Getting around in Paris

Advantages: Courteous drivers; Easy to use municipal hire scheme
Disadvantages: Sometimes velib 'stations' are full (or empty)

...not as a way of getting around). Add to this that it's virtually free (if you return the bike to a station within half an hour you pay nothing, after that it's €1 per half hour until it's being held onto for a long time when the price ramps up) and it becomes a very attractive option. There are problems, of course. Stations at the bottom of hills tend to fill up leaving nowhere to park your bike, while those higher up can stand empty. But the terminals ...
...stations are, and exactly how many bikes are currently parked there, or how many spaces are available for you to park. Meanwhile a van with a big trailer shuffles bikes about, and takes damaged bikes to the barge workshop which moves about the Seine. There has been talk of replication of this scheme (albeit on a smaller scale) in London. The Mayor, Ken Livingstone, seems determined on the issue. But it is perhaps a statement on the UK mentality ... Read review

Advantages: easy mean to move trough Paris , quick, efficient
Disadvantages: somestimes crowed , doesn't always smell so good

So as to continue my set of opinions about Paris, I’ll talk you about the way to get in and around Paris. To do just like inhabitants, the easiest way is to use public transports. They are really developed In Paris and it’s the cheapest way to move in Paris except if you prefer walking. To travel in Paris you’ll need to buy tickets, the cheapest way is to buy a “ carnet” of ticket, a “carnet” is a pack of ten ticket, it cost 9,30 euros almost ...
...85p. In fact if you stay a while in Paris, you should buy a pass that would allow you to use every public transport as much as you want. Such pass are valid for a week end or a week their price is various according to how long they are valid and how far you are allowed to go with it. Paris region (Paris + suburbs) is divided into 9 zones. Paris is contained in the zone 1, so if you only need to visit Paris zones 1 and 2 would be enough. Several ... Read review

Advantages: fast
Disadvantages: small tickets that get lost easily

like london, paris has its own form of underground transport called the metro. Like the london underground it is relatively easy to navigate and takes you to your destination without fear of overground traffic jams. However, unlike london transport it is more reliable and less packed and on the whole a more enjoyable ride. Some of the trains actually run on tyres so you get less of a bump as well. The one scary thing is when loads of armed gendarme ... Read review

Advantages: cheap, easy and reliable
Disadvantages: take time to familiarise yourself with the metro

As with any city transport, once you've got used to the Paris Metro, it's really very simple and straightforward. Unlike London, which names its underground lines, Paris underground lines are named after the town or location at the end of the line. So for instance, in London, to travel North on the Northern line, the Paris equivalent would be to get on the Edgware line - i.e. the Northern most point of the Northern Line. To travel south, you'd ...
...destination on the Northern Line. Once you're used to this basic concept, it's very simple, straightforward and easy to use. Only one word of caution: in Paris they have 1st class underground carriages. They are the carriages which have the most graffiti and damage! I booked a trip to Paris, and was impressed that it came with "free upgrade to 1st class metro travel". The carriages are in such a poor state, that I chose to travel standard class! ... Read review

Advantages: Car drivers mental so it took the strain out of driving
Disadvantages: Got lost could not get out of the station, no staff spoke English

The trains in Paris can be really confussing if you don't speak the language and don't know where you are going to. We stayed just outside Paris but wanted to visit the city for a day trip. Unlike our train stations the signs were really hard to follow, luckily going into Paris an English Gentleman realised we were lost and showed us which platform to get on and advised us which train was ours otherwise we would still be standing with our mouths ...
...when we went to get the train back to our hotel, we did not have a clue which platform and when we finally worked it out and got on what we thought was the right train, it got half way to where we wanted to go and then changed tracks, the train was very overcrowded and we were scared enough to start with, we promptly got off at the next station, my french is good enough to get me a cup of coffee and a pint of beer, but nowhere near good enough to ... Read review