Torchy
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2005
- Messages
- 265
We have just returned from a 4-day holiday in Paris and managed to fit in an afternoon at DLRP. My wife Susan has just recovered from serious illness, and I decided we could both do with a mind-clearing break. I see a lot of references to travel in and around Paris, and a lot of reticence and confusion. So I thought I'd share our experiences here.
Arrival & The Airport
Paris - Charles-De-Gaulle is in essence one airport, but administratively split into two. CDG1 contains terminals 1 & 3, and has its own RER station. CDG2 contains terminal 2 and also has its own station including the TGV. Most (if not all) UK flights to CDG arrive at terminal 2. After clearing passport control and clutching your bags you will feed on to the main concourse that serves terminals 2B to 2F. The signposts for the RER are very clearly marked - depending on which zone you arrive in, they will either say CDGVAL or simply RER. In any case, the RER and TGV station is situated between 2D and 2E. Following the signs brings you to the upper level of the concourse, and you descend the escalators to the hubbub below.
The ticket offices are along one side of the concourse and are split into RER/Metropolitan and the TGV counters. Now we enter a world of abbreviations that no-one really explains ...
RER - this is the Parisian Suburban light railway system that only serves Greater Paris area.
TGV - this is the high-speed train service providing fast main-line services all over France.
SNCF - the initials are synonymous with the main-line trains that serve destinations all over the country like our own train system. SNCF own the TGV service but it is operated separately from main-line trains.
Metropolitain - this is the metro system that is exactly like London Underground. The trains are similar in size and construction, even the small maps of whichever line you are on are the same. Note that unlike the tube, some metro train doors have a small handle to open them instead of buttons - you move the handle UP to open the doors.
Within Paris, and on the RER they have a simple system. On the freely available maps, Numbers refer to Metro lines, and Letters refer to RER services. The metro and RER lines intersect at certain stations where you can change metro <-> RER. The signs for directions will always indicate the number/letter for metro/RER and the colours match the maps.
On the metro, the signs indicate the direction of travel by the terminus station name. As an example, metro line 2 (blue) runs from 'Ch. De Gaulle - Etoile' to 'Nation'. To travel west (eg to L'Arc de Triomphe) you need a sign with number 2 in a blue circle, with 'Ch. De Gaulle - Etoile' underneath. To travel east (eg to Gar du Nord) you need a sign with a number 2 in a blue circle, with 'Nation' underneath.
The RER is similar, but uses letters instead of numbers to reference the lines, and again uses the terminus name on the direction signs to get you to the correct platform. As with UK trains, however, the 'next train' indicators are different - newer stations have plasma screens with specific train details. Older stations have two boards - one will list all the stations east bound to terminus, one all stations westbound (as an example). One sign will light up according to which direction the train is going, and individual dots light for which stations the train stops at.
Back to CDG and we are now standing next to the ticket offices.
Counters 1 to 6 serve RER and Metro tickets, 7 onwards are TGV only. You need to use the counters (1-6) for Paris-Visite tickets but for single tickets (or books of tickets) you can use the machines on the concourse. Remember that the Yellow machines are for SNCF only (main-line intercity services), RER and metro are the green machines. These machines take credit and debit cards (Mastercard and Visa) and coins only - we didnt see any that accepted banknotes.
TGV to Disney only takes about 15 minutes and costs E16 one-way. Not a frequent service, and we saw lots of changes/interruptions posted on the boards. When searching for timetables use ROISSY as your departure station, this being the TGV station at CDG, and Marne-la-Vallee as your destination. For timetable and fares go here :
www.voyages-sncf.com
RER/Metro single to Disney from CDG is approximately E12.00
RER single to Disney from central Paris was £5.20, more info here :-
http://www.allo-france.com/Tickets/ticket-details.asp?Id=23
A booklet of 10 single tickets for transport within Paris is £10.50 (4-11 yo £5.30).With these tickets, you can travel on the metro and buses up to zone 3 and the RER up to zone 2.
For Paris Visite cards to be valid from CDG to Disney you need zones 1 to 6 and cost £15.40 (£7.70) for one day. Our 3 day cards cost £33.00 each. This gave us 3 days unlimited travel for £66.00, and saved us a small fortune as we used both Metro and RER heavily for the places we wanted to visit. Bear in mind, a return ticket Paris-Chessy is £10.40, so all-day metro travel was just £5.00.
Whichever ticket is more suitable for your visit should be described here :-
www.indigoguide.com/france/paris-metro-tickets.htm
www.conciergerie.com/main.htm?O=CC&P=paris_information/pubtrans.shtml
http://www.ratp.fr/
So tickets in hand, off through the barriers - these are the same as the Tube in London, and all the stations have a Tube-like layout. Note that from the airport, ALL trains go through Paris.
For travel to Disney take the RER B (blue) to Chatalet-Des Halles. Change here on to RER A (red) to Marne-La-Vallee Chessy. At Chatalet the change is easy but avoid rush-hour !!! The trip from CDG to DLRP was roughly 1 hour 15 minutes, from central Paris (Etoile) to DLRP was roughly 40 minutes.
