Paris City Guide

Public transport

Operator. RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens) operates the fourteen metro lines, the trams, and most of the buses including the night buses. SNCF Voyageurs runs the commuter trains (Transilien) and is involved in the five RER lines, RER A and B are run by RATP within the city center and by SNCF outside it. Above both operators sits Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM), the regional authority that commissions timetables, sets prices, and organizes a unified fare system for metro, RER, bus, tram, and commuter trains. For passengers, the operator is irrelevant in everyday use, a ticket or the Navigo card is valid everywhere.

Network. Fourteen numbered metro lines plus the two short lines 3bis and 7bis. RER trains, buses and trams complete the network. Paper tickets are gone, you buy via the app or a Navigo card.

Modes of transport. Metro · RER · Transilien (commuter trains) · Tram · Bus · Night bus (Noctilien)

Operating hours. The exact times vary by line, station, and direction, the last train at a station can leave earlier than the arrival at the terminus would suggest. For metro line 14 (among others to Orly Airport), the official hours are 5.30 am to 1.15 am, Fridays and Saturdays until 2.15 am. The RER B runs daily from around 5 am to midnight. For individual stations, the Bonjour RATP app provides the exact first and last departures.

Night service. Île-de-France Mobilités publishes an overall map for the night network as well as four regional maps for Paris Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest. The lines converge at the major stations and run out into the suburbs once the regular daytime network has shut down.

Buying tickets. Single tickets and day tickets can be bought directly in the official Île-de-France Mobilités app and used as a digital ticket, as well as at the machines in metro and RER stations, which accept card payment. For frequent travelers and multi-day stays, the Navigo Easy chip card is worthwhile, onto which several rides or a day pass can be loaded.

App and payment. The most convenient way is the official Île-de-France Mobilités app. There you buy single tickets for metro, train, and RER, bus and tram tickets, and Navigo passes for day, week, or month. For many ticket types you don't even need a customer account, payment is directly by Apple Pay. The purchased ticket can either be stored on the iPhone and validated straight from the phone at the turnstile, which works from an iPhone XR with iOS 17.5, or loaded onto a physical Navigo pass, for which an iPhone 7 with iOS 13 is enough. Paying directly with a contactless bank card at the validator, called Open Payment in France, is still being built out. Around 1,300 buses in Paris and the near suburbs are already equipped, the entire bus and tram fleet is due to follow by the end of August 2026. The Montmartre funicular has been included since 8 July 2026, the first metro validator went into service on 30 June 2026 at the Orly station on line 14. Metro lines 1, 4, 14, 15, and 18 follow by the end of 2027, lines 7 and 12 by the end of 2028. Anyone paying this way pays a surcharge and loses the right to transfer, each validation is billed separately. Bus, tram, and funicular cost 2.55 euros, metro, train, and RER 3.35 euros, trips to the airports 14.80 euros. For longer stays, the Navigo pass therefore remains the better choice.

Which ticket. As of January 2026, a single metro/RER/bus/tram ride costs 2.55 euros, a single bus or tram ticket 2.05 euros. The Navigo day ticket for all zones costs 12.30 euros and thus covers the equivalent of just under five single rides, but it explicitly isn't valid for the routes to CDG and Orly airports. For those there's the dedicated Paris Région–Aéroports ticket for 14 euros per ride. Anyone staying several days who also wants to go to the airport can instead choose the Paris Visite pass, which for tourists also includes the airport routes and starts at 30.60 euros for one day.

Fare zones. Within Paris and the nearby suburbs a flat fare applies with no zone calculation for the single ride and day ticket. Only the routes to CDG and Orly need the separate airport ticket.

Tip. The metro is denser than any other network in Europe; hardly any point is more than five hundred metres from a station.

Links

• Île-de-France Mobilités – fare association, timetable information, tickets
• Bonjour RATP – official customer portal with lines, real-time timetables, and airport access
• All tickets and prices 2026 (official overview)
• Official line network maps for download
• Network map

Getting there

Main station

Location. Paris has six major terminals. Gare du Nord for the north and Eurostar, Gare de Lyon for the south, Gare de l'Est for Germany.

Long-distance trains. Gare du Nord is the long-distance station for everything north of Paris. Eurostar departs here for London St Pancras and also serves Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. The Eurostar area is on the gallery on the first floor of Hall 2. Important for timing, the access gates close 30 minutes before departure for Standard and Plus tickets, 15 minutes before for Premier. French long-distance rail runs into northern France with TGV INOUI. According to the official SNCF timetable database, that's around 30 departures on a weekday on the routes Paris–Lille, Paris–Valenciennes, Paris–Dunkirk via the mining basin, Paris–Lille–Dunkirk–Tourcoing, and Paris–Littoral, meaning the Channel coast. On top of that come nearly 200 TER Hauts-de-France regional trains, mainly toward Amiens. Southward, westward, or eastward you don't go from here, those routes are handled by Gare de Lyon, Montparnasse, Saint-Lazare, Gare de l'Est, and Austerlitz.

Opening hours. On weekdays the first TGV INOUI departs around 6.30 am, the last around 9.30 pm, the last arrival is around 10.50 pm. Regional trains start from 6.03 am and end around 10.35 pm. The Eurostar area in Hall 2 opens at 6.10 am.

Airports

Local quirks

• Bonjour when you walk in. In every shop you say hello before anything else happens. Skip the bonjour and the tone turns cool.
• RoissyBus discontinued. The RoissyBus between Opéra and CDG airport ended permanently on 28 February 2026, officially due to frequent delays caused by the A1 motorway and Paris city center traffic. Replacements are the RER B, the new express bus line 9517, and lines 350 and 351. Older guidebooks and maps that still mention the RoissyBus are outdated.
• The day ticket isn't valid to the airport. The Navigo day ticket covers all zones, explicitly except the routes to CDG and Orly. Anyone arriving or departing needs the separate Paris Région–Aéroports ticket for that, at 14 euros per ride, even if a day ticket is already in hand.

Good to know

Currency

EUR €

Emergency number

112

Plug type

C · E

Time zone

Europe/Paris

Driving

right

Speed limits. built-up areas 50 km/h, outside towns 80 km/h, motorway 130 km/h (110 km/h in rain)

A limit of 80 km/h has applied on rural roads without a central divider since 2018. Some départements have raised it back to 90 km/h by decision of the Conseil départemental, marked by dedicated signs at the start of the stretch. In rain, the motorway speed drops to 110 km/h, while within built-up areas it stays unchanged at 50 km/h.

Tipping. Service is included by law. If you were happy, leave a few euros, nothing more.

Tolls. Most motorways are tolled. Take a ticket, pay on exit, cards accepted everywhere.

Access restrictions. Many cities have low emission zones. You need a Crit'Air sticker, ordered online in advance and delivered by post. Without one you risk a fine.