Robespierre

Bus and Métro tickets are the interchangeable, as are the RATP passes. You can pay bus fare onboard.

Transferring lines in the subway often (although not always) involves long walks through tunnels and up and down stairs and escalators. Transferring from the Métro to a bus requires only coming up out of the subway, which you do at the end of a trip anyway. So the bus usually nets out less strenuous.

abcgirl

just out of curiosity, can anyone tell me approximately what we might pay if we DID take a taxi from Gare du Nord to the Musee Picasso?

Christina

I think you should take a taxi and all this other stuff with metro and bus etc is a waste of time and energy for hardly any savings. There isn't even a metro stop right near the Picasso Museum, what stop were you going to? The closest ones are about 4-5 blocks away, if I'm not mistaken. I would expect that taxi ride to cost in the range of 5-10 euro. I would take the metro and walk that distance if I had no luggage from a trip, but not otherwise. I have had to wait a little bit for a taxi after a train because it can get busy there, but never that long.

Robespierre

If I were doing this, I would take the Métro and bus right to the door, and spend the €10 on something more fun.

Since I always have an RATP pass for my travel within Paris, my ride to the museum would be basically free. And probably faster (depending on traffic).

jpie

sorry the message posted before I could correct it!!

It should read:

If you take the metro, they suggest you take the number 4 line towards the Porte d'Orlean and change a Strasbourg St Denis to the number 8 line going towards Creteil-Prefecture (Hotel de Ville) and get off at the Saint-Sebastien-Froissart. As others have said you will have about a 5 block walk to the apartment (the metro site says 7 minutes walk).

For the bus, the ratp site suggest the number 5 toward gare de Lyon. Be careful to catch it going the right direction. Then you get off at the Oberkampf Filles du Calvaire stop. You will still have about a 5 minute walk from there.

I agree that the 29 gets you closer, but not sure you gain much with additional metro trip.

jpie

Author: jpie
Date: 03/20/2005, 01:46 pm
Message: I think whether you take bus or taxi may depend on how much luggage you have, but I personally don't think 30 minutes is enough, particularly if you don't know the neighborhoods, need to change money etc. I would make it an hour and I doubt you would be waiting too long, unless you figure out a way in advance to change the money as suggested here and you catch a taxi fast (no line). Then 30 minutes might be okay.

FYI, The Ratp.fr site suggests the following routes:

If you take the metro, they suggest you take the number 4 line towards the Porte d'Orlean and change a Strasbourg St Denis to the number 8 line going towards Creteil-Prefecture (Hotel de Ville) and get off at the Saint-Sebastien-Froissart. As others have said you will have about a 5 block walk to the apartment (the metro site says 7 minutes).

For the bus, the ratp site suggest the number 5 toward gare de Lyon. Be careful to catch it going the right direction. Then you get off at the Oberkampf Filles du Calvaire stop. You will still have about a 5 minute walk from there.

I agree that the 29 gets you closer, but not sure you gain much with the added metro trip.

Robespierre

The RATP itinerary tool is stupid.

It's a straight shot from GdN to Bastille on Métro Ligne 5, with 11 minutes enroute. Then a 1-minute bus ride to the museum. No walking the streets. At all.

The only other reasonable route would be to take the bus all the way, starting with the #65 to Chemin Vert, then the #29 to the museum. This would take about 27 minutes.

jpie

<The RATP itinerary tool is stupid.>

Actually Robespierre, I think you are a bit harsh here. I realize the tool may not be perfect, but when I went back and put in the bus with the least amount of walking, it came up with another good idea (that I should have known!)

You could also take the #38 bus from the gare, which is its terminus, and take it to the Centre Pompidou stop on rue Beaubourg. Cross the street and you can pick up the #29 on Rambateau and take it across. Yes I know it means 2 blocks north, but it is still another viable alternative....

Anyway abcgirl, you can see there are many choices! Let us know after your trip what you decided

Robespierre

But that's NOT the least walking, is it?

Okay, relatively stupid. Because it doesn't consider Métro-bus combos the way the Transport for London Journey Planner does. RATP's is either all rail or all bus, which frequently doesn't yield the most desirable outcome.

BTilke

If you plan to be carrying that much cash with you, then take a taxi. I would not like to do a metro/bus combo upon arrival in Paris if I had luggage AND a large amount of cash on me. The taxi shouldn't cost you more than 10 euros, is a lot easier than schlepping that luggage around, up and down stairs, etc. and also worrying about pickpockets. AFTER you get settled into the apartment, take mass transit. (Although a taxi ride across Paris at night can be a memorable experience.)

abcgirl

you read my mind, BTilke. just last night i put the beginning and end of this post together in my head and realized that i wasn't sure if i wanted to juggle unfamiliarity with a city, unfamiliarity with a mass transit system, 3 smallish pieces of luggage and a big wad of cash while looking extremely like a tourist (carrying luggage kind of gives that away...) and worrying about theives. while i'm all for saving a few bucks, this may be an instance where it's worth it to pay a bit more for peace of mind.

