Paris Metro 2024: A Lost Tourist’s ULTIMATE Guide!

🌟 Welcome to your ultimate guide to navigating the Paris Metro – Get ready to navigate the Paris Metro like a local and never get lost again!🌟

Experience the Paris Metro like never before with this unique tutorial from a lost tourist’s perspective! Join Shannon as she navigates the bustling Parisian metro system, helping you learn how to use paperless tickets, buy Navigo passes, and explore the city hassle-free.

🚇 “Step Inside the Paris Metro: A Lost Tourist’s Eye-View Journey to the Eiffel Tower!” 🗼

Are you landing at Charles de Gaulle and heading straight to the heart of Paris? Start your journey at Gare du Nord, just like our lost tourist, and let us guide you all the way to the iconic Eiffel Tower—with no fuss and full of fun!

🎥 In this unique tutorial, filmed entirely from the first-person perspective, you’ll experience the Paris Metro as if you were the one navigating through its bustling stations and swift trains. No more confusion or feeling overwhelmed!

Which Paris metro pass is best for you? Paris weekly discovery card vs Navigo Easy: https://youtu.be/NIWTxH5NLeg?si=Xda53ny9cZwMB_xm

What You’ll Discover:
👁️ First-Person Adventure: Experience the metro from the eyes of a tourist.
🎟️ Navigo Pass vs. Paper Tickets: Learn what to use and when.
🚫 Skip the Machines: Why you might avoid automated stations.
📱 Tech Hacks: Essential translation tools and how to buy tickets with your phone.
🔍 Detailed Guides: Step-by-step instructions on using the Paris Metro App and reading metro signs.
🔄 Platform Switching: Tips for easy transfers and avoiding common mistakes.
🤔 FAQs & Laughs: End with a smile with our funny outtakes and helpful FAQs.
📅 Just in time for the 2024 Olympics, this guide is perfect for anyone visiting Paris this year, especially if you want to avoid the common pitfalls and travel like a pro!

Why Watch This?
🔑 Empowering: Turn confusion into confidence as you travel.
🎬 Engaging: More than just talk—see everything as if you’re there!
🕵️‍♀️ Story-Driven: Follow a coherent, engaging narrative from a real-life scenario.

Chapters:
00:10 Shannon Finds a Lost Tourist!
00:32 What a Navigo Pass & Paper Metro Ticket Look Like
00:43 A Few Reasons Not to use the Automated Stations
01:12 How to Buy A Navigo Easy Pass
01:43 A Great Translation Tool Hack for your Trip!
02:04 How to Buy Paper Tickets for the Paris Metro
02:59 How to Buy a Paper Ticket for the Paris Airports
03:51 How to Buy a Paper Ticket for Versailles
05:34 Our Lost Tourist wants to go WHERE?
06:28 Step by Step Instructions – How to use the Paris Metro App
13:02 Learn how to Read the Paris Metro signs
13:56 How to use the Paris Metro Turnstiles
14:20 Riding the Metro – Tips, Tricks & What not to Do
16:11 How to Switch Metro Platforms & more Tips!
18:17 FAQ’s and Outtakes that’ll make you Laugh!
19:27 Want more? Check out my Paris Metro playlist with even more videos!

LINKS and 2024 INFO:

RATP BONJOUR APP
👉 https://www.ratp.fr/en/apps/bonjour-ratp

COPY AND PASTE THIS FORMULA INTO GOOGLE TRANSLATE:
Hello. I want to buy a Navigo Easy Pass with XX tickets, please. For XX adults, and XX children. Thank you.

(Don’t forget that you get a discounted rate for purchasing ten tickets!)

OLYMPIC GAMES TICKET PRICES FOR 2024:
Price increase during the Paris 2024 OLYMPIC Games
From July 20 to September 8, 2024:

The t+ ticket (for the metro, tram and bus) will be sold for 4 euros,
The train/RER ticket outside Paris (called Origine Destination ) increases to 6 euros each and 4.80 euros in a book of 10 tickets ,
Bus tickets to get to Roissy and Orly airports will be increased to 16 euros ,
Navigo day and week packages will not be sold.

REGULAR, NON OLYMPIC PRICES FOR 2024: WHICH PASS TO CHOOSE?

