I am looking for metro maps for Paris-easy to read-please-do not speak French. Can anyone explain the metro and the RER line-I look in travel guides and some say take the metro others RER-I am totally lost. Thanks Rose

Hi, Rose. In the simplest terms, the metro is the city subway system, composed of 14 numbered lines. It will get you to within a few hundred meters of any place in Paris and the close suburbs. The RER lines, lettered A-E, go much further out, to the airports, to Versailles, to Disneyland Paris, etc. Since they do cross the city, however, you can use them like the metro to get around town if there is a stop near where you want to go. They generally have fewer stops than the metro (line C is an exception)and will therefore get you there quicker. Often, the same station will be served by both a metro and an RER train. Here is a site that has good maps of both systems - you can zoom in to get a clearer picture of a particular section.<BR>http://www.ratp.fr/ParisVisite/Eng/Pla_q/f_pla.htm Once you are in Paris I'm sure you will find the system easy to use. Enjoy your trip!

Hi Rose<BR>In any metro station you can ask for the Grand Plan de Paris (grahn plahn duh Paree). It is an excellent bus map, and a metro map. Also good is the Michelin number 11 Paris Plan, available at newstands.<BR><BR>When you take a metro you'll need to consult a station metro map to know the end points of your line, and the end points of any line you will be transferring to. Depending on where you're starting from, you'll want to be heading in the Direction of (toward) one end point or the other. When you consult the metro map, find where you are. Then find your destination stop. Then keep your finger moving past your destination point to the end point of that line, that's the Direction you want to head toward. A Correspondance is an opportunity to transfer <BR>to another line, but again, you need to know which end point you want to head towards. La sortie (la sor-tee) is an exit.<BR>By the way, a "gare" (rhymes with English "bar") is a railroad station. In French a "station"<BR>("pronounced sta-see-own, sort of) is a metro station or train stop.<BR><BR>Large metro stations (Chatelet is only one example that comes to mind) that offer many opportunities to transfer also require much walking up and down several flights of stairs and long distances in corridors. Even smaller stations require stair climbing. Not recommended for the infirm, nor for people with luggage. There are some elevators here and there, I'm told. The wheels you love on the bottom of your suitcases will become useless on those flights of stairs.<BR>It is sometimes pleasanter, easier, and faster to take the metro to a station that if a little farther from your destination (or even leaving the metro and walking a few blocks) rather than climbing many stairs and taking long walks within the same station to transfer to another line to go only a short distance.<BR><BR>The metro stations can be very warm, even when the weather outside is quite cool. In summer they can be awful. Metro trains do not run from approximately 1:00 am to 5:30 am. A few night buses run during those hours. <BR><BR>NB: you must keep any RER ticket until you exit at your destination. You have to use it to go through the exit turnstile. You should also keep your metro ticket until you exit because theoretically someone could ask to see it.<BR>A single ticket is valid for one journey. It can be used for the metro, bus and RER within Paris. If you're going via RER outside the city, such as to Versailles, you'll have to buy the necessary separate ticket . A ticket used on the bus is not useable for transfer to the metro or RER.<BR><BR>Tickets are sold individually at tabac stores, ticket windows or via machines, and are also sold as a pack of 10 called a "carnet" ("car-nay") which in Dec 2000 cost 58FF. Most people who combine transportation with walking and spending time in museums, restaurants, etc find that a carnet is more cost-effective than a pass. There are several pass options.<BR>Using one ticket, your complete journey must not take more than two hours, but you can transfer within the metro system as many times as you wish. On the RER system within Paris, your single metro ticket can be used, but outside of Paris the price of the RER ticket depends on the distance. <BR><BR>The transport network is divided into fare zones. A single ticket or travel pass must be valid for all of the zones through which you wish to travel. Zones 1 and 2 correspond to the city of Paris itself and a little of the suburbs. Make sure you buy a ticket with the right number of zones when you travel outside Paris. A 4-zone ticket will include Versailles, Orly and St. Germain-en-Laye. CDG airport is in zone 5. A 6-zone ticket will include Fontainebleau.<BR>I have a file on Paris; if you'd like to see it, email me.<BR>

My favorite map of Paris is the laminated one put out by B&B City Streets. It clearly shows all of the Metro and RER stops and has a layout of the system as well. Once you have identified the stops you want, and what lines they are on, the rest is surprisingly simple.

Rose,<BR>you must buy, Paris par arrondissement<BR>(plan of district paris) it is translated into english as well as other languages. By the number of a street(rue) or Blvd, etc.it will tell you what metro to take, what stop for your number. This is the most important purchase for a Parisian stay.