The Paris Pass®: 40+ Attractions Including Eiffel Tower

The Paris Pass turns Paris sightseeing into a busy but flexible menu. You can climb the Eiffel Tower, cruise the Seine, join a Montmartre walk, taste French wine, and fit in a Parisian breakfast, all with one digital pass. The Eiffel Tower visit is a guided climb, not a lift ticket, so that detail matters.

I like the freedom to mix major sights with smaller experiences, such as the Les Caves du Louvre wine tasting or a French apéro in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. I also like the optional Paris Museum Pass, which adds the Louvre, Versailles, Sainte-Chapelle, and many more museums. The catch is that you need a well-planned schedule, since some activities require reservations and the pass runs on consecutive calendar days.

Key points to know before you buy

• The Eiffel Tower option is a guided climb: You climb the stairs, and the standard pass does not include a lift ride.
• The Paris Pass covers 40-plus attractions: Expect tours, landmarks, food experiences, museums, and entertainment rather than one fixed route.
• The Paris Pass Plus adds major museums: The Louvre, Palace of Versailles, Arc de Triomphe, Orsay Museum, and others require the upgrade.
• The Go City app is essential: Use it for opening hours, attraction details, itinerary planning, and reservations.
• The pass activates on your first visit: Your chosen one to six days are consecutive calendar days, not rolling 24-hour periods.
• You need to pack your phone: The pass is digital, and some attractions need advance reservations or separate ticket downloads.

What the Paris Pass actually gives you

Think of this as a sightseeing pass, not a guided tour. You buy one, two, three, four, or six days, then choose from a long list of attractions and activities. Each attraction can be visited once during the pass period.

The listed price is $91 per person, though the cost depends on the pass length and current availability. The advertised saving can reach 50 percent compared with buying separate tickets, but that figure depends on how many paid activities you fit into your days. You need to use the pass actively for it to pay off.

The best value usually comes from combining a costly attraction with one or two smaller activities on the same day. A Seine cruise, museum, walking tour, or food stop can fill gaps between major sights. If you only want one or two attractions, individual tickets may be simpler and cheaper.

The pass is valid for one year from purchase, but it does not begin counting down until you visit your first attraction. Once activated, it runs for the number of consecutive calendar days you bought. A three-day pass, for example, is three calendar days, not 72 hours from the time of first use.

Eiffel Tower stairs, not the lift

The Eiffel Tower Guided Climb is one of the pass’s headline inclusions. It gives you a close look at Paris’s most famous landmark and a chance to see the city from above while using the stairs.

This is a useful distinction for anyone comparing passes. The included experience is not a general Eiffel Tower entry ticket with a choice of transport. It is specifically a guided climb, so visitors with bad knees, limited mobility, or little interest in stair climbing may need to buy a lift option separately.

Plan this visit early in your pass period if it is a priority. The activity may require a reserved time, and the climb can take energy that you might prefer to save for a museum or walking tour. Pairing it with the Seine cruise makes good geographic sense, though the pass does not provide transportation between attractions unless an inclusion specifically says so.

Seine cruising and Paris from the water

The Seine River Cruise with Bateaux Parisiens gives you a calmer way to see central Paris. From the water, you can take in the city’s bridges and riverfront monuments without navigating streets or checking a map every few minutes.

It is a good first or late-day activity. A cruise helps you get oriented early in your visit, while a later ride gives your feet a rest after museums and walking tours. The pass also includes a River Seine Bridges Walking Tour for a different view of the same city.

Food and drink options add variety to the pass. You can choose a croque monsieur with a Champagne cocktail by the Seine, a Parisian breakfast at Café Louise, French sweet crepes near the Arc de Triomphe, or a French apéro in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. These are not replacements for every meal, and food or drinks are generally not included unless the specific activity says they are. Still, they can make the pass feel less like a checklist.

Museums through the Paris Pass Plus

The base Paris Pass and the Paris Pass Plus are not the same product. The base pass includes its own set of attractions, while the Plus option adds the Paris Museum Pass for access to more than 50 museums and monuments.

The upgrade is available with two, three, four, and six-day passes. The one-day option does not receive this Plus upgrade, so check the exact product before you pay.