Which Paris metro pass is best for you? Paris weekly discovery card vs Navigo Easy: https://youtu.be/NIWTxH5NLeg?si=Xda53ny9cZwMB_xm

RER, Metro, Bus, Tram, Train T+ SINGLE PAPER TICKET
2.15€ per TICKET, PER RIDER
Access the metro, bus, tram and RER in Paris

Navigo Easy PASS (PHYSICAL CARD or MOBILE PHONE)
GOOD FOR: TAP AND GO PASS, OCCASIONAL METRO USE, ONE NAVIGO PASS REQUIRED PER PERSON
Individually €2.15
Booklet of 10 €17.35
Booklet of 10 (reduced price) €8.65
LIST OF WHAT QUALIFIES FOR REDUCED FARE: https://www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/tarifs-reduits

Navigo Week Package: Travel unlimited all week!
REQUIRES GOVERNMENT PHOTO ID
Valid ONLY from Monday to Sunday
GOOD FOR: SOMEONE WHO IS GOING TO USE THE METRO CONSTANTLY FOR AN EXACT, FULL WEEK
ONE CARD REQUIRED PER TRAVELER
€30.75 per week all areas

LIST OF ALL PASSES AVAILABLE HERE: https://www.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/titres-et-tarifs/liste?p=visiteur

Want more? Be sure to watch my entire playlist including:
Paris Metro QUESTIONS Everyone Asks & No One Answers;
The Paris Metro Planner – which passes to pick and how to plan your trips;
and Practice the Paris Metro with Me! Free Day Itinerary

