Paris Master Thread

[israshot]

Car Vs Public Transport Vs Uber Paris

I went to Paris on a short city break last week. I will not do a full TR as there are plenty, and besides, everyone would have their own tastes and interests in a city this size so it’s kinda unfair to put it in a box for the next guy.

I will discuss one issue that I got a bit of heat for when I asked before I went: Renting a car in Paris.

In the end I followed my gut and did rent a car. It was the best move ever and I really don’t understand how you can truly cover the city in 3-4 days without one.

I booked the cheapest automatic car on Europcar.com a week before I flew. Upon landing, we were given a Fiat 500X, which is a compact SUV. The rental was €115 ($130) for 3 full days. No shuttles, rental car lots are outside the terminals.

Yes, the traffic is rough, but definitely better than NYC. The Parisians drive like wild animals, which I found fun and thrilling (DW not so much...). My biggest fear was parking, as I come from a city where Valet is $100 a day and there’s no on street parking and a garage is $40 an hour with a ten minute wait at the end. But in Paris, I was pleasantly surprised to find on-street parking wherever I went, and in the rare place where you need to go underground, it’s self parking and the same prices! Parking is €4 an hour, and only costs from 8-5. So even if you are stationary all day it’s €36 in total. Anywhere! My total parking cost for the 3 days was $77.41

Paris is huge, much bigger than any European city center, and even bigger than Manhattan (Yes, I’m referring to the city within the Peripheral Road only, not to the Ile de France!) getting from place to place with a Metro must be nightmarishly slow. A car is a must if you want to get breakfast in the 19th, shop at Galleris Lafayette, walk the Pletzl and Notre Dame, get to the top of the Arc de Triomph for sunset, and ale Bazar for dinner. If you want to Uber, well, except for the chances you won’t be very comfortable with your drivers cultural background and country of origin, you need to wait 5-10 minutes, and can’t spontaneously decide “where to next” once seated and relaxed. Besides, I entered just half my trips (the longer ones) into the Uber calculator and came to over €400. Not surprised at all, but taxis are definitely more expensive than your own wheels.

The RoissyBus is not cheap, and neither is the RER to Versailles. My total cost for the car with parking and gas was $243.41. You will not lack for spots, I always had one on the backstreet of the PHP, got one 100 meters from the Eiffel, and there are lots under the Louvre and directly outside Versailles. Never more than a 1 minute walk. Public transportation for 2 would definitely have surpassed $100, so for $143.41 more I got the pleasure of no pushing and shoving and stopping and changing. When you go to Paris, rent.

And don’t forget to drive around the Arc 3-4 times. Funnest experience in town!

Thank you for your feedback but you're making some wrong assumptions too. Subway and train will always be faster in Paris unless it's at night. Finding parking is very tricky usually. I drove in paris for 2 years and took also the subway endless of time and it's heaven and earth. I drove only when I needed the car with me.

[jomaster28]

How come I don’t see much talk about getting around with Bird. I heard it’s amazing but don’t see a lot of talk about it here. Is it possible to take Bird from PHP to restaurants, Eiffel Tower, Lourve, etc?

[YesThatsMe]

How come I don’t see much talk about getting around with Bird. I heard it’s amazing but don’t see a lot of talk about it here. Is it possible to take Bird from PHP to restaurants, Eiffel Tower, Lourve, etc?

Distances are very far, it would be a 20 minute bird pretty often, and it's cold and wet there at this time of year.

[tmendy226]

There's definitely something to what @YesThatsMe is saying about renting a car. for someone coming from the city (Manhattan) Paris is heaven for parking. But at the end of the day renting a car on vacation is also a matter of personal preference. And when you have a baby/kids the calculation is also different (for example if the baby needs to be nursed/diaper change and you don't want to go back to where you're staying in the middle of the day, you have a "moving home")

Bird and the other scooter apps are amazing IMO! super convenient for short and medium distances where it's too annoying to walk, no subway/bus door to door and you get to see and feel the city. I would recommend it to any tourist unless it is raining

[Naftuli19]

How come I don’t see much talk about getting around with Bird. I heard it’s amazing but don’t see a lot of talk about it here. Is it possible to take Bird from PHP to restaurants, Eiffel Tower, Lourve, etc?

