Dear All,
Does anyone have any particular advice for an arrival into Gare du Nord on Saturday (January 11)? My Thalys train is not cancelled. At around noon, I will have to get to the 16th arrondissement to check in.
I read that there is another march/protest scheduled for Jan 11 between Gare de L'est and Gare du Lyon. Other areas to avoid?
Thanks so much.
Your problem is that Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est are right next door to each other. Luckily you are headed west from Gare du Nord, which itself is west of Gare de l’Est, while the protesters will be headed southeast from Gare de l’Est towards Gare de Lyon.
However it could make things a mess even at Gare du Nord and surrounding areas. Make sure to arm yourself with patience knowing that you may take a while to get out of there —metro options are limited but at least on Saturdays they have been operating what they have been operating between 1 pm and 6 pm. Taxis could be problematic if the roads are congested.
This evening be sure to read Andrew’s daily update post, which will detail what metro lines will be available Saturday.
Once you make it to the 16th, you should be okay.
Hi,
The protests don't start until 1 PM, so you should be fine taking a taxi (beware, there are some scammers at Gare du Nord, make sure the meter is on) / Uber.
As for public transportation, the strike still goes on, and news about tomorrow's service will only be on at 5 PM CET. If last Saturday's any indication, you should be able to take metro line 4 to Strasbourg St Denis followed by line 9 towards the 16th, but we'll only know for sure at 5 PM. Google translate this page later today : https://www.ratp.fr/infos-trafic/bulletin-general
Note that there is indeed a separate, not-at-all-related-to-pensions, protest departing from the Denain in front of the Gare du Nord at 1 pm. (Protest in support of the Kurds and Sudan, according to RATP).
Hopefully you will be out of there before people start gathering for their 1 pm departure; RATP is advising that buses in the area will be either deviated from their normal routes or cut short.
Thank you, Kim. I was just checking the news on the double protest happening to the east. My train arrives at 12.35pm so we shall see... I was planning to catch a cab in front of the train station.
For your cab — be sure to go to the official taxi rank and don't let anyone talk you into taking a cab from anywhere except the official taxi rank! They are notorious at Gare du Nord for trying to weasel you into their outrageous rate taxis.
Anyway I don't think this demonstration will be anything as big as the ones about the retirement reform. Hopefully it won't cause too big of a problem.
Boston — how did it go?
Hi Kim,
Our Thalys train was 20 minutes late so we got there at 1pm. By the time we de-boarded and got into the station, I did not see any sign of protesters. Thank you SO much for the reminder to look for the official taxi stand which is on the right side of the station as you face Rue de Dunkerque from the inside of the train station. In fact, we exited the front of the train station and went around the corner until we saw the people lining up for taxis and the official attendants. The line was rather long -- maybe 15 parties. So I used the G7 app and successfully called a taxi to our location -- there was little traffic to the 16th arrondissement. It was something like 16 euros with tip.
We are having a fantastic time in Paris -- we have seen little or no sign of any public disruption. The damage to Notre Dame is heart-breaking. We have been getting around by occasional use of taxis, walking, using Velib (I got a 7 day pass-- it was a little tricky because my American credit card would not work online or on my phone; it did work at a bike station. And I connected it to my Navigo Decouvert card from a previous trip). And we have even been using the Lime electric scooters (another App that we already had from the USA). All in all, I've been very impressed with the multitude of bike lines; many are on sidewalks or separated from car traffic). I wouldn't say that biking and scooting is terribly safe but we're equally at peril with many other cyclists and motorcyclists. Parisians have been incredibly nice and we have enjoyed walking into venues and restaurants. We are LOVING it here. Thank you to Everyone who posted helpful information on the strikes and such great advice. Someone suggested not being cheap and allotting a little more to transportation and I think that was great advice. Also, some taxi drivers don't take credit cards so it's useful to have euros in hand. Thanks again, Kim!
Boston — that is great that you are having a good time. I don’t think I gave any good advice — I think I unnecessarily worried you! I am glad if the reminder re the taxi line was good — but it seems you solved that issue yourself as well. Hope you continue to enjoy your time in Paris! Thanks for the report back, it will be useful to folks.
