Paris 2025 summary

Transportation. Except for trips from and back to the airport (taxi and Uber respectively) we used public transportation. remember that Uber is always going to be less expensive than a taxi. We noticed several of the Metro lines had newer cars and there were a few more escalators than we remember and an occasional elevator. But still lots of steps and connections in some of the larger transfer stations required quite a bit of walking. 

The buses we took were clean, reliable, and seemed fairly up-to-date and were often the better choice than the Metro. Just depends on your itinerary. Anyway, we found it pleasant to travel around the city above ground once in awhile.

Using the transportation ticketing system is easy. For the casual traveler you'll use tickets (acquired via one of the Metro apps). If you've come to Paris a number of times over the years you might have acquired a physical Navigo Pass -- which apparently can also be accessed on your phone as well, although if I'm not mistaken it seems you have an IDF Mobilités account. Anyway, the Navigo will give you access to Metro, RER, bus and trams within central Paris. If you use the Bonjour app and just download tickets (singly or in multiples) be aware they will not work on the bus, odd as it may seem. 

And the Metro apps also provide you with handy maps for the various lines so pretty much everything you need to get around Paris can be right on your phone.

Accommodation. Whether you opt for a hotel or apartment, location, as they say, is everything. Plan to stay close to transportation hubs, close to say two different Metro stops would be ideal, which isn't terribly difficult in the city. There will always be a bus stop close by.

Since most services are taken care of  in a hotel there is little need to prepare food or do the laundry. If you opt for an apartment, and if your stay is say longer than a week, then things like availability of a washing machine, oven, cooktop, kitchen accessories, will require a bit more thought.

Our particular Air BnB apartment has issues right from the get-go. More of that right here.

Communication. We relied on on iPhones throughout our travels. I used a data eSim from Airolo which I've used in the past and it works great. I paid $6.00 for 2gb/two weeks in France and it was more than enough for our needs. Otherwise I used WhatsApp to communicate with our host as well as a friend. Texting and phone cals remained with our USA carrier as usual and I believe Xfinity no longer charges for those while abroad. 

Food. Wonderful food experiences as noted in my blog. And our neighborhood next door to major indoor and outdoor food markets was, for us, food central. 

Attractions. Noted in my daily postings. I will say that for us just walking, strolling striding, whatever you want to call it, is one of our favorite things to do when traveling. Just being a flâneur! Cheap and easy way to see wherever you're staying and this is certainly true of Paris, an eminently walkable city.

That said, we did see the "new" Notre Dame de Paris -- it was a smart move to get timed tickets online, to be sure, but once inside it was wall-to-wall people, Gorgeous, true, but the humanity! Visiting the cemetery of Père-Lachaise is always near the top of our list. We did go to the Musée d'Orsay to see the John Singer Sargent exhibition and a stop at the Petit Palais is always worth the time to see whatever exhibition is going on there. 

market on rue d'Aligri - and we did eat that particular head of broccoli