Paris Public Transport Costs Explained (2026): Metro, Passes & Real Use

Paris public transport costs in 2026 are simpler than they were a few years ago, but choosing the cheapest ticket still depends on how you actually travel. A standard Metro-Train-RER journey costs €2.55, a Bus-Tram journey costs €2.05, and eligible public transport journeys to Charles de Gaulle or Orly Airport use a separate €14 airport fare.

The key change for visitors is that most everyday rail journeys now use a flat fare across Île-de-France. You no longer need to calculate a different standard Metro or RER price simply because a normal journey crosses more zones. Airport travel remains the major exception.

Passes can still save money, but only in the right situation. A €12.30 Navigo Day Pass makes sense on genuinely transport-heavy days, while the €32.40 all-zone Navigo Weekly Pass can be excellent value when your dates fit its fixed Monday-to-Sunday calendar.

The cheapest-looking ticket is not automatically the cheapest option. A visitor who walks a lot and uses the Metro twice a day may spend less with single tickets. Someone making five or six journeys a day, or using airport transport during a qualifying Navigo week, can reach a very different result.

Prices checked against official 2026 Île-de-France Mobilités fares. Ticket conditions can change, so confirm important details before travel.

Knowing your likely number of journeys before you buy a pass makes Paris transport much easier to budget.

Paris Public Transport Costs: 2026 Fares at a Glance

This guide uses full adult fares for simple comparisons. Reduced fares exist for eligible travelers, but the rules differ by ticket and passenger category.

Paris Public Transport Costs for Metro, RER, Bus and Tram

Metro, Train and RER: €2.55

The standard Ticket Métro-Train-RER costs €2.55 for eligible journeys across Île-de-France. Unlike the older zone-based single-ticket system, its normal fare does not increase simply because you cross from Zone 1 into an outer zone.

Paris still has transport zones 1–5, but they matter more when choosing certain passes than when buying a standard Metro-Train-RER ticket. For example, a regular journey from central Paris to Versailles uses the standard fare. Airport rail stations at CDG and Orly require the separate airport ticket unless a qualifying pass covers the journey.

For a visitor who walks between nearby sights, this is often the simplest starting point. Two rail journeys cost €5.10, three cost €7.65 and four cost €10.20. You do not need an unlimited pass simply because you are staying for several days.

Bus and Tram: €2.05

A standard Bus-Tram ticket costs €2.05. It covers eligible journeys on the surface network, including permitted transfers between buses and trams within 90 minutes.

A Metro-Train-RER ticket allows eligible rail transfers within two hours, generally without leaving the controlled station area. However, changing from Metro or RER to a regular bus or tram normally requires a separate Bus-Tram ticket. This distinction matters when estimating how many tickets you will need in one day.

Six Bus-Tram journeys total €12.30, exactly the price of the all-zone Navigo Day Pass. By comparison, five standard €2.55 rail journeys cost €12.75. This is why the day-pass break-even point depends slightly on which modes you use.

TripsCity Insight: Do not buy a day pass because you expect to “use transport a lot.” Count the journeys. A walking-heavy sightseeing day can easily end with only two or three paid trips.

Paris Public Transport Costs to CDG and Orly Airports

The Paris Région ↔ Aéroports ticket costs €14 for an eligible airport journey. It covers airport travel by Metro, Train or RER, including RER B to Charles de Gaulle and Metro Line 14 to Orly. Orlyval is also priced at €14.

A traveler buying separate airport tickets in both directions should therefore budget €28 round trip. That number matters when you compare individual tickets with an all-zone Navigo Week or Paris Visite.

CDG and Orly journeys use a separate airport fare unless a qualifying pass already covers the trip.

A Navigo Easy Compatibility Rule Many Visitors Miss

The airport ticket creates an important practical issue. A Paris Région ↔ Aéroports ticket cannot coexist on the same travel medium with standard Metro-Train-RER tickets. Official support guidance also tells travelers using a pass or phone loaded with regular Metro-Train-RER or Bus-Tram tickets to use another compatible medium for the airport ticket.

In practice, that may mean using a second Navigo Easy pass, a separate phone-based travel medium, or first using the incompatible tickets already stored. This is worth planning before airport day because the problem often appears only when someone tries to load the €14 fare.

Navigo Easy is useful for occasional travel, but not every ticket type can coexist on the same pass.

Paris Public Transport Costs: Which Pass Is Best?

No single pass wins for every tourist. The right choice depends on daily journey count, airport use and the calendar dates of your stay.

