General Advice

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For such a big, diverse city, Paris is remarkably easy to travel around - and very efficient at transporting large numbers of visitors from all corners of the globe to their chosen destinations. Its public transport system also happens to be one of the cheapest in the western world.

Against all of that, though, is the fact that Paris is also a great walking city - so great that I try to use transport as little as possible. However, there are times when you are just too tired from a day tramping around some of the world’s greatest attractions, it’s raining or the distance is too much to be covered comfortably and that’s when you come to appreciate the public transport network.

On my last trip, I flew in to Charles de Gaulle and got the Line B RER straight to the Saint-Michel Metro station. I walked up the stairs leading to street level and right in front of me was Notre Dame Cathedral. Amazing! There can be few other places where it is so quick, trouble-free and cheap to get from an airport some way out to the centre of a city. The RER left me just a pleasant five or ten minute stroll through the Latin Quarter from the Hotel Henri IV Rive Gauche at which I was staying.

Although the RER network can be faster than the Metro and some of the Left Bank tourist attractions, such as the Eiffel Tower, can be reached more easily when using it, the Metro is usually the best way of getting to wherever you want to go.

The subject of air travel to Paris is huge and beyond the scope of this guide. But I've used two airports - Beauvais and Charles de Gaul - so I can share a little wisdom. First of all, Beauvais may be listed as a Paris airport but it's an hour away by coach from the city. On one trip, when I was a much less experienced traveller, I arrived in Beauvais late one evening and found myself deposited at Porte Maillot near the Boulevard Peripherique ring road on the north-west of Paris. It was dark and raining and my hotel, although I didn't know it at the time, was about 7 kms away on the south-west of the city. It was very difficult finding my bearings and I just made the last metro, arriving at my hotel at about 1 a.m. Not a great experience. So, unless the fare saving is large, I'd give Beauvais a miss.

Charles de Gaul was much better. If I remember correctly, it was about 25 minutes on the RER train to the Saint-Michel Metro station which leaves you slap bang in the middle of Paris just a short distance from Notre Dame cathedral - ideal if you're going to be staying at the nearby and recommended Henri IV Rive Gauche hotel.

Copyright © 2008 Paris Travelogue

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