Paris Information
 

Family is headed to Paris during Thanksgiving week. YIPEE! Four days in city.

-Get Viste pass or not? 1-2 or 1-5 because of airport inclusion. 3 or 5 days?

-Get museum pass or not?

-How close is everything when looking at the maps. We like to walk around. Don't mind using the metro to get to a starting point. And will break down sightseeing to areas of the city.

-Open bus looks fun? Yes or no- your thoughts. Probably something tourists like, but not locals.

-Any other advice for first time visitors?

Travel includes myself, husband, and 15 year old daughter. When we travelled to London, Foderites offered lots of suggestions and posted places with offers for tourists.

Thanks for help!
Debbie

Paris proper covers an area of 49 square miles, the same as San Francisco or Boston. I consider anything between the Eiffel Tower and the Ile St. Louis to be within walking distance. I would purchase the airport RER tickets separately, and if you are walkers, a carnet or two may be the way to go.

It's 3.2 miles from the Eiffel Tower to Île St-Louis, and takes 1:17 to walk (according to mappy.com). I think you have better things to do with your time on such a short visit than walk across Paris.

The Open Tour bus is expensive for what you get. Here's my cheapo alternative:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34568214

As far as transport is concerned, there are better options than <i>Paris Visite</i>. A 5-zone <i>Carte Orange</i> costs less, and is good for Monday-Sunday.

Lucky you!
Passes - depends on how much you will be using transport. The 3 day pass is 18.25 (~6.10/day)for zones 1-3, 37.35 (12.45/day) for zones 1-5. The break even point is six rides a day with the 3 day/zone 1-3 pass. OW on RER to CDG is about 8.5,or 17 r/t. But if you are there 4 days you would have to buy a 5 day Visite to cover both arrival and departure to CDG, and that runs 47.50.
WAIT - this is too much math for a Friday! Bottom line: buy an RER ticket to get to/from CDG, then buy a carnet of 10 single tickets for each of you to use Metro/buses, unless you want to hop on and off buses all over the place, then the 3 day Visite may be a better deal. And buses are actually a fun way to get around becasue you get to see more than when on the underground Metro.

Museum passes - probably not a great deal for the limited time you will be there, unless all you plan to do is visit museums (not that that would be a bad thing!)

Distances - Paris is actually very walkable if you are accustomed to that. Since it is your first visit, though, you may have a list of major sights you want to see, and it may be more efficient to use transport (see note above about buses.) When playing tourist we usually put together a loose itinerary of things in the same general area then walk around in that neighborhood, taking a metro or bus between neighborhoods. Can work well to plan one neighborhood for morning, one for afternoon, with a nice lunch break.

Other advice:
Realize there is no way to do it all in 3 or 4 days, just choose what interests you the mosts at the moment or is most acccessible, and prepare to flex - one of my best Paris memories was a Ramadan supper at the Institute of Arab Cultures that I just stumbled upon.
Almost everybody does better with a little bit of &quot;alone time&quot; so build it in - even if it is just a &quot;we will all meet back here in one hour&quot; kind of thing. Particularly helpful in large places (e.g, Louvre, department stores) where you may each be interested in different things
For your peace of mind, make sure your daughter is carrying a card with the name and address of your hotel. Most hotels have these at the reception desk. Should you become separated she can use it to get back there.
That time of year it will get dark fairly early - not a bad thing, as Paris looks lovely at night - just take into account when planning you time.
And, of course, the classic pircepof travel advice: plan to wear layers that you can add and subtract as you go in and out of places or the weather changes, as it is wont to do this time of year.

Have a wonderful trip!!

r/t RER to CDG plus 2 <i>carnets</i> 37.40&euro;

3-zone <i>Paris Visite</i> plus r/t RER to CDG 42.65&euro;

5-zone <i>Paris Visite</i> 45.70&euro;

5-zone <i>Carte Orange</i> 30.90&euro;

Can you say &quot;no-brainer&quot;?

Hi tbs,

Check the guide to Paris under destinations.

See Paris Superthread for more info
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34519236

Enjoy your visit. (Only 4 days?)

((I))

1. Don't bother with Paris Visite. Get weekly Carte Orange passes instead.

2. Don't get museum passes unless you plan to spend the majority of your time visiting museums. Museums are not expensive in Paris.

3. You can walk completely across the city in about three hours; it is only a few miles wide. Walking is the best way to see the city. If you are pressed for time or just tired at any point, you can always hop onto the M&eacute;tro, which is never very far away.

