Changing train stations in Paris

WITHIN Paris the RER and the metro use the same tickets and cost the same; about 2 Euro. You have to pay more on the RER for locations outside of Paris. There are ticket machines in every metro station. At this time you can still buy a single ticket but that will end soon; they are shifting to a system with a reloadable card called a Navigo Easy on which you load tickets.

One way by metro is to take the 3 to Reamur Sebastabol and transfer to the 4 which gets you to Est.

There are always multiple ways to get to most places in central Paris. I’d take Line 3 to Opera and change there for line 7. Consider downloading the RATP app or CityMapper’s so you can check the best route when you are traveling.

yes the RER from Hausmann St. Lazare to Magenta is fastest but also the most confusing for someone unfamiliar with the system. --

I also find the RER E to be a bit tricky to find, particularly for someone otherwise unfamiliar. If the signage were as good as it should be, anyone could find it.

I did that exact same trip in November. I took a taxi. I believe it was 8 Euros.

No problems trying to find it, no worries having to follow signs, no transfers, no problems with tickets.

A taxi is really the best way, in my opinion. The cost is negligible in the context of travel, and there is a bus lane most of the way, so they aren't too affected by traffic and the trip should never exceed 20-25 minutes (10 in good traffic).

RER E is deep inside the bowels of the earth and finding Gare de l'Est is not obvious once you exit, and metro requires cumbersome, staircase-filled transfers at Opéra or Réaumur-Sébastopol.

I'm a vote for the RER but that's me.

I haven't used a taxi that I had to pay for - anywhere - in as long as I can remember, at least 40 years. One exception proves the rule - about 20 years ago I used a taxi to take me and my wife and two brand new German bicycles still rigged for the former Eurostar bicycle policy from Waterloo to Euston stations. They wouldn't have worked on the Tube and were too big to put on a bus. That's the one time. I find RER and Métro easy in Paris but wouldn't want the two Métros and connections for that route.

On some Paris train arrivals the Metro entrance has been impassable with crowds waiting to buy Metro tickets at machines instead of the insufficient number of live agents. The wait looks like at least 1/2 hour, with luggage all around. Touts circulate selling torn-apart Carnets, and I eventually bought two for us.

What is a 'torn apart carnet' -- carnets have not been 'books' in my travels to Paris which stretch over decades.

I don't advice a cab in downtown Paris when yu have a train to catch because traffic can be ridiculous -- it once took us 90 minutes to get across town by cab.

I just bought a "carnet" from a vending machine at Gare de l'Est and it popped out 10 separate little tickets, so yes they are easily shared, split up and sold. I gave half to my wife and off we went. When you bought them from a tout, was there a markup? Otherwise the scheme doesn't make much sense.

And yes, for some reason when a TGV arrived at the station every single person went and stood in line to buy metro tickets. It was the damndest thing, most of them are locals so why didn't they plan better? I started in the human line because I didn't think my credit card would work, but in fact it did.