We will be in Paris for 4 nights in July and I am wanting to get some advice about getting around and purchasing metro tickets. We arrive at CDG and will be staying at Hotel du palais bourbon. We plan to go to Disney on one of the days. The rest of the time we will probably just enjoy being in Paris and seeing the sights. Should we just purchase tickets as we need them or should we buy some sort of card? What is the difference between the RER and metro? I know I am ignorant and appreciate any help regarding this. I usually work out the best option on the day I am leaving.
|||
The metro is the equivalent of the London Underground, New York Subway etc. It serves central Paris. Stations are fairly close together. Lines are numbered 1-14.
The RER is a railway network which as well as serving central Paris, extends out into the suburbs. Stations are further apart: several do link up with metros within the city. Lines are lettered A - E. Line A goes to Disney.
Have a look at a metro/ RER map:-
www.ratp.info/picts/miniplan/metro120x84.pdf
Tickets can be bought individually for Eur 1.50, or as a group of 10 for Eur 11.10 (a carnet), there are also Mobilis day passes which are bought in zones - the central zones 1 and 2 will cost Eur 5.60. There%26#39;s also Paris Visite which includes some discount coupons. It%26#39;s more expensive and personally I think it%26#39;s a bit of a rip-off at Eur 19 for 3 days. This does however give you travel for zones 1-3. Most of the tourist sights are in zones 1 and 2. All the tickets above can be used on metro RER and buses within the specified zones.
To go to Disney you would need to buy a separate RER ticket as it%26#39;s out in zone 5.
I think ticket prices are due to go up on 1st July - they usually do.
Have a great trip.
|||
Thanks for your help. I have printed out the map which is great. We plan to catch the trains from CDG, is this the cheapest option when there is 4 of us? Is there somewhere at the airport that we buy the ticket. We will have at least one RER change and will be getting off at Invalides. Do we just buy one ticket or do we need a few?
Do the Euro 1.50 tickets give you one ride within certain zones? Appreciate the help?
|||
The RER would be the cheapest - price is currently EUR 8.20 each, so 32.80 in total: this includes a transfer to either another RER train or metro. The easiest way is RER line B (the only one that serves the airport) to St Michel-Notre Dame, then change onto RER line C to Invalides (you need a train going in the direction of either Pontoise or Versailles Rive Gauche, or St Quentin en Yvelines.)
You can buy your tickets at the airport station.
A taxi would cost anywhere between 50 and 60 Euro, but it%26#39;s door to door and some would say a small price to pay for the convenience. Personally I%26#39;ve never done it, but to each his own and all that.
The regular 1.50 Euro ticket is good for one metro journey, including all transfers as long as you do not exit the system.(ie go through the exit gates - they will have a sign on advising that tickets are not valid once you have passed that point). All metro travel is deemed to be in zones 1 and 2 which the 1.50 ticket covers.
It can also be used as above on the RER but only within zones 1 and 2. You need a decent map.
It can also be used on the buses within zones 1 and 2 but if you transfer to another bus you need a new ticket.
It will all make sense when you%26#39;re there.
By the way the airport is out in zone 5.
|||
Thanks for all the help. It all makes sense and I have printed off the RER/ Metro map which is really helpful. We are going to a few countries on this holiday and I want to be organised to save too much stress. We are from NZ and only speak English (we will try and learn a few French words before we come) so we need all the help we can get.
|||
No-one will expect you to be fluent, but a few key phrases will be useful. Here%26#39;s a few to start with.
Bonjour madame = hello (when speaking to a lady)
Bonjour monsieur (roughly sounds like mer-sure) = hello (when speaking to a man)
It is considered rude to just say bonjour.
Au revoir (oh-rev-wah) madame / monsieur = goodbye.
Je voudrais (voo-dray) = I would like
S%26#39;il vous plait (see-voo-play) = Please
Merci (mare-see) = Thankyou
Ou sont les toilettes (oo-son-lay-twar-let) = Where are the toilets.
Things you may see on doors:-
Dames = Ladies
Hommes = Gents
Hope you have a wonderful trip.
|||
For getting around Paris, I think the most flexible thing is to buy a carnet of Metro tickets. It%26#39;s cheaper and easier to buy a carnet of 10 all at once instead of buying tickets each time you use the Metro, and once you have them anyone in your group can use them. So if the weather turns out to be gorgeous and you decide to walk everywhere, you won%26#39;t have spent money on a separate pass for each person that you hardly use. Or if the weather%26#39;s lousy and you use the Metro a lot, just buy another carnet when you run out of tickets.
You can also use the tickets on busses, which I like to use so I can see the sights along the way. Bus routes are posted at each bus stop, but you should Google Paris bus map and print yourself a copy so you can do a little research in advance if you%26#39;re at all interested.
|||
If the days work out for you, the best value by far is the weekly Carte Orange, but it is only good from Monday-Sunday and you have a 1%26quot; square picture of yourself to affix to the Carte. Buying the cheaper version of this (which covers Zones 1 and 2) should suffice unless you%26#39;re making many journeys outside of the city.
|||
-:- Message from TripAdvisor staff -:-
This topic was inactive for 6 months and has been closed to new posts. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one.
To review the TripAdvisor Forums Posting Guidelines, please follow this link: http://www.tripadvisor.com/pages/forums_posting_guidelines.html
We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason.
Removed on: 9:20 am, September 27, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment