Paris Metro Guide – Metro Lines, Paris Metro Tickets 2023 & Paris Metro Pass Comparison

Quick Guide to the Metro of Paris 2023

The Paris Metro is Europe’s best subway system and allows locals and visitors to quickly and cheaply go from one point to another.

Inaugurated in 1900 for the Paris World Fair, the centenary Metro of Paris has grown organically, trying to adapt itself to the city’s new needs. For this reason, the Metro of Paris is a labyrinthine (sometimes chaotic) network of railroads, corridors, and metro stations, and it can be overwhelming for Paris first-time visitors.

The good news is that with the right information, the Paris Metro system is relatively easy to use, and it is a great way to discover Paris like a local.

This Paris Metro Guide 2023 gives information and our best tips on the Paris Metro zones, Paris Metro tickets 2023, Paris Metro Passes, and more. After reading this quick guide, you will see that it is straightforward to use the Metro of Paris!

If you wonder if there’s any Paris Metro Strike scheduled during your coming trip to Paris, then head to this post.

1. Paris Metro Lines and Paris Metro Map

The Metro of Paris covers all the Arrondissements of Paris and some of the city’s surrounding suburbs. It is 220 km long, and it goes underground most of the time. There are 16 Paris Metro lines, numbered from 1 to 14, plus line 3bis and line 7bis. The Metro of Paris counts 302 metro stations, 62 of them with transfers between lines.

To find your bearings, you have different Paris Metro maps on each platform. The most useful maps for you are the Plan du Métro (Map of Paris Metro) and the Plan du Quartier (Neighborhood Map).

On the Paris Metro Map, you can see all the Paris Metro lines with their corresponding colors, metro stations, and connections between them.

On the Neighborhood Map, you can see on a larger scale the neighborhood streets where the metro station is located and all the exits for that metro station. One single metro station can have multiple exits, so if you are going to a specific address, have a look at this Plan du Quartier before leaving the metro and choose the exit closer to your destination point; it can save you lots of walking!

A (free) mini foldable map of the Paris Metro is also available at the information kiosks located at the metro entrance, and it is convenient. On it, you can see the Paris Metro zones, all the metro lines, metro stations, and their connections. If you prefer to have the Paris Metro Map pdf on your mobile phone, you can download it here for free.

2. Paris Metro Zones

If you wonder how much is the Metro in Paris, the Paris Metro cost depends on the kind of ticket or pass you buy and the Paris Metro zones.

On the Paris Metro Map, you will notice that the background has two different colors: light yellow and dark yellow. These two colors correspond to the Paris Metro zones.

Light yellow corresponds to zones 1-3. Zone 1-3 is the cheapest option and allows you to travel within Paris, the part of the city represented by the light yellow color on the map.

With zone 4-5 (dark yellow), you can go to the Paris region and venture further afield to see, for example, Disneyland Paris or the Palace of Versailles. If you want to travel to the airports, you will need zone 4-5.

3. Paris Metro Hours and Paris Metro Rush Hour 

Paris Metro Rush Hour

If you are using the metro to visit Paris, we recommend avoiding the Paris Metro rush hour, from Monday to Friday from 8 am to 10 am and from 5 pm to 8 pm. Traveling out of the Paris Metro rush hour means an easier journey, and perhaps you can also get a seat.

TIP: Check how to survive the Metro of Paris in the Summer

Paris Metro Hours during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2022

The Paris Metro hours for Christmas Eve are yet to be confirmed. We’ll be adding more details when they are announced, so keep checking back!

Paris Metro Hours during New Year’s Eve 2022 and January 1st 2023

During New Year’s Eve in Paris, the Metro usually works all night long – or at least some of the metro lines. The Paris Metro Hours for New Year’s Eve 2022 are yet to be confirmed. We’ll be adding more details when they are announced, so keep checking back!

4. Paris Metro Tickets 2023

The Paris Metro tickets are also called T+ tickets. The Paris Metro tickets price is 2,10€, and you can use it for zones 1-3 only, for the next 120 minutes after validation (without exiting the network). With these Metro Paris tickets, you can also travel by bus, tramway, RER (inside Paris), and Montmartre’s funicular.

The T+ tickets are only valid for getting around Paris. To go from Paris to Versailles or Paris Fontainebleau, a Billet Ile de France is necessary, while a Billet Aéroport is the ticket to buy to travel to the Airports in Paris.

The Paris Metro prices usually change every year. We update this Paris Metro Guide when ticket prices change.

GOOD TO KNOW: It is official: books of ten paper tickets (the famous T+ tickets) will disappear progressively from the vending machines from 1 October 2021.

How to Buy Paris Metro Tickets?