3. Open Tour is an interesting way to tour and gives good views of some sights, but it is rather expensive for what you get. Ditto for the competition (Les Cars Rouges, etc.).

4. Bring the most comfortable shoes you can. Bring clothing in layers so that you can remove a layer if you feel too warm or add a layer if you feel too cool&mdash;weather in November is quite variable. Usually it is overcast, cool, and rather humid, with occasional sprinkles. The sunny days are very nice.

Paris is best on foot if you're used to walking (from Manhattan, for example). The walking may be a bit much if you never walk at home (from Beverly Hills, for example). Walking from the Eiffel Tower to the &Icirc;le Saint Louis does indeed take over an hour, but it's a very scenic walk along the river; by RER, it's more like 30 minutes.

Carte Orange (CO) would indeed be a good idea if your trip has you arriving by Wednesday and leaving by Sunday; keep a few things in mind:
1. Validity is Monday through Sunday, and you must purchase it by Wednesday of the week you will use it, so the strategey only works if you will arrive in Paris by Wednesday.
2. It is valid through Sunday, so if you are still in Paris on Monday your CO would not work and you would need to pay for any transit you use,
3. To purchase CO will need a small passport type photo of yourself when purchasing the pass. Many, but not all, stations have booths that sell such photos (usually a couple euros each) but they may or may not be available or in service. Safest bet is to get the photo before you leave and have it with you on arrival.
4. One nice thing is that once you have the CO, you can hang on to the pass card w/ photo (comes with a plastic holder) and just buy a &quot;recharge&quot; ticket (coupon hebdomadaire) the next time you are in town.

Thanks for all the information. Travel is budget, but this has worked fine for us in China and London.

-We are working on a list of things we want to see. I will check out the Paris thread you sent. I figured there had to be one somewhere. thanks!

-We arrive on Sunday morning, leave on TH afternoon. Staying at Kyriad Bercy Village. So I figure we will need RER to get to sights. Will use RER from CDG to village. Will have to check options between Viste pass or Carte Orange plus Sunday. thanks.

-thanks for info on distance. We will mostly definitely group sights by areas for each day.

-okay, simple question- are sneakers acceptable in Paris?

Layers for clothing, most definitely for comfort as well as getting everything in the small suitcase! :)

Flexiblity is VERY important. We always make our list of two major things each day (one morning, one afternoon)- have other things we want to see if time and we always need wander time.

Thanks,
Debbie

Debbie, I think that you are misunderstanding your hotel address. The closest public rail transportation from your hotel is the m&eacute;tro. It's the new line and your stop is Bercy. Your hotel is in Paris proper.

The Metro stop is Cour St. Emillion [one stop past Bercy] on Line 14. Transfer from the RER at Chatelet. This is a pretty remote hotel location given the numerous choices available.

r/t RER to CDG plus 2-zone <i>Carte Orange</i> 31.70&euro;, and your RER ticket includes M&eacute;tro connections to your destination.

Once there, you can evaluate whether <i>carnet</i> tickets or a <i>Mobilis</i> pass is what you need for Sunday, or if you just want to walk around the neighborhood. Just to give you an idea of Paris distances, Mappy.com says it would take an hour to walk to Notre Dame.

For Sunday, your daughter can use a <i>Ticket Jeunes</i> for unimited travel all over town, including the airport transfer, for 6.40&euro;.

Congratulations on getting a hotel out away from the high-rent district, yet 7 minutes from the city center by M&eacute;tro. This is the way I prefer doing it, too.

Thanks all! Keep your thoughts coming.

I figured the hotel wasn't real close, but it doesn't sound to far either. I am sure it isn't anything fancy, but if it is a triple and is clean- we are okay with it. We never seem to spend much time in the hotel anyway. We got a great price which will allow us to travel with our daughter.

We have taken advantage of travel specials in February for the past two years (China 2004 and London 2005). Husband wasn't able to get vacation this time in Feb. But had Nov, so we just moved our travel plans when we found a good deal.

We don't mind riding the metro to get to a starting point. You get a good feel of a city riding the metro and watching the people.

-Does the open bus cost for one day or for a 24 hour period? I noticed they have a two day price that is just 3E more. (We really made good use of the DD bus ticket in London, by using half one day and half the second day). While this might not be fun to some, riding the bus might allow us to see everything first, get our bearings, and then head to our favorite destinations. My daugther just HAD to ride the bus in London. It was exciting to see everything the first time from the bus and hear the commentary. Plus, we talked with the drivers and they gave us some great tips on restaurants and shopping.