Navigo Jour: €12.30

The all-zone Navigo Day Pass costs €12.30 and covers unlimited eligible travel for one day across zones 1–5. Airport journeys are excluded.

For a Metro-heavy day, five standard €2.55 journeys would cost €12.75, so the day pass begins to compete at about five rail journeys. Four rail journeys cost only €10.20. If you mainly use buses or trams, six €2.05 trips total the same €12.30 as the pass.

That makes Navigo Jour useful for unusually busy transport days, not automatically for every sightseeing day.

Paris Public Transport Costs With Navigo Week: €32.40

The all-zone Navigo Weekly Pass costs €32.40. Its biggest strength is unlimited travel across zones 1–5 while it is valid, including regular-network airport journeys such as RER B to CDG and Metro Line 14 to Orly.

Its biggest limitation is the calendar. Navigo Week runs from Monday through Sunday, rather than seven flexible days from purchase. Sales for the following week begin on Friday, while the current week’s pass remains available through Thursday. A Wednesday-to-Sunday stay may fit well, but a Friday-to-Tuesday trip crosses two calendar weeks.

Before purchasing, check your arrival date, departure date and airport journeys against the exact calendar week. A pass that looks inexpensive on paper can lose much of its value if your stay crosses two weeks.

If you use a compatible smartphone, you can buy and validate the weekly pass digitally. Visitors who want a physical pass can use Navigo Découverte. The card costs €5 and requires the holder’s name and a photo.

That means a first-time visitor using the physical card pays €37.40 for the €32.40 weekly pass plus the €5 support. The card cost should be included when you compare it with individual tickets.

Navigo Liberté+: Lower Fares, More Setup

Navigo Liberté+ charges €2.04 for eligible Metro-Train-RER journeys and €1.64 for eligible Bus-Tram journeys. Those unit fares are lower than the standard €2.55 and €2.05 tickets.

However, Liberté+ uses enrollment and post-travel billing. It can be attractive for repeat visitors or travelers comfortable setting it up, but the lowest unit fare is not automatically the best tourist option for a short stay.

Paris Visite: Simple, Flexible and Expensive

Adult all-zone Paris Visite prices in 2026 are €30.60 for one day, €45.40 for two days, €63.80 for three days and €78 for five days. The pass covers unlimited travel for consecutive days and includes airport travel.

Its advantage is simplicity. You choose a consecutive-day period and do not need to fit a Monday-to-Sunday calendar. Its disadvantage is price.

For example, a five-day Paris Visite costs €78. An all-zone Navigo Week costs €32.40 when the calendar works. Those products are not identical, but the price gap is large enough that travelers should compare them rather than automatically choosing the visitor-branded pass.

Paris Public Transport Costs for 3, 5 and 7 Days

A realistic transport budget is easier to understand when you separate normal sightseeing journeys from airport travel.

These examples use standard Metro-Train-RER tickets for easy comparison. A real trip may mix buses, walking and rail, so your final total can be lower or higher.

Three Days: Individual Tickets Often Stay Competitive

Two standard rail journeys per day cost €15.30 over three days. Even four per day total €30.60, which is still lower than three separate Navigo Day passes at €36.90.

If the itinerary is compact and walkable, individual tickets are often difficult to beat. Airport travel should then be added separately unless another pass covers it.

Five Days: The Calendar Starts to Matter

Two rail journeys per day cost €25.50. Add two separate €14 airport journeys and the total becomes €53.50.

If those five days sit inside one Monday-to-Sunday Navigo week, the €32.40 weekly pass can be far more attractive, especially because regular-network airport travel is included while the pass is valid.

If the five days straddle two calendar weeks, the comparison changes. This is why “five days in Paris” is not enough information to pick the best ticket.

Seven Days: Do Not Assume the Weekly Pass Automatically Wins

Two standard rail journeys per day cost €35.70 over seven days, slightly more than the €32.40 Navigo Week. Yet the weekly pass only covers one fixed Monday-to-Sunday period.

A Monday-to-Sunday stay is straightforward. A Thursday-to-Wednesday trip crosses two Navigo weeks, so you need to calculate the useful days rather than comparing seven days with one weekly price.

TripsCity Insight: Write down four things before buying a pass: arrival day, departure day, airport route and likely journeys per day. That 60-second calculation is more useful than choosing by trip length alone.

For accommodation, food, attractions and transport in one trip total, use our Paris Budget Guide.

Paris Public Transport Costs and How to Buy Tickets

Occasional visitors can buy eligible tickets through the official Île-de-France Mobilités app, compatible smartphones, station machines and ticket counters.

