Thank you so much everyone! What wonderful advice! I appreciate everyone's comments and am looking forward to a great trip!

I hope you have a fantastic trip! My first time in Paris was a solo trip and I stayed at Hotel Muguet. I think you will enjoy the area. I was suprised at just how close to the Eiffel Tower it was and it is in a charming neighborhood.

I consider myself a pretty smart cookie but I was unprepared for just how tired and a little disorientated I was coming out of CDG. I took the Roissybus from CDG to Opera and then tried to change to a metro line to Ecole Militaire and it was quite traumatic for me. I took French for 5 years so I felt confident with my abilities but I got lost quickly and with luggage, and it was hot and well, ack!

My best suggestion would be to echo what TimS said and to take the the Roissybus from CDG to Opera and then a taxi. Everyone has their own opinion of course and this is just mine.

My other suggestion would be to attempt to speak in French whenever possible. I found this helped a lot when I was there and people are willing to work with you if you even try.

I hope you have a fantastic time!

Here's the map that shows the way from CDG to town via RER and Roissybus (with M&eacute;tro <i>correspondances</i> - connections):

http://www.ratp.info/picts/plans/gif...x/aeroport.gif

And here's the street map with the M&eacute;tro network overlaid:

http://www.ratp.info/orienter/f_plan...eur&amp;fm=pdf

For more detail of the RER network, try this:

http://www.ratp.info/orienter/f_plan...eur&amp;fm=pdf

The most important piece of advice I can think of to be polite in France is to address people as Monsieur or Madame and say, &quot;Bonjour, Madame (or Monsieur)&quot; before asking them anything. This feels a little overly formal and uncomfortable for me as an American, but people in France routinely address each other this way before speaking. The American custom of walking up to someone in a shop and asking a question without a formal greeting is perceived as rude or odd.

From airport Charles De Gaulle take line B of the RER to Gare Nord. Then take line 4 in the direction of Orleans to Strasbourg/St.Denis. Swith here to line 8 towards Balard and get off at Ecole Militaire. Sounds complicated but is very easy. Best way to get around Paris is walking and a combination of the Metro and busess. Take a passport size photo with you and at any Metro station ask for a Carte Orange zones 1-2. Cost is 16 euros for one week Monday thru Sunday. Metro runs from 5:30 am to 1:00 am daily. Your Carte Orange is also good on all the busess. From the airport keep your RER ticket as it is also good for the trip on the Metro. Cost from airport on RER is 8 euros.

Hope you enjoy Paris as much as I do.

Larry J

Bonjour
The best way to get around paris is of course by Metro. However once you get to CDG, take the Air France buses which get into the city. The stop at Concorde, Invalides and Champs Elysees. So you should get off at the one near Concorde or Invalides. From there take a taxi to your hotel. The bus fare is 12&euro; p.p and the taxi fare should not be more than 15&euro; for two.
Also the best way to see all the touristy places would be to take the Buses Rouges, which are the hop on and hop off buses, they are convinient as they arent time bound. You get a Two day pass, and which will give you some discount on the bateaux rides in paris( take the one at Pont Neuf; its really nice!) If u take the Buses Rouges, you will save on Metro and taxi fare as you can plan your trips so that they drop you off closest to your hotel, there are no limits on how many times you can enter and exit! In case you want to travel by metro, ask for a 2 or 3 days pass, or even a daily pass works out cheaper, as you can enter and exit several times!
Et Voil&agrave;, hope this solves your problems. Have Fun

This last trip, we had a 5 zone Carte Orange (actually, both trips), and then took the Roissybus to l'Opera and got the metro from there. It wasn't too hard after we found the Metro, which did take a couple of minutes.

As far as once in Paris - I like to walk as much as possible. It is a beautiful walking city, and really not that big compared to other cities, IMHO. There are so many lovely people, nice restaurants, shops, markets, etc. that you would never see if you just took the metro.

Do <u>not</u> buy a 5-Zone <i>Carte Orange</i> unless you plan to make multiple trips into Zone 5 or want to waste money. They cost &euro;31,50 whereas the single RER fare from CDG is &euro;8,10.

I do not recommend the hop-on/hop-off bus tours. You can see the same sights on an itinerary of your own devising more efficiently and at far less cost. In fact, if you have a transit pass, it's free. Just use the map at http://www.ratp.info/orienter/f_plan...aux&amp;fm=pdf
to plan your route.

&quot;I have heard that taking taxis can be dicey b/c they like to charge foreigners for 'extas', especially if they know you don't know what you are doing.&quot;

I wonder what this is about. Every taxi I've taken in Paris has a meter and the only &quot;extra&quot; I've been charged was for handling the luggage and that fee was posted in the taxi. If a taxi is called, the meter is turned on when they start for the hotel. Oh, yeah, I just remembered that I was charged a &quot;reservation&quot; fee for a very early trip to the airport once. I wasn't happy about it but figure that probably taxis had been shown up at hotels and the travelers had left without canceling. Anyone else experienc this?

I assumed it was just a rumor or comment by folks in regard to taxis in general trying to overcharge. Sometimes people make up things and say this happened explicitly because I'm a tourist and/or American etc. (like the recent thread from someone who didn't have proper documentation for the weekly Paris metro ticket and blamed it on the Parisian metro system trying to cheat tourists). I've also read a post where someone claimed they were cheated because they had a friend who took the same route and their taxi ride cost a few euro less, as if rates and traffic can't vary.

I've also seen some people charge taxi drivers with cheating them for legitimate charges, even when they didn't have the slightest idea what were legitimate Parisian taxi charges (I mean the surcharges or extras).

There are more extras that can be charged my Parisian taxis than for luggage, and they are legitimate. For example, a charge for the fourth person or more of 2.6 euro (if they take one), or a charge for an animal (they aren't required to take one, as I understand it -- but that is 0.6 euro), plus a charge for a stroller or things like that similar to the per piece luggage charge. There is also a special fee for getting a taxi at a rail station of 0.70 euro. None of these amount to that much.

It is true that if you didn't know the language or the taxi system, it would be difficult to understand if a taxi driver claimed there was a couple euro charge for something and you could often be wrong if you refused to pay it and insisted you wouldn't pay more than the mileage on the meter. The extra fees are posted in the taxi on the window, but they are only in French, I believe. (e.g., &quot;la prise en charge en gare SNCF ..... 0,70 euro)

www.ratp.fr is the site for information on local public transport - use the &quot;international passengers&quot; link at the top of the screen to get English information. You'll find the &quot;plan interactif&quot; useful too.

Again, thank you for all your kind help and advice.

What I meant when I mentioned I heard that taxis can be 'dicey' is just that some people I've talked to say to be careful when taking taxis in ANY country or city, not just Paris. Not only can it be hard to understand with the language barriers, but I've taken taxis, even in New York and Baltimore, where they speak english and paid WAY above what I expected. The bottom line, from what I've heard, is just that if there is a better alternative, take another method of transportation since you never know what you are going to pay for a taxi ride. Taxis freak me out a little anyway, since seeing the Bone Collector (just kidding).