Paris Metro
 

I will be going to Saint Lazare and on the metro map I take Saint-Michel Notre Dame to Chatelet it shows I have to walk to Chatelet. Is this underground in the station or do you leave Saint-Michel and then walt to Chatelet? Once I am off at Saint Lazare metro how long should it take me to get to the trains inside to go to Normandy. The train leaves aroung 9;30 so how much time should I a lot. Thanks

If you go to RAPT.fr it will give you the option to state the itinerary and time; the result will vary according to the day and time. The one I tried, for tomorrow morning suggested a direct bus, no. 27, from Saint Michel to the gare Saint Lazare, taking 11 minutes.

Pretty sure it's underground- I think I did that transfer.

You probably need to plan enough time to wait in the ticket line and buy a ticket from an agent - could be a long line. When I arrived at Saint Lazare a few years ago, about 15 min before my train left (way too late - I knew that even then!), the train ticket machines were all broken, so I either had to wait in long ticket line and probably miss this train and wait for the next one...or try to buy a ticket on the train. I asked the conductor in front of the train if I could buy a ticket on the train and she said I could but with a big surcharge (10 Euros extra? Don't remember anymore but it wasn't that much), so I just got on. (The conductor never made it to me before I got off at Vernon anyway.)

Could be you could buy your ticket online or ahead of time or even from another station. Not sure. I wasn't committed to a specific train or itinerary which is why I didn't do that. I had planned to quick buy a ticket from the ticket machine and then hop on the train.

Try Google Maps and see if there's a direct bus that's faster than a couple of Metro connections - sometimes there is.

You don't want to buy a ticket on the train. The surcharge- at least the incident I saw- was 5 times the original ticket!

If it means waiting 2-3 hours for the next train, I'll buy it on the earlier train if it's not 50 Euros or something insane like that. I would never have gotten on the train without one had the conductor said it was some outrageous amount. Next time, I won't assume I can arrive 15 min before the train and use the ticket machines.

www.parisbytrain.com has useful info and photo tours of major train stations.
As mentioned, http://www.ratp.fr/en/ratp/c_21879/visiting-paris/ will plan your trip precisely. The easiest route appears to be Bus 27 from St-Michel to St-Lazare with no changes. It's probably as quick as the Metro, too, since the Chatelet-Les Halles metro and train stations are a spider's web to untangle.

Hi
Saint Michel Notre Dame is on RER B.
Saint Lazare is on Metro line 3 from there.

You don't get out at SMND but at Chatelet les Halles, a kind of a hub for metro.
From there you go - underground and on foot - to metro 3 or metro 14 - long walk. 10-15 min.

So depending where you are first I'd recommend taking another line at some other point with a change in a smaller metro station like Duroc, on M10 and M13, M10 from Maubert or Odeon or ... if you are in the 6th in the area of SMND.
Once in Duroc take 13 towards St Denis univ and get off at ... St Lazare.

Not really more complicated but much less walking, much less stress and less people.

Why not just take the RER B from Saint Michel-Notre Dame to Gare du Nord and transfer to the RER E which takes you to Saint Lazare in one stop?

Thank you to the last two for helping me understand the Chatelet Les Halles metro. I am planning on leaving the hotel at 7ish to arrive at St. Lazare in time, as I will not know where I am going. Is it difficutl to navagate the St. Lazare station. I plan on buying the train tickets in advance as we have a guided tour of Normandy. Will there be places to purchase breakfast in train station? Also the train to Beyeux leaves at 9:11, I have read you need to arrive 15 min before train departs is this correct.

There are places to buy food in any train station in Paris. You can arrive whenever you want for the train, there isn't a requirement (at least for that kind of train). I rpesume if someone told you you "need" to arrive 15 minutes before, it was advisory.

St Lazare train station isn't particularly difficult to navigate for any reason I can think of. There are signs in every train station that direct you to things.

It sounds like you have never taken a train before or been in a train station, so maybe you should try to get there even more in advance.

When you arrive at Saint-Lazare follow signs for Grandes Lignes and that brings you into the terminal. The track/quai numbers for departing trains are usually posted 20 minutes prior to departure. Look for the blue tv monitors that say Grandes Lignes, not Ile de France, to find your train track number. At the beginning of each platform are monitors that show all the stops that train will make so you can be sure you're on the right train. If you want to buy a ticket on the train you MUST seek out a conductor and ask for a ticket and you'll pay a nominal surcharge on a train going to Normandy. If you wait for a conductor to approach you and ask to buy a ticket then you will pay a substantial fine as you'll be considered a fare dodger.

By far the simplest and quickest is to take Bus 27, takes maybe 13 minutes, leaves from St. Michel in two locations - one is on the corner of St. Michel and St. Germain, the other is on Grsd Augustins just around the corner from St. Michel; last stop is across from the St. Lazare station.

Get the route map here:

http://www.ratp.fr/informer/pdf/orie...loc=bus_paris/

Archisimple.

Just stumbled onto this thread - maybe the above has been stated earlier?

<i>maybe the above has been stated earlier?</i>

yes.