I will be in Paris during Holy Week/Easter and have a few questions as this will be my first time in Europe and just found out that I%26#39;m expecting. I will be a little over 3 months pregnant during this trip.
I would like to stay in a nice area close to the tourist spots...can someone recommend a good/clean hotel? (Travelling with my 17 yr. old son and my budge is $200-$250 US a night)
Do most hotels have elevators? I don%26#39;t want to carry any luggage up and down stairs.
Anything else that an expectant tourist should know or prepare for?
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Hello CCG,
You can do a search on this forum to get a ton of information. There was some sort of unfortunate event recently that has folks in a snit on this forum, so responses from our wonderful experts are thin. I%26#39;m not sure what happened.
By the way, you experts, PLEASE COME BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have learned so much from your posts.
I am going to cut and paste some earlier responces from our experts in the next couple of entries.
Search some of these suggested sights and you will get a ton of information.
We have only been to Paris once, going back in May, so I can%26#39;t speak much to your question about elevators. We stayed at the Hotel Du Champ De Mars in the 7th. It runs about 85 Euros a night and has a small elevator. We loved the hotel. It is very close to the Eiffel Tower and Invalides, but a quick metro ride to most other attractions I think.
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THis was originally posted by IrsihRover and is a great reference.
Here is the promised revised version (2.0 Beta) of my earlier post on this topic. Again, please do not hold back any criticisms or comments. I will post one more version, if necessary, to correct any errors or to clarify the information, if I can do so without making it any longer! My thanks to all who suggested changes to the previous version. I have incorporated many of these.
This post is primarily designed for the vast majority of visitors to Paris, that is, those staying somewhere in the 20 arrondissements making up Paris proper, and making only occasional trips outside this area.
The Paris public transport system, known by the acronym RATP, is one of the world%26#39;s most comprehensive and efficient. It includes the Métro, the (mostly) underground rail network covering the entire city, and the RER (light suburban rail) and bus systems. For pricing purposes it is based on eight %26quot;Zones,%26quot; essentially concentric circles. Zones 1 and 2 comprise the 20 numbered arrondissements of Paris proper. There are 14 Métro lines, numbered (logically enough) from 1 to 14, and 5 RER lines designated by the letters A though E.
A Zone map and Métro and RER maps can be found at:
www.ratp.info/informer/anglais/index.php#
Nowhere within Paris will you ever be more than a very few hundred meters from a Métro station.
1.) Individual transport tickets and Carnets.
A single-use Métro/bus ticket costs 1.40€.
A %26quot;Carnet%26quot; (karn-ay) of 10 single-use tickets costs 10.70€.
A single ticket is valid for one journey on the entire Métro system AND on the RER system WITHIN Zones 1 and 2, including unlimited transfers from one line to another or from the RER to Métro or vice versa, providing you do NOT leave the system by passing through the turnstiles.
It is also valid for a SINGLE journey, regardless of distance on MOST Paris buses. (The exceptions include the RATP buses to/from Orly (Orlybus) and CDG (Roissybus), the night buses, and lines 221, 297, 299, 350 and 351, plus a few others.) It does NOT permit transfers from one bus to another. A single ticket is also valid for the Montmartre funiculaire.
Additionally an individual ticket (or any pass covering at least Zones 1 %26amp; 2) is valid for travel on the Métro to the end of the line, even though some stations on the Métro are technically outside Zone 2. Note that travel by RER to some of these stations, e.g. La Défense and St. Denis is NOT covered by such tickets or Zone 1 %26amp; 2 passes. Such tickets or passes are also valid for travel on the night buses within Zones 1 %26amp; 2. Also note that individual tickets do not permit transfers between the bus and Métro/RER systems.
There is NO ticket or pass covering travel only in Zone 1.
Individual tickets and Carnets of tickets can be used any time, even months after they were purchased. Keep them (and all passes) away from mgnets and cards with magnetic strips.
Note that you should keep your ticket until you leave the system. Periodic spot checks occur, and substantial on-the-spot fines are levied for failure to produce a vaild ticket. In additioon, you cannot exit through the turnstiles on the RER system without a valid ticket.
To summarize, within Paris proper, ANY individual ticket, and ANY pass covering at least Zones 1 and 2 is valid on ANY Métro or RER train, any bus, including night buses, and on the Montmartre funiculaire.
2.) Multi-use transport passes.
For most visitors the choices of Métro/bus/RER passes boil down to three: the Carte Orange, the Mobilis pass, and the Paris Visite pass. They vary in their period of validity and in price.
