Paris

Paris "City of Lights" Country: France Links: Group Wikipedia Wikitravel Ambassadors: Jerome , Julien , Caro , Marianne , Nicolas , Florine

Paris is the capital of France, it's a big city with a lot of CouchSurfers. Paris do count 11000 members which makes it the biggest city on CouchSurfing Worldwide !!

Meetings

There are regular meetings. A weekly meeting is held every mondays from 8pm at the Fifth Bar, 62 rue mouffetard, metro place Monge (line 7) . You can find a location map here, a picnic every wednesday near the Seine river, etc.

Regular other local meetings take place a few times a week (going for drinks, picnics and various events) - go check the Paris group to find out! This group is popular amongst Parisian members so it might be a good option to get in touch with the Parisian CS community, get any information/tips you need and plan ahead for a trip in the beautiful "City of Lights". You can find the whole schedule here

Couchsearch tips

Paris is one of the smallest capital in the world : London : 1600 km2 / Roma : 1300 km2 / Berlin : 900 km2 and Paris.... 105 km2 ! And Its probably the first destination in the world for travelers. CS members in the heart of the city receive every day enormously of requests.

When looking for a couch don't hesitate to request it from CSers that live in the suburb!! The Parisian public transport system is said to be one the most efficient in Europe which means you can stay 50kms away from Paris and still make it downtown in less than half an hour. Metro lines go to zone 2 e.g. cities next to Paris (Saint Mandé, Vincennes, Boulogne, Courbevoie, Montreuil, etc.). Suburban members getting far less requests than central ones your chances to get positive answers will rise dramatically. Flats are bigger, there are houses, gardens, forests, woods, castels, all this in 20' of the center ! Its cool ! And its Parisian life too (2 million inside, 9 millions in suburb : we live together !). And many CS indicate with precision how long is train for center town.

To give a rather quick example, you should search for members in Ile de France and by latest login dates.Those two factors combined, will give you a great lot of good members outside of paris. Or directly use this page of results

La RATP is the company that provides transports within paris and towards its suburbs. they have an english part available so you can check your itinerary there.

Transports

Here are the tips:

1. • Always better to get a pass on monday as weekly pass for Paris are only valid from mondays till sundays. Thus this will make you save some money if you can plan your arrival a bit before the weekend.
   • Plan Rer (map of the RER (almost a train) which give you access to the Surburban Members), Zone 1 to 4: Starting from one of the city in those zone, it takes maximum 40 mn to reach Paris.CLICK HERE FOR THE MAP.
   • Last Metro : evry night for all the lines the last metro starts from both side at 0:30am. It means that if you expect to use metro back to your couch at 0:30am you should be heading to the nearest metro station. Friday and Saturday night has 1 etra-hour: last metro starts at 1:30am.
   • Night buses: there is a night buses service all night long when métro and RER are shut down. They goes in the main suburbs city, are rather long, but still usefull when you missed the last metro

Passes

There are some public transport passes in Paris: Weekly, Monthly and yearly:

• Weekly: Good idea if you stay from 3 days. (or 2 days and if you took the subway a lot).
• Monthly: Think about it if you re planning to stay over 2 weeks.
• Yearly: :D

There is also a pass for 3 days for three zones.

Never take a pass at the Airport! (Only "Zone 1" to "zone 5" pass). Instead, take a single way to the station of your host (don't use automat, ask the kiosk for a ticket), and from there, take a pass. Ask your host in which zone he is living and ask for a pass "zone 1 - Zone X (of your host)"

Le Velib

Velib web site

Le système Vélib peut coûter très cher si on ne comprend pas bien comment il fonctionne. Je vois trop souvent des touristes qui se font piéger, et qui devront payer 150€ pour leur petite promenade en Vélib qu'ils croyaient gratuite... Car, en effet, si on a bien compris, on peut utiliser des vélos partout dans Paris, n'importe quand, et presque gratuitement.

Voici ce qu'il faut savoir pour ne pas avoir de mauvaise surprise :

Pour utiliser le système Vélib, il faut prévoir de payer un abonnement (1 jour, une semaine ou un an) ET chaque trajet effectué. Pendant la durée de l'abonnement, on peut utiliser un Vélib autant de fois que l'on veut.

L'abonnement ne coute pas cher (1€ pour 24h ; 5€ pour 1 semaine...) Les trajets peuvent être gratuits ou payants (et même très chers), selon la durée d'utilisation du vélo. Chaque fois qu'on emprunte un vélo Vélib à une borne, le système informatique chronomètre le temps qui s'écoule jusqu'à ce qu'on dépose ce vélo à une autre borne. Plan des bornes

Et le calcul du prix du trajet est fait comme ceci : - la 1ère demi-heure est gratuite - la 2ème demi-heure coûte 1€ (même si elle n'est pas complètement utilisée : un trajet de 31 minutes en tout coûtera 1€, comme un trajet de 59 minutes) - la 3ème demi-heure coûte 2€ - la 4ème demi-heure coûte 4€ - chaque demi-heure supplémentaire coûte 4€

Par exemple, si je prends un Vélib le matin à 8h00, et que je visite Paris, en attachant mon Vélib à un arbre chaque fois que je m'arrête pour visiter un monument, et que je ne repose le Vélib à une borne-Vélib que le soir à 19h06, mon trajet sera considéré comme ayant duré 11h30 (c'est à dire 23 demi-heures) et mon compte bancaire, en plus de l'abonnement, sera débité de 0 + 1 + 2 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4.... = 83€ , ce qui est assez cher pour une location de vélo !

