7 Paris Metro Mistakes That Cost Tourists €50

Paris is one of the best metro systems in the world, if you know how to use it. But for some visitors, they mess it up hard. And today, I am not doing this alone. Mick, our Parisian metro expert, is going to join me in sharing the seven insider tips. From buying the wrong tickets at the machine. Buying this card, which is different. I don't have that issue. To getting control and getting a hefty fine. Do you get control often? Actually, I get control a lot more now than I did like 16 years ago. Really? Why? To missing the simple tricks. There are three apps, but the one is Bonjour that local Parisians use every day. So you don't get fined, you go in the right direction, and you don't waste your time and money. Allez, on y va! So the first thing is about the Navigo Pass. Particularly, you have the daily, the weekly, the monthly, and the yearly too. And of course, because it's French, it's overly complicated. If you're going to use the weekly Navigo Pass to go to and from the airport, and your traveling pattern is Monday to Sunday, or as close as possible, because it does start on Monday and it ends on Sunday, regardless of when you started, you arrive here on a Tuesday or on a Wednesday, then I'm just going to tell you it's not a good deal. You're much better off with this little Navigo Easy, where you basically are loading your metro passes, your bus pass, and your airport transportation pass. I don't know if you know that. You can put a pass to go to and from the airport on this, but the cart has to be empty in order for you to do it. I don't know that. So if you already have metro passes or bus passes, it will not let you install that. Which is another silly French thing. Doesn't make sense. Doesn't make sense, but this is how the French designed it. The second thing you need to know is you can put metro and buses, and then when you go through the metro or to the bus, you just tap. The machine will know which to subtract. But here's a mistake that I've done. I went into the bus with a metro pass, and I figured since my metro pass is $2.50 and a bus pass is $2, it's just going to be fine. Yeah. And it's not. If you have a bus pass, you can use it. If you don't, then it's just not going to take it. I mean, it's funny because with my, your only plan, I don't have that issue. So my, this card, which is different, like we have a different color. And you have your idea, photo idea. I have my idea, I have my picture, I have everything. I can actually use it in the metro, in the tramway, in the bus. And one thing to be very careful about too, is that each person needs to have their own individual pass. Yeah, if there's four in your party, each one of them needs to have their own card. And you need to load each pass individually and then use it and actually store it. This is two euros. There's no picture on the back. So it is my individual card when I travel, but I can't give it to Colleen or give it to Mick and Mick can use it. That's why I like the Navigo Easy. In my humble opinion, really the best card to use when you're in Paris. I agree. All right, the next one is about how chaotic and confusing the metro can be. So Mick, the expert Parisian metro is going to tell us exactly how it works. You have to remember that there's mainly like two lines that you need to remember. The first one is the line one that goes from west to east of the city. And the other one is line four that goes north to south. And usually when you're going to talk about metro with anyone, they're going to refer to the actual number of the metro. There is 14 metro lines, but there are also five lines called RER. And this is where the confusion usually happens because you're going to see the line which is mixed with the metro, but it's not metro, it's RER. RER is pretty much what you're going to use to go to the airport, to Disney, and to Versailles, for example. If it has a number, it's a metro line. If it has a letter, it's an RER line. If you stay within Paris, you will be most likely using the metro. Now tell me about this because every metro has exit plan like that. So some metro stations are very easy. They have two exits, two entrances. So it's very easy. Other stations have like 10 or 15 exits and entrances. So they have like an exit map where you can actually look at the different exits that you have with the street numbers. Basically, if you want to go right here, the closest exit would be exit number three. Yes. Rue de Dunkerque. All right, cool. Here, behind the gates, you actually have two signs. Each sign says the direction where it's going with the destination point. And below, there is all the stops between where you're located and going to that location. So all you have to do is look on both tables and see where is your stop. So you can actually confirm that if you're going to that direction, your stop is going to be coming up next. This is line four, and that direction is Clignancourt. And this one is Bagneux. The next big secret is about using the right app. So it's this app right here, IDF Mobility. This is the app that you're supposed to use to buy the passes. Why they didn't do it on Bonjour ITP? I don't know, but IDF Mobility is there. First of all, IDF Mobility does not allow you to download it and install it on your phone unless you are in France. I don't know if it's Europe, but I know that everyone that is trying to do it in the US is unable to do it. The second issue is that it requires a mobile phone number. Even if you were with a VPN able to install it, you would still not be able to log in and register yourself because it won't take your phone number. The next problem, a lot of people are having issues making it work. You can click on the