A one-week Zone 1 %26amp; 2 Carte Orange, valid Monday to Sunday only, costs 15.70€.
A one-day Zone 1 %26amp; 2 Mobilis Pass, valid for unlimited travel for one calendar day, costs 5.40€. Multi-day Mobilis passes are not sold.
A one-day Zone 1-3 Paris Visite pass, similar to the Mobilis pass, costs 8.35€
A two-day Zone 1-3 Paris Visite pass costs 13.70€
A three-day Zone 1-3 Paris Visite pass costs 18.25€
A five-day Zone 1-3 Paris Visite pass costs 26.65€
Paris Visite passes are not sold in a 1 %26amp; 2 Zone only version, nor for periods other than those listed here.
A special one-day Zone 1-3 pass for those aged under 26, valid ONLY on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays is available and costs 3.20€
I do not think there is any reduction in price on any of these tickets or passes for seniors.
Note that the multi-day Paris Visite passes are valid for CONSECUTIVE calendar days starting with the day of their first use. The Paris Visite and under-26 passes are NOT available for Zones 1 %26amp; 2 only.
All these passes are valid any transport modality on the RATP system within the Zones they cover.
Except for the 5-day Paris Visite pass, multiple one-day Zone 1 %26amp; 2 Mobilis passes are actually a better buy for most people, since most visitors do not travel outside Paris proper except when travelling from/to the major airports or to sites outside Zone 3. All these passes only make economic sense if you are using the transport system enough to justify the extra cost when compared with buying a Carnet or individual tickets. The various passes do of course offer the non-monetary benefit of %26quot;one stop%26quot; shopping.
The Paris Visite pass does come with a %26quot;basket%26quot; of fringe benefits that are not available with any other transport pass. For a full list of these offers, look at ArrowCapet%26#39;s excellent post:
http://tinyurl.com/zz2yj
If any of these are of interest to you, they make the Paris Visite pass relatively more attractive.
The Carte Orange is the best deal if its validity coincides with your itinerary. The validity of the CO runs from the first train on Monday morning to the last train on Sunday night. It is the most cost-effective pass. However, it is intended primarily for residents and so presents some problems to visitors, as both its use and its sale are limited to specific days. The Carte Orange for the current week is available through Wednesday of that week, and sale of the pass for the upcoming week begins on Friday. So you need to take into account your day of arrival, and your likely use of the Métro/buses to decide if it will work for you. If you intend to purchase a CO, you will need a passport-type photo, approximately 1-inch square or a little larger.
The whole issue becomes a little more complicated if you are travelling with children. First, children under 4 travel free on the entire métro/bus/RER network. For children ages 4 through 11, an individual ticket costs 0.70€ and a Carnet costs 5.70€. Similarly, there is a reduced price Paris Visite pass in 1, 2, 3 and 5 day versions, available for the same ages, the cost being approximately 50% of the equivalent adult pass. (The French language term designating a ticket or pass for children is %26quot;tarif réduit%26quot; (ta-reef ray-dwee). It is not reasonable to expect ticket sellers on the RATP system to speak good English, though some do.) There is NO reduced price Carte Orange or Mobilis pass for children. Thus, your best combination may be to buy a different type of pass or a Carnet for your children, even if the Carte Orange or Mobilis pass is a better value for the adults accompanying them.
For most people a two-Zone pass will meet their needs. RER tickets to/from CDG (Zone 5) cost 8€ one-way, 16€ round trip. Versailles RER tickets (Zone 4) cost 5.30€ round-trip. Disneyland round-trip RER tickets (Zone 5) cost 12.40€. If you plan on making all of these trips, or several other trips outside the central (Zones 1 %26amp; 2) areas, a weekly Carte Orange or the appropriate Mobilis or Paris Visite pass for Zones 1-5 might be your best buy.
I have not listed the options for the Zone 1-5 and other passes since MOST people will not find them cost-effective. However, a full listing of the prices for ALL Paris tourism-related passes can be found here:
www.ratp.info/informer/tarif_tourisme.php
The prices for all Carte Orange passes are shown here:
ratp.info/informer/tarif_abonnements_o.php
Note that both these pages are from the French-language version of the RATP site. The English language version, while useful, does not contain much of this information.
Finally, some basic information on travelling between central Paris and Orly and CDG airports using public transport can be found here:
http://www.transilien.com/GB/AerSom.htm
Note that the coupon of your Carte Orange should NOT be placed in the ticket cancelling device on boarding a bus as doing so will gamage it. Simply show your pass to the driver. Only individual tickets need to be cancelled.
