Paris Meto
 

Would anyone be able to compare the ease of using the Paris Metro verses the Washington DC metro? In reading a guide book, the Paris one seems a bit different. Do you check a chart, before bording to determine the fare for the distance you are traveling, or does one ticket work for as long as you are below ground? It sounds like you can make as many transfers as needed on one ticket but that sounds too cheap. <BR>Thanks for any clarification!!

Nope. It's exactly as (too) good as it sounds. One ticket means ride underground as long as you like. <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex

With a single metro ticket you can ride indefinitely if you like. See www.ratp.fr for an amazing resource for using the metro. It's best to plan your route in advance, of course. The direction you're going is the "end station" on a particular route. The Paris metro could not be easier to use.

The Paris Metro goes by zones. You can do a great deal of traveling by staying within zones 1 and 2. Here is a helpful website regarding the Metro: <BR>http://www.subwaynavigator.com/bin/s...h/france/paris <BR> <BR>I have a website that has many useful links to France -- totally non-commercial: <BR>www.travelswithdiane.homestead.com/france4 <BR> <BR>By the way, I prefer the buses in Paris. I also note a link to the bus system. Have a wonderful trip.

Sorry, I forgot something on the webpage. Try: <BR>www.travelswithdiane.homestead.com/france4.html

The Paris system is much larger than DC's, but not difficult to use. <BR>check the suggested websites. <BR> <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's metro map to know the end points of your line, and the end points of any line you will be transferring to. <BR> <BR>As mentioned above,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>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 heavy luggage. The wheels you love on the bottom of your suitcases will become useless on those flights of stairs. <BR>It is sometimes pleasanter 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 in order to go only a short distance. <BR>