Métro, Paris

Paris has an excellent Metro system. Get yourself a one day Mobilis pass and then plan your routes for the day. However, like in London, it can be far quicker to head for a central station and then walk around from there. Use the metro for longish journeys as a way of getting across Paris quickly and cheaply.

Also look out for the photo oportunities that some of the famous "Metropolitain" station signs provide.

The Paris Metro is very cheap and convinient to get around town, the lines are labeled by numbers and colors, the most efficient way to use the metro system is to buy a carnet a book of 10 tickets if your are staying for 2 weeks of less.
Older lines example line six (green) doors do not open automatically you must pull a lever to the right to enter ot exit the cart.
Make sure you keep your tickets at all times inspectors can levy a hefty fine if caught without one.
Some Metro station have a reputation for attracting the criminal element ( Pigalle, Anvers & Gare Du Nord) while I traveled late into the night did not have any trouble at any of those stations.

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Most Metro stations have ticket vending machines. You can select multiple languages and the red button is for CORRECT, the green button for ACCEPT. A big metal roller underneath the screen let you step through the options displayed at the screen.

Single t+ tickets are Euro 1.70; a booklet of 10 tickets is 12.70.

At the bigger Métro stations you can buy a Paris Visite travel card. This card comes in 1, 2, 3 or 5 consecutive days in zones 1-3 or 1-5 variants. Travel time validation starts at 5.30AM till 5.30AM the next day.
Prices for the Paris Visite travel card for the zones 1 - 3 variant:
1day Euro 9.75, 2 days Euro 15.85, 3 days Euro 21.60 and 5 days 31.15.

If you stay longer, you can opt for a week, month, quarter or even a year card.

A card for zones 1 - 2 is Euro 19.15 for a week and Euro 62.90 for a month.

Easiest way (I think) to navigate your way around Paris. All major sights and areas are covered by the metro. Tickets cost E 1.30, a carnet of 10 tikets cost E10.50 and Paris Visite passes cost E8.35, E13.70 & E18.25 for 1,2&3 days respectively and cover zones 1-3. More passes can be found on the website. you can pick up a map at any metro station. Once you get the hang of it it's a cheap and efficient way of getting around I didn't get lost once (yeah me).

Paris, the capital of France, is one of Europe's metro flagships. After London (1863), Glasgow and Budapest (both 1896) this is the continent's fourth oldest metro system and probably the densest.

The first line was opened exactly in 1900 as part of a planned six line network. At the end of 2003 Paris has 14 Métro lines and 2 branches that are operated as separate lines. The total length of the network is 212.5 km (168.5 km within Paris):

The most cheap and fast way to travel in Paris from one point to another is by Métro. I more convenient to buy a one-day-pass or one-week-pass because if you want to met the most important places, museums, and monumets you must to run. In a simple day you probably take 6 or 8 métros. Each way is 1.40 euros. the one-day-metro for the second zone (Paris is like a concentric city with zones, zone 1 is Ile de la Cite, zone 2 is around Paris like Saint Dennis and the zone 3 is for example Versallies) is almost 7 euros. Can you imagine how much money you can save with that one-day-pass?

Try to get the line number 14, that métro is automatic without driver, and the stations looks like a Buck Rogers film

I spent a bit more than a week in this city and I think the metro is the best way to get around because it covers all the city and comes frequently. La carte orange is one of the must have things since you can use it for buses also.

Even though the subway smells bad (at least it did in summer of 2003) it really helps to get you around cheaply. Especially if you get a 3-day pass like the one we got which gets you into museums and most of the monuments and included a subway pass. If you trave to Paris by train from London you can buy the pass at Waterloo station