CDG to Ile Saint-Louis?
 

Hi everyone: first time here. SO excited to be going to Paris for the first time, to say the least!

We get in on Tuesday morning to CDG, and our hotel is on the Ile Saint-Louis. Having heard about Parisian traffic and being something of a public transit junkie, I think we can take the RER B to Chatelet-Les Halles, and switch to the Metro at Les Halles, catch the M7 at Chatelet to Pont Marie and then walk across the bridge. (Disclosure: I have no idea what I am talking about.)

The hotel website suggests we take the RER another stop, to Notre-Dame, and then hoof it. The RATP website suggests we walk from RER Les Halles to Metro Chatelet. Anyone have an insight? All our stuff has wheels on it, but I'm trying to minimize the walking.

I realize this is on top of having flown all night, and having to get a Navigo, so we may be tired and cranky ... but we'll still be IN PARIS!

Thanks.

First off, welcome to FT!

As a fellow public transportation supporter, I'm glad of your decision. Something to know:

• There is one very large metro station called Châtelet - Les Halles that comprises one RER station (Châtelet - Les Halles) and two Métro stations (Châtelet and Les Halles).

I would normally recommend the hotel website's directions, but there is currently work going on at the St-Michel - Notre Dame RER station that will prevent you from exiting the station in the helpful direction.

So despite there being a long walk from the RER platform to the M7 platform at Châtelet - Les Halles, that's likely your best bet. A disclaimer: I don't take M7 often so there might be some stairs at the Châtelet platform - hopefully someone comes along and advises here.

Peace.

I think I would go a long way to try to avoid changing from RER to metro at Châtelet. Its huge, crowded and confusing to find your way about and will certainly involve veeery long walks.
I wonder how bad would it be to exit at St Michel afterall, despite the construction work that imagineertobe mentions ?

Enjoy Paris ! Your post reminds me that another trip to Paris is long overdue :)

I also suggest skipping the transfer to the Metro at Chatalet-you'll walk a long way and while I haven't walked it off to check for sure, it's highly likely that it involves stairs. This will not be fun on jet lag with luggage.

I would get off the RER at St. Michel and walk from there, as the hotel suggests. I would take with you a Google map printout to get you from the St. Michel station to your hotel-you may come up to the street in a different spot but it shouldn't be hard to figure out where you are and you can always ask for help by pointing to the map.

Parisian traffic on August 3 will be far lighter than usual. But given your location, how would that make a difference unless you were thinking of taking a taxi? Anyway, I agree that St. Michel is the better choice. Chatelet-les Halles is to be avoided whenever possible, unless you relish walking through endless dingy underground corridors.

Don't bother getting your Navigo before you get on the RER, unless you plan to get a 5-zone pass -- the normal zone 1 & 2 pass is all you need for most travel, and the RER is outside that zone so a separate fare (8€ and change the last time I did it, probably a bit higher since 7/1). Alternately, consider the Paris Visite pass since on your first trip you'll probably want to see a good number of the museums and sights.

Residential Paris will be very quiet, so do make the effort to explore beyond the usual tourist areas to discover another side of the city.

Au contraire - he's going to need to buy RER tickets in any case, so why not buy the zones 1-2 Navigo at the same time and avoid standing in line twice?

Speaking of tickets, won't the OP need euros (or a chip based CC, which moat americans don't have) to buy and RER ticket at CDG?

Some posters here say the ticket machines at CDG work with non-chip CCs; others say they don't. Otherwise you can go to the counter and buy them from an agent with either euros or a credit/debit card with or without chip.

I would also recommend St Michel. Get on at the back of the train at Roissy, then take the exit at that end of the station, towards the cathédrale Notre Dame, and you'll come out on the rue de la Cité. Then, you just have to walk down the side of the cathedral to the Pont St Louis, and you're there.

True -- I was thinking about getting the photo (do they have a photomaton at CDG/Roissypole?) and assembling the pass. But indeed better not to stand in line more than necessary. I personally would prefer not to have my mug shot taken when I'm fresh off the redeye but that's a separate step.

I think you can only buy the 5€ Navigo from an agent anyway so save yourself potential frustration at the machine and go straight to the guichet.

One can always bring their own 3 x 2.5 cm photo from home; it doesn't need to be of passport/official document quality.

Good point.

Thanks!
 

Hi everyone: thanks for all the advice! We did find some specs for the Navigo pictures and took some in advance - and sized a few larger and smaller just to be safe.

I think we're going to try disembarking at St. Michel. Any way you look at it, there's going to be a luggage drag in there, and it's going to be somewhere on the 10-15 minute side (probably.) At the very least, there won't be multiple drags - just one long one that takes me past Notre Dame. There's nothing wrong with that.

Sorry for being overexcited. Short of getting assaulted in the airport, pretty much anything can happen and I'd be excited about it.

We get in Tuesday morning, and I think the rest of Tuesday will involve getting our sea legs and hunting down a museum pass.

The museum pass is great, as you can bypass the sometimes hour long lines at the most popular places. But a little tip : purchase the pass from one of the lesser visited places, where you can walk right up to the counter. Last time in Paris I bought it from the Musée de Cluny , which isn´t very far from Ile Saint-Louis.

We had four U.S. credit cards (without chips) rejected by the machines as unreadable (error message: "carte non lue") last week, before giving up and queuing at the windows. All four cards were known to be good; three of them have been used successfully in France since. The agent confirmed that the machines require a chipped card but the readers used at staffed windows do not.