-t is hard to get a picture of a city before going the first time. I was very grateful to Foderites for all the help and suggestions before heading to London. It helped a bunch.I even think Robespierre might have been in on them. thanks! We would never have done all the great things we did because we wouldn't have known without everyones suggestions and tips.

Feel free to suggest. It might just be something I didn't know about or think about!

Debbie

I would suggest you try the #24 city bus. The very nice route can be looked up on the web site below, and the stop is near your Metro station.

http://www.ratp.info/orienter/bus.php?partenaire=

why not to use a taxi for transfer airport-hotel and hotel-airport?
it will cost around 50 or 60 EUR, this is 20 EUR /person. You save hauling your luggage up and down, jet-lagged as you are, and will be driven right in front of your hotel.

a museum pass will enable you to cut the line, so you would first check out, wether there is a big line at musee d orsay, and then decide, wether wou would like to wait or get this carte musee at the next metro station. for le louvre, you can get advance tickets at either fnac at champs elysees, also opened on sundays. check out their homepage http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home...sp?bmLocale=en
le louvre is closed on tuesdays, it´s different departments are opened to a schedule of room closures, so visit their homepage. and your daughter, as under 18, gets in for free.

if you like going around, you will enjoy yourself in paris.

and, as seamus said: lucky you!

I'd skip on the Viste pass and do as Robespierre suggests for transpot. If you want a discount pass for various venues but a City of Paris Passport for 5 Euro. It offers discounts at over 200 places and does not expire until the end of the year. You can purchase them at the welcome centers at Gare du Nord, eiffel Tower, Pyramides, Carrousel de Louvre and various other places.

http://en.parisinfo.com

Here's the full url and it sholud be 300 places.

http://en.parisinfo.com/rub6758.html...ction=citypass

The Open Tour ticket is good for a calendar day. $100 (3 * 27&euro;) is a lot to pay for a little commentary, in my opinion. See my post of 10/07/2005, 11:12 pm.

If it was mentioned already, I apologize. I just skimmed the responses.

Check out the bicycle and Segway tours offered by Fat Tire Bicycle. We had lots of fun! There is a thread or two out there already.

I keep reading about all the long lines at the museums, Effiel Tower, etc.

-Will I encounter long lines during Nov. 20-24?

-Also, besides the museum pass (which I don't think we want to get), is there another way to get special entrance to front of the lines?

thanks,
debbie

Hi

Some info re the Louvre

The museum is open daily, except Tuesdays and certain public holidays, from 9am to 6pm. Evening openings until 9.45pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. We went on the Wednesday about 2pm and crowds were quite bearable.

For tickets buy two metro tickets and entrance ticket from the Tourist Office or metro ofice (for return train ticket and admission to the permanent collections NOT temporary exhibits).

A highly-recommended entrance is the underground entrance from the metro stop “Palais Royal-Musee du Louvre”. Either splurge and use a ticket to enter the metro or, if you are already coming off a metro train, exit at the far end of the platform where the sign says “direct access to the Louvre” and you will walk through a security check, then the Carrousel shops, and into the central ticket and information area. There are other entrances : Porte des Lions (on the Seine bank) &amp; 99 rue de Rivoli (this one is less crowded too).

The Louvre is unbelievable. You are not going to be able to view everything. The brochure from the Museum details the star exhibits. I suggest you do some research beforehand to work out what other items you want to see. I have some notes on tackling the exhibits in a systematic way. If you need them I can email them. Just email me for them on [email protected]. To whom it may concern - please no spam!

Cheers

Thanks for the information regarding the Louvre. That will come in handy. I am going to email privately, your notes sound great.

How about best way to tackle Eiffel tower? I figure it is very busy at sunset because everyone wants to watch the city light up.

Sounds like we are best to hit Notre Dame first thing in the morning. My daughter wants to climb up.

Hi Debbie -

You're in for a wonderful adventure. Paris is fascinating!

In September, we got to the Eiffel about 9:00 (opens at 9:30). There were others ahead of us, but we were fairly close to the beginning of the line. Once the doors opened, we were inside within 10 or 15 minutes. Go straight to the top and enjoy it before the crowd gets too bad. BTW, I guess you already know that the museum pass doesn't cover the Eiffel, nor can you buy tickets ahead of time.

