Touring Paris on a hop on hop off bus...

[npoon]

Which company do you think is better? the hop on hop off company or L'open...is it better to prepay before i leave or should i just pay when i board the bus?
Any other tips or advise on touring Paris would be most appreciated...

 

[A Small World]

To be honest theres probably not much between them. Are you going from DLP for a day into Paris? If so one of the the RER stops is Auber and one of the bus companies is literally across the road from it so you may want to use this one for ease of finding it.

Other tips - There will be massive long lines for the Eiffel Tower and to get into Notre Dame so decide if you want to wait for these or just look from the outside.
One of my favourite views of the Eiffel Tower is from Tracadero- where you are looking down onto it - make this a stop where you get off the bus to do this - you can then walk down past the fountains towards it

Also wander round the outside of Notre Dame- the back is very beautiful and different from the front which is very angular

Look for the hidden Mickey on the front of Notre Dame

You can get loads of good cheap meals in Paris if you avoid the main tourist areas - wander into the Latin Quarter (The left bank across the river from Notre Dame nr St Michel/St Germain towards Luxembourg Gardens) This is the student area so there are all kinds of wonderful restaurants

Spend time wandering along the river bank looking at the bouquinists - little book stalls

A trip along the river is good - we like Batobus which is a hop on hop off bus but you can also do a guided tour as well

I love Paris its one of my favourite cities and theres so much to explore and see if you take your time and keep your eyes open

 

[purple figment]

We researched the two main tour bus companies in Paris for our trip earlier this fall.

L'Open Tour - Hop on Hop Off - Cityrama - Batobus (boat on the Seine) are actually all part of the same company. The buses are yellow and there are four different routes in Paris + the Batobus has 8 stops on the Seine.

Les Cars Rouges is the other company. Their buses are red and it has only one route.

We were in Paris for several days so we opted for L'Open Tour since it covered more sites than Les Cars Rouges.

Most people, including us, bought the tickets from the driver when we first got on.

The bus stops were clearly marked, easy to find and we were never far from one.

 

[Ware Bears]

If so one of the the RER stops is Auber and one of the bus companies is literally across the road from it so you may want to use this one for ease of finding it.

This is what we did ~ got off at Auber and it's L'Open Tour which is across the road. We bought our tickets from inside the office (very helpful ladies) but others were buying from the driver as we boarded the bus so either is good.

Also wander round the outside of Notre Dame- the back is very beautiful and different from the front which is very angular

Look for the hidden Mickey on the front of Notre Dame

We did both of these after you recommending this before!

 

[OperaMama]

We've just done Les Cars Rouge and although it was nice, their stops are "mysterious" and hard to find! While L'Open Tour buses go through the loop at the Louvre, right where you can see them, Les Cars Rouge stop around the back of the museum, way up by the far corner, and don't even try to figure out which stop they're going to use at the Opera Garnier- could be the one that's marked, or it could be...where ever the driver feels like stopping.
The good thing about all of these is that you can get on and off where you'd like and use it as a method of getting from "here to there".
Enjoy your trip!

 

[beth01dog]

Hi
We have just done a day in Paris while at Disneyland during half term week. We caught the train into Paris (right next door to the site we were staying at outside DLP).
I had preboked Les Cars Rouges hop on hop off tour and just showed my print out to the driver when we boarded and he exchanged them for tickets. It cost just over £60 for 5 of us. The whole route takes about 2 1/2 hours and you can get off and on as much as you like. The tickets are valid for 2 consecutive days.
I also prebooked and prepaid our tickets for the Eiffel Tower which saved lots of queueing and was well worth the visit!

 

[npoon]

Thanks for the great info... so if I were to just sit on each route...about how long would each route take? I am thinking of eating at the latin quarters...which stop would i get off at?

 

[beth01dog]

If you put 'Les Cars Rouge' into Google you can see the route on a map and plan your journey. It says it takes 2 1/4 hours if you get on and stay on for a complete circuit.

 

[purple figment]

Thanks for the great info... so if I were to just sit on each route...about how long would each route take? I am thinking of eating at the latin quarters...which stop would i get off at?

If you google Paris Cityrama you can find their site. There are maps that you can enlarge to see the 4 routes, points of interest, stops, transfer points, etc. The approximate lengths of the routes if you don't get off are the Grand Tour (2hr 15min), Montmartre route (1hr 20min), Montparnasse route (1 hr) and Bastille-Bercy (1 hr). We took the first three tours.

If you want to eat in the Latin Quarter you can get off at Notre Dame, then walk across the bridge to the Latin Quarter or get off at the Blvd St Michel stop near the Sorbonne and the Cluny Museum.

 

[npoon]

I really appreciate the great help everyone has given me...

 

[npoon]

So I was really leaning towards using l'open tour but happened to stumble on some reviews on tripadvisor...they weren't that positive...say it isn't so.

 

[Ware Bears]

Although Tripadvisor is a brilliant resource and you're wise to take people's comments on board I think it's best to also take them with a pinch of salt. Unfortunately people are always far quicker to voice their complaints than they are to sing praises. What are the reviews saying? Do they seem like trivial things to you?

It's a few years (2006) since we used L'Open Tour but we were happy with it. We did two full routes and on both of them the headphones were working satisfactorily.