Hi! Are you lost? Yeah? That’s okay. Would you like some help? Okay. Do you have your metro pass? All right. No problem. Let’s go and get that for you. You know what? I actually have both passes right here. This is the Navigo EasyPass. You’re going to buy it at one of the booths just like that one, but you can still buy paper passes and I’ll show you how to use those too. Here is a automated Navigo Easy Pass station. You can find these in the main train stations in Paris. However, I don’t necessarily recommend them. You’re likely to have your luggage with you. It’s a bit difficult to find them. And I’m going to show you two easy ways to purchase Metro Passes without any problems. Come on, let me show you a really easy way for you to purchase a Navigo EasyPass without even talking to the attendant. At most Paris Metro stations, there will be an attendant ready to help you during regular business hours and many speak English. This is Google Translate, a free application for your phone. Download it in advance, and I have put this exact phrase in the description below for you to copy and paste into Google Translate. You can be prepared well in advance for your trip, and you can simply show this translation to the attendant, and they’ll be able to help you purchase a Navigo EasyPass. For those of you who do not speak French fluently, this is a great application for your travels in France. And here’s a little hack. If you turn the phone horizontally, it’ll really expand the translation so you can show it to a waiter, the booth attendant at the metro, or anyone else that’s trying to help you. Now, here’s your second option. Let’s pretend you only want paper tickets. You’re gonna choose you don’t have a Navigo pass here and then you’re gonna choose the T plus single ticket if you just want one paper ticket. Again, at the top, T plus for your paper ticket. Let’s pretend that we have two people traveling with us today. We’re gonna choose two tickets. Each person needs their own single paper ticket. And from there, you’re going to hit validate and it’s going to give you the option to pay. And you have the option between card coin. You do not want to choose the contactless, put your card in there and enter your debit code. Do not use the contactless. Again, you’ve got coins as an option and paper money. You put your coins right here and your paper money in here. All right, let’s practice two different scenarios. Let’s say that we’re going to purchase tickets for the airport and also for Versailles. Again, you’ll want to choose that you don’t have a Navigo Easy Pass. And on the screen on the right hand side, you’ll see options for books of 10, day passes, but you don’t want those. You want on the left hand side, the airport ticket option. In this screen you’ll see your day pass options, tickets for Paris region, Disney, airports, day visits. We’re going to choose the airport ticket option and from there you choose which airport you’re going to. You can also purchase bus tickets at the screen. Now, I’m not going to share with you the checkout process because we’ve already done that. Now, for the Versailles process, you go back to the same screens that we’ve been using, but this time you’re going to choose tickets for Paris region. From there, you’re going to start tapping in Versailles. And as you enter that in, you can see now, there’s the options, right? And there’s the one at the bottom for the Chateau. And You choose which option you are. Full fare is for adults and you can see children are 10 years and younger. Choose for how many people. Each person needs their own ticket. You hit validate and then you go through the same purchase process. Okay, so this is the map of the metro in entire Paris Metro. Now, where did you want to go? Okay, yeah, to the Eiffel Tower, cool. This is a bit confusing though, right? Okay, would you like to learn how to use the app? It’s way easier. Okay, cool. Let’s go grab a coffee and I’ll show you how. Okay, so this is what the app looks like, and I’m going to show you how to use it right now. Go ahead and open it up. In this section, I’m going to show you step by step how to use the application. If you’re less interested in this, please feel free to move forward to the next chapter of this video. I’ll see you in the next part of thevideo. First, you’ll click on where are we going, the blue bar, and we found our lost tourist at Gare du Nord. So I’m going to start typing in Gare and it’s auto populating right there. I tap on Gare du Nord and it will fill in that section. Where are we going? She wants to go to the Eiffel Tower. So I start typing that in and there is the Eiffel Tower stop. And there we have it at the very top left. Now. is an option that I really love and I want to show to you real quick. Do you see where it says leave now? If you tap on that, you can actually change when you’re leaving or when you’re arriving. This is great to do the night before because if you have a time ticket entry to a particular monument or museum, You can plan out how long it’s going to take you in advance. Going back, now at the top of the white bar, you have a few different options. 35 minutes is the shortest amount of time it’s going to take to get from Gare du Nord to the Eiffel Tower, if you’re using the bus or metro. It’ll take an hour and 21 minutes to walk, or 33 minutes by bike. In the next line down, you’ll see M4, M2, M6. Those are different lines. Those are different metro lines in Paris. You can see that there’s three different connections there. We’ll start at the M4, connect the M2, and then the M6. I’m actually not going to choose that one. I’m going down to the next line, M4 and M6. Why? Look at that. The difference on the right hand side is only a minute extra, but I only have to change once in that second line. That’s my goal, is to really not have to make as many changes as possible. It’s ideal if you can get to one location in just one metro train. But this is giving me an option with only one change, and that’s the one I’m going to choose. Below that is my bus option. All right, now that I’ve chosen my option of M4 to M6, it opens up into a great map. It’s an overview, sharing with me all of my journey from Gare du Nord with my lost tourists, ending at the Eiffel Tower. M4 is the purple line, And M6 is the green line. Everything’s color coordinated in the Paris Metro. Every little dot that you see along the line are different stops along the way. This one’s got quite a bit of stops. And so what we’re going to do is now dig deeper into what this app is telling me. Scrolling up and looking in the upper left hand corner, M4 to M6. I’ve got one connection in the upper right. It’s going to take me about 36 minutes for me. I always add about 10 to 15 minutes to that. I just don’t walk