Has anybody used this hop on/off bus in touring around Paris? Is it a better alternative than riding the Metro?

NO NO NO!<BR>I just took this about 2 weeks ago. I was hoping for a lot, but this service didn't really deliver. It would be better in warm weather so it depends when you're going.<BR>The metro is very efficient and fast, so do not use this tour as a replacement. We had hoped to use the tour to get our bearings and then use the Metro, but the headphones were awkward and kept falling out of the jacks. So that cut our tour short and we just took the metro. <BR>

thanks for the comment. I am travelling the week of Feb 23.

We were there in Sept. 2002 and used L'open and enjoyed it. No doubt it will be cold in Feb. but it did give us our bearings the first day. The 2nd deck is open but the bottom deck is enclosed.<BR>Make your decision when you arrive as tickets are purchased on board

Well, it depends on whether you're asking if you should use it for basic transportation around Paris. If so, definitely no. That's what the metro and the buses are for. The Open Tour is a tourist bus that takes tourists around the major sites, letting them on and off. For that purpose, it appears to be quite good (I've never taken it, but I see it all the time roaming around the city). You're talking apples and oranges.

It depends upon what you mean by &quot;touring around&quot;. If your time is limited and you have a lot of sights and attractions on your list of places to go, L'Opentour is a very efficient way to get from one to the next if you visit them in order along the route. You have the opportunity to enjoy the scenery all along the way (which you miss in the metro), you avoid the long hallways and stairs (and pickpockets) of the metro, and don't have to figure out your metro route, which lines to take to minimize the number of transfers, AND the L'Opentour stops are located much closer to the &quot;must see&quot; destinations (in particular, the one at the foot of the finicular to Sacre Coeur). <BR><BR>L'Opentour is not an efficient way for getting around Paris, though, as the route is circuitous and the buses go only one direction.

Tates,<BR><BR>L'open Tour offers a rather unique perspective of Paris but (as others have stated) is not meant to replace the wonderful transportation afforded by the Metro and bus systems. <BR><BR>We puchased a two-day pass (it was only a little more than a single day) and quite enjoyed it. As djkbooks said, it does travel in a circuituous route and in only one direction. As a result, if your destination is the seventh stop, it might take you longer to reach than if you took the Metro.<BR><BR>Still, as both StCirc and djkbooks pointed out, it does have stops conveniently located near many of the most famous attractions and provides a fun way to reach them if you have the extra time. <BR><BR>Personally I reccomend it and believe that the views afforded on the upper deck (even in the cold) offer an interesting and different perspective of Paris and Parisian architecture.<BR><BR>Strive