status update for france

Last night I finally decided, after much dithering, to purchase 3-day Paris a la Carte passes for the two of us. This pass is a combination of the L'OpenTour hop-on hop-off buses and the Batobus river boat shuttle.

One of the L'Open Tour buses at Notre Dame

For 20 euro (child pass) and 44 euro (adult) we have the run of four bus routes (including one that goes practically past our door, although we will have to walk all of about 5 minutes to the nearest stop) and the 8-stop boat route, all of which interconnect. We could have opted for a 2-day pass, but it was the same child price, and only 3 euro difference for the adult pass.

We'll still use the metro at some stage - it's more direct and faster, but it's also underground, so there's not a lot to see as you travel.

Batobus on the Seine

The buses depart every 10-15 minutes during peak season (which includes October), and the boats run every 25 minutes (oddly enough, October is listed as low season on the Batobus brochure).

At this stage I'm not going to order museum and attraction passes - they're quite expensive, and we'd need to pack a lot into each day to justify the cost. One of the main advantages with the passes is the 'skip-the-queue' feature, but as children get into most museums for free in Paris, it would be silly to buy a pass for Miss Tizz. Especially when I've heard that if you go to the alternative Louvre entrance, you can usually buy a ticket and walk straight in.