The route-finder function of the RATP site works well, and is easy to use once you get the hang of it. Try it, you might like it...
3.) Museum Passes.
The Paris Museum Pass provides unlimited access during its period of validity to more than 60 museums and monuments. Besides its convenience, it can save considerable amounts of time by permitting you to by-pass long ticket lines.
Current Paris Museum Passes are for 2, 4 or 6 consecutive days, costing 30€, 45€ and 60€ respectively. Remaining stock of the now obsolete 1, 3 and 5 day passes is still available from some vendors.
Whether the Museum Pass makes sense is a function BOTH of the number of museums you intend to visit AND of the value you place on the time you can save by using the Pass to by-pass sometimes lengthy ticket lines. Another benefit is that the Pass permits multiple visits to any covered museum, as well as permitting you to just duck into a museum for a quick look round (or to use the %26quot;facilities%26quot;...) without having to pay the entrance fee.
I%26#39;d figure an average of around 8€-9€ per museum if you want to calculate the purely monetary cost-benefit ratio of the pass.
Remember that many museums offer free admission to children up to age 18 (policies and ages vary from one museum to another) so you might need to take that into account also.
There are combination admission and travel passes for certain attractions. These include Versailles and Fontainebleau, among other places. For more info on the combined Versailles and Fontainebleau offers:
http://www.transilien.com/FR/TouSom.htm
Full information about the Museum Pass, points of sale etc. can be found at the ONLY official site:
http://www.parismuseumpass.com/
It is ALWAYS more expensive to buy any of these products from third-party vendors before arriving in Paris.
Note that American (magnetic stripe) credit cards will not work in automatic ticket machines such as those found at CDG.
If you want to convert from Euros to a currency you are more familiar with try:
http://www.xe.com/
If you have specific questions not answered in this post but NOT specifically relevant to its topic, please do not post them as a reply to this post. (I am referring to questions such as %26quot;How do I get from A to B...%26quot; or %26quot;Which is the closest Métro station to...%26quot; etc., etc.) These questions can usually be answered fairly easily by using the RATP site, and/or by a search in the forum archives. If both these resources fail to answer your question, please post it as a separate topic.
For more info go to:
www.ratp.fr
http://www.parismuseumpass.com/
http://www.transilien.com/FR/
Hope this answers a few of your questions, and helps make planning your trip easier.
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My father and I have a twin room booked at the Hotel de Suez, on Blvd. St.-Michel in the 5th, for 130 Euros. The Latin Quarter is pretty central, and this particular hotel is just down the street from the St.-Michel RER station, making it easy and cheap to get to and from CDG airport. I looked at the reviews for the hotel and it was highly recommended, and ArrowCapet gave it a thumbs-up as well! I also considered the Familia Hotel on Rue Des Ecoles, around the corner. It also has great reviews and is around the same price.
It%26#39;s my understanding that most hotels, including both I%26#39;ve listed, have elevators, but that they are notoriously small and not always reliable. Maybe asking for a room on a lower floor would be prudent.
Have fun!
Paula
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I have been pregnant in Paris, twice actually.
First of all, many, many hotels in that price range have an elevator, and most web sites mention if they do or do not. BUT, the elevators are TINY (remember, these are 17th and 18th century buildings that they%26#39;ve squeezed an elevator into) and will just about fit you and a suitcase.
But if you have a 17 year old son, I would assume he would be carrying your luggage anyway?
A few good hotel options which are very central:
Hotel Millessime on Rue Jacob, 6th
Hotel de Seine on Rue Seine, 6th
Hotel de Fleurie, 6th
Hotel Henri IV Rive Gauche on Rue St. Jacques, 5th
Hotel Britannique on Avenue Victoria, 1st
Let your doctor know you are coming abroad.
Be sure to get up every hour in the airplane to avoid blood clots.
American doctors tell pregnant patients to avoid the cheeses and pates in France, although I ate it. But my system is very used to it.
Be sure to have a bottle of water on you at all times.
Try to take a nap every day. That first trimester is hard even when you%26#39;re at home taking it easy!
Have fun!
Les
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And also, if it%26#39;s your first trip, remember that hotel rooms in Paris are very small. Much like most large cities. Many American tourists are put off by the fact that the hotel rooms are so small.
Millessime%26#39;s are a bit larger. But still small!
Les
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