You can buy Metro Paris tickets at all the metro stations, only at the ticket vending machines. The kiosks located at the metro entrance usually don’t sell metro tickets. The Metro staff in the kiosks only inform metro users and eventually help them if there is a problem with their tickets or Paris Metro pass.

The T+ ticket comes with a few discounts, which are the following:

> A pack of 10 tickets (called carnet de dix in French) costs 16.90€, which means 1.69€ /ticket.

> A pack of 10 tickets reduced price (called carnet de dix tarif réduit in French) is available for kids from 4 to 9 years old and costs 8,45€. There is no single ticket with a reduced price for kids.

Some train lines (e.g., Deutsche Bahn, for international train journeys Germany – Paris) also offer Paris Metro tickets onboard. This is very handy because you are set when you arrive in Paris, but the ticket price is slightly higher than buying them at the metro stations.

If there’s a way to buy Paris Metro tickets online, we are not aware of it, sorry!

TIP: Always keep your Metro Paris ticket until you leave the Metro. Ticket controls are frequent in the Metro of Paris, especially at the beginning and end of the month.

5. Navigo Easy: Best Paris Metro Pass for Tourists

Finally! Visitors or occasional metro travelers in Paris have a loadable pass perfect for their needs. The Navigo Easy Pass is a flexible and convenient Paris Metro card that can be loaded with T+ tickets, Orly Bus tickets, Roissy Bus tickets, or a Paris Metro Day Pass. In our opinion, the Navigo Easy Pass is the best Paris Metro Pass for tourists.

Unlike other Paris Metro passes, the Navigo Easy Pass does not have a validity limit; you can use it and load it as many times as you want for ten years!

Sold in metro stations for 2€, the Navigo Easy Pass is an individual Paris Metro pass. This means that several people CAN NOT travel simultaneously with the same card. However, it can be lent or given to somebody else if you don’t need it anymore.

How to Load Your Navigo Easy Pass

First, you need to buy a travel card in one of the metro kiosks (2€). When you buy it, the vendor will ask you if you want him to load it with some tickets. Tell him ‘un carnet de dix, s’il vous plait’ – or the number of tickets you want – , and he will do it for you. That was easy!

How to Check Your Navigo Easy Pass Balance

It is very easy! Go to the machine and follow steps 1 to 5. On step 5, on the right corner of the screen above, the machine tells you how many tickets are left in your pass.

Then, go on with the process – if you decide to buy more tickets –, or take your card back.

6. Other Paris Metro Passes & Tickets

The Metro of Paris proposes different Paris Metro passes (called forfaits in French) for different prices and durations. Check out below which Paris Metro card suits you best:

Paris Navigo Pass (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Annual)

The Paris Navigo Pass is the most used pass by the locals. Paris Navigo Pass allows unlimited rides with all the public transportation in Paris and Ile de France (except Orly Val) during a day, a week, a month, or a full year.

To get a Paris Navigo Pass, first, you need to purchase one of the two Paris Metro cards available: Paris Navigo Personalisée or Paris Navigo Découverte. Once you get the card, charge it with the best Navigo Pass for you.

> The Navigo Daily Pass. It is valid for one day, from 12 am to 11.59 pm. You can buy this pass up to 6 days in advance, and it will start working after the first validation and until the end of the metro service that same day. The cost of this pass is 8,45€ (zones 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5), and 20,10€ (zones 1-5).

> The Navigo Weekly Pass is valid for one week, from Monday to Sunday. You can buy the pass from Friday of the previous week until Thursday of the week you want to use it. If you decide to buy it on Thursday, for example, you will only use this pass for four days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the same week). The cost of this pass is 30€ (all zones). ‘All zones’ is the option to choose from, even if you only want to travel around Paris.

> The Navigo Monthly Pass is valid for one month, from the first day until the last day of the month. The cost of this pass is 84.10€ (all zones). ‘All zones’ is the option to choose, even if you only want to travel around Paris.

TIP: From January 2022, the Navigo Pass also takes you to the museum, the theater, the opera, and other cultural sites in Paris. Indeed, the nearly 4 million Navigo cardholders will be able to benefit from discounts or free visits to more than 300 cultural sites! This option is available for valid monthly and annual Navigo cards (Liberté +, Senior and Imagine R included). The Navigo card will be scanned just like the France Health Pass.

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To load your Paris Navigo Pass, it is necessary to buy a Paris Metro card first. There are two kinds of Paris Metro Cards:

> Paris Navigo Personalisée Card is available for Paris and Ile de France residents, and it is free under the presentation of proof of residence (e.g., an invoice with your address in Paris or Ile de France). You also need to bring a picture to get this card.

> Paris Navigo Découverte Card is available for everybody (residents and non-residents), and it costs 5€. You also need to bring a picture to get this card.

Once you have the card, you can recharge it with your preferred option (day, week, month, or year) in the ticket vending machines in any Paris Metro station.