Arrival & The Airport
Paris - Charles-De-Gaulle is in essence one airport, but administratively split into two. CDG1 contains terminals 1 & 3, and has its own RER station. CDG2 contains terminal 2 and also has its own station including the TGV. Most (if not all) UK flights to CDG arrive at terminal 2. After clearing passport control and clutching your bags you will feed on to the main concourse that serves terminals 2B to 2F. The signposts for the RER are very clearly marked - depending on which zone you arrive in, they will either say CDGVAL or simply RER. In any case, the RER and TGV station is situated between 2D and 2E. Following the signs brings you to the upper level of the concourse, and you descend the escalators to the hubbub below.
The ticket offices are along one side of the concourse and are split into RER/Metropolitan and the TGV counters. Now we enter a world of abbreviations that no-one really explains ...
RER - this is the Parisian Suburban light railway system that only serves Greater Paris area.
TGV - this is the high-speed train service providing fast main-line services all over France.
SNCF - the initials are synonymous with the main-line trains that serve destinations all over the country like our own train system. SNCF own the TGV service but it is operated separately from main-line trains.
Metropolitain - this is the metro system that is exactly like London Underground. The trains are similar in size and construction, even the small maps of whichever line you are on are the same. Note that unlike the tube, some metro train doors have a small handle to open them instead of buttons - you move the handle UP to open the doors.
Within Paris, and on the RER they have a simple system. On the freely available maps, Numbers refer to Metro lines, and Letters refer to RER services. The metro and RER lines intersect at certain stations where you can change metro <-> RER. The signs for directions will always indicate the number/letter for metro/RER and the colours match the maps.
On the metro, the signs indicate the direction of travel by the terminus station name. As an example, metro line 2 (blue) runs from 'Ch. De Gaulle - Etoile' to 'Nation'. To travel west (eg to L'Arc de Triomphe) you need a sign with number 2 in a blue circle, with 'Ch. De Gaulle - Etoile' underneath. To travel east (eg to Gar du Nord) you need a sign with a number 2 in a blue circle, with 'Nation' underneath.
The RER is similar, but uses letters instead of numbers to reference the lines, and again uses the terminus name on the direction signs to get you to the correct platform. As with UK trains, however, the 'next train' indicators are different - newer stations have plasma screens with specific train details. Older stations have two boards - one will list all the stations east bound to terminus, one all stations westbound (as an example). One sign will light up according to which direction the train is going, and individual dots light for which stations the train stops at.
Back to CDG and we are now standing next to the ticket offices.
Counters 1 to 6 serve RER and Metro tickets, 7 onwards are TGV only. You need to use the counters (1-6) for Paris-Visite tickets but for single tickets (or books of tickets) you can use the machines on the concourse. Remember that the Yellow machines are for SNCF only (main-line intercity services), RER and metro are the green machines. These machines take credit and debit cards (Mastercard and Visa) and coins only - we didnt see any that accepted banknotes.
TGV to Disney only takes about 15 minutes and costs E16 one-way. Not a frequent service, and we saw lots of changes/interruptions posted on the boards. When searching for timetables use ROISSY as your departure station, this being the TGV station at CDG, and Marne-la-Vallee as your destination. For timetable and fares go here :
www.voyages-sncf.com
RER/Metro single to Disney from CDG is approximately E12.00
RER single to Disney from central Paris was £5.20, more info here :-
http://www.allo-france.com/Tickets/ticket-details.asp?Id=23
A booklet of 10 single tickets for transport within Paris is £10.50 (4-11 yo £5.30).With these tickets, you can travel on the metro and buses up to zone 3 and the RER up to zone 2.
For Paris Visite cards to be valid from CDG to Disney you need zones 1 to 6 and cost £15.40 (£7.70) for one day. Our 3 day cards cost £33.00 each. This gave us 3 days unlimited travel for £66.00, and saved us a small fortune as we used both Metro and RER heavily for the places we wanted to visit. Bear in mind, a return ticket Paris-Chessy is £10.40, so all-day metro travel was just £5.00.
Whichever ticket is more suitable for your visit should be described here :-
www.indigoguide.com/france/paris-metro-tickets.htm
www.conciergerie.com/main.htm?O=CC&P=paris_information/pubtrans.shtml
http://www.ratp.fr/
So tickets in hand, off through the barriers - these are the same as the Tube in London, and all the stations have a Tube-like layout. Note that from the airport, ALL trains go through Paris.
For travel to Disney take the RER B (blue) to Chatalet-Des Halles. Change here on to RER A (red) to Marne-La-Vallee Chessy. At Chatalet the change is easy but avoid rush-hour !!! The trip from CDG to DLRP was roughly 1 hour 15 minutes, from central Paris (Etoile) to DLRP was roughly 40 minutes.
