Family-friendly Paris: is the Paris Pass worth it?

Save up to 373.50 euros, boasts the Paris Pass on its website, which I think we’d all like to do – but if you’re looking to visit the French capital, is it really as good as it sounds, and is the Paris Pass worth it or are you paying more upfront than you need?

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With more than 50 attractions included, as well as the big name sites, there are family-friendly options, such as the Petit Train de Montmartre, which is perfect for saving small legs as it putters through this gorgeous hilltop quarter, passing the Sacre Coeur.

In fact, the pass includes free entrance to almost every major Paris attraction, included a guided climb of the Eiffel Tower. You can also take an open-top bus tour and cruise on the Seine – and although they no longer include a Metro pass and travel on the RER within central Paris, many let you jump the queues at some of the main stops which is tempting in itself.

How much will you do?

The key is how much you’re happy to pack in to the time – a 1-day pass costs 99 Euros for adults and €59 for 2-17-year-olds. You’ll sometimes find discounts online as well as discounts for the Paris Pass on sites like Get Your Guide and Viator, as well as getting a 6% discount when it’s available on the Tiqets site if you buy using my code MUMMYTRAVELS6 via tiqets – although these may be limited to two days or more.

There are also two, three, four and six-day options available if you’re planning a longer visit, or you can get a single day too. You can also opt for a Paris Pass Plus, which includes some of the higher-priced entry options, as well as the Louvre.

If you’re determined to scurry from sight to sight, cramming in as much as possible, it’s almost certainly a guaranteed money saver, but that’s not always realistic if you’re visiting Paris with kids.

If you’re planning a gentle amble around the city, soaking in the atmosphere, stopping at the parks and heading to one or two major sights, it’s worth doing your sums first to see if you’re really going to be better off in terms of time or money. Notre Dame and the Sacre Coeur are both free to enter for all, for example.

While there is a savings guarantee, you’ll need to have scanned your pass at least three time per day, every day of your pass to qualify – if you haven’t saved money after that, you can get in touch for a refund of the difference, so at least you won’t have lost out.

One word of warning: with many of the city’s major attractions and museums closed on a Monday, you’ll be hard pressed to make it worthwhile if you use it on that day.

Which attractions will you visit?

The value also depends whether you’re planning to tick off the higher-priced options like Versailles and the Louvre (both included in the Paris Pass Plus not the standard pass) and some of the tours to make your money back. 

Realistically, consider if you’ll visit the Army Museum or try the wine tasting as well – it may include 50+ attractions, but if you’re only interested in five of them, the extras don’t really factor in.

If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to planning a trip to Paris, the pass can be helpful to let you cherry pick the must-see destinations along with some background information – the app also includes a map tool to plan visits.

While it no longer includes those bonus discounts from years gone by, such as 10% off at Galeries Lafayette, I never found those particularly useful anyway.

You can also get a separate Paris Museum Pass if you’re not bothered about the hop-on, hop-off bus tour. With a minimum of two days, it works out about the same as the one-day Paris Pass – find it on tiqets and GetYourGuide, as well as variations including a river cruise

Is it worth skipping the line?

If you’ve got easily bored kids or a short time in Paris, the queue jump can also be a huge bonus – I would pay a bit extra to not have to waste my time in Paris standing in a line.

When I last visited, it was an enormous relief to skip past the snaking line at the Musee d’Orsay (Paris Pass Plus), even if the wait for the Louvre wasn’t as overwhelming. Don’t think you’ll avoid all waiting times though.

At Versailles, we skipped the line to buy tickets for the palace but not the line for entry, which was almost an hour long. As you can also buy tickets in advance for the palace at various locations in central Paris, the pass isn’t essential for this.

And although it does get you into the Trianon palaces (albeit by way of a slightly less scenic route through the grounds), it doesn’t guarantee entry to the palace gardens, as this depends on the day and other shows taking place, so that’s another queue if you want to be sure to see those.

How does it work?

Rather than the old paper versions, the pass now works using the GoCity app, so you need to download that first, enter your confirmation number and it should sync automatically.

You’ll need to download the Paris Museum pass separately through the booking portal. If you have a 2-day or 3-day Paris Pass Plus, it will include a 2-day museum pass, but otherwise the museum pass lasts for the same amount of time as the other attractions.

You can then make reservations for the attractions and tours you want – not everything needs this doing in advance, although it’s essential for some (and advised for others, especially during peak season).

Once you’ve bought the pass, you’ve got one year to activate it and you can get a refund for any unused passes within 30 days of purchase, in case your plans change.

When you visit your first stop, it will activate both elements of the pass – and it’s worth remembering that the pass is valid for full days, not 24-hour periods, so the earlier during the day that you activate it, the better. Don’t get caught out by activating a two-day pass at 5pm, and end up with just over one day’s use.

There’s also an in-app map, so if you’re at a loose end or looking to kill an hour, you can browse to see what else is included and nearby.

So is the Paris pass worth it?

As ever, the answer is… it depends on your trip. Having tried various city passes around the world (including Amsterdam, Porto and Helsinki), the Paris Pass was always one of the better ones I’ve used – the City of Light isn’t cheap, so you don’t need to visit too many places before the costs pay off.

But with transport no longer included, which was always a big bonus previously, it does mean you’ll need to fit in multiple attractions each day for the costs to balance though. And if you’re planning to visit some of the more expensive attractions, you’ll almost certainly need the more expensive Paris Pass Plus too.

And if you’re buying for kids, bear in mind that they get free entry into many of Paris’s attractions such as the Louvre, the Sainte Chapelle and the Conciergerie for starters, so if those are on your list, a child card can work out more expensive than it needs to be.

*First published 2013, last updated 2026*

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