Paris Metro System
Paris metro is a rapid transit system serving the Paris Metropolitan area and is the second busiest metro system in Europe. It began operations on 19th July 1900 and presently has a system length of 214 kilometers and has 16 lines serving 303 stations. In terms of density, it is also one of the world’s densest systems, as it has 245 stations within a span of 86.9 km2.Châtelet – Les Halles metro station is the largest subway station in the world. As per 2012 statistics, the system had a daily ridership of 4,210,000 and an annual ridership of 1.541 billion passengers.
Paris Metro Route Lines
Paris Metro runs on following lines:
- Line 1 – La Défense / Château de Vincennes
- Line 2 – Porte Dauphine/Nation
- Line 3 – Pont de Levallois – Bécon/Gallieni
- Line 4 – Porte de Clignancourt/Mairie de Montrouge
- Line 5 – Bobigny – Pablo Picasso/Place d’Italie
- Line 6 – Charles de Gaulle-Etoile/Nation
- Line 7 – La Courneuve – 8 Mai 1945/Mairie d’Ivry and Villejuif – Louis Aragon
- Line 8 – Balard/Creteil
- Line 9 – Pont de Sèvres/Mairie de Montreuil
- Line 10 – Gare d’Austerlitz/Boulogne–Pont de Saint-Cloud
- Line 11 – Châtelet/Mairie des Lilas
- Line 12 – Aubervillers-Front Populaire/Mairie d’Issy
- Line 13 – Saint-Denis – Université/ Asnières–Gennevilliers-Les Courtilles/Châtillon–Montrouge
- Line 14 – Saint-Lazare/Olympiades
Paris Metro also offers a Regional Express Network (RER) with 5 lines and a Tram structure with 8 lines.
Paris Metro Network
Some Metro stations are connected with large train stations serving other types rail transport such as intercity surface trains and RER regional express trains which journey equally above and below ground.
A few noteworthy large stations inside Paris serving the entire three types of train transportation include: Gare St. Lazare, Gare du Nord, Gare de l’Est, Gare de Lyon, Gare d’Austerlitz and Gare Montparnasse. The Stations include numerous entrances/exits, up to ten for the biggest underground station, Chatelet Les Halles.
There are different kinds of metro trains. Most of the metro trains call for manual action to access the doors. Line 14 is an outstanding exception being entirely automatic and driver-less. Fold – downs seats within the trains should be used only when there is adequate room within the trains of standing travellers.
Paris Metro Map
Map of Paris Metro Showing various Lines and Stations. You can also Download Paris Metro Map in PDF.
Paris Metro Timings
The metro operates from 5.30 am to 12.30 am on Monday to Friday. On Saturday and Sundays, and on nights before public holidays, the timings are from 5.30 am to 2:15 am. The frequency of the trains is 2-4 minutes during day time and 6-12 minutes during night time. The frequency is good during peak hours and less during weekend nights.
Paris Metro Zone, Fares and Tickets
Riders can buy tickets for single ride or ten ride and passes with different durations. A single ticket is “t+” and costs 1,80 euro. It is valid for one and half hours from first validation and can be used for unlimited transfers between different public transports. A 10 ride ticket can be purchased for 14,10 euro.
Riders can buy daily unlimited pass or the Mobilis Pass. For Zone 1 and 2, it costs 6,60 euro. For Zone 1-3, 8,80 euro. Zone 1-5, excluding airport transfers, costs 15,65 euro. Youth under 26 years of age, in Paris for a weekend or any public holiday, can get a one day pass for cheap, called the Ticket Jeunes.
There is a weekly pass that is valid from Monday morning till Sunday night. Riders need to get a Navigo card that is a smart card and stores credit. The card requires a minimum payment of 5 euro in addition to the zone fares. Zone 1 and 2 costs 19,80 euro. Zone 1-3, 25,65 euro. Zone 1-5, 34,40 euro.
