Gynna

My mother, husband, and myself will be staying in Paris 4 days following 15 days split between Provence and the Dordgone. Mother is 86 and has not been to Paris in 53 years. My husband and I were in Paris for 10 days 3 years ago and we plan to return in the next 3 years for a 2 week stay. Our major goal is for mom to enjoy Paris as much as possible during our short stay.

My thought is to get a two day ticket for the L'Open Tour hop on and off bus as they cover a larger area than the Les Cars Rouges'

My husband travels by wheelchair and mom is very unsteady on her feet. I think this would give mom a fairly good overview of Paris with the least amount of walking.

I have looked at their website, but cannot find the schedule of stops. If someone has a route schedule of stops, I would appriciate it if you could answer to help me plan where to get off and on. We will make stops on both days, but would like to spread out the walking.

We will be staying at the Le Meridian in Montparnasse at a very good Priceline "win." Reviews on Trip Advisor are not great, but for mom, the price won her over.

happytotravel

Hi Gynna,
We have done the Open tour a couple of times, I did not really find their stops all that convenient, but on the other hand they are nice as a general overview of the city. I think you would do better just by the regular bus or a taxi(not as expensive as you would think-but sometimes taxi stands can be hard to find).

adrienne

The web site says to send an email for more info on the circuits.

[email protected]

Betty1

http://pariscityrama.com/en/paris_open_tour

Click on "See Timetable" to get a complete list of all the stops on the 4 tours.

Enjoy Paris!

Gynna

Thank you happytotravel for your input. The cost of 3 tickets will help with taxi fare to see the sights which we have thought of seeing. It will also help with the time element. We will use the bus system as we have found it to be very friendly for wheelchair users. We also plan on spending time sitting with coffee or wine enjoying the moment, not just jumping from place to place.

Thank you Adrienne and Betty1. I have emailed with specific questions and printed the routes.

Thanks for all your help

Gynna

adrienne

Have a great time - sounds like a wonderful trip!

happytotravel

Gynna,
I wanted to add that the Open tour does not make the best use of your time and the stops are usually quite a distance from the actual sight. One of our drivers stopped in front of an internet cafe and went inside for a 15 minutes break, leaving the packed bus parked in front, being honked at by other cars. Its a slow way of getting around, but on the otherhand it is Paris, so whats not to love. By comparison, we took a taxi direct from the Marais to the Eiffel tower, it was about 10 E, so when you break it down, its just a few Euros a person and a great time saver. Have a wonderful trip!

TimS

Gynna,

Since you are familiar with the Paris bus system, you might appreciate knowing that the new t+ ticket now allows bus transfers or bus/tram transfers up to 90 minutes after first boarding. However, like the old t ticket, you cannot use it to transfer between bus and Metro. Buy carnets at Metro stations. If you buy a ticket directly from a bus driver, it will NOT be good for transfers.

Fodorite018

We bought a one day pass on this last summer. We rode it our first evening in town when we were a bit tired. A word of warning for you since you are with your mother. We decided to get back on the bus at the Louvre around 7pm. The bus took forever to arrive, and even the locals said that was abnormal to wait so long. But it arrived and we hopped on. I think it was close to 7:45 or so when we boarded. We had not been on for very long when the bus stopped and everyone had to get off. We didn't understand why, but a local on the bus told us that it was 8pm and the buses stop at that time, regardless of where they are. Well that was quite a surprise to us as we assummed that it would at least finish the route. So we got off and had to find our way to a taxi to get back to our hotel. My mother was with me and it made her panic a bit. So I just wanted you to be aware and hopefully the same thing doesn't happen.