Parisian metro

The 14 lines of the metro

Fourteen lines compose the Parisian metro network. Each of them can be identified by its color, its number and its terminus stations.

	Château de Vincennes --> La Défense		Louis Blanc --> Pré Saint-Gervais
	Porte Dauphine --> Nation		Balard --> Créteil - Préfecture
	Pont de Levallois – Bécon --> Gallieni		Pont de Sèvres --> Mairie de Montreuil
	Porte des Lilas --> Gambetta		Boulogne - Pont de Saint-Cloud --> Gare d'Austerlitz
	Porte de Clignancourt -->Porte d'Orléans		Châtelet --> Mairie des Lilas
	Bobigny - Pablo Picasso -->Place d'Italie		Porte de la Chapelle --> Mairie d'Issy
	Charles de Gaulle - Étoile --> Nation		Gabriel Péri - Asnières-Gennev -->Saint-Denis Université --> Châtillon - Montrouge
	La Courneuve - 8 mai 1945 --> Mairie d'Ivry --> Villejuif - Louis Aragon		Saint-Lazare -->Bibliothèque François Mitterrand

The parisian metro network

To get from a place to another, it is necessary to know the direction (i.e. the name of the terminus station) towards which you will travel (you will find a metro network map at the entrance of each metro station and on each platform). For instance: you find yourself at “Odeon” station and wish to get to “Charles de Gaulle – Étoile”. At “Odeon” you will have to take Line 4 (purple), Direction “Porte de Clignancourt” (to the north). Then you would have to make the connection at station “Châtelet” and take Line 1 (yellow), direction “La Défense”.

Be careful not to take the opposite direction in the metro. In some stations reversing on the same line is not always possible unless you exit the station. Hence you would have to use a new ticket to re-enter. To make sure that you are on the right platform check the display panel suspended above the platform, it indicates the line and direction of the train.

The connections are indicated by a sign “Correspondance” with the number of the metro line. In the suburbs sometimes there are also marked "Sortie”. Do not hesitate to check the street map (in each station you can find a map of area) before leaving the subway.

Prices of transport tickets

Tickets can be used both for metro and bus. They can be purchased in every metro station, either from booths or from automatic ticket dispensers. You can also buy them in some tobacco shops, in which case those shops are indicated by a specific “Metro” sign.

Since you will probably be using the metro more than once a day, I recommend not to use single tickets but to buy the special “Paris Visite” ticket. This specific tourist ticket gives you access to all means of public transportation in Paris and the suburbs (metro, bus, RER, etc.) It even includes a trip to Disneyland Resort Paris (zone 5), Château de Versailles (zone 4) or alternatively, Roissy-Charles de Gaulle (zone 5) and Orly airports (zone 4). It has different versions: for 1, 2, 3 or 5 consecutive days.

Once you’ve bought a ticket, you access the platforms by passing through turnstiles or automatic gates. Be careful not to keep your ticket next to coins or other electromagnetic elements which could demagnetize it and you would then not be able to pass it through the automatic gates. Just insert your ticket into the slot on the device by your right. It will disappear and pop out further. Do not forget to recover it and keep it throughout the duration of the journey until you exit the metro and pass a board reading “Limite de validité des billets”. Within the controlled zone you can be asked to show your ticket by a controller. 

For additional information, I invite you to visit the RATP site : http://www.ratp.fr and to conclude I wish you - Bon Voyage !