If had I had known then what I know now I would have never arranged for taxis/ubers in Paris.
Although it can be challenging at first Paris has a very reliable and convenient public transportation system. Now I’ve never actually been to New York City but I imagine it has a similar atmosphere.
Quick note: if you do end up going to Paris make sure you don’t get your hotels and airports mixed up. I flew into Charles De Gaulle and booked my hotel stay at Novotel Paris Orly Rungis which was an hour away from Charles De Gaulle and only 5 minutes away from Orly Airport (*face palm*). I ended up spending $105 USD on a taxi! It was at that moment I realized that I’m about to be on the Train!
Below is a map of the Metro stations in Paris which is downladable here https://metromap.fr/en
But…if you’re anything like me this makes absolutely no sense. I don’t claim to be an expert after only spending nearly a week in Paris but I will do my best help.
Also referred to as RER which is short for Réseau Express Regional, I used 3 Major Trains lines…Most of the trains are clean and honestly fun in my opinion! You get to see so many different walks of life and people watching can be a blast. What I will say is that a lot of people use the train as a primary method of transportation and often times they can be in a bit of a rush. Sometimes this leads leads to people cutting or jumping in front of you so watch out for that!
RER A
RER A runs East to West of Paris and services central Paris. The train runs about every 20 minutes (Sometimes it’s 10 sometimes it’s 30). This was my Favorite line because… Well, it took me to Disneyland! Disneyland Paris is located at the last stop going west : Marne La Vallée station. It literally takes you right to the gate and is really exciting!
RER B
RER B runs from the northeast to the southwest. It will connect the airport of Roissy – Charles de Gaulle (something I wish I knew before paying over $100 for a cab!) and Mitry – Claye (north) to the cities like Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse and Le Plessis-Robinson (south) and through the city center of Paris. This line runs every 15 minutes so you won’t be waiting long if you happen to miss it.
RER C
RER C runs from the north-west to the south. It will connect the Pontoise (north) to Versailles, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Dourdan-la-Forêt and Saint-Martin-d´Étampes (south) going through to the city center of Paris. It is also my favorite because it will take you to Tour Eiffel and Cathédrale Notre-Dame!
Some Tips…
Get the Metro Pass.
To ride, there are many ways to go about purchasing tickets. They are day passes, weekly passes, monthly passes and even yearly passes. The day tickets are shown on the left and the passes with longer terms are shown on the right. Be aware when getting the daily pass because as you can see, it only allows you in a couple of the zones. If you want to go somewhere that is not in the zone, you’ll have to buy an additional day pass at that kiosk. The blue cards on the right typically get you into all five zones and are reloadable so you don’t have to keep buying a new one. The day passes can run around €2, I did the weekly pass and it cost me around €22 (roughly $24USD) and saved me a ton of money in Uber /taxi costs!
Don’t stand too close to the edge or try to cross the train tracks…
This should go without saying but you never know. There were many times I thought about crossing the tracks since I ended up on the wrong side but it was never an option because A: I think it’s illegal and B: I didn’t want to end up on the news! If you happen to end up on the wrong side of the tracks always use level crossing, you won’t regret it.
Lights are for the upcoming stops
I don’t know why but it took me a while to figure out that lights of the stops will go off after departure.. So the picture above shows that the stops we’ve already been to are not lit up and the ones that are coming up are lit up.
Make sure the train is going to the right stop
As you can see above there Are two separate routes that are serviced by the same RER. You want to make sure you know your destination and confirm that it is lit up on the top of the RER entrance. There were a couple of times I went to the wrong destination and had to take the same RER back to a main transfer station only to get off and then get on the same RER going to a different destination so always confirm your destination.
The Train stations are fast paced
Here’s just a snippet of one of the RER station entrances, it’s not as busy as many but it’s the only one I got a video of. I would suggest having your card or pass ready so you can scan it without any troubles. Like I said before some people can be in a rush and jump of head of you but don’t let that get to you!
Conclusion
Riding the RER can be pretty scary at first especially if you’re not from a big city like New York City or you’ve never traveled abroad. Once you get the hang of things, traveling through Paris by the metro system is fairly easy. The biggest hurdle I ran into was making sure I was going the right direction but that can be eased by the stop indicators at the top of the train doors. Also some of the station entrances can be a bit hidden, sometimes there’s just a small sign that says RER near a staircase leading you down into one of the main tunnels so definitely look out for those. In addition to the trains there are many city busses above ground that will accept the same ticket or pass. Those I would use to get to…let’s say, the Louvre Museum from the train station at Notre Dame which were also affordable and convenient. All in all I loved traveling by the RER because it really made me feel like I was part of the city and not just some tourist. All of the information provided can be found online as well if you have any other questions please comment on this blog and please share with your friends and family!
Yours truly
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