little purchase at the bottom. So if I want to purchase a ticket on my phone, then I can get a single ticket, a day ticket or a package. And this is where a lot of people are going. The Paris day pass, the two day pass, the three day pass, including the Navigo weekly pass. So we can click on that, look at the description, and it will tell you the thing that it starts on Monday and it ends on Sunday. Unless that proves to be your pattern, it's great. Otherwise, it's probably not a good value. People in my generation are struggling with it. They're like, they bought a ticket, they don't know how to find it or they don't know how to use it. They don't know whether the pass actually worked. I tried to use it once and I made a mistake and I was stuck with it. And I had to deal with the customer support on a Sunday to get the money back. And it was not a pleasant experience. Now, one of the things that I do, the only reason I use the IDF mobility card and oftentimes I actually have multiple of these cards, I can use my phone to verify if I have any rides on this card here. On my Navigo pass, this is what I'm going to choose. I'm going to choose that. It's asking me to put the card behind the phone and it's telling me I got three left on this card. You can actually do it if you're traveling as a group with all the different cards from everyone. But I'd recommend to just, you know, avoid using it, do it on site and actually stick to other apps. All right, the next secret that Parisians know naturally is how to spot pickpockets. And avoid them. We've created multiple videos on how to outsmart pickpockets, how to avoid them. And we've been accused of fear mongering. That's really not the intent, because like people say, we came to Paris, we took the metro every day, never saw a pickpocket. That's actually correct. The odds are statistically, because it happens a lot. You know, one of the things I do immediately when I go in the metro is, you know, I go like this. I tap my phone, I tap my pass, I tap my keys. And I want to know where they are. Navigo taps. This is one of the reasons why I get a sling from Pacsafe that has a lock here. It's slash resistant. So anyone that's trying to cut into this bag, they can get in. I got the little thing here that comes up, so I can attach it around a chair and everything. Nobody is going to get in the bag. It's on me. I put it in front of me. What this one does for me, it gives me peace of mind. I got Colleen the Pacsafe backpack and I got myself the sling backpack. If you don't have the instinct of knowing where your stuff is, at least if you have it in a bag that is pickpocket safe, then you just got peace of mind. You know, it's the type of thing, it's like you don't see it coming. By the time you understand what happened, it's already too late. Yeah, they could lose an entire day just with the police report and all this. And then it's just like blocking the cards and all that stuff. So not that it's a huge threat, but you want to, you know, better safe than sorry. Yeah, with a bag like this where, you know, nobody is going to get into your stuff is the way to go. Yeah, absolutely. The next secret that Parisians know about the Paris Metro is that sometimes the best thing to do is not to take the Metro and to take the bus instead. One of the first thing is when you're in a tunnel in the Metro, you're on the ground. So whether you're in London, Barcelona or Paris, they all look the same. So at least when you're outside, you get to sightseeing, it's a lot more pleasant and also for people with mobility issues. Absolutely. Some Metro are going to have elevators or electric stairs, but a lot of them don't. Yeah. The bus is actually your best bet. You're still using public transportation, so it's very cost effective. Right. Yet, it's very easy to get in and out. So one of the things that you need to know about the bus is first of all, you have to flag it. When you know your exit, which is, you know, there's a little sign inside the bus that tells you next stop is this. Make sure you press the button because the driver is not going to stop. Unless requested. Line 69 are amazing. They basically go through all the attractions. But the next thing that some people actually get caught, especially around big attractions, is when the bus, all right, because there's a lot of people that are trying to get in from the front door of the bus. They're trying to sneak in in the back doors. Don't do that. This is how you're going to get a fine. The back is not as obvious and oftentimes people just forget to do it and then you can actually get fined. Use the bus. Make sure to validate and ask for the person to come in and to drop you off. There was a time where a lot of people were just skipping the machine. Right. And it was, you know, like a loss of revenue. Actually get to control a lot more now than I did like 20 years ago, 15 years ago. Really? They also have different type of tactics to actually catch. Right, right. They usually hide right behind a corner. You turn a corner and here they are. And there is like five or six of them and there is a couple of guards. Sometimes there may be a dog. Sometimes they go actually incognito like the undercover cops. Like, oh, tickets please. Control people, yeah. In the case of, I don't know, you didn't buy the right tickets. I think you'll be off a lot easier if you've been calm and also respectful. First of all, you know for a fact that you do have a pass and then you tapped it and then you heard the beep, the thing that opened up the door. You just stay calm and you just say, I do have a valid. I use this card on the machine because they've heard all the sad stories you can imagine in the book and they have zero patience and they