Public Transportation in Paris
 

My family of 4 (2 adults and two teenagers) will be visiting Paris in June. We will be arriving from Brussels by train and will be heading to London by train after leaving Paris. We have rented a flat in the 19th arrondissement near Parc De Buttes-Chaumont. I have bought a Paris guide but after reading it I am still confused about a few things. Please help with the questions below.

1. From Brussels we will be arriving at the Gare du Nord in the early afternoon on a Wednesday. Should we be taking a taxi to our flat or the subway? I am thinking a taxi might be better because we will have luggage. Would it be much more expensive? I heard that taxis charge extra per person and per luggage.

2. Same question goes for the day we depart from Paris to go to to London from the Gare du Nord

3. We will be staying in Paris for 10 days - arriving on Wednesday afternoon and leaving on Saturday morning. Since the 19th arrondissement is on the outskirt of Paris we will probably need to take public transportation to get to the many Paris sites. Is there some sort of discount pass we should get? My guide book tells me I should check out the ratp site but every time I have tried, it has been out "temporary out of order"

How much luggage do you have? With teenagers, they should be able to handle their luggage by themselves so the metro would seem fine. I'll let a Paris regular tell you how. But yes, the taxi will charge 1E per piece of luggage and 1E for the extra (4th person)--and a small surcharge for being picked up at a Gare.
For that length of time some part would be covered by the Navigo pass for Metro and bus and would undoubtedly be economical. You may be able to buy it for the entire time as late as Wednesday afternoon (purchasing two weeks)--not sure.

I don't believe that there is a surcharge for taking a taxi from the taxi line at Gare du Nord. For help with metro directions, you should post the address of the apartment. There are at least four metro stations that I would say are close to Parc de Buttes-Chaumont. For example, depending on where you are staying, you could take Metro line 5 from Gare du Nord towards Bobigny and exit at Laumiere but if you are on the other side of the Parc, you could take bus 26 from Gare du Nord or take Line 5 to Jaures and change there for Line 7 bis to one of the stops along the Parc. Or you could be near Metro Line 11. Have you gone to http://www.ratp.fr/en/ratp/c_5000/accueil/? Depending on how much you plan to take the metro, you could buy a carnet of tickets (10 tickets at a discount) for Wednesday through Sunday and the Navigo weekly pass for the rest of the time. Here is a link explaining the Navigo Pass: http://parisbytrain.com/paris-train-...go-decouverte/. The pass is good for Monday through Sunday night but it is not worth buying it for the stub period from Wednesday to Monday.

Thank you for the website. Can anyone tell me which zone does Buttes-Chaumont fall into?

All of Paris is in zone 1. To learn how to get around Paris by métro/bus/RER use www.ratp.fr. Here is a link to a route planner:

http://www.ratp.fr/itineraires/en/ra...herche-avancee

Here is an interactive map of the system, which also shows the zones:

http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/carteidf.php?lang=uk

Since parts of this website are only in French you can also use www.transilien.com or www.vianavigo.com. Via Navigo probably has the most complete English website. A good website to learn how to use public transport in Paris is www.parisbytrain.com.

Thank you so much, FrenchMystique Tours for the information about zones. I thought that zone 1 was only for cenral Paris.

I believe that the nearest metro stop to our flat is Motzaris.

If you have a great deal of luggage, or your bags are heavy,you might be better off with a taxi, since using the metro means stairs and sometimes lots of them. You also need to be able to keep an eye on your bags in the metro, especially if it's crowded. But, if your bags are manageable, then the metro is fine.

The Paris city limits (mainly peripherique) are considered central Paris versus the suburbs, that's all.

Taxi surcharges for 4th+ persons is 3 euro each, not 1 euro. It used to be 1 euro some years go, as I recall. But there is no extra charge if you don't have 4 people or more. Luggaes is one euro each, beyond one piece. There is no surcharge for a train station. I don't thikn there is even a surcharge for the airport.

There is no metro station Motzaris. I suspect you mean Botzaris, which is also the name of the street along the south side of the park. You can't even get there directly from Gare du Nord, you'll have to transfer lines at Jaures.

Somewhat different topic:

For food shopping, go to the Place des Fêtes which has a market on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

That's a really nice area that most people don't stay in or even visit so here are a few tips for getting around that neighborhood and things to see. Be sure to visit the residential neighborhood just to the east of the Parc known as La Mouzaïa. It's bounded by rue du Mouzaïa/rue de Bellevue in the south and rue Miguel Hidalgo and rue David d'Angers in the north. You can read about that neighborhood and see photos here:

http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...t-paris?page=1

To do your shopping and have a nice walk in the neighborhood take rue de la Villette to rue de Belleville. Some interesting little side streets as you approach rue de Belleville. Take a left on rue de Belleville and there is a great boulangerie and some other food stores. You'll notice them. This is the main commercial/shopping district for that area. If you're interested I can outline a nice walk from the shopping area through the neighborhood.