I had a very hard time finding 2 of them that actually worked the few we did find were filthy or broken, also when u get to main roads its gets confusing where ur supposed to drive

[Yehoshua]

There's definitely something to what @YesThatsMe is saying about renting a car. for someone coming from the city (Manhattan) Paris is heaven for parking. But at the end of the day renting a car on vacation is also a matter of personal preference. And when you have a baby/kids the calculation is also different (for example if the baby needs to be nursed/diaper change and you don't want to go back to where you're staying in the middle of the day, you have a "moving home")

Bird and the other scooter apps are amazing IMO! super convenient for short and medium distances where it's too annoying to walk, no subway/bus door to door and you get to see and feel the city. I would recommend it to any tourist unless it is raining

Right, if your comfortable riding scooters without a helmet in busy city traffic.

[Naftuli19]

Car Vs Public Transport Vs Uber Paris

I went to Paris on a short city break last week. I will not do a full TR as there are plenty, and besides, everyone would have their own tastes and interests in a city this size so it’s kinda unfair to put it in a box for the next guy.

I will discuss one issue that I got a bit of heat for when I asked before I went: Renting a car in Paris.

In the end I followed my gut and did rent a car. It was the best move ever and I really don’t understand how you can truly cover the city in 3-4 days without one.

I booked the cheapest automatic car on Europcar.com a week before I flew. Upon landing, we were given a Fiat 500X, which is a compact SUV. The rental was €115 ($130) for 3 full days. No shuttles, rental car lots are outside the terminals.

Yes, the traffic is rough, but definitely better than NYC. The Parisians drive like wild animals, which I found fun and thrilling (DW not so much...). My biggest fear was parking, as I come from a city where Valet is $100 a day and there’s no on street parking and a garage is $40 an hour with a ten minute wait at the end. But in Paris, I was pleasantly surprised to find on-street parking wherever I went, and in the rare place where you need to go underground, it’s self parking and the same prices! Parking is €4 an hour, and only costs from 8-5. So even if you are stationary all day it’s €36 in total. Anywhere! My total parking cost for the 3 days was $77.41

Paris is huge, much bigger than any European city center, and even bigger than Manhattan (Yes, I’m referring to the city within the Peripheral Road only, not to the Ile de France!) getting from place to place with a Metro must be nightmarishly slow. A car is a must if you want to get breakfast in the 19th, shop at Galleris Lafayette, walk the Pletzl and Notre Dame, get to the top of the Arc de Triomph for sunset, and ale Bazar for dinner. If you want to Uber, well, except for the chances you won’t be very comfortable with your drivers cultural background and country of origin, you need to wait 5-10 minutes, and can’t spontaneously decide “where to next” once seated and relaxed. Besides, I entered just half my trips (the longer ones) into the Uber calculator and came to over €400. Not surprised at all, but taxis are definitely more expensive than your own wheels.

The RoissyBus is not cheap, and neither is the RER to Versailles. My total cost for the car with parking and gas was $243.41. You will not lack for spots, I always had one on the backstreet of the PHP, got one 100 meters from the Eiffel, and there are lots under the Louvre and directly outside Versailles. Never more than a 1 minute walk. Public transportation for 2 would definitely have surpassed $100, so for $143.41 more I got the pleasure of no pushing and shoving and stopping and changing. When you go to Paris, rent.

And don’t forget to drive around the Arc 3-4 times. Funnest experience in town!

While you may love driving in EU a lot of people dont, and Paris is the worst of all, the roads and intersections are just crazy confusing so anyone that asks me if they should rent or Uber i recommend Uber and public Transportation full heartily... lets face it Paris is mess to drive in, now you might enjoy that but my opinion is that most people dont.

I absolutely love driving i spend alot of money on good fast cars specially when im in EU cause i love driving there but when it came to Paris EVERYONE told me not to rent (friends that live there, friends that visited and people that i met there.)

I used Uber Berline was a breeze got really nice cars and nice drivers and was just a few bucks more.

[moish]

Depends on time of year. I had a car in August and was impossible to find a spot near the Pletzel

[israshot]

Depends on time of year. I had a car in August and was impossible to find a spot near the Pletzel

It's always impossible to find near the Pletzel.

[Hjay]

I’ve read through a nice chunk of this thread & here’s what I’ve come up with. I’m planning a trip to Paris for 2.5 days with my wife & 2 kids (3.5 & 2.5). We’ll be landing in CDG at 1pm Mon & flying out of CDG 8:40am thurs. I booked the Sheraton in the airport for the last night & for the other 2 nights I did a GOH booking at the PHP. How is the PHP with upgrades & what do they offer for kosher breakfast?

