RER and other Paris, France Transportation Tips

'Mode': TO
Category: Train
Getting TO/AROUND: The RER is a convenient and relatively inexpensive way to get to/from CDG airport. As of 12/26/03, the fare was 7.75 Euro each way, no benefit to buying a round trip ticket. It appeared that you could purchase tickets at a machine if you used your credit card or there were not too long lines to purchase with cash.

The trains leave frequently, some have less stops than others so make sure your stop is marked on the overhead board.

While this isn't advisable if you are carrying a lot of luggage, if you can manage your luggage up/down stairs and escalators, it is a less expensive alternative to a taxi.

We headed back to CDG on New Year's day and the ride was free (I think until noon), don't know if this is normal or not for holidays but it was a nice ending touch to our stay in Paris.

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Website: http://www.ratp.fr/

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Subway/Metro
Getting TO/AROUND: Although I'm sure the buses are a much more scenic way to get around Paris, I am a big fan of the metro. The metro is Paris is quite extensive, the maps are easy to follow, and you know approximately how much time it will take to get you from one place to another.

We tend to walk a lot in Paris so the various metro passes don't make any sense for us. Instead we buy a carnet of 10 tickets which cost a bit less than single tickets. You can buy one carnet to share with your traveling companion(s) as they are individual tickets. As of 8/8/08 a carnet cost 11.40 E and individual tickets cost 1.60E. Individual tickets or the tickets sold in a carnet are good on:

All of the metro, the Montmartre funicular, the RER (RATP and SNCF) within Paris, RATP buses in Paris and the suburbs (except for lines with special fares: Orlyval, Orlybus or Roissybus ), most of the Optile network lines (that cover the private bus companies in the outer suburbs). You can use the same ticket to make any connections that you need within 1 1/2 hours. You must validate the ticket each time you use a different form of transport, on the metro you are required to go through gates so I don't think it's possible to not validate your ticket.

On New Year's Eve back in 2003 the rides were free starting sometime in the middle of the afternoon which would have been nice had I not already bought a carnet that morning. The Air France check in clerk was the lucky recipient of my 6 extra tickets.

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Website: http://www.ratp.fr

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Other
Getting TO/AROUND: The best method of transport is your feet!

Paris is a wonderful, safe place to walk around, taking in all the beautiful sights and buildings. There are so many beautiful buildings and lovely parks, cafes to stop at, crepes to be eaten that it's a shame to spend time underground.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Train
Getting TO/AROUND: I was actually quite surprised to find how expensive train travel is in France, I guess I assumed that is was more prevalent than in the US and that it would be cheaper.

A round trip ticket to Reims was 40.60E, $50US! For the two of us it would have likely been cheaper to rent a car although perhaps not as quick?

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'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: Give your self plenty of time to get through this airport, we were in line for over 2 1/2 hours to check in at the Air France desk!Some of this delay may have been weather related and some may have been security related as we were traveling over the holiday.

But there were at least 2 other Air France desks that had only a small number of passengers waiting, it seems as though they could have allocated the passengers better.

Another note, we were at Terminal 2 and once we got past passport control there was only a snack bar serving overpriced baguettes, chips, and $5 softdrinks. So don't plan on eating once you get past passport control.

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bicycle
Getting TO/AROUND: We came across stands of bicycles as we were walking through Paris and checked out the rules but ultimately decided to use our feet instead of the bicycles. After I got home I checked out what the bicycles rented for in case we wanted to use them on a future trip and found that there are a few pitfalls to renting them, seems they are designed more for locals to use for short term communting than tourists for recreational cycling.

Some of the pitfalls are that they don't seem to take credit cards without chips although they do appear to accept AmEx, if you use a debit card (and possibly credit cards as well) they can put a hold on your account for up to 13 days, one complaint I read suggested that they charged a € 150 deposit every time they rented them and held € 450 of their money for their 3 rentals for almost 2 weeks.

If you get the 1 € day pass (or week pass or yearly pass), the 1st 1/2 hour is free and then:

1st additional half hour is 1 €
2nd additional half hour is 2 €
From the 3rd additional half hour 4€ per additional half hour

So an hour would be 1 €, 2 hours would be 7 €, 3 hours would be 15 € and so on. So it's great for short journeys, not so great if you are planning on keeping the bike for the day unless you plan on continually returning the bike and then getting a new one. The last pitfall I'll mention is that it is possible for stations to be entirely full not allowing you to return the bike as they are not manned by people but rather by machines.

If you are still interested in the Velib system after reading this, you might check out cycling enthusiast Nemorino's general Paris tips as he offers a lot of good information about using the system.

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Website: http://www.velib.paris.fr/