Paris Metro

I haven't been to Paris in many years, but from what I remember, they are not as long and steep as London. I've never seen any escalators as long as the ones in London.

Hi Heidi, I have not been to Paris for a couple of years, but I do not recall seeing any escalators in the Metro (maybe I just didn't notice :-( ) . I do recall the steps being relatively steep. Paula

I thought it depended on the Metro station. Some seemed deep, and others seemed very close to the surface. I do recall one in the Montmartre neighborhood having many, many, many steps and being one of the deeper ones. You may have issue with some of them if the London ones bothered you, but not all.
Do you have a phobia, or is it a physical issue with climbing?

We seldom take the Metro any more, unless it is important to get to a destination quickly. The buses are much more pleasant, IMHO. You get to see the neighborhoods you miss by being underground, and there are no stairs or long corridors to navigate.

I have the same height issues as you do and most of the Metro stations are fine. Many of the RER stations in Central Paris (except Line C which runs on or close to the surface) are too deep for me to be comfortable on escalators and few of them have lifts (so if you're flying into CDG, use a bus or coach rather than RER). Also some of the stations on Line 14 are quite deep, but most of them have lifts as they were built after wheelchair-accessibility laws. Apart from Line 14 and the RER there are few very deep Metro stations and most of them have lifts rather than escalators (most importantly for tourists Cite, and Abbesses in Montmartre, but both of those have lifts). I understand that there are some deep stations with escalators only around the Buttes-Chaumont area in the NE, but that's not very significant for tourists.

A big thank you to all those who replied. Your help is very much appreciated!

There are few really, really steep stairs/escalators in the Paris Metro.... but there are quite a lot of stairs. If your issue is fitness or mobility, you might want to take the bus. If you issue is vertigo, I think the Paris Metro will be less hair-raising than the London tube!

I go to Paris fairly often, and have trouble going up stairs. The Metro does have a lot. Some more than others. I have seen very few with an elevator. Quite a few have escalators but it depends on what exit you take and it's not always posted for you to know. And many times, the escalator doesn't work. This past trip, last summer, I learned the bus system and routes and I highly recommend taking the bus instead, as others have suggested.