DID YOU KNOW? If you speak French, sometimes you will hear in the Metro about a certain Carte Orange (Orange Card). Carte Orange and Navigo Pass are the same things. Indeed, many years ago, the Navigo Pass was orange; that’s why many people still refer to the Navigo Pass as Carte Orange.

Navigo Liberté+ Pass

The idea behind this new Paris Metro pass is to travel by validating your pass every time you commute. Then, your commute trips are totaled every month, and you pay the total amount of your trips the following month. To subscribe to the Navigo Liberté+ service, your bank account must be in Europe in the SEPA area. Savings accounts are not allowed.

Paris Mobilis Ticket

The Paris Mobilis Ticket is an interesting Paris Metro day pass and the most popular ticket among tourists (well, at least until the Navigo Easy appeared).

The Paris Mobilis Ticket is valid for one day, from 0.00 to 24.00. The cost of this pass is 8,45€ (zones 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5), and 20,10€ (zones 1-5).

The main advantage of Paris Mobilis against the Paris Navigo Daily Pass is that Mobilis is sold as a magnetic ticket, so travelers don’t need to buy any Paris Metro card.

Paris Visite Pass

The Paris Visite Pass allows travelers to use all Paris transport networks for 1, 2, 3, or 5 consecutive days.

The pass allows people to travel anywhere in Paris (zones 1 to 3) OR in Paris plus the Île-de-France region (all zones, including airport connections, Orly Val, Disneyland Paris, and Château de Versailles). Also, its holders get interesting discounts on some Paris tourist sites and shows.

The Paris Visite Pass is sold as a magnetic ticket. The ticket fares depend on the zones (1-3 or 1-5) and the number of days, from 13,55€ (one day) to 43,30€ (five days) for Paris only to 28,50€ (one day) to74,30€ (five days) for Paris + Ile-de-France region. Also, there is a special fare for kids.

Paris Metro Anti-Pollution Pass

Does the air smell bad today in Paris? In the event of a pollution spike, the Metro of Paris proposes a 1-day Anti-pollution Pass (forfait antipollution) with unlimited travel on all modes of transport (except Orly Val) throughout Ile-de-France. This pass costs 3.80€ and is available at any metro station in Paris.

How to know when this special Paris Metro Pass is available? This information usually appears on the screens of all metro stations just before the metro automatic tripods. You can also check it online on the RATP website.

7. How to Use the Paris Metro

Download the Paris Metro App

The best way to navigate Paris by Metro is to download a Paris Metro app on your phone. We use RATP’s free app Next Stop Paris, available for Android and iPhone.

This Paris Metro app is like a Paris Metro trip planner. The app has a map of the Metro of Paris, and it calculates the best itinerary from A to B for you. Thanks to its geolocation function, it also shows the closest metro station to your position.

Next Stop Paris also works offline. However, if you are offline, you won’t get live metro traffic news.

Know your Direction and Follow the Panels

Each metro line has a specific color and a number. The panels on the metro walls and the platforms’ electronic panels show the line number and the direction (first station – last station). For example, if you take Line 2, you will see panels with Line #2 Porte Dauphine and Line #2 Nation.

Exits are called SORTIE in French, and a single metro station can have more than one. To choose the right exit, look at the Neighbourhood Map, look for your destination, and take the closest exit to your destination.

Metro stations close to a tourist sight always include a brown panel with a sketch drawing of that specific tourist sight. Follow the panel.

Avoid Busy Metro Hubs

Unless it is vital, avoid big and crazy metro hubs like Châtelet, Montparnasse, or Gare de Lyon. These stations can have up to 15 different platforms, and it might take a good 10 minutes to navigate from one line to the other.

We don’t suggest stopping at Châtelet-Les Halles; the direction panels are placed so badly that we always end up turning around the same 2-3 pillars. The only explanation for us is that the guy who placed all those panels drank a little bit too much that day!

Sometimes, Walking is Faster than Taking the Metro

Check this Alternative Paris Metro Map with walking distances between metro stations. Sometimes it’s faster and more pleasant to walk in the open air than changing metro lines in Paris underground!

Look at the map below with the walking distances between main metro hubs. In most cases, you need 30 min or less to go from A to B on foot.

Check that Your Metro Station is Working!

The Metro of Paris is currently under huge renovation works to adapt the metro stations to people with disabilities. This means that some metro stations are closed to passengers for a certain time, the trains do not stop there, and you need to find an alternative itinerary.

You can check if the closest metro station to your hotel is open or closed for work on the RATP website.

8. Metro of Paris Etiquette 

It is true: Parisians have their own rules when they use the Parisian Metro! Published online, the Paris Metro Etiquette Guide lists ’12 basic commandments’ split into four categories: ‘helpfulness,’ ‘courtesy,’ ‘manners’ and ‘politeness.’

