:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/TAL-metro-paris-PARISTRAVTIP0825-4e9959c485bf4fcfa6d2959f1e4c2ea0.jpg "I’m an American living in Paris and this is my number one travel tip for anyone visiting")
For the first half of my decade living in France, I rented a small studio in Nice’s central square, Place Masséna, on the French Riviera. Uber was a pipe dream at the time, but fortunately, the coastal city is easily navigated on foot or by bike, and I once even made the 20-minute ride home from Nice Côte d’Azur Airport (NCE) on a Vélobleu city bike, with my duffel bag swinging delicately over the front basket.
When I moved to Paris in late 2018, shuttle services were already the norm, but in a city where strikes are common (and sometimes unpredictable), I quickly learned that you’ll have better luck underground than above. Instead, I share the same advice with anyone who visits me, even my most stylish friends who are in town for fashion week: avoid taxis. Traffic in Paris is notoriously terrible, so the quickest (and easiest) way to get around is by metro (download the city map app) or just walk.
Parisians are seen as effortlessly elegant, but the reality is that the most important thing is practicality, while still being fashionable, of course. Sneakers are the most convenient footwear for the marathon of stairs descending to Parisian metro stations or for strolling between galleries and museums during events like Art Basel Paris. On the rare occasions that I cross to the other side of the river to dine at the Gauche River (Left Bank) or take a train at Montparnasse station (the gateway to Brittany and Bordeaux), it’s only a 45-minute metro ride from my apartment in Belleville, in the 20th arrondissement, when it could be over an hour by car.
Even before the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, the city was in a constant state of construction, with blocked roads and detours causing traffic jams starting at 7 a.m., which occurred one morning while I was sitting in an Uber on the way to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). Fortunately, public transportation to the city’s airports has been simplified and is now a direct 25 minutes to Paris Orly Airport (ORY) on line 14 from the city center.
However, if you decide you want the convenience of a car, Uber and Bolt (a European ride-sharing service) are your main options. Taxis, on the other hand, will always operate with a fixed rate on trips to and from the airport. And luckily, Parisian taxis are required to accept credit cards, so if you’ve just landed and don’t have euros yet, you can just hop in a taxi and head to your hotel.
