Abi Summers

Getting around Île-de-France

There are lots of different ways of getting around Paris and the Île-de-France region via public transport - metros, buses, trams, RERs and transiliens. Most people who live in the area will have a weekly or monthly navigo card that allows them to take all public transport.

The region is broken down into 5 zones, the price of tickets depends on the zone you are travelling in. You can find more details about the zones here

In most of my articles, I talk about my navigo when talking about public transport and the breakdown of what I spent, but what is a navigo? Essentially it’s a travel card that allows you to take all public transport within the Île-de-France region (with a few exceptions). There’s a few different types of navigo (because why make anything simple?). Not all stations on the RER are covered by the navigo, but it will say on the RER when you look for your stop.

There are three main types of navigo cards which can be bought at most stations:

here’s a summary of the different ticket options, additional info can be found here.

Monthly

It costs 86,40€ per month (it’s slightly cheaper if you only need it to cover specific zones outside of zone 1). This is valid from the 1st of the month until the end of the month (regardless of when you actually purchased it). If you charge your navigo from the 20th of the month it will charge for the following month. It can be charged either from a station or via the Bonjour RATP app.

Weekly

There is also a weekly option which costs 30,75€ for all zones (again, it’s slightly cheaper if you only need specific zones outside of zone 1). This card is valid from Monday to Sunday. If you charge your navigo from Friday, it will charge the navigo for the following week. (as far as i’m aware, there is no way to change this)

ticket t+

This covers all transport within zone 1, and can be used on buses & trams outside of zone 1. You can’t use these tickets on the RER (unless you’re only taking the RER across Paris within zone 1) or transiliens. This is mostly used by people who don’t take the metro very often. It costs 2,15€ per ticket, or 17,35€ for a pack of 10. (this will be different during the olympics)

day tickets

Day tickets are available, it costs 8,65€ for zone 1-2 while it costs 20,60€ for all zones. There is a day ticket available for under 26s on weekends & public holidays which costs 4,70€ for zone 1-3 and 10,35 for all zones.

destination tickets

If you’re looking at getting a ticket between two stations, eg Paris and Versailles, you need to get a ticket from a machine at the station - there’s currently no way of buying this via the app for on a navigo. The direction on the ticket doesn’t matter - say you’re doing a day trip to Versailles and you’re buying paper tickets you can buy both tickets in the morning. The ticket will say Paris Versailles but it can also be used in the other direction as well.

2024 Paris Olympics

there’s been a lot of talk around public transport for the olympics. The ticket t+ are going to be more expensive during this period, however you can charge your navigo easy in advance with these tickets to avoid the 4€ per ticket cost. They have launched a special ticket for this period,

They are also launching a Passe Paris 2024, more info about that can be found here. The pass can be used between the 20th July and 8th September, for 1 day up to 7 days. The pricing starts at 16€ per day, up to 70€ for 7 consecutive days. (which is double what a weekly pass normally costs)

This article is to be used as a guide only. Refer to Île-de-France mobility for the latest info regarding pricing, and ticketing options. All pricing mentioned in this article is for a regular adult ticket unless otherwise specified.

If you have any questions, or notice anything that’s outdated, you can reach me via email at contact@abisummers.com or via instagram at @abisummers

published date: 16th April 2024

read more articles here