Not sure what to tell you about Notre Dame. We were around there at all hours, and the line was never bad. I know it CAN be - have heard it too often. The concensus of opinion seems to favor getting there before the towers open.

Don't believe you can walk all over Paris, as some posters here have said! Use the Metro. We got the same advice, but found out for ourselves it's not always the case. My husband and I went to Paris in May, and we found the distance out there to be vast even though we're in our early 30's and very active. And when it rains or is cold, it's best to minimize your walking.

When we first got to Paris, we walked all over before our carte orange was activated. It was do-able but quite a killer. The worst day was on Sunday--the 2nd day we just got in Paris and still jetlagged. We started from the Marais, walked to the Bastille Sun market, went over to St. Louis, and Ile de la Cite, over to the Latin Quarter, to Luxembourg Garden. Crashed on the lawn of the Luxembourg and napped on top of each other. French police gave us a kick to wake us up--for obscenity I guess. I was on top of my husband as I didn't want to get grass stain on my clothes. :) From there to St. Germain de Pres and along the left bank of the Seine to Eiffel Tower. And then we CLIMBED up the Eiffel Tower for the sunset and evening view. By the end of the day, we had to take the metro back to the hotel and had to climb up a narrow, winding, steep, treacherous stairs to our room on the 6th floor. We were so happy to get our carte orange for the rest of the week! :)

Anyway, walking up the Eiffel Tower is very easy. It took us less than 20 minutes w/ stops to take photos and look around. Why any able body wouldn't walk it. And it's cheaper too!

Ok, so we decided no museum pass. Doesn't seem cost effective for our needs.

Sunday
arrive at CDG airport, RER/metro to hotel. Bus or boat overview of Paris. Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysse, Napoleons Tomb. Effiel Tower evening.

Monday
Notre Dame, St. Chapelle, Deportation Memorial, Latin Quarter, Bastille?

Tuesday
Disneyland Paris

Wednesday
Cemetrie Pere Lachaise, Sacre Cour, Jardin de Tuileries, Louvre (evening pass)

Thursday
RER/metro to CDG, fly home :(

Disneyland is a priority for 15 year old and husband. They want to be able to say &quot;been there, done it.&quot; Plus, brother and family might come to visit us that day from Germany. So they say. We'll see.

How do the days look regarding areas. Other suggestions of things to do if time, on what day.

Someone posted not to go to Chalet metro/RER stop. It seems almost necessary from our location. Is this an unsafe stop?

Thanks!
Debbie

WARNING: LONG-WINDED POST AHEAD
My mother &amp; I stayed at the Kyriad Bercy Village in May! The room was small, but very clean &amp; tidy and in perfect working order. My mother loved it so much, we're staying there when we visit again next March.

My two cents: If you have more than one bag of luggage, take a shuttle from the airport to the hotel! We only had one carry-on &amp; handbag each, and it was very interesting, getting our bags through the Metro turnstiles *giggle*

We bought an RER ticket and a carnet of tickets to split between the two of us. We used all of the tickets in two days, but I am a ride hog. I took the bus and Metro at will, just ogling the views. Don't forget to buy a new RER ticket BEFORE you get onto the Metro on the way back, if you take it.

There was a long line at the cash machine on the main floor of CDG- go down(?) to La Poste, and an obscure, handy machine is right there- as well as well as the post office, of course(I can't remember the business hours, sorry).

If you are staying at The Kyriad Bercy Village as part of a package from Gate1travel, consider buying a phone card while at the airport. We found out that the hotel puts a block on the in-room phones when booking through that company (and perhaps others, I don't know); we had to go down to the basement to make calls via the payphone. Bizarre!

My mom &amp; I walked to Notre Dame on Sunday morning from the hotel; it was an absolutely gorgeous walk, and Mass was heartbreakingly beautiful. Get there early to climb the towers.

If tennis shoes make you comfortable, wear them; folks might look at you like you're a tourist (oh no), but they'll look at you even funnier when you're limping along in pain from blisters. You may want to keep in mind that the average temp in November is about 50 degrees, and there's some precipitation. A sturdy pair of boots may be a better bet.

