Paris Metro
 

My husband and I will be going to paris on Sat Sept.4 - Teusday Sept.14. Could someone suggest what type of Metro Pass to use.

Thanx in advance.

Sat/Sun: carnet of tickets
Mon-Sun: Carte Orange (weekly)
Mon/Tues: finish carnet or buy another one

If you need more details about the Carte Orange, please do a search for it - there are multiple threads with specific information. Do bring a 1x1" photo for the id card.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34485350

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34495898

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34481749

The Carte Orange for zones 1&2 will be your best pass. It will pay for itself after 15 rides and is also good on the RER within the zones covered and on the bus system. You can buy it when you arrive, but you won't be able to use it until Monday. (It's good for Monday through the following Sunday.) You'll need a passport-sized photo (cutting out a picture of yourself from an old snapshot will work fine). Some ticket agents are reluctant to sell the pass to tourists. Just go to another ticket window, if necessary. For your first two days and your last two days, buy ten-ticket carnets as needed and share them with your husband.

Hi

I guess you can get more detailed answers than this...but my wife and I just got the Carte Orange while we were in Paris and it was great to use the Metro to get around :-) At that time we needed a picture to buy the Carte Orange and luckily we had a picture of each other :-) I have posted a trip report with pictures on my personal homepage www.gardkarlsen.com. Maybe you can find some useful information there.

Regards
Gard
Stavanger, Norway

It's a good idea to make a copy of your passpport. Make another, reduced, then cut out the picture for the Carte Orange.

Do 'they' care if the photo on the C.O. id card is black&white? b/c it is illegal to make a color copy of passport.
Also, a passport-size photo is really too big as is, need to cut it to size, about 1x1".

Go to a photo booth locally and get the pictures taken. There are photo booths in most of the metro stations if you forget your photos -- BUT -- they cost 4 euro and you only get one shot of the same thing, meaning you can't run in, get a shot of yourself, then get your husband to run in and get a shot of himself. The good news is, you take the photo yourself by pressing a button, and if you don't like it, you can retake it.

Travelnut's advice is exactly what we did: we arrived Sun morning and bought a carnet, which, for the 3 of us, lasted not very long (10,50 I think). We got the Carte Orange packet on Sunday, giving us the time to put the thing together, then each bought the pass (15 euro) the following morning. You insert it in the Metro, but you do NOT insert it on the bus -- just show them the pass. You can also use it on the RER within the 2 zones, and you can even use it on the funicular going up to Montmartre. For us, our passes paid for themselves the first day.

Thank you everyone for your respnses - very helpful.

Cynthia

The picture is actually a bit smaller than a passport photo--about an inch square. Just cut one out of a snapshot as has been suggested. But the CO is a GREAT way to actually SEE Paris--from the windows of a bus. Do not put it in the ticket thingy on the bus--just show the CO to the driver. We LOVE the buses and not walking the long correspondances in the metro. They also travel along very scenic routes (as all Paris really is). Go to RATP and look at the various lines.

Travelnut is bang on with the carnet/CO/carnet advice. Though it is often referenced that some agents are reluctant to sell to tourists, I have never actually met anyone who had trouble purchsing a CO nor had a problem myself. And once you purchase the initial pass you can keep on using it by purchasing the weekly "recharge" tickets at a machine or Metro window, so on your return keep it in a place that you will rememebr for your next trip to Paris.

I was in Paris for four days in April and they also had a day pass...about 5.5 euro. This was a good option because the Carte Orange was not going to be a deal for the time I was there. When you think about it, while you are traveling you take more than 5 metro rides a day, so that's a good deal!

To be contrary I don't think any of the passes are a good option.

Paris is a wonderful, compact, very walkable city. I try to never ride the Metro more than 1 time per day.

Usually I take the metro to some destination, then walk my way back to the hotel seeing sites I've planned along the way.

I didn't go all the way to Paris to ride the Metro 5 times in a day.

Indytravel, some days I might do things the way you do, but other days... for instance, we went to Chateau de Vincennes, then Montmartre, then to our hotel in the 14th. No way I'm walking between those locations..! Also tried using the bus more often; it was often crowded but fun to watch scenery.

I have to agree with Travelnut. A typical day in Paris for me might involve starting in Montparnasse, going to and exploring Montmartre, going to Orsay, going to Notre Dame and then spending some time in the Latin Quarter, back to Montparnasse, and maybe even another trip out again to the Eiffel Tower. This still involved many miles of walking, but it would have been pretty tough to do it all on foot. A combination of walking, metro, and bus worked very well.

Travelnut, did you post a while back about what hotel you ended up staying at in the 14th? I'd be curious to know what and how it was.

> Also tried using the bus more often; it was often crowded but fun to watch scenery.

Yes, "fun to watch scenery" exactly. Try to use bus once in a while. I have done simple, rather long routes by bus such as Blvd St.Michel/Vincennes, Hotel-de Ville/Monmartre. 2 weeks ago when I was in Paris, I walked a lot of course, but then I took bus more often than metro.

Hey, WillTravel, I think you were looking around in the same area for a while... I ended up trying Hotel Sophie Germain by Metro Mouton Duvernet, south of Denfert Rochereau (14th). We like twin rooms, and theirs was pretty much like the web photos depict. The room decor was alright (though certainly not 'charmant'), showing a bit of wear, but everything was adequately clean. Tiny lobby, tiny elevator, small breakfast room in the basement. No air-conditioning, if anyone wants to know. Not much street noise; if any traffic, it was from ave. du Gen Leclerc. There were guys talking out front one evening, and ladies' heels clacking down the sidewalk in the mornings. We slept fine with the window cracked open a bit. As I've mentioned in other posts, we did like this area (we prefer staying out of the immediate center) - the metro and buses were convenient, and there's a Monoprix, cafes and rue Daguerre within a short walk. Doubles are 104E including petit dejeuner, unless there's a promotion, and weekends may be less. We're going to try them again in October, bracketing our 4-day visit to Loire Valley. I like looking up different hotels but I really can't bring myself to spend $150 or more a night. I agree there's nothing much to walk to from there - you just have to like the idea of being in an average neighborhood, rather than a quartier infused with 'big sights'.

That sounds good, Travelnut. I enjoyed staying in the 14th also. The Sophie Germain would probably be a little far south for me, but it is nice to be in or close to an area that seems "normal" and residential.