I’m planning my itinerary & was thinking like this.
Mon afternoon - Arc de triomphe.
Tues - palace of Versailles.
Wed - Louvre, boat on the seine & then Eiffel Tower.

Anything here that should be switched / taken out? Anything I should be doing instead?

Is there some type of package I could buy for all these attractions or any discounts I can get when purchasing tickets? (Like in London where you get BOGO with a train ticket).

Is climbing the arc de triomphe, repetitive if going to the top of the Eiffel Tower anyway?

What’s some good easy meat places I can eat at or get dinner delivered (glatt)?

Is it easy taking public transportation to the palace of Versailles? Or is it worth renting a car from the airport for that trip cuz I think I’ll have free parking by the PHP?

Any & all tips are greatly appreciated.

[Naftuli19]

Is it easy taking public transportation to the palace of Versailles? Or is it worth renting a car from the airport for that trip cuz I think I’ll have free parking by the PHP?

On going debate.

[Hjay]

On going debate.

Yea I’m enjoying seeing all the diff opinions. Is public transportation easy to Versailles?

[Yehoshua]

Yea I’m enjoying seeing all the diff opinions. Is public transportation easy to Versailles?

Not super easy, but not too difficult. I took a bus tour (some did that only one way and took public transit back).

[nescafe]

Is it easy taking public transportation to the palace of Versailles? Or is it worth renting a car from the airport for that trip cuz I think I’ll have free parking by the PHP?

When we were there there was construction affecting the local trains so we took an uber to the station that has a direct train to Versailles. from there was a few minute walk to the palace.

[Dan]

In the end I followed my gut and did rent a car. It was the best move ever and I really don’t understand how you can truly cover the city in 3-4 days without one.

A car is a must if you want to get breakfast in the 19th, shop at Galleris Lafayette, walk the Pletzl and Notre Dame, get to the top of the Arc de Triomph for sunset, and ale Bazar for dinner.

Sorry , but this is utter nonsense. It's perfectly fine that you enjoyed driving, but driving in a city like Paris isn't most people's idea of fun. And these statements are easily disproven by many TRs.

I wouldn't rent in NYC and the metro in Paris is much better and cheaper than the NYC subway. Ubers in Paris, for strategic use when the subway doesn't make sense, are cheaper than NYC.

[cgr]

Is climbing the arc de triomphe, repetitive if going to the top of the Eiffel Tower anyway?

FYI the steps up the Arc de Triomphe are a pain (and I'm in decent shape). Doubt young kids will make it to the top without lots of help (and complaints)

[tmendy226]

Depends on time of year. I had a car in August and was impossible to find a spot near the Pletzel

There should be some underground parking in the area for pretty cheap

[moish]

There should be some underground parking in the area for pretty cheap

Problem was i was driving a 2 meter high vehicle which didnt fit into about 99% of the underground lots in all of France

[YesThatsMe]

Fleishigs that I ate in Best to Worst order:

Bassar (Top place. Reminded me of Mikes. Must get Scotch Egg and Lamb)
Le Bazar (Carpaccio is out of this world. As are the Mojito's)
Kavod (Foie Gras, obviously. Very Glatt-a-la-Carte'ish place)
Darjeeling (Not my taste, same idea as a grocery take out. Maybe because it was delivered)

Bakery:

Saredeen (Yummiest bread and pastries)
Korkaz (PHP breakfast, passable)
Chez Akol (Tasted like Sterns or Barons, unwrapped)

Still savoring my Damyel Pave's and Bon-Bon's. Best ever!

[YesThatsMe]

Sorry , but this is utter nonsense. It's perfectly fine that you enjoyed driving, but driving in a city like Paris isn't most people's idea of fun. And these statements are easily disproven by many TRs.

I wouldn't rent in NYC and the metro in Paris is much better and cheaper than the NYC subway. Ubers in Paris, for strategic use when the subway doesn't make sense, are cheaper than NYC.

Metro in Paris is not cheaper (Assuming you take the RER where appropiate) than NYC subway.

And the Parisian Uber drivers are going to make most Chareidi folks feel a bit uncomfortable, unlike NYC.