Tourists can also buy Visite passes that are available for 1-5 days duration. For Zone 1-3, a 1 day pass costs 10,85 euro. For Zone 1-5, 22,85 euro. A 2 day pass for Zone 1-3 costs 17,65 euro and for Zones 1-5 costs 34,70 euro. A 3 day pass for Zones 1-3 costs 24,10 euro and for zones 1-5, 48, 65 euro. A 5 day pass for zone 1-3 is for 37,20 euro and for zone 1-5 is for 59,50 euro.
Children under the age of 4 years travel free. Only the Tourist Visite pass and 10 ride tickets are discounted for children and available at half price. For other tickets and passes, there are no child discounts. The tickets can be purchased at kiosks or automated machines at the stations. The passes can also be bought from station agents.
| Station | Line | Zone |
| Abbesses | 12 | 1 |
| Alésia | 4 | 1 |
| Alexandre Dumas | 2 | 1 |
| Alma – Marceau | 9 | 1 |
| Anatole France | 3 | 2 |
| Anvers | 2 | 1 |
| Argentine | 1 | 1 |
| Arts et Métiers | 3 &11 | 1 |
| Asnières – Gennevilliers – Les Courtilles | 13 | 3 |
| Assemblée nationale | 12 | 1 |
| Aubervilliers – Pantin – Quatre Chemins | 7 | 1 |
| Avenue Émile Zola | 10 | 1 |
| Avron | 2 | 1 |
| Bagneux | 4 | — |
| Balard | 8 | 1 |
| Barbès – Rochechouart | 2 &4 | 1 |
| Basilique de Saint-Denis | 13 | 1 |
| Bastille | 1, 5,8 | 1 |
| Bel-Air | 6 | 1 |
| Belleville | 2 &11 | 1 |
| Bérault | 1 | 2 |
| Bercy | 6 &14 | 2 |
| Bibliothèque François Mitterrand | 14 | 1 |
| Billancourt | 9 | 1 |
| Bir-Hakeim | 6 | 1 |
| Blanche | 2 | 1 |
| Bobigny – Pablo Picasso | 5 | 1 |
| Boissière | 6 | 1 |
| Bolivar | 7bis | 1 |
| Bonne Nouvelle | 8 &9 | 1 |
| Botzaris | 7bis | 1 |
| Boulogne – Jean Jaurès | 10 | 2 |
| Boulogne – Pont de Saint-Cloud | 10 | 2 |
| Boucicaut | 8 | 1 |
| Bourse | 3 | 1 |
| Bréguet – Sabin | 5 | 1 |
| Brochant | 13 | 1 |
| Buttes Chaumont | 7bis | 1 |
| Buzenval | 9 | 1 |
| Cadet | 7 | 1 |
| Cambronne | 6 | 1 |
| Campo-Formio | 5 | 1 |
| Cardinal Lemoine | 10 | 1 |
| Carrefour Pleyel | 10 | 1 |
| Censier – Daubenton | 7 | 1 |
| Champs-Élysées – Clemenceau | 1 &13 | 1 |
| Chardon Lagache | 10 | 1 |
| Charenton – Écoles | 8 | 1 |
| Charles de Gaulle – Étoile | 1, 2,6 | 1 |
| Charles Michels | 10 | 1 |
| Charonne | 9 | 1 |
| Château d’Eau | 4 | 1 |
| Château de Vincennes | 1 | 2 |
| Château-Landon | 7 | 1 |
| Château Rouge | 4 | 1 |
| Châtelet | 1, 4,7,11,14 | 1 |
| Châtillon – Montrouge | 13 | 1 |
| Chaussée d’Antin – La Fayette | 7 &9 | 1 |
| Chemin Vert | 8 | 1 |
| Chevaleret | 6 | 1 |
| Cité | 4 | 1 |
| Cluny – La Sorbonne | 10 | 1 |
| Colonel Fabien | 2 | 1 |
| Commerce | 8 | 1 |
| Concorde | 1, 8,12 | 1 |
