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We spent four beautiful days in Paris with my wife at Pentecost in the spring of 2005. We had been planning this journey for a long time, and our 5th wedding anniversary was a good occasion.
Quick links on this page
General information
Travel - plane, SkyEurope, Orly Airport
Travel - public transport
Accommodation - hotel
Map (interactive)
Place of interest
General information
Useful links:
Franciaorszag - Europe Direct Informacios Halozat (Hungarian)
Parizs - Start Utazas (Hungarian)
Szerelmem, Parizs - Gyongy Online (Hungarian)
parizs - Index forum (Hungarian)
Parizs - Nagy Utazas (Hungarian)
Paris.lap.hu - Startlap (Hungarian)
Parizs.linkcenter.hu - LinkCenter (Hungarian)
Parizs - Szerelem, Szajna es sztrajkok varosa - She.hu (Hungarian)
Parizs - nu.hu (Hungarian)
The Paris Pages (English)
Paris.fr (English, French)
Travel - plane, SkyEurope, Orly Airport
We chose the SkyEurope low-cost, low-fare airline for traveling from Hungary. We were satisfied with them. The fare was about 55,000HUF travel there and back for two adult people including taxes and fees in 2005. We arrived at the Orly Airport (Orly Sud terminal), which has good transport into the city. You can manage easily as there are a lot of information boards.
There are more possibilities to reach the center of Paris:
1. Orlyval (train) + RER B (train) - You can go to the "Antony" station of the RER B by Orlyval, and then go into the city by RER B. The running time of the Orlyval is about 8 minutes.
2. Shuttle (bus) + RER C (train) - You can go to the "Pont de Rungis" station of the RER C by the Shuttle bus, and then go into the city by RER C.
3. OrlyBus (bus) - You can go as far as "Denfert-Rochereau" station of the metro and RER by OrlyBus. This is the cheapest (in 2005), but it goes on a motorway, so the running time depends on the traffic (it is about 30-45 minutes). We chose the OrlyBus, because the terminus of OrlyBus was near to our accommodation.
Useful links:
ADP - official webpage of the airports of Paris, maps, etc. (English, French)
Párizs Orly - SkyEurope - Orly Airport on the webpage of SkyEurope Orly (Hungarian, English, and others)
Travel - public transport
The public transport is well-organized.
The main public transport systems in Paris are:
1. Metro (M) - Every metro line is identified with different numbers and colors. The metro lines cover whole Paris. According to the urban legends, there isn't a point in Paris that is more than 500 meters far away from a metro station.
2. RER (R) - The RER in fact is a train (it's a transition between Hungarian trains and Hungarian metros). Its main purpose is to serve the suburb, but it passes through the city of Paris. The lines are identified by letters (RER A, RER B, RER C, etc.).
3. Tram (T) - We didn't see it.
4. Bus (BUS) - The lines are identified with different numbers and colors. If you spend only some days in Paris, you won't use it.
There are 5 tariff zones in Paris. The main places of interest are inside of Zone 1 and Zone 2. You can use the tickets on all of the metro lines, and on RERs, buses, and trams inside Paris. One ticket is valid in the metro until you leave the metro through exits ("sortie"), without time limit. You can travel all over every metro station with only one ticket. You can buy a discount coupon book with 10 discount coupons ("carnet"), which is cheaper than buying 10 tickets. We found this the best solution. It's also possible to buy one-day ticket, seven-day ticket, monthly pass and tourist ticket ("Paris Visite"). In my opinion, if you spend only some days in Paris, you can't take full advantage of these.
You can ask for free city maps at checkouts of every metro station. There are line maps for M, R, BUS, T lines. There is a line map with streets of the city (namely "Paris Tourism Map"). It's available in different languages (English, French, Spanish, etc.). You can ask for mini pocket-maps as well.
Useful links:
RATP - the official webpage of public transport of Paris, maps, etc. (English, French, German)
Accommodation - hotel
Useful links for booking rooms:
HRS - Hotel Reservation Service
1st Paris Hotels
France Hotel Online
ParisBy.com
Paris Tourisme
ParisHotels.com
France Hotel Reservation.com
France Hotel Guide
We booked a double room in the Hotel Serves Montparnasse. It was a good choosing, I can recommend it.
Map (interactive)
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| Links: | Arc de Triomphe - Paris.org (English) |
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| Tiba's comments: | The Arc de Triomphe stands in the middle of the Place Charles de Gaulle that is the meeting point of twelve straight avenues. The car traffic is chaotic even if I try to see it through Hungarian eyes. I suggest travelling by car only if you have a strong nervous system. |
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| Links: | Eiffel Tower (English, official page) |
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| Tiba's comments: | The Eiffel Tower has three floors. You can go up to the first and second floors on stairs or by lift, but to the third floor only by lift (you have to change the lift on the second level). |
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| Links: | Tour Montparnasse 56 (English, official page) |
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| Tiba's comments: | The Montparnasse Tower has 56 floors, and it's 210 meters high. There is a beautiful view of Paris at the 56th floor, and from the open air panoramic terrace. |
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| Links: | The Catacombs of Paris (English, virtual tour) |
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| Tiba's comments: | The Catacombs of Paris would have been my most important place of interest, but unfortunately it was closed because of renovating. |
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| Links: | Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris (English, virtual tour) |
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| Tiba's comments: | You can go up to the tower of the Notre Dame, but there was a long queue. We didn't do it. |
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| Links: | The Sacred-Heart Basilica of Montmartre (English, virtual tour) |
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| Tiba's comments: | The visit is free of charge. |
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| Links: | Louvre Museum (English, virtual tour) |
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| Tiba's comments: | Our four days visiting of Paris wasn't enough for a substantive visit of The Louvre, so we admired it from outside only. |
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| Links: | Champs-Elysées (English, virtual tour) |
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| Tiba's comments: | The Champs-Elysees promenade stretches from the Place de la Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe. Perhaps it's the most famous street of Europe. |
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| Links: | Place de la Concorde - A View On Cities (English) |
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| Tiba's comments: | I was mostly charmed by the fountains of the Place de la Concorde, and by the famous rats of Paris whom we saw at our night walk. Supposedly there live more rats than people in Paris. |
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| Links: | Musée de l'Armée (English, French, official page) |
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| Tiba's comments: | The final resting place of Napoleon Bonaparte is in the Les Invalides. His body lies within six separate coffins. |
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| Links: | Chateau de Versailles (English, French, official page) |
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| Tiba's comments: | Chateau de Versailles is accessible by RER easily. It's a full day program. |
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| Links: | Pont Alexandre III - A View ON Cities (English) |
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| Tiba's comments: | It's the most gorgeous bridge of Paris. |
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| Links: | Opéra National de Paris (French, official page) |
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| Tiba's comments: | You can see it from inside, also. If you are lucky, there will be some opened boxes, so you can see the auditorium of the Opera. It's worth. |
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| Links: | Hotel Sevres Montparnasse (English, and others, official page) |
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| Tiba's comments: | The staff was very friendly. We were really satisfied with them. The bathroom wasn't the newest, but on the whole the quality-price ratio was good (66€ for 2 people, in 2005). |
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