touring Paris

We have been to Paris twice recently and just walked everywhere. If you choose a central location (we stayed in the Latin Quarter, very close to Notre Dame) and are OK with walking about four miles each day, you can easily walk everywhere except Montmarte (we used a cab for that.)............ You can also use the Batobus which makes a continuous circuit on the Seine with eight stops between the Jardin des Plantes and the Eiffel Tower. It's hop-on and hop-off. You buy a ticket and don't need to speak French to use the Batobus.........For transportation between your hotel and the airport or the Eurostar train station, use a cab......Use google translate and print out the sentences you will need to say to the cab driver...........You will probably get other posts telling you how easy it is to use the metro and the other public transportation in Paris, but if you feel intimidated by it, you can easily get around without using it..........And you get to burn off all of those calories from the lovely French desserts.

Paris, like London, is a City made for walking. That plus elementary Metro will get you most places you will want to go. Our first visit to Paris we were even able to handle transferring on the Metro with a minimal understanding of French. Absolutely no need to do a three day tour- but first day Hop On Hop Off bus tour is a great help. Enabled us to identify spots we wanted to go back to that we had not read about. My only caution would be, that I would choose a hotel in the middle of all the sights (Marais, Opera, Islands, Latin Quarter) that way your Metro will be minimalised

Agree with the first two posters - Paris is DEFINITELY a walking city. My mother (73) and her sister were there a year or so ago and managed to see pretty much everything they wanted to just by walking there. Get a good map and plan your route, and it's easy-peasy. Plus, it is such a DELIGHTFUL city to stroll through! I am in Paris a couple of times a year and almost never take the Metro except to and from the airport. Why? (A) The Metro is about the only place in Paris that harshes my buzz. As with any major metropolitan underground system, it has its share of dirt and homeless people and is just about the only place I have seen folks who are obviously high. (B) While the Metro lay-out is "simple" in concept and a breeze once you have figured it out, it can be high-stress and confusing if you don't speak French and haven't done it before. It's worth using for long distances - across the entire city, for instance - but you can easily avoid using it if you plan your route, or decided to stick to one neighborhood. (C) Taking the bus issuper simple - and they make change! And you can SEE things above ground. It is like a bonus sightseeing tour while you are getting where you are going.