| Convention | 12 | 1 |
| Corentin Cariou | 7 | 1 |
| Corentin Celton | 12 | 2 |
| Corvisart | 6 | 1 |
| Cour Saint-Émilion | 14 | 1 |
| Courcelles | 2 | 1 |
| Couronnes | 2 | 1 |
| Créteil – l’Échat | 8 | 1 |
| Créteil – Préfecture | 8 | 1 |
| Créteil – Université | 8 | 1 |
| Crimée | 7 | 1 |
| Croix de Chavaux | 9 | 1 |
| Danube | 7bis | 1 |
| Daumesnil | 6 &8 | 1 |
| Denfert-Rochereau | 4 &6 | 1 |
| Dugommier | 6 | 1 |
| Dupleix | 6 | 1 |
| Duroc | 6 &10 | 1 |
| École Militaire | 8 | 1 |
| École Vétérinaire de Maisons-Alfort | 8 | 1 |
| Edgar Quinet | 6 | 1 |
| Église d’Auteuil | 10 | 1 |
| Église de Pantin | 5 | 1 |
| Esplanade de la Défense | 1 | 2/3/2014 |
| Étienne Marcel | 4 | 1 |
| Europe | 3 | 1 |
| Exelmans | 9 | 1 |
| Faidherbe – Chaligny | 8 | 1 |
| Falguière | 12 | 1 |
| Félix Faure | 8 | 1 |
| Filles du Calvaire | 8 | 1 |
| Fort d’Aubervilliers | 7 | 2 |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | 1 &9 | 1 |
| Gabriel Péri | 13 | 3 |
| Gaîté | 13 | 1 |
| Gallieni | 3 | 1 |
| Gambetta | 3 &3bis | 1 |
| Gare d’Austerlitz | 5 &10 | 1 |
| Gare de l’Est | 4, 5,7 | 1 |
| Gare de Lyon | 1,14 | 1 |
| Gare du Nord | 4/5/2014 | 1 |
| George V | 1 | 1 |
| Glacière | 6 | 1 |
| Goncourt | 11 | 1 |
| Grands Boulevards | 8 &9 | 1 |
| Guy Môquet | 13 | 1 |
| Havre – Caumartin | 3 &9 | 1 |
| Hoche | 5 | 2 |
| Hôtel de Ville | 1, 9,11 | 1 |
| Invalides | 8,13 | 1 |
| Jacques Bonsergent | 5 | 1 |
| Jasmin | 9 | 1 |
| Jaurès | 2, 5,7bis | 1 |
| Javel – André Citroën | 10 | 1 |
| Jourdain | 11 | 1 |
| Jules Joffrin | 12 | 1 |
| Jussieu | 7,10 | 1 |
| Kléber | 6 | 1 |
| La Chapelle | 2 | 1 |
| La Courneuve – 8 Mai 1945 | 7 | 2 |
| La Défense – Grande Arche | 1 | 3 |
| La Fourche | 13 | 1 |
| La Motte-Picquet – Grenelle | 6, 8,10 | 1 |
| La Muette | 9 | 1 |
| La Tour-Maubourg | 8 | 1 |
| Lamarck – Caulaincourt | 12 | 1 |
| Laumière | 5 | 1 |
| Le Kremlin-Bicêtre | 7 | 2 |
| Le Peletier | 7 | 1 |
| Ledru-Rollin | 8 | 1 |
| Les Agnettes | 13 | 3 |
| Les Gobelins | 7 | 1 |
| Les Halles | 4 | 1 |
| Les Sablons | 1 | 2 |
| Liberté | 8 | 1 |
| Liège | 13 | 1 |
| Louis Blanc | 7 &7bis | 1 |
| Louise Michel | 3 | 2 |
| Lourmel | 8 | 1 |
| Louvre – Rivoli | 1 | 1 |
| Mabillon | 10 | 1 |
| Madeleine | 8,12,14 | 1 |
| Mairie d’Issy | 12 | 2 |
| Mairie d’Ivry | 7 | 1 |
| Mairie de Clichy | 13 | 2 |
| Mairie de Montreuil | 9 | 1 |
| Mairie de Montrouge | 4 | 1 |
| Mairie de Saint-Ouen | 13 | 1 |
| Mairie des Lilas | 11 | 1 |
| Maison Blanche | 7 | 1 |
| Maisons-Alfort – Les Juilliottes | 8 | 1 |
| Maisons-Alfort – Stade | 8 | 1 |