The museum list includes:

• Louvre Museum
• Palace of Versailles
• Arc de Triomphe
• Orsay Museum
• Sainte-Chapelle
• Orangerie Museum
• Picasso Museum
• Rodin Museum

This addition can change the value calculation. A museum-heavy plan may make the Plus version worthwhile, especially if you want the Louvre and Versailles in the same trip. But do not assume the main Go City pass alone gets you into these museums. The Paris Museum Pass must be downloaded separately through the reservation portal, and you may need both the attraction ticket and the museum pass available for scanning.

That extra step is easy to miss. Download both passes before your first sightseeing day, then keep your phone charged and ready. The museum pass is not simply replaced by the regular Go City QR code.

Wine, breakfast, and smaller Paris experiences

The pass is at its most interesting when you stop treating it as a list of famous buildings. Some of the smaller activities can add local flavor to a tightly scheduled trip.

At Les Caves du Louvre, the French wine tasting is a popular choice. It gives you a reason to step below street level and spend time with French wine rather than simply looking at another monument. The Parisian breakfast at Café Louise offers a slower start, while the Montmartre Champagne Gourmand combines food with one of Paris’s most atmospheric neighborhoods.

Other food and culture choices include a perfume mini workshop by Fragonard, a fashion show at Galeries Lafayette, the Gourmet Chocolate Museum Choco-Story, and the Rex Studios visit with afternoon popcorn. Some inclusions are clearly best for a particular interest. A perfume workshop suits shoppers and fragrance fans, while Choco-Story works well for families and anyone who needs a break from paintings and churches.

You can also choose entertainment such as the How to Become Parisian in One Hour show, Grevin Paris wax museum, Paradox Museum Paris, or PanoraMagique at Disney Village. These choices may not be essential to a first visit, but they help the pass fit different ages and interests.

Walking tours in Montmartre, the Marais, and Saint-Germain

The walking tours are useful because they turn neighborhoods into organized experiences. Options include Montmartre and Sacré-Coeur, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the Latin Quarter, Paris’s covered passages, the Marais, Montparnasse, and the River Seine bridges.

There are also themed walks, including Women of Paris and Scandals and Love Affairs at Père Lachaise. These can help you see parts of Paris you might otherwise skip. One benefit of a pass is that you can try a short tour without paying a separate full price for every neighborhood.

Pay close attention to starting times and meeting instructions. Some locations are not easy to find, and reservation links may be awkward to use. Put the address, start time, and confirmation details in your phone before leaving your hotel. The app’s itinerary planner can help, but you should still check each activity yourself.

The Notre Dame and Archaeological Crypt Experience needs careful interpretation, too. It is not simply a broad Notre Dame interior tour. The related route may involve Île de la Cité and finish at Notre Dame, so read the activity description closely before building your day around it.

Other attractions worth fitting in

The Big Bus Paris Hop-On Hop-Off Tour is included for one day. It can be a practical way to see a wide area at the start of your visit, especially if you want an overview before choosing which neighborhoods deserve more time.

Tour Montparnasse offers another city view, while the Ballon de Paris Generali provides a different high-up perspective. You can also visit the Paris Aquarium, Stade de France, Opéra National de Paris, Parc Astérix, or take the Emily in Paris unofficial tour.

These attractions are spread around the Paris region, so the pass does not remove the need for transport planning. Transportation to and from attractions is not included unless it is specifically stated. Parc Astérix and Disney Village, in particular, can take a large part of a day once transport and time on site are counted.

That is not a fault, but it affects the value. A six-day pass gives you room for outlying attractions, while a two-day pass is better suited to central Paris and a tightly organized plan.

Reservations, timing, and the Go City app

The app is the operating manual for the pass. It shows the current attraction list, opening hours, planning tools, and reservation instructions. Some activities have fixed time slots, and popular attractions can fill before you arrive.

I would plan the must-do experiences before activating the pass. This is especially important for the Louvre, Eiffel Tower climb, guided walks, and any timed food or entertainment activity. A common frustration is discovering that a preferred slot is unavailable after the pass has already started.

There is a practical tension here. The pass itself activates only when you first visit an attraction, but some reservations may need attention before that moment. Read the app’s instructions and the reservation portal carefully, then book what you can before your sightseeing clock begins.

Keep the phone charged each morning. The pass is digital, and the PDF guide is available as a backup, but a printed guide does not replace the digital pass when an attraction needs to scan it.

