Paris Cite des sciences is 15 euro for adults and 12 for ages 6 to 25, but a 2 to 5 year old is 4 euro on the museum’s own page

The huge white building in the nineteenth arrondissement of Paris is one of Europe’s earliest science museums, and its permanent exhibitions, called Explora, run through space, light and energy with your hands on most of it. The ticket page gives two prices, 15.00 euro from age 26 and 12.00 euro for ages 6 to 25, with no booking fee and 26 bookable days in the next month. But if the child you are bringing is four years old, neither of those is the price you should pay: the museum’s own price page lists 4.00 euro for ages 2 to 5 and free under 2, and that band does not exist on the ticket platform at all.

• Ticket types: this ticket has exactly two tiers, an Entrance Ticket at 15.00 euro for age 26 and up and a Reduced ticket at 12.00 euro for ages 6 to 25, students and large-family card holders. The booking fee is 0.00 euro. (source 1)
• The venue’s own price page adds two further tiers: 4.00 euro for ages 2 to 5 and free under 2; Paris Museum Pass holders also enter free but must collect a voucher at ticketing. (source 2)
• The Cite des enfants, split into a 2-to-6 and a 5-to-10 zone, is a separate ticket: 15.00 euro on its own, 19.00 combined with the exhibitions, and 14.00 combined for ages 2 to 5. (source 2)
• For 0 to 23 months there is a dedicated Cite des bebes: the baby is free, the first accompanying adult is 4.50 euro and a second is 2.00. (source 2)
• The address is 30 avenue Corentin-Cariou, 75019 Paris, and 26 days are bookable across the coming month. (source 1)

Put one group through both price lists and the gap appears immediately. Two adults and a four-year-old cost 15.00 plus 15.00 plus 12.00, so 42.00 euro on the ticket platform, while the same three buying exhibition tickets at the museum’s own counter pay 15.00 plus 15.00 plus 4.00, so 34.00. The 8.00 euro difference is entirely the 2-to-5 band that the platform does not carry. Swap in a ten-year-old and both routes are 42.00 euro to the cent. So the question is not where to buy, it is how old your child is.

The second point wastes trips rather than money: this ticket does not include the Cite des enfants. When families bring small children to this museum, that zone is usually the reason they came, and it is sold separately at 15.00 euro alone or 19.00 combined with the exhibitions. A four-year-old on a 12.00 euro child ticket has therefore overpaid by eight euro and still cannot get into the children’s museum. The 19.00 combined rate, and the 14.00 version for ages 2 to 5, exist only through the museum’s own channel.

The third is for anyone with a baby: 0 to 23 months has its own Cite des bebes, where the baby is free, the first adult is 4.50 euro and a second is 2.00. It is the cheapest ticket in the building and it appears on no ticket platform, because it is priced per accompanying adult rather than per visitor.

So the conclusion on this page has to be stated plainly. If your child is over six, or you are only doing the permanent exhibitions, this ticket is a fine thing to buy. If the child is between two and five, or the children’s museum is the point of the trip, open the museum’s own price page first, because that is where your tier lives.

The booking link on this page is an affiliate link: the fare is identical to buying on the ticket site directly, and Hokimi may receive a small commission. This page also says when not to use it.

Where

Cite des sciences et de l'industrie, Corentin-Cariou, nineteenth arrondissement of Paris

When

Admission on the date chosen at booking, with 26 bookable days in the coming month

Price

15.00 euro from 26・12.00 on the reduced tier・0.00 booking fee

Ages

All ages for the exhibitions; the children’s zones split at 2 to 6 and 5 to 10

Note

This ticket excludes the Cite des enfants・the 2 to 5 tier exists only on the venue’s own channel