don't care. The second thing is, well, you're not sure whether you have the right pass and that the machine beeped and it's kind of like you were in a hurry and, you know, whatever happened. By the way, if they threaten you to call the police between you and I as an insider tip, the police has better things to do than dealing with your own paid parking thing. You know, I use this card. I'm sorry if it's not, you know, like that, but just stay calm. Number one, they're going to want you to pay on the spot or they'll say they'll issue a ticket, then you'll have to pay it later. And it will be a lot more, almost double if you pay it later. But you are under no obligation whatsoever to pay the ticket on the spot. There is a matter of fact, the controllers are incentivized by you paying on the side. They get a cut of that ticket because they want to collect as much fine as possible to plug the holes of all the people that are cheating around Paris. By the way, they're not all like this. Be respectful to them. They actually say, you know what, just go on, move on, have better things to do. I don't think it's fair to take it out on tourists. If it happened, just remain calm and deal with the situation the best you can. The next secret that every Parisian use is having the right app on your phone. Now there are three apps. There is Bonjour RATP, there is IDF Mobilité and SNCF Connect. But the one for the Metro, the one that we all use is Bonjour RATP. So let me open it up on my phone and show you how it works. How I use this thing is basically having the app telling me the fastest way to get from point A to point B. And the cheapest way as well. So let me just show that we're in Gare du Nord here. And I'm going to say I want to go to the Eiffel Tower, the Tour Eiffel. And the first option is RERB. But it's telling me that there is a little warning, traffic is slowed. So I already know that I probably should avoid it. So if this line is not working for whatever reason, so it's actually updated with the status, which is very important in a big city like this. I'm going to go to the next option, which is line 4 to line 9. And it's going to take me 35 inside. So let's just do the 4 to the 9, the 35 minutes. And look at this, giving me a little map here, which is showing me exactly where we're going to go. We're going to take line 4 to line 9. And then it's going to take me to all this. But look at the details below. So there's a train in 3 minutes, 5 minutes and 8 minutes. It's telling you where to sit. Sit in the middle because you're going to exit the train to switch to line 9. And it already knows that the middle is the best place to be instead of the front or the back. The other thing is actually telling you how crowded is the current train. If you're actually getting in the metro, that's very crowded. This is usually when, you know, that stuff happens. But if it's not crowded, then you can be a little bit more, you know, off guard. And then it's telling you to go to Strasbourg-Saint-Denis, which is going to be the metro station. And then go in the Pont-de-Sèvres direction. So you have actually plenty of information, like the number of stations that you're going to be on. Right. You can actually, if you press down, it'll show you all the stations. That's the station where you're going to exit. But which exit at the station are you going to take? Because Alma-Mars has like 4 or 5 exits. Yeah. And it's telling you exactly which exit that you're going to take with the exact sign that you will find. The exit number 2, Pont-de-l'Alma. It also tells you the distance that you're going to have to walk. Oh, I want to take the quickest option, but I have a lot of walking to do because the connections between the metro. You're going to be okay to do 5 more minutes in the metro, but less walking. That's right. That's always something that you want to be looking for. By the way, a lot of people use Google Map and this thing is great. It's close, but it's not real time. RATP will be real time. This is what's happening and it's telling you everything. Right here, it says Metro 4 plus RERC plus 7-minute walk. So it's actually less walk. Yeah. On this thing, it takes longer to get there. But at the end, you will have a lot less walking. Only 7 minutes. When you install an app like this, sometimes you need to go back to your hotel or your apartment and you can actually add the home address. So you can actually put the address where you actually stay so you don't have to remember the street, the number and all that stuff. It takes 10 seconds and it's pretty helpful. The secret Paris insider, do Bonjour RATP. Install it and put it on your phone to navigate in Paris. But it's free. Can't beat that. Yeah. Well, thank you. You're welcome. We said seven, but I have a bonus. Tell me, as a Parisian, which station do you avoid in Paris? What I would recommend to avoid would be, obviously, Châtelet-Léal. Châtelet-Léal. Why? Because it's huge. Yeah. It's a maze. Yeah. It's very confusing. People running all around you, so it makes it even more confusing. You want to avoid that because it's not a good experience. I would avoid that. Another one that I mean, it's not avoid because sometimes it's not easy, but it's Montparnasse. I mean, it's the longest walk. If you're taking the metro from Gare du Nord with luggage to go to Montparnasse, which is you're going to Bordeaux, oh my God, take a taxi. What about Étoile? I know you mentioned Étoile. Étoile is the same thing. At the top of the Champs-Élysées, it feels empty. I find it very cold and it's just not a station that I actually enjoy. Next, I would watch a video about outsmarting pickpockets in the metro. That comes in very handy. Until next time, au revoir. Bye-bye.