A couple last things (at last!): the hotel has a lovely (and I mean lovely, unless they've changed it) breakfast included with stays: yogurt, fresh fruit, soft-boiled eggs, croissants, a couple of other flaky breads, and the most luscious cafe au lait I've had in about 15 years. If that doesn't suit your fancy, exit to the right out of the hotel, go up a block, and on the right is a little market store where you can grab something else to eat (and drink). There are also restaurants in the &quot;Village&quot; proper, but I've no idea if they serve breakfast.
I can't remember anything about the Chalet stop; I'll dig up my travel journal and see if I wrote anything of interest about it in it.
How exciting! I do hope you enjoy your stay. I wish many fond memories-in-the-making for all of you.

The Ch&acirc;telet station is a huge maze where five M&eacute;tro and three RER lines converge. If you know what you're trying to accomplish (<i>i.e.</i> which line and direction you're going to), it is not diffucult to navigate, as the signage is very clear. Some connections require walking for five minutes or so.

You will see more shady creatures there than most other places (I suppose the size of the place confers anonimity of a sort), but your chances of being bothered are small, and decrease with the size of the party you are traveling in.

Thanks Robespierre! That is reassuring. We travelled the tube everywhere in London and never had any problems. As everywhere (NYC, London, ATL, etc), some places look a little shadier than others.

Pooka- Super thanks for the post! Nice to hear about the hotel with good reviews. We are going through Gate1. We always wonder about the low budget hotels, but two other experiences have been great. Nothing fancy, which is fine with us- clean and tidy is good. For us, the low cost travel is allowing us to share these trips with our daughter. Beijing, London, and now Paris- what a childhood!

It is good to hear that you walked to Notre Dame. That gives me a little perspective of distance from the hotel. We will schedule our climb first thing in the morning and head out early.

The breakfast information was a reassurance to my daughter. Since breakfast is included we try to take advantage of that. Will bring a few snacks with us, but with all the pastries- sounds like we would much prefer that! :)

Is it common for people to wear jeans? And our winter coats are down feather jackets, will we be really out of place?

Hi tb,

&gt;Is it common for people to wear jeans?

Yes

&gt;..our winter coats are down feather jackets, will we be really out of place?

Might be too warm for Paris, but it won't matter. None of the locals will mistake you for a native no matter what you wear.

((I))

&lt;&lt;None of the locals will mistake you for a native no matter what you wear&gt;&gt;

HA! good one Ira! You are most right.

Another hop-on/hop-off transit option that we enjoyed is the Batobus (i.e. boat) on the Seine. It runs till about 10 p.m., a two-day pass is only about 13 EU apiece, and you can use it for unlimited number of rides during that time. It stops at 7 or 8 of the most popular sights. Be sure to ride some boat on the Seine at night-- so beautiful to see the city lights from the river.

Ok, so I have read everything regarding the RER passes. Tell me if this is correct:

2 adults
Sunday- RER from CDG to Cour St. Emillion ticket
*either carnets or mobilis for travel on Sunday
Monday- 5 zone Carte Orange (this will get us to Disneyland Paris Tues and back to CDG Thurs and unlimited travel around zone 1-2 for Mon-Thurs)

daughter (15)
Sunday- Ticket Jeunes (which will get her from CDG and unlimited travel for the day)
Monday- 5 zone Carte Orange (same as above)

So, do I have all this information right? And if there anything I missed, please let me know.

Sounds good. Note that you can buy everything at once when you get your RER tickets at CDG. For the <i>Cartes Oranges</i>, you will each need a 1&quot; square photo, which the clerk will attach to your permanent ID cards.

For Sunday: two (unlimited) <i>Mobilis</i> cards costs 10.80&euro;, which is .10&euro; more than a (10-ride) <i>carnet</i>. Also, <i>Batobus</i> gives a 4&euro; discount if you have an RATP pass (daughter is 5&euro;, no discount).

as always, thanks Robespierre!

Silly question- We plan to go to the top of the Effiel Tower, does that fee allow us to view level 1 and 2 also? Or will we have to pay for those levels also?

Thanks for asking all the right questions, Debbie! Our family trip is at Christmas and 6 of us are picking up #2 daughter who is in school north of Paris. We are very excited (4 have been before) but and these responses are SO GOOD that I'm printing them and we are studying them after we eat our turkey dinner. We'll think of you and have a great Thanksgiving! MM

I spent 9 days in Paris in March (it snowed while I was on the Eiffel tower, very cool) We walked the whole city. Each day we picked a direction and went. I wouldnt do the open bus thing you wont get the feel of the city by looking down on it. I did use the metro only once and thats because we got out of a show late.

One note on the metro you have to open the doors on your own!! I missed a train because i didnt know.