Paris Transportation

For the sake of clarity, be aware that the La Chapelle Metro station is linked to the north end of Gare du Nord by tunnels. If you take the RER B from CDG to Gare du Nord, you'll need to walk through the tunnels to La Chapelle. Then take Metro line 2 to Courcelles. A single ticket from CDG to anywhere in central Paris costs €9.25 and provides unlimited transfers until you exit the system. For detailed instructions, including photos, on how to get from CDG to Paris on the RER, go to the Paris by Train site. For a zoomable map of the Metro and RER system, go here: http://tinyurl.com/6xmvms4. To get to Gare de Lyon from your hotel, take Metro line 2 to Charles de Gaulle-Etoile. Transfer to the RER A and take it to Gare de Lyon. According to viamichelin.com, the Hermitage Hotel is only a few blocks from the Monaco/Monte Carlo train station. It's a 20-minute train ride from Nice Ville to Monaco which is east of Nice. The Nice airport is west of Nice.

I'd like to answer the map question only: You could buy a guide book to Paris that has a removable fold-out map in the back. Perhaps your local book store has a map for Paris only. Or, almost every hotel in Paris has a free map that is easily portable and easy to read. I used it and found it so good, that I didn't use the map I brought along. Also, if you google for a map of Paris, you can enlarge the sections and find the points of interest on your itinerary. They are well-marked. Hope you have a wonderful time, Paris is beautiful. Googling for city maps will help with all of your destinations.

Mark, we have stayed at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe. The closest metro stop is Courcelles on the Metro 2 line. It's about 3 blocks away. A taxi from CDG will cost 50E-70E depending on traffic. The RER/Metro route is not too direct but it will get you there. Take the RER B from CDG to Gare du Nord. Exit and walk to the La Chappele stop. See attached link for the map. At La Chappele take the No. 2 metro to Port Dauphine. Get off at Courcelles. If you are able to get some sense of direction, go SE on Rue de Courcelles. You'll see the hotel after a block or so. Your RER ticket will take you all the way. Here's the link to the map on how to get to La Chappele from Gare du Nord. http://gyazo.com/ac9e66fedfff25223f06d437dee0b4fd The Hilton will give you a small Printemps map. It's pocket-size, foldable and has the entire RER/metro system map on one side and a city map on the other. Works great. Once you are there, we recommend the taxi to get back to the hotel - especially from the Louvre or Notre Dame areas. It's not expensive - about 15E. We were at the hotel for 5 days and did this a few times. There's a lot of stairs in the metro. Finally, if you are a Hilton Diamond member, be sure to eat frequently in the Executive lounge. We had breakfast there every day and we had dinner there a few evenings as well. It's not a formal dinner but there's easily enough there for a nice meal. It's all free to Diamond members or special purchase members. We saved about 80E a day in food costs by eating there. When you are ready to depart for Nice, treat yourself and take a taxi to the train station. We planned on taking the metro/RER to the airport but we saved so much money on eating in the hotel, we treated ourselves to a nice taxi ride instead (50E). Loved it.

I agree with Anna on the use of the small maps. The Printemps map that I mentioned above was so useful, we left our other books with maps in the room.

As to where things are: Gare de Lyon is about a mile and a half southeast or Notre Dame on the north side of the Seine. Nice Ville is smack dab in the middle of Nice a bit over a half mile from the coast. The Nice airport is down the coast three of four miles southwest from the center of town on a stubby peninsula (if you're looking a a map it might be called Cote d'Azur). The location of the Hermitage Hotel is one of the mysteries of life.

To go from CDG I would suggest a taxi,, its just easiest,, will run between 45-55 euros. They can add an extra euro per bag over the meter charge.. Also, only take a taxi from the offical taxi rank,, not from some freelancer who approaches you. The offical taxis are properly metered and regulated. It is always best to write down the name of your hotel with its FULL address,, its too easy to pronounce a name wrong and end up in other hotel with a similar name. Writing it down keeps it simple for everyone. I too am travelling from Paris to |Nice this summer ,, and have already purchased my ticket on the idTGV site. At this date you may just look on the TGV site, prices may be about even( idTGV and TGV are actually the same trains, just different cars, and different ticketing methods) Booking well in advance will get you best prices, I have first class tickets for 44 euros.
To get to the train station from your hotel, just take a taxi,, its going to run about 15 euros.. but easiest if you have luggage to deal with. We are just staying in Nice and daytripping to Monaco so can't help there with logistics, we are just going to take bus to hotel and walk.

Since this is your first trip, you need to get the Rick Steves France book ASAP, as he will have lots of help with your questions (and many others that will arise, like "What kind of tickets do I need for the Metro" and "After a day in Monte Carlo, I've seen everything I want to see. What else is there to see near here?") For getting in from CDG to your hotel, "Best" can mean fastest, cheapest, or easiest. These are not the same. For cheapest and fastest, use the RER/metro combo. For easiest, a taxi. For navigating the train station, again Rick has directions; you want the "Grand Lignes" section of the station, not the "Banlieue" or the "Metro" or the "RER" sections. You then look at the big board or computer monitors, just like at an airport. Be sure to know your train's number, departure time, and final station, so you can find it on the board. If the track is not posted, don't panic (for some reason, I've seen Americans freak out when their train wasn't leaving for 2 hours, and the track wasn't posted yet). If it's leaving in 10-15 minutes and you still can't see it, don't be afraid to ask for help. continued..

continued.. As others have said, the free maps from the department stores Au Printemps and Galleries Lafayette are good. If you want to take one from home, or have one to look at before leaving to familiarize yourself, get Streetwise Paris. It has the advantage of being laminated, so it won't get damaged if it gets wet. I Googled, and found that the Hermitage Hotel is indeed in Monte Carlo, not in Nice (actually in the separate country of Monaco). Nice Ville is the train station in Nice; from there you can take a train right to Monaco. If you don't want to take the train, you can take a bus (will require a transfer) or a taxi (will cost a bunch of euros). From Nice Ville station to Nice Airport, there is a direct bus. A regular bus ticket is not sufficient for the airport bus; you need a day ticket. However, you can use this to ride on buses connecting all the Riveria towns (including Monaco) without paying again. The second "however" is that buses within Monaco are separate and are covered by their own fares and day pass. This makes it all sound so confusing, but it's not. Again, Rick has all the details you need in his book. A warning: my Googling showed that there is a Hermitage Hotel in Eze, another town on the Riviera. If you're taking a taxi (in Paris as well as in Nice), have the COMPLETE address written down to show the driver. Be sure to include the postal code and phone (in case they need to call for exact directions). You want to show the driver this in Paris: Hilton Arc de Triomphe hotel 51/57, rue de Courcelles Paris, 75008, France Telephone: +33 (0) 1 58 36 67 00 and this in Nice: Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo Square Beaumarchais MC 98000 Principality of Monaco
T. (377) 98 06 40 00

Marie,, this is not the place for you to advertize for free.