Only because you are not Parisian; does not mean that you don’t need to follow the rules. When navigating Paris by Metro, there are some big “faux pas” and, local or not, you should know them. Most of the rules are based on politeness and common sense like:

> Smoking signs in the Metro are not pieces of art but bans.

> Mind your hygiene. Please, mind your hygiene!

> Assist elderly passengers or pregnant women with their bags and let them your seat if they don’t have one.

> Let passengers leave the train before stepping on it. OR if you are on the metro just in front of the door but don’t need to leave, please step out of the metro to let passengers leave. Then, enter the metro again.

> Avoid folding down seats when the metro is full. This is a HUGE passenger ‘faux-pas,’ not appreciated by commuters (and they won’t hesitate to tell it to you clearly until you stand up!).

You will be happy to learn that Parisians are encouraged to be patient and helpful with lost tourists if only to relish their bad French privately: indeed, some Metro Stations like Boucicaut, Daumesnil, or Aulnay-sous-Bois are not that easy to pronounce in French 😉

Metro’s Jargon

From time to time, you will hear some information coming from the metro loudspeakers, on the platforms, and inside the trains.

Some messages like ‘Beware of pickpockets’ or ‘Please mind the gap between the train and the platform’ are multilingual messages repeated in French, English, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Chinese. Other messages, instead, are only in French, and they are not that specific, even for locals.

What the heck are they saying? Should you worry? Here are the most common messages in French and what they usually mean:

> ‘Colis suspect’ or ‘bagage abandonné’: abandoned bag or luggage, the traffic is interrupted until the police arrive and check the bag.

> ‘Panne de signalisation’: there is a technical issue like cable theft off, degradation of a rail or failure in the electrical system.

> ‘Incident d’exploitation’: this is a ‘jolly’ expression that can mean many things. It can come from infrastructure (referral problems) and external elements like alarm signals or people on the tracks.

> ‘Incident voyageur’ or ‘malaise voyageur’: a traveler is considered to be ‘sick or ill’ if he suffers from heart problems, fainting, or simply hotshots. The metro driver must go to check his condition, so the train stops.

> ‘En raison d’incident divers’, le trafic est perturbé, voir arrêté’: one of the worst messages that you can hear in the Metro in Paris because it means that many things are happening at the same time. Start thinking about a plan B.

> ‘Incident grave voyageur’: this is the worst message you can hear in the Metro. Unfortunately, most of the time, it means that there was a suicide somewhere along the line, and the train has to stop. Leave the train and look for a plan B.

10. How to Avoid Pickpockets in the Metro of Paris

Unfortunately, pickpockets are common in the Metro of Paris, especially along lines 1 and 9, with stops like Trocadéro, Louvre, or Champs Elysées.

Be careful not only inside the trains or platforms but also on the stairs. Thieves like busy mechanical stairs, especially when they go upstairs: they place themselves right after you, one step below you, which is the perfect position to open your backpack.

11. Metro of Paris: Advanced Tips by Locals

If you have read all the chapters down to here, you know by now how to use the Paris Metro like a local. But there is more! Read the tips below for becoming a seasoned pro on using the Parisian Subway:

Sortie #1

Are you meeting other people in the city? In Paris, it is common to meet friends at the exit of a specific metro station. But what happens when a metro station has many different exits? To avoid confusion, we always meet at exit #1.

A Metro with an Interesting History and Beautiful Metro Stations

The Metro de Paris, the second oldest metro in the world (only after London), has an interesting history and beautiful metro stations. Read the informative panels (in French) to learn about its history and some curious anecdotes.

If you have some extra time, visit the most beautiful metro stations.

Pro (FREE) Paris Metro Apps

Paris-ci la Sortie du Metro is a cool Paris Metro app that allows you to save between 5-10 minutes in the metro.

How does it work? The Parisian Subway has platforms with an average length of 80 m, which means up to four minutes walk from one side to the opposite side during rush hour. On this app, you introduce the line you take, the station you intend to stop, and the direction you want to take; it can be an exit or a connection. The app then tells you which is the best position on the train (back – middle – front) to travel to reduce the platform’s walking time.

Funny Metro Station Names

If you speak a bit of French, try to translate some station names into English, some of them are very funny!!

You can take the metro and stop at Aladdin, Nice View, Excel Man, Bleach, Libyan Desert, The Mute, Duplex, Martian Fields, Gaiety, Pleasure, Va Va-Voon, Saint Germain of the Meadows, The Tiles, or even George Clooney.

Read more about Getting Around Paris

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Some interesting articles in the blog

• Plan your first time in Paris here
• The Paris Arrondissements Guide is here
• Check how to skip the lines in Paris here

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