Paris Metro - Bus - RER Tickets & Passes

		Paris Métro-Bus-RER Tickets & Passes
		You save money by buying multiple tickets, or using a Navigo transit pass, on Paris's Métro, city buses, RER suburban trains, and SNCF Transilien trains, funiculars and trams. You can now buy tickets on your smartphone, and your phone becomes your ticket or pass.

Paris transport in the time of King Henry IV...

Titre de Transport

To ride the Paris Métro, city buses, trams, RER trains, SNCF trains, funiculars and other forms of Paris transport, you need a titre de transport (a ticket or transit pass).

Random inspections are carried out by RATP agents: they stop everyone proceeding along a corridor or at an exit, ask to see their ticket or pass, check it with an electronic gizmo, and if it's valid you proceed on your trip. If not, you're in expensive trouble!

New Rules & Fares for 2025!

On January 2, 2025, a whole new system for transit fares in the Paris region will go into effect. Click here for the whole story.

If you've been to Paris in the last 120 years, you've probably used a paper t+ ticket to ride. That's changed! Paper tickets are being phased out in favor of tickets and passes on smartphones or, if you prefer, on a paper or plastic Navigo RFID/NFC transit pass.

Smartphone App or Physical Pass?

You can buy transit tickets and passes using the Bonjour RATP app or the Ile-de-France Mobilités app on your smartphone, and your phone becomes your ticket/pass: just touch it to the target point on a machine or turnstile (see below). It's easy! But if you prefer to have a separate paper or plastic ticket/pass, you can do it that way instead.

Tap your smartphone or fare card on this target symbol.

How Will You Use Public Transport?

Just a Few Trips

You may still be able to buy old-fashioned paper t+ tickets (2.15€) for single trips from ticket agents in booths in the larger Métro stations, and from some ticket machines.

For more than a few trips or days, buy a Navigo Easy transit card (2€) from an agent or ticket machine and load it with as many fares or passes as you wish. With the Navigo Easy you can buy a 10-ticket carnet—a great bargain at 1.735€ per ticket.

We prefer using the Bonjour RATP app to buy tickets and passes on our smaprtphones, then using our phones as our tickets. You can buy single-trip tickets, the 10-ticket carnet, RER airport train tickets, and/or many longer-term transit passes on your phone but of course you must set up an account and payment method (credit/debit card; Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.)

A Day or Two of Heavy Use

Only a day or two and you want to see everything? Consider a Navigo Jour pass, either on your phone or physical, or a paper Forfait Paris Visite ticket, especially if you're traveling from or to CDG or ORY airports.

About a Week (or More) in the City

If you plan to take several trips daily for about a week—particularly if you are a repeat visitor to Paris—you want a Navigo Découverte weekly (Monday to Sunday) pass, especially if you'll be traveling to or from an airport. You can buy and use the pass on your phone. If you have a physical pass, you can use your phone to buy the fares and load them onto your physical pass.

Navigo Easy Pass

The Navigo Easy pass is a reusable plastic RFID/NFC card sold for 2€ which can be charged with transit credit using your smartphone, or at any Navigo ticket machine—it's like London's Oyster card, Boston's Charlie card, etc. Tap the card on the fare gate or bus validation machine and you're on your way.

You pay the standard fares valid on all Métro (underground train) lines, city bus lines, funiculars, trams, and RER trains between central Paris stations: 2.15€ at the tarif normal (normal fare), but if you buy un carnet (unh kahr-NEY, a "booklet") of 10 tickets on your phone or on a Navigo Easy pass, fares are discounted by 20% to 1.735€ each. For most visitors visiting Paris for a few days, this is the cheapest, most convenient option.

Children from 4 to less than 10 years of age pay half-fare.

The Navigo Easy can be anonymous, and transferrable to any other person; or you can set up an account with RATP and re-charge your Navigo Easy pass right from your mobile phone. Here's more about Navigo passes.

Paying one fare entitles you to one journey of up to 90 minutes on the Métro or tram system, including switching Métro lines (but not Métro to bus or tram). On city buses, one fare allows you to ride on one bus, then within 90 minutes to transfer to another bus line (but not to Métro or tram). It does not include transport to/from Paris's airports, and it does not allow round-trip/return travel on a single line (that is, you can't use a ticket for a quick trip to the store, and the same ticket to return to your starting-point within 90 minutes.)

Smartphone Apps

We use the excellent Bonjour RATP app all the time to buy tickets, recharge passes, plan routes, be warned of service problems and suspensions, etc. The Île-de-France Mobilités app is similar, but covers the entire huge Paris region (Île-de-France).

You can buy tickets right in the app, then use your smartphone as the ticket by means of NFC (Near-Field Communication): tap it on the turnstile target to enter the transport system.

Buy in Advance!

If you see a sign like this at a station entrance...

"Access for passengers with tickets only..."

Accès réservé aux voyageurs munis de billets" means "Access is restricted to passengers who already have passes or tickets." No passes or tickets are sold at this entrance. You must already possess one to enter the system here.

"Accès principal..." tells you where the main station entrance is. You can buy passes or tickets there and enter.

Navigo Jour Pass

The Navigo Jour 1-day pass permits unlimited travel on all modes (SNCF, RER & Métro trains, city buses, trams & funiculars) within the zones you choose: 8.45€ for Zones 1 & 2, 20.10€ for Zones 1 through 5; Zone 5 includes Charles de Gaulle airport. (See below for more about ZONES.)

The 1-day Navigo Jour card or Mobilis ticket saves you money if you fly into a Paris airport, buy a Navigo Jour or Mobilis valid for Zones 1 through 5, and make a round-trip return from and to the airport, or if you use it to travel from the airport into the city, andalso use it for at least four transit rides in the city on that day.

Navigo Découverte Weekly Pass

For short-term but frequently-returning foreign visitors, the Navigo Découverte pass is available by the calendar week (Monday to Sunday). It offers great savings and convenience for frequent transit users, but requires a bit more trouble (photo, proof of identity, and account setup with payment method) and expense to obtain. More...

Paris Visite Ticket

The Paris Visite ticket, a paper ticket with a magnetic stripe, entitles you to unlimited travel on most modes of travel in central Paris for 1 day for 13.55€ up to five days, for 43.30€ as well as substantial discounts at several Paris museums and attractions, but you must do a good amount of planning and calculating to determine if it will save you money. In most cases, the weekly Navigo Découverte transit pass is a better deal. More...

Speaking of tickets, there are a few situations in which you can encounter big problems when moving from the Métro system to the RER suburban train system. Here are the details.

Zone System

Fares for public transit in Paris and the Île-de-France are based on a zone system, and you will buy passes and tickets on the basis of zones.

Zones 1 and 2 cover central Paris, all covered by one standard fare. Zone 3 includes La Défense Grande Arche, but if you go by Métro (but not by bus or RER), you pay only the standard Zones 1 & 2 fare. Zone 4 includes ORY airport, Zone 5 extends all the way to CDG airport and Disneyland.

Here are some landmarks:

Zones 1 & 2

You pay only one standard fare to travel in central Paris as far as Stade de France/St-Denis, Port Maillot, Boulogne Port de St-Cloud, Pont de Neuilly, Gallieni, Château de Vincennes, La Défense Grande Arche (by Métro).