Building a sensible one, two, or three-day plan

A one-day pass is a sprint. It can work if you choose a few nearby activities and do not expect to see every major sight. The Eiffel Tower climb, Seine cruise, and one nearby food or walking activity could make a full day, depending on reservation times.

Two days gives you more breathing room. You might combine the Big Bus tour and a central walking activity on day one, then use day two for the Eiffel Tower and Seine cruise. If you buy the two-day Pass Plus, you also receive a two-day Paris Museum Pass, which can make the upgrade useful for a museum-focused visit.

Three days is easier to manage, but it is still possible to overpack it. You could set aside one day for the Louvre or another museum, one day for the Eiffel Tower and river, and one day for Montmartre, Saint-Germain, or the Latin Quarter. Add a wine tasting or breakfast only if the timing works naturally.

Four and six-day passes suit people who want variety and a slower pace. They give you time for smaller activities, neighborhood walks, and outlying choices such as Parc Astérix or Disney Village. The value comes from using the pass often, not from owning it for a long period.

Who will get the best value

I think the pass suits first-time visitors who want structure, families with mixed interests, and people who like having several possible activities each day. It is also useful if you would normally pay for a Seine cruise, Eiffel Tower visit, museum entries, and one or two tours separately.

It is less appealing if you prefer long, unplanned museum days. You may not want to leave the Louvre after two hours simply because another pass activity is waiting. The same applies if your Paris visit is built around cafés, markets, gardens, and slow neighborhood walks rather than paid attractions.

The pass can also be a good choice for repeat visitors who want to try unusual activities. The wine tasting, perfume workshop, chocolate museum, themed walks, and neighborhood tours offer more than the standard first-visit route.

Practical drawbacks to weigh

The pass includes many choices, but not every choice is equally convenient. Attractions have different locations, hours, reservation systems, and time slots. You do the planning work, and a poor route can waste both time and money.

Only one visit per attraction is allowed. You cannot return to the same museum or activity later under the same pass. Included attractions can also change without notice, so confirm the current list in the Go City app before you settle on a final plan.

The Eiffel Tower limitation is important. If you cannot or do not want to climb stairs, you may need a separate lift ticket. The Paris Museum Pass also requires its own download with the Plus product, and both digital documents may be needed at the entrance.

On the positive side, the pass offers free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund. That gives you some protection if your plans change, provided you cancel within the stated deadline.

Should you book the Paris Pass?

Book it if you want to see several paid attractions in a short period and are willing to plan around reservations. The strongest case is a two to six-day Pass Plus used for the Louvre, Versailles, one or more other museums, the Eiffel Tower climb, a Seine cruise, and several smaller activities.

Choose the base pass if museums are not your priority and you prefer tours, food stops, views, and entertainment. Before buying, open the app or current attraction list, mark your must-sees, and estimate the separate ticket cost.

I would not buy it simply because the advertised saving sounds impressive. Buy it when your own itinerary reaches the break-even point. If you can fit three or four worthwhile activities into each day without turning Paris into a race, the pass can offer solid value and encourage you to explore beyond the usual monuments.

FAQ

How many days can I choose for the Paris Pass?

You can choose a pass valid for 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 days.

How does the pass begin?

The pass activates when you visit your first attraction. It remains valid for the number of consecutive calendar days purchased, not for rolling 24-hour periods.

Is the Eiffel Tower lift included?

The included Eiffel Tower experience is a guided climb. A lift option is not included in the standard experience.

What does the Paris Pass Plus add?

The Paris Pass Plus includes the regular Paris Pass attractions plus the Paris Museum Pass, with access to more than 50 museums and monuments.

Is the Louvre included?

The Louvre is included through the Paris Museum Pass upgrade, not as part of the basic Paris Pass attractions.

Is Versailles included?

The Palace of Versailles is included with the Paris Museum Pass, which comes with the Paris Pass Plus option for two to six-day passes.

Do I need to reserve attractions in advance?

Some attractions and tours require reservations. Use the Go City app to check requirements, opening hours, and available time slots.

Do I need a smartphone?

Yes. The pass is digital, so you should bring a charged smartphone. A PDF guide is also available, but you still need access to the digital pass.

Can I cancel the pass?

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund.