If you’re travelling to Paris, you’ll want to orient yourself. Here, I have provided a map of France, Paris, and the Paris Metro, and a little about them.

France

Metropolitan France is divided into 22 regions; those regions are further subdivided into 96 departments. There are an additional 5 regions (divided into 5 departments) overseas. Paris is in the Ile-de-France region (if France was a person, Ile-de-France would be located at the “heart”). Other points of interest include the area known as the South of France (southern France), Cannes, where the Cannes Film Festival is held each May, and the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Champs-Elysees in Paris, where the Tour de France passes through and finishes.

 

 

 

 

 

Paris

The city of Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements (administrative districts) arranged in a clockwise spiral, often referred to as a snail shell, though it has always reminded me of The Yellow Brick Road in “The Wizard of Oz,” with the Seine River flowing east-west down the center. The spiral begins with #1 arrondissement in the middle of the city on the Right Bank (north bank) of the Seine. Paris arrondissement numbers are also the last two digits of the district’s postal code, so the 18^th arrondissement’s postal code (where I stayed recently) is 75018. You will likely see signs with an arrondissement’s number displayed as Roman numerals, so the 18^th arrondissement number would be XVIIIe arrondissement. There are so many Metro stations that Parisians often refer to a location referencing the closest Metro stop.

Paris Metro

The Paris Metro opened on July 19, 1900 during the World’s Fair. It has 303 stations, of which 62 have transfers between lines. There are 16 lines, numbered 1 to 14 with 2 lines, 3bis and 7bis, which are so named because they started as branches of lines 3 and 7. They are now separate lines. Lines are identified on maps by number and color, and direction of travel is indicated by its terminus.

You can use cash or a credit/debit card to buy tickets, which can be used for the Metro, and RER rail and buses (within the city). You can buy single tickets for 1.75 Euros, a carnet of 10 tickets for 13.30 Euros, or a Passe Navigo card for a 5 Euro fee (plus the cost of a small photo of yourself), which is a chip-embedded card similar to a SmarTrip card in the States or an Oyster card in London. The Metro tickets never expire, but it’s best to keep used tickets separate from unused, and keep your most-recently used ticket separate from all others: French police often check for gate-jumpers by asking to see your Metro ticket.  I was stopped at least twice, and the first time I panicked because I had all of my used tickets together, including my most recent one. (I don’t mean to give the impression that trashcans aren’t available. I had collected some from a full day’s sightseeing.)

Navigating the Metro is easy; the hardest part can be finding your destination on the Metro map due to the number of lines. If you start by venturing to attractions close to your lodging, you’ll get the hang of it.

 

Salut.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Descriptions of maps from Wikipedia, CCBY 3.0. Maps of France, Paris and the Paris Metro courtesy of Flickr, CCBY 2.0.