.

In other words: with the Turbopass, you have nothing to add, transport and airports included — that's one of its real strengths against purely "attractions" passes. With the Museum Pass, budget ~€31 of single tickets or €32.40 for a Navigo Week on top. We break down these combinations in our Paris pass comparison and in the pass + Versailles guide, where the RER zone question comes up again (Versailles is in zone 4, served by the RER C).

Transport + entries: the calculation that really decides

Transport isn't decided on its own. For a 3-day stay arriving at Charles-de-Gaulle, here's the bill to expect before your first museum entry, at 2026 fares:

Nearly €60 per person before you've seen anything. It's the cost line pass comparisons forget most often — and it's exactly where the decision is made: a pass that includes transport and entries makes this line disappear, while a museums-only pass like the Paris Museum Pass leaves you paying all of it.

The Turbopass is currently the only one of the four Paris passes to cover zone 1-5 transport, airports included. If your trip looks like the table above and you plan several paid visits (Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Versailles, a Seine cruise…), set this €58.60 against its price — not just the entry fees. If you'll mostly walk and visit one or two sites, stick with single tickets: a pass won't pay off.

Getting to Versailles: what changed in 2026

It's the transport question visitors ask most, and the answer has changed. Versailles is served by the RER C to Versailles-Château-Rive-Gauche, about 40 minutes from Saint-Michel. Before 2026, you needed a specific ticket pricier than a Paris one. Since the single fare, a plain €2.55 Metro-Train-RER ticket is enough, each way. A Navigo Day or Week pass covers it too, as both are all zones.

Then there's the entry. The Passport ticket gives access to the whole estate — palace, gardens, Trianon and the Gallery of Coaches — with a timed slot, now mandatory for the palace. It's also included in the Paris Museum Pass and the Turbopass, which changes the maths if you're going anyway.

Our pick for your trip

There's no universal ticket: the right choice depends on length and pace. Here are our concrete calls.

• 2-day trip (weekend). About ten single tickets (~€26) comfortably cover two days of on-foot sightseeing punctuated by a few rides. If you plan a lot of metro, two Navigo Day passes may do. See our optimised itinerary to plan your journeys.
• 3-4 day weekday trip. The Navigo Week (€32.40, all zones) is the best price/freedom ratio from day 4 — provided your stay falls Monday to Sunday. It includes the airports, a real plus on arrival and departure. If your trip straddles two calendar weeks, switch back to single tickets topped up with an airport ticket.
• Full-week trip. The Navigo Week is the obvious winner: unlimited, all zones, airports included, for €32.40. No other tourist ticket does better over 7 days.
• You're buying an all-in city pass. With the Turbopass, don't buy any ticket: zone 1-5 transport is already included. Just check that the pass duration covers all your travel days.