Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [290]
* * *
Champs-Élysées (Map; Port des Champs-Élysées, 8e; Champs-Élysées Clemenceau)
Eiffel Tower (Map; Port de la Bourdonnais, 7e; Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel)
Hôtel de Ville (Map; quai de l’Hôtel de Ville, 4e; Hôtel de Ville)
Jardin des Plantes (Map; quai St-Bernard, 5e; Jussieu)
Musée d’Orsay (Map; quai de Solférino, 7e; Musée d’Orsay)
Musée du Louvre (Map; quai du Louvre, 1er; Palais Royal-Musée du Louvre)
Notre Dame (Map; quai de Montebello, 5e; St-Michel)
St-Germain des Prés (Map; quai Malaquais, 6e; St-Germain des Prés)
Return to beginning of chapter
BUS
Local Buses
Paris’ bus system, operated by RATP (Click here), runs from 5.45am to 8.30pm Monday to Saturday; after that another 20 lines continue until 12.30am. Services are drastically reduced on Sunday and public holidays, when buses run from 7am to 8.30pm. Among many service en soirée (evening service) routes – distinct from the Noctilien overnight services described on right – are route 26 between the Gare St-Lazare and Cours de Vincennes via Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est; route 38 linking Gare du Nord, Châtelet and Porte d’Orléans via blvd St-Michel; route 92 from Gare Montparnasse to place Charles de Gaulle and back via Alma Marceau; and route 95 between Porte de Montmartre and Porte de Vanves via Opéra and St-Germain. The same fares and conditions apply on evening routes as for regular daytime services. Most evening routes finish at around midnight.
Night Buses
Night buses pick up the traffic after the last metro (around 1am Sunday to Thursday, 2.15am Friday and Saturday). Buses depart hourly from 12.30am to 5.30pm. The RATP runs 42 night bus lines on its improved Noctilien network (www.noctilien.fr has information, maps and itineraries in English), including direct or semidirect services out to the suburbs. The services pass through the main gares (train stations) and cross the major axes of the city before leading out to the suburbs. Many go through Châtelet (rue de Rivoli and blvd Sébastopol). Look for blue N or Noctilien signs at bus stops. There are two circular lines within Paris (the N01 and N02) that link four main train stations, St-Lazare, Gare de l’Est, Gare de Lyon, Montparnasse (but not Châtelet), as well as popular nightspots Bastille, the Champs-Elysées, Pigalle and St-Germain.
* * *
VOGUÉO
That’s the name of Paris’ brand-spanking-new river metro (métro fluvial), set to sail along the Seine from the end of June 2008 for an initial two-year trial period.
Navettes (shuttle boats) will yo-yo between Gare d’Austerlitz (Map) and the École Vétérinaire de Maisons Alfort, southeast of central Paris in the Val de Marne – a 40-minute journey door to door – and will initially stop at Bibliothèque Nationale de François Mitterand, 13e (Map), Bercy, 12e (Map) and Port d’Ivry (Map). Boats will run every 20 minutes (every 30 minutes between 10am and 5pm) from 7am to 8.30pm Monday to Friday, and every 30 minutes from 10am to 8pm Saturday and Sunday. One-week Navigo Découverte travel passes will be valid aboard; otherwise pay €3 for a single fare.
* * *
The buses are equipped with security surveillance systems linked to local police, and RATP staff members are posted at major points to help passengers. Do remain alert, however, and watch your bags and pockets – especially on weekends when the post-drinking crowd circulates.
Noctilien services are free if you have a Mobilis or Paris Visite pass for the zones in which you are travelling. Otherwise you pay a certain number of standard €1.50 metro tickets, depending on the length of your journey: the driver can sell you tickets and will explain how many you need to get to your destination.
Tickets & Fares
Short bus rides embracing one or two bus zones cost one metro/bus ticket (€1.50); longer rides require two tickets. Transfers to other buses or the metro are not allowed on the same ticket. Travel to the suburbs costs up to three tickets, depending on the zone. Special tickets valid only on the bus can be purchased from the driver.
Whatever kind of single-journey