KateWW

Hello everyone.
I am a new traveler headed to Paris for my honeymoon and I am having difficulty finding information about which metro line to use. When I arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport I will need to take the metro to Ile Saint Louis. The maps that I have seen do not tell me what 'color' line I should take.
Will someone please direct me to a website that will assist me, or if you've traveled that way before would you let me know the most direct route to take?
Thank you very much for your time! Kate

Suzanne2

Take the RER B and exit at St Michael.

Palenque

Actually it is in French named the Saint Michel-Notre Dame RER/metro stop - then cross the Seine bridge to the north

tod

I think Suzanne2 means - Exit at the RER station St Michel-Notre Dame , as there is also a metro station St Michel on line 4 - the two are linked.
After that you will have to take a taxi even though it looks a short distance on a map - dragging a suitcase will make it very long indeed!

An alternative would be to get off at Gare de Nord and take a taxi from there. That's probably what I would do. I don't advise getting off at Chatelet Les Halles. It's a nightmare with all those passages.

cynthia_booker

And Kate, when you come up out of that station and Notre Dame is right there in front of you, it will take your breath away!

kerouac

The exit you want is at the back of the train at Saint Michel-Notre Dame; that's the one that comes out on Ile de la Cité in front of Notre Dame. If you exit at the front of the train, you are at Place Saint Michel, considerably farther away.

There are escalators all the way to street level. If you walk along the left hand side of Notre Dame and keep going straight ahead, Ile Saint Louis is waiting for you less than 300 meters from the RER.

TimS

In case it wasn't clear from the previous posts, there are no metro stations on Ile Saint-Louis. If you take the RER B from CDG to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame, you could take a very short taxi ride from there to your hotel. Or there might be a bus route that goes from Saint-Michel Notre-Dame to your hotel. What's the name and address of the hotel?

avalon

kerouac is correct you can exit StMichel and come out on the Ile'de la Cite across the river from St Michel and right in frontof the cathedral. No need for a taxi . Almost all the hotels are on rue St Louis en l'isle , just a very short walk from the exit

Palenque

An alternative would be to get off at Gare de Nord and take a taxi from there>

you could walk a long long way thru a very crowded RER.metro station, navigating steps and then thru a oft very mobbed Gare du Nord just to get to a Taxi stand - then wait in line - an oft long line IME

PatrickLondon

You can check where your hotel is on www.pagesjaunes.fr - search for it, then click on the option "plan" for an area map, which will show you the nearest stations.

Then go to

http://www.ratp.info/touristes/index...lan-interactif

and work out the route that best suits - but for Ile St Louis you'd either have to do as previous posters have suggested, or change at Gare de l'Est for line 7 for Pont Marie (for the middle of the island) or Sully Morland (for the eastern end of the island).

Palenque

You can also walk a long long way in some metro interchanges and again have steps to go up and down - i do not know about that Gare de l'Est to ligne 7 interchange but be prepared for a long trek.

Michel_Paris

The walk from the RER Saint-Michel-Notre Dame station to Ile St Louis is not very far, under .8 Km / 0.5 mi

Christina

You can get a metro map at CDG before you enter the system. Also, there are maps inside every car and on the walls. Personally, I don't think anyone should take the metro if they cannot read a metro map. It is the same idea as any metro in the world as far as maps and lines go. What happens if you get confused or some stop is closed (which can happen, actually, for work or something). What happens if you accidentlaly get out at the wrong stop?

PatrickLondon

Yes, sorry, I had the Gare du Nord on the brain. From the airport, the RER to St Michel is the only sensible option.

kerouac

I'm pretty sure that we have freaked out Kate by now.

TimS

I expect you're right, kerouac.

Kate, It's not as hard as we're making it out to be. If you're packing light and it's not raining buckets, take the RER B to Saint-Michel Notre-Dame and walk to your hotel from there.

tod

You learn something new everyday on this board - thanks once again to you Kerouac, I now know there is an exit from the RER on the Ile de La Cite`, and I notice a large white 'R' in a red circle (corner of Hotel Dieu) and a red line linking it with the same sign at St Michel, in my Le petit Parisien.
I stayed in that building for three days and never knew about the RER (must be blind or something!).

Michel_Paris

Tod,
I'll second your "hmm". I did not know there was an RER exit on the Island. it's right on front of ND.

Thanks K.

StCirq

Nor I, and I've taken the metro to Saint-Michel and walked to Ile Saint-Louis about, oh, a thousand times.

I do disagree that it's a very long walk, though.

cageym

Stayed on Ile Saint-Louis last summer and used the Saint-Michel stop a lot. If you're any kind of walker at all that isn't a long haul. I would never consider a taxi for that.

Of course we also walked from our apartment to Gare de Lyon with luggage in tow upon departure and thought nothing of it. Maybe we are just serious walkers.