Metro on New Year's Eve
 

We've finally got our New Year's Eve reservation and now need some info on getting around. I've heard that taxi's are hard to find after midnight but think I remember someone saying that a few of the metro lines run late on New Year's Eve. Is that true? and if so, which ones run? We're having dinner on Ile St. Louis but are staying in the 7th...a long walk if we can't find a taxi or use the metro...

I can't find the document from the ratp.fr site right at the moment, but I believe there are enough lines running (last year there were six Métro and 2 RER) that you won't have to walk very far to get anywhere.

Besides the eight rail lines, they also ran night buses at triple the usual frequency, and everything runs all night for free.

Taxis are not necessarily hard to find after midnight IF you allow the restaurant you are eating in to call one for you. Be aware, however, that when you DO call for a cab in Paris the meter starts running when they start rolling...to GET you.

The centre of Paris is not huge. I have often walked from the Ile St. Louis to the 7th or indeed the 15th.

Get the restaurant to call you a taxi. They are ususally good about that....then you can have an extra digestif while you wait.

The walk from Ile St. Louis to the 7th is not difficult at all in my opinion.

It's not difficult, but to École Militaire, it's an hour's march, according to mappy.

Last year, Lignes B and 6 could have got you there without too much trouble.

I definitely would not count on you getting a taxi after midnight on NY eve, whether you ask the restaurant to call or not. The fact that it's NY eve is the key thing. I imagine they will be quite busy and you may wait forever, or they will tell you just to forget it. It is a long walk, but not impossible, if all else fails. I would think you will be able to take the metro, though.

After midnight on New Year's Eve? It might not be a long walk in May in the afternoon, but when I was in Paris on NYE it was COLD and wet and I would NOT want to have made that hour long trudge.

I also recall that the streets were packed with people.

First thing: whatever people tell you, forget about taxis. But there are some public transportation options: RATP hasn't posted yet its NYE program, but I know for sure that line 1 remains open: you would take it from Hôtel de Ville to Champs ELysées Clémenceau or FDR depending on where you are staying in the 7th, then it's only a 10 to 20 mn walk through what is arguably one of the most beautiful urban sceneries in the world. And more lines are open, but I wasn't in town last year, so I can't remember exactly which ones. Maybe one does go through the 7th (maybe line 10); it'll be posted pretty soon on their site anyways.
Otherwise, there is the Noctilien bus, N12, that runs every 15 mn throughout the night out of Châtelet and goes to Cambronne, Sèvres-Lecourbe, etc.
But if I were you, I would just walk by the river, the most direct way, it's kinda magic, you know, and much less than the advertised 1 hour (I would guess 40 minutes).

Last year, lines 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, and 14 were in operation, along with RER lines A and B.

Depending on where in the 7th you need to go, line 6 or 9 should get you within a 5- or 10-minute walk.

I've walked from the Ile St-Louis to the Ecole Militaire area more times than I can count and it never took me anywhere near an hour - 30 minutes if I just chug along, maybe 45 if I stop to check out storefronts and scenery along the way.

Well, mappy.com says it's 2.5 miles, so to walk it in a half-hour your pace would have to be about 7.29 feet per second.

That's chugging.

I admit to being a very fast walker!

Thanks everyone...at least I now know I can get back to the hotel...hopefully on the metro or walking...prefer the metro if it's cold...but walking along the river sounds nice too. If you do find out which metro lines are going to run that night please post them...I'm sure others will be out late that night also. Again, thanks and Happy New Year!

The metro and RER are free from 17:00 on the 31st until noon on the 1st, and the major lines will run all night. Not all stations will be open, but the connecting stations will.

Here's the straight dope:

<b>http://www.ratp.info/informer/actus/nuit_nouvel_an/nuit_nouvel_an.php</b>