| Malakoff – Plateau de Vanves | 13 | 1 |
| Malakoff – Rue Étienne Dolet | 13 | 1 |
| Malesherbes | 3 | 1 |
| Maraîchers | 9 | 1 |
| Marcadet – Poissonniers | 4 &12 | 1 |
| Marcel Sembat | 9 | 1 |
| Marx Dormoy | 12 | 1 |
| Maubert-Mutualité | 10 | 1 |
| Ménilmontant | 2 | 1 |
| Michel Bizot | 8 | 1 |
| Michel-Ange – Auteuil | 9 &10 | 1 |
| Michel-Ange – Molitor | 9 &10 | 1 |
| Mirabeau | 10 | 1 |
| Miromesnil | 9 &13 | 1 |
| Monceau | 2 | 1 |
| Montgallet | 8 | 1 |
| Montparnasse – Bienvenüe | 4, 6,12,13 | 1 |
| Mouton-Duvernet | 4 | 1 |
| Nation | 1, 2,6, 9 | 1 |
| Nationale | 6 | 1 |
| Notre-Dame-de-Lorette | 12 | 1 |
| Notre-Dame-des-Champs | 12 | 1 |
| Oberkampf | 5 &9 | 1 |
| Odéon | 4 &10 | 1 |
| Olympiades | 14 | 1 |
| Opéra | 7 &8 | 1 |
| Ourcq | 5 | 1 |
| Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre | 1 &7 | 1 |
| Parmentier | 3 | 1 |
| Passy | 6 | 1 |
| Pasteur | 6 &12 | 1 |
| Pelleport | 3bis | 1 |
| Père Lachaise | 2 &3 | 1 |
| Pereire | 3 | 1 |
| Pernety | 13 | 1 |
| Philippe Auguste | 2 | 1 |
| Picpus | 6 | 1 |
| Pierre et Marie Curie | 7 | 1 |
| Pigalle | 2 &12 | 1 |
| Place d’Italie | 5, 6,7 | 1 |
| Place de Clichy | 2 &13 | 1 |
| Place des Fêtes | 7bis&11 | 1 |
| Place Monge | 7 | 1 |
| Plaisance | 13 | 1 |
| Pointe du Lac | 8 | 1 |
| Poissonnière | 7 | 1 |
| Pont de Levallois – Bécon | 3 | 2 |
| Pont de Neuilly | 1 | 2 |
| Pont de Sèvres | 9 | 1 |
| Pont Marie | 7 | 1 |
| Pont Neuf | 7 | 1 |
| Porte d’Auteuil | 10 | 1 |
| Porte d’Italie | 7 | 1 |
| Porte d’Ivry | 7 | 1 |
| Porte d’Orléans | 4 | 1 |
| Porte Dauphine | 2 | 1 |
| Porte de Bagnolet | 3 | 1 |
| Porte de Champerret | 3 | 1 |
| Porte de Charenton | 8 | 1 |
| Porte de Choisy | 7 | 1 |
| Porte de Clichy | 13 | 1 |
| Porte de Clignancourt | 4 | 1 |
| Porte de la Chapelle | 12 | 1 |
| Porte de la Villette | 7 | 1 |
| Porte de Montreuil | 9 | 1 |
| Porte de Pantin | 5 | 1 |
| Porte de Saint-Cloud | 9 | 1 |
| Porte de Saint-Ouen | 13 | 1 |
| Porte de Vanves | 13 | 1 |
| Porte de Versailles | 12 | 1 |
| Porte de Vincennes | 1 | 1 |
| Porte des Lilas | 3bis&11 | 1 |
| Porte Dorée | 8 | 1 |
| Porte Maillot | 1 | 1 |
| Pré Saint-Gervais | 7bis | 1 |
| Pyramides | 7 &14 | 1 |
| Pyrénées | 11 | 1 |
| Quai de la Gare | 6 | 1 |
| Quai de la Rapée | 5 | 1 |
| Quatre-Septembre | 3 | 1 |
| Rambuteau | 11 | 1 |
| Ranelagh | 9 | 1 |
| Raspail | 4 &6 | 1 |
| Réaumur – Sébastopol | 3 &4 | 1 |
| Rennes | 12 | 1 |
| République | 3, 5,8, 9,11 | 1 |
| Reuilly – Diderot | 1 &8 | 1 |
| Richard-Lenoir | 5 | 1 |
| Richelieu – Drouot | 8 &9 | 1 |
| Riquet | 7 | 1 |
| Robespierre | 9 | 1 |
| Rome | 2 | 1 |