Par contre, si je n'utilise le Vélib que pour aller d'une endroit à un autre et que chaque fois que je m'arrête pour visiter un monument, déjeuner, prendre un verre, etc., je dépose mon Vélib à une borne-Vélib, et si aucun de mes trajets entre deux bornes n'a duré plus de 30 minutes, ma journée d'utilisation sera gratuite.

ENGLISH VERSION

Vélib is a "free" bike system that anyone can use in Paris, provided one has a credit card with a chip. BUT if you do not understand the rules, it may be very expensive instead of being almost free.

Here's what you should know in order not to get trapped by the Vélib' system :

In order to use Vélib' bikes, you have to allow the Velib system to debit your bank account with the cost of your subscription AND of each travel you'll do with a Velib bike during your subscription time.

The subscription fee is cheap : 1€ for 24h, or 5€ for 1 week, and during your subscription time, you can use a bike as many times as you want (but only one at a time, of course.)

Each travel will be charged to you according to its duration : it can be free, for a short travel, or outrageously expensive for longer travels.

By "travel", you should understand the time spent between the moment you pick up a bike from a Velib' service point and the moment you drop it off at another Velib' service point. (There are hundreds of Velib service points, everywhere in Paris Watch the Map)

Each time you pick up a bike, the central computer of the Vélib' system starts metering the time you keep the bike with you, until you drop it off at any Vélib service point. Here's how the cost of your travel will be worked out : - the first half an hour is free - the second half an hour costs 1€ (even if it's not entirely used : for instance, a 31 min travel will cost 1€, exactly like a 59 min travel) - the 3rd half an hour costs 2€ - the 4th half an hour costs 4€ - each one of the following half hours costs 4€

For example, if you pick up a bike at 7:02 am, and ride it all around Paris, fastening it to trees whenever you take a stop in order to visit a monument or have a drink, and then drop your bike off at a Velib service point at 22:35 at night, here's what will be charged to you : the travel time will be 32 half hours (real time included between 15h1/2 and 16h), which will cost

0 + 1 + 2 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4.... = 119 € !

BUT if you only use Velib bikes to go from a place to another, and drop them off at Velib service points each time you stop somewhere, and provided each trip lasts less than 30 minutes, you can use as many bikes as you want, for free (except for the 1€ or 5€ of subscription).

VERSIONE ITALIANA

Ecco come utilizzare le biciclette Velib senza rovinarsi!

Il sistema di affitto delle biciclette Velib puo’ costare davvero caro se non ne si capisce bene il principio di funzionamento. Si vedono troppo spesso dei turisti che non sapendo bene come funzioni pagano 150€ per la loro passeggiatina in Velib...mentre normalmente si potrebbe utilizzarle gratuitamente. Perché, in teoria, queste biciclette dovrebbero potersi utilizzare quando e dove si vuole in città quasi gratuitamente.

Ecco qualche piccola astuzia per non avere brutte sorprese:

Per utilizzare il sistema Velib, si deve prevedere di pagare un abbonamento ( di 1 giorno, una settimana o un anno) e (anche) ogni tragetto che si effettua. Durante la durata dell’abbonamento, la bicicletta puo’ essere utilizzata tutte le volte che si vuole. L’abbonamento non é caro : 1 euro per 24 ore, 5 euro per una settimana. I tragetti possono essere gratuiti o paganti ( a volte terribilmente cari!), a seconda del tempo di utilizzo della bicicletta. Ogni volta que si prende in prestito una bicicletta Velib ad una stazione, il sistema informatico cronometra il tempo trascorso sulla bicicletta fino alla restituzione ad un’altra stazione. Mappa stazioni

Il calcolo del costo del tragetto si fa cosi’ : - la prima mezz’ora é gratuita. - la seconda mezzora costa 1 euro ( anche se non é completamnet utilizzata : un tragettodi 31 minuti costerà 1 euro come un tragetto di 59 minuti). - la terza mezz’ora costa 2 euro. - la quarta mezz’ora costa 4 euro. - ogni mezz’ora supplementare costa 4 euro.

Per esempio, se prendo una bicicletta Velib la mattina alle 8 per visitare Parigi, ( attaccandola ad un albero ogni volta che faccio una sosta per visitare un monumento)e restituisco la bicicletta ad una stazione, la sera alle 19h06, il mio tragetto sarà considerato come un tragetto di 11 ore e mezza (23 mezz’ore) : il costo dell’utilizzo sarà di : 0+1+2+4+4+4+4+4...= 83€! Evidentemente, questo prezzo é eccessivo per un affitto giornaliero.

Invece, se uso una bicicletta Velib soltanto per spostarmi da un posto ad un’altro, lasciandola ad ogni sosta ad una nuova stazione Velib, se nessuno dei miei tragetti fra due stazione é durato più di 30 minuti, non paghero’ nulla.

DEUTSCHE Version: Wikipedia über Velib'

Phones

Public phones in Paris streets do not use coins, even if you can still find some in bars or hotels. Instead, you must buy a card from a newspaper vendor or shop vendor. They cost about €7. Keep this in mind when attempting to contact your host.

CouchSurfers

Antoine is living really close from Paris and will be glad to show you around if contacted well ahead your arrival.

In Case of Emergency

• Police Station:
• Health Urgency:
• Hospital:
• Fireman Station:
• Embassy:
• Emergency Doctor:

Emergency couches available

Antoine : you may contact me on +33680435705 but not after midnight as you wont be able to make it from paris to chelles. last train leaves gare du nord (magenta) station at 00.45am and a bit later on weekends. memorize me to come to my place

Work

For English speaking jobs and work in Paris, check out JobsinParis

csgroup:199

Other wikis

• Paris on the Hitchwiki
• Paris on Wikitravel
• Paris on Wikipedia