as fast as some people do. And certainly this app has me walking a lot faster than what I do. On the left underneath M4 and M6, This is the cost of this ride in one way for one person is 2 euros and 15 cents below that. It’s showing that we’re starting at Gare du Nord. And now here’s something that I really want to explain for you, but also I’m going to share with you visually step by step this journey so that you can see this happening in play. It sounds a little bit confusing at first, but I’m actually going to show you this entire journey. Starting at number four, Gare du Nord. Every train goes in one direction or the other, and so you need to know which direction you need. The app is telling me that we need the direction of Bagneux. That’s it. That’s all I need to know. And I’m going to show you what that looks like actually in the metro. The next section down, this is for intermediate and advanced travelers. Maybe you’ll get really comfortable at this and try this out. The app is great because it’s telling me that if I choose one of the middle carriages, That I’m going to have the fastest access to the exit, which is fantastic. It saves me time. Below that, it’s telling me how crowded is this line. And right now at this very moment, it’s mildly crowded. Not too bad. Below that, this is a great little spot. It’s easy to overlook, but it gives you a sense of how long your journey is. Here, 16 stations. So that’s 19 minutes that I’ll be riding the train. That’s quite a bit of stations to wait past. It gives you a chance to settle in and know how quickly you need to get on or off the train. In fact, you can click on that. It’ll show you all of your stops that you’re passing. Gare de l’Est, Chateau, Stras. Sebastopol, all of these lines before we get to the one that we need to get off at, which is Raspail. That’s where number six is. This is our change. We’re changing directions at Raspail and we’re getting onto number six. In the direction, do you see it right there? You’re getting good at this, aren’t you? We’re going in the direction of Charles Etoile. There we go. Down below that, it’s telling us again that if we want the fastest access to the exit, sit in the carriages up front. How crowded is this line? This one’s pretty crowded because it’s popular with tourists. And again, how long am I going to be sitting on this train? Not as long as the other one, right? We’ve got eight stations. That’s going to take us nine minutes to pass Edgar, Montparnasse, Pasteur, before we get to Bir. And we get off at Bir and that is our final stop. From there, again, for our intermediate and advanced tourists and travelers, it’s actually giving us suggestions on which exit to take. Metro stops often have multiple exits. And the goal is to get you closest to your destination. So it’s saying there that if I take exit 2, I’ll be closest to the Eiffel Tower. So your first goal is to just be looking for the color and the number of the line that you need to take. A bit like hide and go seek, but as you get closer to your platform, the signs will start giving you your directions. And here we have found Bagneux. We’re on the right path. I just wanted to remind you to hang on to these. Don’t throw ’em away. Sometimes there are metro ticket checks You’re gonna ask for this, so once you’re up above ground and finished with your ride, you can dispose of it at that point. But hang on it till then. What you ready? All right. So we know we’re going in the right direction here, but what I also want you to do is just take a brief moment and look here on the map for your stock. Okay? That way you know you’re going in the right direction. It’s a great thing to do. Fast access is in the middle, so we need to go up there. Trains arrive frequently, so if one is overly crowded, consider waiting for the next one. Queue on either side of the door to let arriving passengers off first. Arriving passengers leave first and then new passengers jump on. Please note that elderly and pregnant passengers have priority seating. The maps above each door are a great way to reconfirm that you’re going in the right direction. If your destination is moving away from you, you chose the wrong direction. Switching platforms is easy and it does not require another ticket. Simply exit the train at the next stop and switch to the other side. Every metro station has very large signs on the walls to show you which stop you’re at. There’s no confusion there. You always know where you’re at. Doors are automated and close quickly. Please be careful to keep loose clothing and children away from the doors. And here we are folks, we made it to our first stop. And as we exit the train, you’ve got the metro stop sign, as well as reconfirming that here we are, it’s pointing us in the direction of M6, our connection, and A12 is the direction that we’re going in. And here we have the app open to reconfirm our destination and our correct choices. Now our next goal is to look for line six, green line six. And as we get closer to the platform, we’ll look for the direction of A12. Now not all platform changes are this easy. Our platform change was literally on the other side of the wall, but here you have it. We made it to platform line six in the direction of A12. Here we are confirming once again that we are making the right choice. But I also want to remind you here that if a train is too full or you’re feeling a little pressured, don’t worry, you can see that the next train is only five minutes away. When entering or exiting a train, not all are the same. Some doors are automated, some have push buttons, and others like this one have flip up handles. In either way, if you are the first one to enter or exit, you’ll need to push a button or flip a handle to enter or exit. All right, so we made it. Good job. Now do you feel like you can ride the Metro by yourself now? Awesome. Here’s a croissant, and I hope you have a great time in Paris, and I hope to see you soon. Bye bye now! So sometimes you have to validate your ticket. So just get the same pass that you use, the paper one or this one, and just put it back through the turnstile. You’re not paying again, you’re just validating your exit. Unprotected backpacks, foreign clothing brand labels, and lots of luggage are a clear sign to pickpockets that these are tourists. No, you cannot get a refund, but you can gift your pass or paper tickets to someone who is traveling to Paris. Keep the paper tickets away from anything like credit cards, phones, airpods. They can quickly become demagnetized. If that happens, take it to a customer service desk and they will reissue you new ones. Don’t panic, just hand over your paper ticket or your Navigo pass and they will scan it. What do you think? It’s perfect. Okay. Okay, we’re rolling. Cheers!