Paris Buses and other Paris, France Transportation Tips

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Bus
Getting TO/AROUND: I found it very easy to use the buses in Paris to find my way to the places I wanted to visit, even compared to using the ones in London where I live. The maps were clear and easy to follow and we had no trouble working out where to change for a different route, as indicators in the bus show the names of each stop as the bus approaches it.

Also, as so much of Paris is so lovely to look at, you can miss a lot if you travel only on the metro, rather than above ground. One afternoon a friend and I, wanting to rest our legs after a day looking round museums, just caught random buses around the city, getting down to look at anything that interested us. I couldn't say exactly what we saw but we found so many nice small squares and parks and beautiful churches, just by chance and enjoyed ourselves very much. We used our tourist travel pass, which we found good value for money and very convenient.

The website listed below has a useful map showing bus routes and connections with Metro stations.

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Website: http://www.paris.org/Metro/

'Mode': AROUND
Category: Subway/Metro
Getting TO/AROUND: Although I usually try to avoid taking underground trains in my home city of London, in favour of overground trains and buses, I did like using the Metro and RER in Paris. This may be because I haven’t had to use it in the rush hour though! The services were frequent and we usually found easy connections for routes to our destination. I really liked to use the larger trains with an upper level, as I hadn’t been on any like that before.

The small tourist pass we purchased was very good value for money but seems, like the older London travel passes, to work on a magnetic system, which unfortunately my handbag clasp deactivated quite frequently during one visit to Paris, leaving me to return to ground level each time to get it replaced by the staff. Another thing I noticed was that, like London, many of the stops are so close together that it is often quicker to walk, rather than take the train, for just one stop.

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Phone: 08 92 68 77 14
Website: http://www.paris.org/Metro/

'Mode': TO
Category: Train
Getting TO/AROUND: As the trains from my local station stop at Waterloo Station, and our hotel was less than five minutes' walk from the Gare du Nord, we found the Eurostar very convenient for us. We left very early in the morning and really enjoyed the three hour train journey, as part of our trip. We had a very quick and efficient service, when we came to check in and board the train and found it was a very comfortable and relaxing way of getting there and back. There is an on board café, where we bought drinks but we didn't try any of the food, as we had bought some snacks from a café in Waterloo Station before we left.

I used it again to travel to Paris on my way to Morocco, just before the service stopped running from Waterloo. It won't be as convenient for me any more but I hope I'll use it again anyway.

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Phone: 08705 186 186
Website: www.eurostar.com