MaineGG

For Paris, unless you are a dedicated walker, getting around from the area where you're staying will likely involve more bus and/or Métro rides than if you were located nearer the river. There's information on this thread about all your options for single tickets and weekly or daily passes:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-418232-2.cfm

ssander

You won't need a 1-week pass for zones 1-5 in Paris. Zones 1-2 (€21 I think) will get you pretty-much everywhere you want to go except Versailles and Charles daGaulle. For that buy a single ticket on the RER.

But be warned...a "1 week" pass in Paris covers Mon-Sun, not any 7 consecutive days, so do your math and decided if it is worth it. You'll probably need a carnet to get you through the days not covered, and plan to visit Versailles on a day not covered.

[A 1-week pass in London covers any 7 consecutive days.]

You'll need a Navigo card (€5 and a photo), which is an electronic card upon which you load your 1-week pass ("Navigo Semaine") Bring the photo (passport size or so) and buy the Card and load the 1-week pass at the airport or train station. You can also load the airport RER fare onto the card (at a reduced price if it coincides with your 1-week pass). Then just buy separate tickets to/from Versailles.

Then you just tap the card on the card reader to ride Metro, RER, bus or tram.

Note that some Fodorites say they get by with one carnet; others ride a lot and like the pass...so this is something you need to figure out for yourself.

I know this sounds complicated--and I probably left out details--but it is worth taking the time to learn how the system works.

SS

RT2015

janisj - I am staying in Clapham South in London.

michele_d - I couldn't agree more. Such liberation in this novel concept of doing what one wants on one's holiday!

giro, ira, di2315m, annhig Christina and Dukey1 - thanks for the Paris and Barca tips (the only thing that will preclude me from walking everywhere is the heat and a foot niggle I still have, eight months after a stress fracture! I am with friends in Barcelona and we are staying in the Barri Gothic so should be pretty central. Looks like I can run (hoping I can walk AND run - will see how the foot goes) from our apartment to the Diagonal Ave easily - without getting lost.

Thanks for the extra Paris info MaineG and ssander. Yes it does seem complicated but some lovely friends have told me they will put me in touch with their friends who live in Paris so I am hoping to spend some time with them when I first arrive and they should be able to simplify it in my mind if I haven't worked it out yet. At the end of the day, I am on holidays, so if I get lost I am sure that won't be the end of the world!

Ackislander - I will definitely look at your posts and I am sure they are wonderful. I just appreciate all the advice and information/experiences of everyone!

bvlenci - thanks. I am with a friend in Rome and we are actually staying a couple of hundred metres from Villa Borghese which looks beautiful.

flanneruk

In London or Venice I can't imagine being without a public transport pass. If Paris had one ditto: but for most of us, a carnet is the closest they offer.

I've honestly never seen the point in Rome. Just keep on buying a few €1.50 tickets from tabacchai. And learn to live with a (by European standards) transport system so mediocre, with a climate so hostile in summer to walking, that you're really forced often to use taxis. Fortunately: just as the reason public transport is so unsatisfactory is that it's unsustainably cheap, its cabs are also ridiculously underpriced.

In London, there's no point, though, in buying before arriving. Search here for the relative merits of Oyster PAYG vs Travelcards - but don't pay the premium for Visitor Oysters.

RT2015

Thanks flanneruk. I think that I will check with the friends I am staying with about how to buy the Oyster when I arrive at St Pancras on the Friday evening I come over from Paris.

bvlenci

I visit Rome frequently and almost never use a taxi. The buses are fine, no worse than those in London.

In most cities these days, you can use Google Maps to get directions by public transportation. It will tell you which bus to take, and give you walking directions to the bus stop.

RT2015

Thanks bvlenci. Another terrific app is city mapper - you can plot your route when you have wifi and then access it when out and about and don't have data ... not sure yet if I will have data.

bvlenci

You can also do that with Google Maps. You can even download maps for a 40 km radius when you have wifi, and then you can map your routes even when you're out and about without wifi or data services. (You need GPS but that costs nothing, although it does run your battery down quickly.) However, to use the public transportation feature of Google Maps, you need an internet connection, because it uses up-to-date traffic and detour information.

janisj

<B>RT2015:</B> >>janisj - I am staying in Clapham South in London.<<

Then you are good to go w/ what I described up top. (Clapham is in zone 2) Get an Oyster at St Pancras loaded with a zone 1 and 2 seven day travelcard plus some extra PAYG ££ to cover any trips outside of zones 1/2.

RT2015

Thanks janisj!

bvlenci, for some reason I can never work out how to do that with Google Maps ...

bvlenci

You would want to save the map on your phone (or tablet if you'll be carrying that around on the street). Search for a central address in the city you're staying in. Zoom the map out to include the area you want to save. At the bottom of the map, you'll see the address you searched for. Touch that, and then open the menu at top right and you'll see the option to save it. You can then find it in "my places" under "saved maps".

I think maybe I overstated the capabilities, though. You can use the saved map along with GPS to see where you are, but you can't use the navigation features of Google Maps.

RT2015

Thanks bvlenci - it seems like you can only save locations of where you are right now? With city mapper I can do it ahead of time ...