Bonjour!
We are staying in the 16 arr. at the Melia Hotel Champs d' Elysee.
It appears that to take the metro to Ile de la Cite, Notre Dame, Sainte-Chapelle, Musee d'Orsay and Mariais that one has to make several changes. Is that true?
Also to walk to each of these places that we would like to see -it takes 1 hour and 20 minutes, according to Google map.
Any thoughts or helpful suggestions, please?
We are going to be in Paris Sept. 24th and 25th. Just two days.
Merci!
Joan
Hi Joan, if you’re only going to be in Paris two days, I would highly recommend searching for a hotel in the single digits neighborhoods. It may cost more, but your experiences in Paris will be maximized vs. time sitting in metros, making transfers, etc. You’re not going there to spend so much time in transportation. : )
Do you have issues with making changes on the Metro? It is normal to have to make changes on the Metro to get where you want to go.
I do get kick out of the fact that a hotel that has Champs Elysee in the name and is a long way from the Champs Elysee.
The metro is efficient, easy to use and inexpensive. Making changes isn't difficult. But you are really staying far out there from the sites you are wanting to see; so it will take up time, and you only have two days.
But, if you download the G7 taxi app (it's the official Paris taxi) you can get around rather quickly. The app is user friendly (similar to Uber but Uber is awful in Paris.) You'll get clean professional car and driver wherever you are and wherever you want to go. If you download it and play around with it to familiarize yourself with it now (just don't click the final accept button for a ride) you'll be good to go. We ended up with a foot injury while in Paris this spring and just G7'd our way around the city for a few days going from place to place. It was great!
Thank you so much for all the suggestions!
I had a friend make the rsvp for the hotel who is a travel agent.... Unfortunately, we just received the documents this past week so do not know if we can change the hotel.
It is funny isn't it, the name of the hotel.
Thanks again!
I recommend you download the CityMapper app which you can use for navigating the Metro as well as walking in Paris. For the Metro it will tell you what end of the train to try and enter (front, back or middle) and tell you which exits to take if your end station has more than one exit.
You have just learned the drawbacks of using a travel agent. I have never had a travel agent who knew anything about a place I was visiting and they invariably get a hotel out of some book that ends up being soulless and inconvenient. It is so easy to make your own arrangements -- with location being near the top of the list. You might very well be able to cancel and get something central. With so little time being in the 4th 5th or 6th close to the river would make the trip more manageable and less about travel logistics.
After our disastrous experience using a travel agent for the Loire, we have never looked back and with the internet -- it is so easy to do on your own.
Have you been using this site to map out the possibilities"
Anybody....I too am trying to familiarize myself with Google maps (trip planned next month) but using Joan's Melia Hotel champs d' Elysee to Notre Dame and leaving at say 1PM I calculate using Metro M2 at stop Victor Hugo and then transferring to Metro M1 at Charles De Gaulle -Etoile to station Hotel de Ville and then an 8 minute walk to Notre Dame. Just 1 transfer, total travel time of 31 minutes including 14 minutes of walking. Am I misunderstanding something?
Google maps was sort of medium helpful when we were in Paris in April. I have Verizon Intl plan. I would also look into the Citymapper app as others suggested.
@ Galaxie500xl, Generally speaking I prefer to use Citymapper or the official RATP site to plan your trip. The RATP site is https://www.ratp.fr/. That being said, the route that you have is perfectly fine and it does not look like you are misunderstanding anything.
@trutestein, You do not have to make "several" changes. Every place that you have listed can be traveled to from your hotel with just one change. And in the case of the Musee d'Orsay, you could walk over to the Avenue Foch station and take the RER C to the museum. Now that does not mean that I like the location of your hotel and if I were you I would change hotels if I could but you do not need to make several changes to get to the places listed and making a single change on the metro is pretty typical.
Your hotel says it is near Victor Hugo stop, which is just one stop on the Metro from Etoile, which has line 1 which gets you to the main area of Paris. When I visited my daughter many years ago during her junior year abroad, she lived somewhat near your hotel (between it and Etoile) and it was quite easy to get to the area around the Seine.
Thank you Galaxie500xl. When I do Google maps it states 1 hour and 20 minutes give or take. I will try your way.
Hi, I just saw on your other post of another city this comment: ”It is a twenty minute walk to our hotel. Hubby had partial knee surgery in May.”
If your husband just had knee surgery, I would definitely contact your travel agent friend and have them cancel this Parisian hotel. You need to be staying in one of the single digit neighborhoods at the center. Look on Booking.com at the center of Paris map and pick out one with an 8+ review rating.
And taking metros usually involves several sets of stairs. You will want buses or taxis.
Paris is a beautiful city! Enjoy!
Thank you again for the suggestions such as City Mapper & RATP. Believe I '"wrongly figured" there would be more than one stop/change. Thank you for correcting me and seeing that there is only one transfer ! Feeling better with all of the wonderful helpful apps and other information that everyone has posted. Enjoy your Sunday!
