69 bus in Paris

The Hotel de Ville (city hall) is a good landmark and you could either get off at that stop (closer to the Ile de la Cite) or ring for the next stop after you pass it.

The bus will be heading east on Rue de Rivoli. After you pass the Hotel de Ville on your right, look for Rue du Pont Louis Phillippe, also on your right, in a couple of blocks. Walk down that street about four blocks to the river and the Pont Louis-Phillippe, which takes you to the Ile -- the west end, nearest Notre Dame. If you miss that stop, or if you want to end up in the middle of the Ile, look for Rue de Fourcy on your right about three blocks further on. There's a little pedestrian park with a merry-go-round there, on the right just past Rue de Fourcy, and an entrance for the St-Paul Metro station. Walk down Rue de Fourcy about four blocks, past the historic Hotel de Sens on your left, to the Pont Marie and then the Ile. Last shot -- desperate measure -- get off at Place de la Bastille and walk down Blvd. Henri IV -- an acute angle back to your right -- a longer distance to the last bridge that gets you to the east end of the Ile.

If you can access Google Earth's "street view" feature, you can "eyeball" these corners and streets so you'll know what to look for. Or ask anyone on the bus: "Bonjour Monsieur/Madame, ou est l'Ile St-Louis, s'il vous plait?" They'll point you in the right direction.

EDIT -- In other words, what Laura said, with more detail. ;-)

First, the headline, then, the article, Dick.

There is no eastbound traffic on rue de Rivoli. The 69 bus going eastbound in that area is following the Quai de la Mégisserie, Quai des Gevres, etc. I agree you should get off at Hotel de Ville -- then just walk across to the Ile de la Cité (i.e. towards Notre Dame) then walk alongside Notre Dame and behind it, you're on to the bridge that takes you onto the Ile St-Louis.

I was also interested in taking this bus. I just need a bus ticket for each way so I don't want a carnet so where do I buy my ticket...from bus driver??

Yes, Kathleen, you can buy a ticket from the driver for .30 more; in this case, it's only valid for one bus, no connections. You still validate it in the date-stamp machine onboard. Single tickets are also sold at machines in metro stations.

Thanks Laura!

OMG, Kim is right, Rue de Rivoli is one-way westbound. Thanks, Kim, for saving EdC from a head-on collision if he'd followed my advice! (I blame the bus map in back of my Michelin mapbook, which shows the 69 on the same track in both directions -- but it's schematic rather than exactly geographic.)

So, EdC, sorry, but you'll miss the merry-go-round. :-(

When we were in Paris in June of this year we took the 69 bus for a sightseeing trip as described in the RS Paris Guide Book.
We go on the bus and only went a few stops when the bus pulled over onto a bridge and said that was the end of the line for the day.
Turns out that the 69 bus does not run a full route on Sundays, at least on that Sunday. Be sure to ask the driver if you want to take the 69 bus on a Sunday if he runs the full route or not.

Kathleen: You said this was your only bus ride and so you don't need a carnet. However, the same tickets are used for the Metro and the bus, so unless you really are taking fewer than 8 rides on all local transit, the carnet will save both money and hassle. Furthermore it's splittable (it's 10 separate tickets bought at a discount); if there are two of you, you get 5 rides each. And if you have tickets left from a carnet, they don't expire - you can save them for a future trip (yours or someone else's).

In other words, unless you are just in Paris for 1 or 2 days and are traveling alone, it's probably best to get the carnet.