Take a taxi. The estimated base fare for your trip from Gare du Nord to Botzaris Metro is €6.65 - http://www.worldtaximeter.com/paris
Of course, this does not include extra charges for bags and an extra person, but it still isn't costly and would be so much easier than using public transportation.

The links that FrenchMystiqueTours gave you will be very helpful in planning how to get around. I suggest practicing with the interactive map now so that you are familiar with how it works before you arrive in Paris.

The Metro line for the Botzaris stop isn't one of the major lines. Buses will probably serve you better. Bus 48 stops there and will take you to its terminus at the Palais Royal, right in the center of the tourist area near the Louvre. You should definitely look into the weekly Navigo pass since you will be using public transporation a lot.

A few years ago, I saw a photo-report here by Kerouac about a unique neighborhood, La Mouzaïa. We enjoyed walking around there for an hour or so in this lovely, quiet place. It's very close to where you are staying, so you might enjoy a walk there too. Here's a link to one of my posts that includes a link to his original report, as well as a link he posted to a follow-up report. If you click on his user name, you will find many, many wonderful photo-reports Kerouac has done on other aspects of Paris and other sites.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...la-mouzaia.cfm

And, don't overlook visiting the Parc des Buttes Chaumont. It's interesting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parc_des_Buttes_Chaumont

Oh, FMT - We were writing at the same time!
Hope to see your Belleville neighborhood walk. Still need to get there.

Since you asked, here it is (starting from rue de Belleville):

Go down rue de Belleville towards Paris and take a left on rue Piat and shortly you'll arrive at the Maison de l'Air with a great view of the Paris skyline at the top of the Parc de Bellville. Explore the park if you'd like. Great little bar/café with a nice terrace and views across the street that you'll notice (I've forgotten the name).

From here head down rue des Envierges and take a right on rue des Cascades (charming old timey streets) to rue de Ménilmontant. At rue de Ménilmontant take a left going uphill and on your left is a slice of residential 19th century Paris in the Cité de l'Ermitage so take a peek in here. If you want you can go around the corner and see another such place in the Cité Leroy. Next, go down rue du Retrait and take a right on rue Laurence Savart, another quaint old timey street. Then take a right on rue Boyer and you'll pass by La Bellevilloise. Stop here for a drink or just take a peek inside:

http://www.labellevilloise.com/le-ca...-aux-oliviers/

http://www.labellevilloise.com/notre-histoire/

This brings you back to rue de Ménilmontant and you can head down the hill to Paris. As you go downhill you'll notice the church on your right and there is a nice plaza in front of the church with some cafés and such to get a drink or bite to eat.

To learn more about the 20th arrondissement you can go to its official website:

http://www.mairie20.paris.fr/mairie2....jsp?page_id=7

As you approach métro Ménilmontant you can take a left on rue Victor Latalle and there are some hip bistros and cafés on this street and the beginning portion of rue des Panoyaux. La Boulangerie is a nice place to eat and a couple good bars/cafés that I go to sometimes are La Cale Sèche (nice terrace out back), Le Saint-Sauveur and Lou Pascalou (nice front terrace). From here you might enjoy a walk down rue Oberkampf back to central Paris and then take it from there.

If you want unlimited transportation passes, the weekly pass is called Navigo. You need to buy a Navigo Découverte card (5 €, valid 10 years) and load it for zones 1-2 (it's impossible to load for only one zone). The weekly pass runs from Monday to Sunday, not just any 7 consecutive days. It's 20.40 € / week:
http://www.vianavigo.com/en/tickets-...avigo-semaine/
You will need to bring photos (they can be printed off your computer on plain paper).

Even though you will only have 4.5 days in Paris each of the two weeks it is still good value, given that you are staying somewhat on the outskirts of Paris.

Load the card as soon as you arrive on Wednesday and some time between Friday and Sunday you can load it for the following week.

Véronique

PS: If you need to go outside Paris, like Versailles for instance (zone 4), you can add a "complément de parcours" within 3 hours of taking the métro / RER, that will cover the portion of the route outside zones 1 and 2.

One thing to remember is that even though Botzaris is the closest metro stop is that you may be a relatively short walk from another station on Lines 11 or 5. Sometimes, it is easier to walk to another station than it is to go to the closest station and then make a connection later.

In case you haven't found it already, check out the interactive map:
http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/carteidf.php?lang=uk

Thank you all for your helpful feedback

Michael,

Please let me know the hours for the market at Place Des Fetes.

From 7 to 2:30 during the week, and 7 to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

Thank you.