Bus 69 to Pere Lachaise Cemetery

Bus #69 ends at Place Gambetta, which is 2 blocks from the cemetery. Rick recommends this stop. He says: Walk past McDonald's (yep, not kidding), then follow signs to the cemetery.
Rick Steves' Paris guidebook gives a self-guided walking tour of the cemetery, it's an entire chapter of his book.
The same book has a chapter "Bus #69 Sightseeing Tour."

I seem to remember getting off the bus at one stop before Gambetta,and being right at the entry to the cemetery. Looking at the route for No 69 that would be the M. Naudaud stop. Upcoming stops are noted on an electronic panel on the bus so you will know when to get off. I am guessing the journey from Champs de Mars to there is about 30 minutes, maybe less.

Rick recommends getting off at the last stop, the Place Gambetta stop, to get to the cemetery, from there it's about a 2 block walk to the cemetery.

Oh, and yes, it is a very interesting bus ride, passing many of the sites everyone wants to see. For your return journey there is a metro station across from the cemetery. When you buy your metro/bus tickets ask for a map, or download one onto your phone or iPad.

We didn't stop at Pere Lachaise, but remember the route as being a great, and cheap "bus tour." A nice respite from all the walking.

You do not have to stay on Bus 69 to the end of the line to get to Pere Lachaise. It depends on where in the cemetery you at to go. At the intersection of Avenue Roquette and Boulevard de Menilmontant, you could get off the bus and then locate either of two entrances. Take a look at it on Google map and the RATP bus route map and you will see what I mean: https://www.google.com/maps/@48.8587514,2.391134,15z and http://www.ratp.fr/informer/pdf/orienter/f_plan.php?nompdf=69&loc=bus_paris/. Metro Line 2 that goes to Etoile has two stations near the cemetery. The cemetery is large so it is difficult to say how far a station will be from where you will be when you ready to head back.

There was a thread a while back on TA where a few folks suggested using the Rue de la Roquette entrance, (on the opposite side of PL from Gambetta Metro) since this puts you in a walk-uphill orientation, which for some is easier than going downhill-knees, etc. Also, going this direction goes from older sites to the newer ones, instead of the other way around, according to a resident who posts there.

The Rue de la Roquette is a couple long blocks down Boulevard de Menilmontant from the Pere-Lachaise Metro stop, without looking not sure how this stop relates to the Bus 69 pat, but seems like something to consider. There are maps available at or near either entrance.

Rick's directions to get off at the last bus stop, Place Gambetta, are correlated with the beginning point of his Cemetery Tour that is included in his Paris guidebook.
He recommends doing the cemetery tour in this way, so that his walking tour (of about 1.5 hours) will be mostly downhill, heading generally southwest. He doesn't recommend starting at the other stop, because he feels it is easier for most people to walk in his recommended direction, downhill.

If you get off at Gambetta you enter at the top of the hill in Pere Lachaise which makes the walk through the cemetery downhill. Be sure you have a good map with you. Supposedly they are available at florists nearby or at the cemetery office; we did not find this to be the case either time we visited.

Get a metro map and take the subway ,it brings you right to the one entrance at the bottom of the cemetery . Once in the entrance get a map and start your walk , you can spent 2-3 hours going around finding famous peoples plots , once you come out there is some good cafes down the street to enjoy pizza and a few glasses of wine

Here is the link to Paris Bus #69 with a map of it route and stops,http://www.parisperfect.com/blog/2012/09/the-69-bus-see-all-the-top-sights-in-paris/.
The cemetery is on the Right side of the map, there are 4 stops adjacent to it.
Enjoy your trip

Ann,
We are thinking about doing this bus ride too, and going to the last stop for the cemetery as outlined in Rick's book. On the way back we thought maybe we would get off at a few of the stops to check out the sites.

My question is regarding tickets. Are the carnets of tickets for use on the metro only or could we use them in combination with buses as well?

Kathy -- The carnets work on Metro and on buses, but you can't use just one to transfer between Metro and busses. You can, however, get a transfer slip when you board a bus and use it to ride another line in the same direction within, I believe, 90 minutes. So one ticket would be good for 2 rides on different buses as long as you're headed in the same general direction within the time limit.

There's no need to get a "transfer slip" in advance on buses, just keep your normal ticket handy and put it into the reader when you get on the second bus and it will be accepted. The restriction is that you cannot reuse a single travel ticket to transfer from metro/RER to bus/tram or vice-versa.

Hi,
You have probably head enough about this. My experience was this. There is only one entrance to the cemetery. Maybe I am wrong. But we nearly walked around the darned thing before we could get in.

Two a cemetery map is needed.

Three Wilde's grave is boxed off you can't kiss it any more or less.

It is a nice way to spend a few hours.
wayne iNWI

There is only one entrance to the cemetery. Maybe I am wrong.

Actually, there are 5 entrances.

I recommend following the detailed walking tour given by Rick in his Paris guidebook.
His walk has you beginning the walk by entering at the upper (north side) Porte Gambetta entrance (which is a 2 block walk from the Place Gambetta bus #69 stop), and ends with you exiting the Porte Principale entrance/exit at the bottom southwest side of the cemetery. From there, the Pere Lachaise Metro stop is one block long to the right, or you can take bus #69 back but it's a little farther walk than the Metro.

Rick's walking tour is efficient (save you time and shoe leather) and has you going mostly downhill, which some travelers will appreciate.
To judge from some of the above posts, it looks like most travelers here apparently are only finding the Porte Principale entrance/exit, and some think they have to take the Metro to reach it. That works, but then you're walking mostly uphill, and Rick's excellent walking tour doesn't work for you.
There are better options, follow Rick's tour. BTW, his incomparable Paris book is soooo worth the $20, considering all the money you're spending on your trip (and I'm not getting a dime for saying this).
Or you can do things the hard way, it's your trip and you get to do it any way you want to.