Michael, that is terrific information. Howmuch is the Paris Visite card for adults?

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<BR>Thanks everybody for your contributions. I have added most of it to my Paris file.

I bought a carnet about two weeks ago from the machine (no lines) at the Gare du Nord. However, some of the tickets didn't work. I thought I had accidentally brought along some old used tickets, but looked closely and these were new ones. The agent at the metro ticket booth was able to check each ticket. The magnetic stripe was bad on several. She replaced those and made sure they were working. She said it had happened a lot recently, a glitch in production. Just a note in case you get a ticket that doesn't work.

hey, i'm sorta just jumping in here because i don't know much about hte metro system and didn't want to post an entire new message asking for the same basic information. all that info was great! but, i don't know what the zones are and how they are divided. i tired to look on line but was not successful. can anyone help me out?<BR>jen

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Jen, <BR><BR><BR>The zones are concentric. <BR><BR>The zone 1 is paris proper (metro, buses, RER) and the zone 2 includes metro stations (but not RER, trains, etc..) outside Paris proper. Which doesn't really matters since all passes and tickets cover both Zone 1 and 2 (You can consider the zone 1 as an obsolete concept. They just didn't rename the zones).<BR><BR> The zone 3 is a larger circle around Paris, the zone 4 an even larger circle, etc..There some maps out there on the net, but I don't have time right now to search for a web adress. <BR><BR>There's only one peculiarity with the zone 1/2 concept. "la Defense" is both a metro and RER station, and just outside of Paris. So, your zone 1/2 coupon or regular ticket is valid if you come there with the metro , but it isn't if you use the RER, which is somewhat weird.

Hi<BR><BR>I guess this is just a warning, although I expect that you will be being cautious. When you first arive in Paris be careful of people that are not at ticket booths attempting to sell tickets/passes. I came up against a couple of these con artists and although I never fell for their trickss, when you first get to Paris and do not speak French it is tempting to believe these people. With the info you have gained here you should be right but thought it was worth a mention.

I agree that the carte hebdomenaire is the easiest and cheapest, but I have one thing to add. The earlier poster said that it is intended for Paris workers, but that noone would mind if you bought it. In truth, the woman behind the ticket counter refused to sell me one because she recognized that I was not a local. She wanted to sell me some other pass for tourists (that is about twice the price). I ended up just buying the hebdo from the automated vending machine that is right near the ticket counter in most metro stations. The few times that our passes were verified mid-station by security, they never seemed to care whether we were locals or not. So the point is that you may have difficulty buying a hebdo pass, but if so just get it from the vending machine.<BR>Kimberley

Kimberly:<BR><BR>You were very lucky. Technically, the coupon is only valid when accompanied by a photo card which is the actual Carte Orange. You are supposed to put the number of the photo card on the coupon. The coupon goes in the turnstile okay without any use of the photocard but when getting on the bus, you are supposed to show both in their folder.<BR><BR>Yes there are some clerks who every so often refuse to sell the Carte Orange to non locals but they are few and far between. What yo should have done is simply gone to the next station down the line and you would have been sold the Carte Orange, in all likelihood, with no questions asked......

We are landing at CDG and taking the RER into the city. Is this in Zone 1 and 2. If it is then I would probably purchase the packet of 10 tickets to use. Does this sound right? We are only in Paris for 3 days. Also we are taking the TGV to Nice on a Sunday evening in Aug. Do we need to purchase tickets before we go or can we wait til we get to Paris? The prices seem much higher if we get them before we go but don't want to not be able to get them if we wait. Thanks for any help.

TR,<BR><BR>No, Roissy, is outside the zone 1-2, so you'll have to buy a specific ticket for your ride between CDG and Paris.<BR><BR>For a Paris---&gt;Nice travel on a sunday evening in August, I would certainly buy a ticket and reservation at least one week in advance. There are a lot of people travelling on august weekends, and Nice is a popular destination. You could be fine since most people will be travelling the other way on sunday evenings, but I personnally wouldn't bet on it.<BR><BR>However you don't need to pay a higher price. Just order and pay them on the www.sncf.com site. The price will be the same than in Paris. You'll just have to pick them up at a train station or in a SNCF "boutique" when you'll be in Paris. <BR><BR>Actually, you could possibly have a better deal (25% to 50% less) by buying them in advance (8 or 30 days respectively, as long as reduced price seats are available since there are only a limited number of them). This reduced fare is called J8 or J30, IIRC. But these tickets are only partially refundable if you don't use them. So, you'd better not miss your train if you buy them.

TR,<BR><BR>No, Roissy, is outside the zone 1-2, so you'll have to buy a specific ticket for your ride between CDG and Paris.<BR><BR>For a Paris---&gt;Nice travel on a sunday evening in August, I would certainly buy a ticket and reservation at least one week in advance. There are a lot of people travelling on august weekends, and Nice is a popular destination. You could be fine since most people will be travelling the other way on sunday evenings, but I personnally wouldn't bet on it.<BR><BR>However you don't need to pay a higher price. Just order and pay them on the www.sncf.com site. The price will be the same than in Paris. You'll just have to pick them up at a train station or in a SNCF "boutique" when you'll be in Paris. <BR><BR>Actually, you could possibly have a better deal (25% to 50% less) by buying them in advance (8 or 30 days respectively, as long as reduced price seats are available since there are only a limited number of them). This reduced fare is called J8 or J30, IIRC. But these tickets are only partially refundable if you don't use them. So, you'd better not miss your train if you buy them.

Claire, Thank you for your reply. I looked at the sncf site but it said I couldn't use it if I lived in Canada. I needed to use raileurope web site instead but found that to be much more expensive to go thru them. Has any one in US or Canada used the sncf site? Thanks.

T.R., what the site means is, the tickets cannot be sold to you and delivered to Canada. When asked for country, you click under 'France' because that is where you will be picking up the tickets. Bon voyage.