| Rue de la Pompe | 9 | 1 |
| Rue des Boulets | 9 | 1 |
| Rue du Bac | 12 | 1 |
| Rue Saint-Maur | 3 | 1 |
| Saint-Ambroise | 9 | 1 |
| Saint-Augustin | 9 | 1 |
| Saint-Denis – Porte de Paris | 13 | 1 |
| Saint-Denis – Université | 13 | 1 |
| Saint-Fargeau | 3bis | 1 |
| Saint-François-Xavier | 13 | 1 |
| Saint-Germain-des-Prés | 4 | 1 |
| Saint-Georges | 12 | 1 |
| Saint-Jacques | 6 | 1 |
| Saint-Lazare | 3,12,13,14 | 1 |
| Saint-Mandé | 1 | 2 |
| Saint-Marcel | 5 | 1 |
| Saint-Michel | 4 | 1 |
| Saint-Paul | 1 | 1 |
| Saint-Philippe du Roule | 9 | 1 |
| Saint-Placide | 4 | 1 |
| Saint-Sébastien – Froissart | 8 | 1 |
| Saint-Sulpice | 4 | 1 |
| Ségur | 10 | 1 |
| Sentier | 3 | 1 |
| Sèvres – Babylone | 10&12 | 1 |
| Sèvres – Lecourbe | 6 | 1 |
| Simplon | 4 | 1 |
| Solférino | 12 | 1 |
| Stalingrad | 2, 5,7 | 1 |
| Strasbourg – Saint-Denis | 4, 8,9 | 1 |
| Sully – Morland | 7 | 1 |
| Télégraphe | 11 | 1 |
| Temple | 3 | 1 |
| Ternes | 2 | 1 |
| Tolbiac | 7 | 1 |
| Trinité – d’Estienne d’Orves | 12 | 1 |
| Trocadéro | 6 &9 | 1 |
| Tuileries | 1 | 1 |
| Vaneau | 10 | 1 |
| Varenne | 13 | 1 |
| Vaugirard | 12 | 1 |
| Vavin | 4 | 1 |
| Verdun-Sud | 4 | — |
| Victor Hugo | 2 | 1 |
| Villejuif – Léo Lagrange | 7 | 2 |
| Villejuif – Louis Aragon | 7 | 2 |
| Villejuif – Paul Vaillant-Couturier | 7 | 2 |
| Villiers | 2 &3 | 1 |
| Volontaires | 12 | 1 |
| Voltaire | 9 | 1 |
| Wagram | 3 | 1 |
Paris Metro Rules and Tips
The stations have automated gates, which open with tickets or smart cards. The tickets need to be retained during journey as they can be inspected any time. Most of the stations have Wi-Fi service. Bicycles are not allowed on metro except on public holidays and Sunday on Line 1. Bikes are however allowed on the suburb trains and RER, but during the off peak times. Transit of small pets is allowed provided they are inside hand held carriers.
Access to the train
Entrée to Metro train platforms is secured via turnstiles or gate type barriers which are operated by either magnetic stripe coupon tickets or touch-less smart cards. To activate the barrier with a ticket, put in the ticket magnetic stripe side downwards, into a turnstile that is not indicate a red X or red circle which indicates an exit only turnstile. The ticket slot should be on your right while inserting the ticket. The ticket will be ejected on the top of the turnstile which you must recover to release the blockade
Exiting
Follow the direction of the blue “Sortie” Signs after exiting the train. Select the appropriate exit after referring the exit maps at every station.