Robespierre

Oh, for heaven's sake. Carrying luggage doesn't mark you as a tourist - Parisians do it all the time. And besides, there's a lot more to <u>not</u> looking like a tourist than luggage. Don't worry about it. Carry your money where it can't be snatched, and get on with it.

As far as the transit system is concerned: get some good maps (see above) and figure out what you're going to do <u>before</u> you get there. Nothing says &quot;tourist&quot; like looking around and referring to a map.

tod

abcgirl- Go with BTilke. It is so much better to grab a taxi when you step off the Eurostar.
One thing confuses me a bit - the acquisition of euros? France will not let any South African into the country unless we have a minimum amount(which they stipulate as 100euros a day), stamped into our passports as having been issued to us by the bank in cash or tavellers cheques, or reserved in a credit card account. To get the bank to purchase euros on our behalf and write this in our passports we have to submit an airticket. The next step is when the ticket and passport are sent to the French Consulate General for approval and stamped accordingly. So therefore we always enter France with euros in our purses. I usually take some in cash which is handy for the cab fare etc., some in cheques and a lot on my credit card.
When I leave France I bring all that left over and sling it in the wall safe at home ready for the next trip.
Things must be SO different for USA citizens?

BTilke

&quot;Oh, for heaven's sake. Carrying luggage doesn't mark you as a tourist -Parisians do it all the time. And besides, there's a lot more to not looking like a tourist than luggage. Don't worry about it. Carry your money where it can't be snatched, and get on with it.&quot;

Why so testy and hostile, Robespierre? What are you trying to browbeat abcgirl into taking mass transit? A short taxi ride is not a bank breaker. And riding taxis through the streets of Paris can be a pleasant experience.

When I go to Paris on day trips and have no luggage, I take mass transit or walk from the GdN. But if I have luggage (and we haven't driven to Paris), I find taxis the most cost effective use of *my* time to get to my hotel. After checking in and dumping of my luggage, then I go back to mass transit or foot power.

If abcgirl opts for mass transit, fine. If she opts for a taxi, that's fine too. They are both perfectly acceptable options, each with its advantages and disadvantages.

Taking a taxi isn't wrong or immoral, Robes--relax a little!

Robespierre

I don't see &quot;wrong&quot; or &quot;immoral&quot; in any of my posts - but I do see a lot of bogus reasons for not taking public transport in those of some others.

If you choose to spend the money on a taxi, godspeed to you. But know that the faster, cheaper way is not a mind-bending, pickpocket-baiting, street-walking ordeal.

BTilke

Robes, of my roughly 75 (and counting) trips to Paris, at least 25 have been through the Gare du Nord. I know that route very, very well. The metro is the cheapest, but it is NOT always the fastest. The number 4 line has its share of pickpockets and stairs. Given the relatively low cost of a taxi ride from GdN to an apartment in the Marais, and given that abcgirl will have luggage and a lot of cash, a taxi is a perfectly reasonable AND cost-effective alternative to the metro or metro/bus.
Cheapest is not always best. Un point, c'est tout.

Robespierre

I don't think the number of times one has been to Paris has any relevance here. If it did, then <u>my</u> opinion would prevail and there would be no discussion.

And you've <i>got</i> to be kidding when you say that a taxi is faster than the M&eacute;tro. You can't go 2 miles in 11 minutes in Paris unless you're under ground or in the sky. In the subway, there's also no queueing for a taxi when the Eurostar arrives.

RATP is faster, cheaper, and as safe as the street. But how one reaches a destination is ultimately a question of <i>chacun &agrave; son bout</i>.

BTilke

Not kidding at all. I have taken a taxi to OECD meetings held at various venues within the city, for example, and arrived well before colleagues who took the metro. I have also gone from GdN to the Marais in 10 minutes via taxi on more than one occasion. When we lived in Brussels (from 1999 until the end of 2004), I hopped the Thalys down to Paris about every three weeks for business or leisure. Got very familiar with how to get around town using the GdN as a starting point. Sometimes the metro was faster; sometimes the taxi was.
You are free to cling obsessively to your notion that the cheapest way is the ONLY way worth doing things. That seems to be the view you hold on almost any topic when one option costs more than another. But not everyone shares that view and, believe it or not (which you obviously don't and never will), others have perfectly valid reasons for their differing views.

Robespierre

&quot;...believe it or not (which you obviously don't and never will), others have perfectly valid reasons for their differing views.&quot;

I guess if you aren't going to make an effort to read and understand what I write, we can't discuss anything. I have never said that anyone else's reasons are invalid - I have only said that if your preferences are speed* and economy, the RATP wins. And as far as my frugality is concerned - I find that the reason I can buy anything I want to is <u>because</u> I don't spend any more than necessary.

* I, too, have taken that route using both modes, and the M&eacute;tro always has won. Your Velocity May Vary.

ipod_robbie

Just be sure to wear your low cost MP3 player while riding the Metro!! Certain to get you there faster than listening to a genuine iPod in a taxi. LOL.