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Public transport  Travelling around in Paris and getting from A to B is child’s play. Whether you take the metro, the bus or the RER suburban trains, the whole city and the Ile-de-France region are very well covered By metroNew: Improvements to night-time transport in Paris The entire Parisian metro service will operate on Saturday evenings until 2.15 am from 23 December 2006, and on Friday evenings until 2.15am from 7 December 2007.
Each line has two directions, indicated by the terminus station at each end (for example: Balard/Créteil). The different directions and connections are clearly displayed on blue and white signs on the platforms and in the tunnels. To be sure you’re heading in the right direction, check that your destination is on the list of stations just before you go down onto the platform. Inside the trains, you’ll find network maps and the detail of the line you’re on along with all available connections to other parts of the network. Maps of the public transport network, in all shapes and sizes, are available free of charge at the ticket offices, as well as at the all the information centres of the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau. Large-scale maps are also displayed on the platforms and at the entrance to each station.
Your lilac-coloured ticket remains valid for 2 hours until you leave the metro by going though the exit barriers. If you then take a bus, you need to use another ticket. If you happen to have kept some old green or yellow tickets from an earlier trip, you can still use them. To see the map of the metro network, click here Also see “Fares, travel passes and reductions” Example of a metro journey For example, to go from Saint-Germain-des-Prés (“Saint-Germain-des-Prés” station) to the Louvre (“Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre” station), take line 4, direction “Porte de Clignancourt” (shown as “M4 Porte de Clignancourt”), get off at “Châtelet” station, then take line 1, direction “La Défense” (“M1 La Défense”) and stop at “Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre”. |
The quick and easy way to travel around the city, as well as the best value. The Paris metro has around 300 stations, their entrances marked by a big yellow “M”, and 16 lines, numbered from 1 to 14, 3 bis and 7 bis. Each line has a colour, which you’ll find on signs in the stations and on all the RATP maps. Connections between lines make your journey easy to plan. For an idea of your journey time, allow an average of 2 minutes per station and add 5 minutes for each connection.
The metro operates every day including public holidays from around 6am to 0.30am. Times of the first and last trains vary depending on the point along the line that you are departing from. Trains are less frequent on Sundays and public holidays. Illuminated signs above the platform indicate the length of time until the next train arrives. Fast and fully automated, the newest line 14, also known as Météor, offers a regular service throughout, Sundays and public holidays included. On this line, a verbal announcement indicates the name of each stop.