A physical Navigo Easy pass costs €2. It can hold products such as Metro-Train-RER tickets, Bus-Tram tickets, Navigo Day, Paris Région ↔ Aéroports and Paris Visite, subject to the compatibility rules between ticket types.

Each traveler needs their own valid travel medium during a journey. One Navigo Easy pass cannot be used to validate several people traveling together at the same time.

Navigo Easy vs Navigo Découverte

These two cards solve different problems. Navigo Easy is aimed at occasional travel and short passes. Navigo Découverte is the visitor-friendly physical support used for products such as Navigo Week and costs €5.

If you plan to buy Navigo Week physically, do not assume the €2 Navigo Easy card can hold it. Use Navigo Découverte or a compatible smartphone instead.

Can You Simply Tap a Bank Card in Paris?

Do not plan your entire trip around a London-style universal bank-card tap-in system. Direct bank-card validation has expanded during 2026, including wider bus deployment and specific airport use cases, but it is not the standard replacement for tickets across every Metro, RER, train and tram journey.

For most visitors, a compatible phone or Navigo Easy remains the safer default for ordinary pay-as-you-go travel.

For the network itself, route planning and how the different modes fit together, see our How to Get Around Paris guide.

Paris Public Transport Cost Mistakes to Avoid

• Buying Navigo Jour for a walking-heavy day: two standard rail journeys cost €5.10, far below the €12.30 day pass.
• Treating Navigo Week as a flexible seven-day product: it always follows the Monday-to-Sunday calendar.
• Using a standard €2.55 ticket for the airport: eligible CDG and Orly journeys use the separate €14 airport fare unless a qualifying pass covers them.
• Assuming Navigo Jour includes airports: airport journeys are excluded.
• Forgetting the Navigo Découverte card cost: add €5 when comparing a first physical weekly-pass purchase.
• Loading incompatible tickets onto the same support: airport and standard rail tickets can create a compatibility issue on Navigo Easy or a phone travel medium.
• Choosing Paris Visite without comparing alternatives: it is simple, but that convenience comes at a much higher price.

Paris Public Transport Costs FAQ

How much is a Paris Metro ticket in 2026?

A standard Ticket Métro-Train-RER costs €2.55 for eligible journeys across Île-de-France. Airport journeys use a separate fare.

How much does public transport to CDG or Orly cost?

The Paris Région ↔ Aéroports ticket costs €14 for eligible airport journeys, including RER B to CDG and Metro Line 14 to Orly.

Is Navigo Jour worth it?

It can be. At €12.30, it starts to compete at about five standard €2.55 rail journeys in one day. Airport journeys are not included.

Does Navigo Week include the airports?

The all-zone Navigo Weekly Pass includes regular-network airport travel such as RER B to CDG and Metro Line 14 to Orly while the pass is valid. Some specialist airport services, including Orlyval, are excluded.

Is Navigo Week valid for seven days from purchase?

No. It is valid for one fixed calendar week from Monday through Sunday.

What is the cheapest way to get around Paris?

Visitors making only a few journeys each day often spend less with individual tickets. Frequent travelers should compare Navigo Jour and Navigo Week against their real journey count, airport plans and travel dates.

Can I load an airport ticket and Metro tickets on the same Navigo Easy pass?

Not in every combination. The Paris Région ↔ Aéroports ticket is incompatible with standard Metro-Train-RER tickets on the same medium, so you may need another pass or phone-based travel medium.

Paris Public Transport Costs in 2026: Final Decision

For light sightseeing, Paris public transport costs can stay surprisingly low. Two standard Metro-Train-RER journeys cost €5.10 per day, while a traveler who mainly walks may need little more than that.

The €12.30 Navigo Day Pass is most useful on genuinely busy transport days. The €32.40 all-zone Navigo Weekly Pass becomes much more interesting when your stay fits Monday through Sunday, particularly if regular-network airport journeys fall inside the same valid week.

Paris Visite is easier to understand because it uses consecutive days and includes airports, but its higher price means simplicity is what you are paying for. Navigo Liberté+ offers lower unit fares, although the extra setup makes it less obvious for a short first visit.

Build the itinerary first, count the journeys second and buy the ticket last. That order is the most reliable way to keep Paris transport spending under control.

Official Paris Transport Sources

Because fares and ticket conditions can change, confirm important details with the official transport authorities before departure:

• Île-de-France Mobilités — official 2026 fares and ticket rules.
• RATP — network information and service updates.

For broader trip planning after you choose your transport strategy, continue with our How to Plan a Trip to Paris guide.