Safety
Before travelling to Paris I researched the different types of scams that take place in Paris, especially around tourist areas, so I could take extra precaution to prevent myself from being pick pocketed or scammed. Even though I had researched these scams, I was in no way prepared for the extent and frequency in which these scams happened.
Begging
Begging is not classed as a scam but in a sense it is since the people begging for money weren’t homeless but just trying to get extra money from tourists. Even though the majority of people begging aren’t homeless, I am in no way making fun or disregarding the people that are actually homeless and begging for money to survive. When I got off the Eurostar at Gare du Nord I was approached by a woman asking for money, when I said no I was surprised to see the woman still standing there, I know I don’t speak French but I’m sure people can understand what no means. When me and my friend found directions for our hotel, we had discovered that we had another member to our party since this woman had followed us still begging for money. Throughout the majority of my trip I saw people begging tourists at the stations, especially Gare du Nord, which then led to them being escorted out by security or the police.
Gold Ring Scam
When visiting Notre-Dame I overheard someone saying to a tourist passing by that she had dropped their ring and that he wanted to return it. The tourist replied that she didn’t wear a ring so it couldn’t have been hers so the scammer then begged them to take it since it didn’t fit them (in which they demonstrated), how inconvenient and unfortunate. The scammer then asks for around €20 since it is “real” gold after all and he wanted to sell it on to someone. The tourist seemed over the moon, this was their lucky day, until the scammer had vanished into thin air after the tourist had realised she was taken for a fool since the “gold” is just a brass band made to look like it’s expensive by using a gold paint.
Friendship Bracelet/String Scam
This was the worst scam I encountered and the most unsafe I had felt during my trip to Paris. When visiting the Musée du Louvre a group of men had approached me and asked me to extend my arm, I refused since why should I do anything a stranger tells me, so I had walked away. When I looked round I had seen they had caught up to me and was about to put a bracelet on my wrist, I looked the guy in the face and said if he dared try to touch my wrist he would hate to see what would happen. I admired the dedication of this guy since he still didn’t seem to give up, saying that this bracelet was “free” since it’s in “the spirit of friendship”. As much as there is some good left in the world, there’s none at all in these scammers since if tourists accept these “free” gifts they’ll be hassled until they give money to the men trying to do it. I understand why some tourists may give money to these scammers since they're older and in a bigger group than I was, some may feel intimidated but regardless you should just drop the bracelet and walk away.
Taxis at Gare du Nord
When people get off at the station all they want to do is to get in a taxi and get to their hotel. Even though you might be tired there are two different taxi stands, one being the most popular and official one and the other being the one used to scam unsuspecting tourists. The taxi stand that’s at the front of the station is full of taxi drivers that bump up their prices since they don’t use meters that would calculate a fare from one place to another. I heard stories of people being overcharged since they paid over triple the price in these unofficial taxis since they only went with the price the driver had told them (as they had no idea of the price and nothing to compare it to). Around the corner of the station there is an official taxi service, which can be identified by the metal railing for tourists to queue up with as well as someone directing tourists to taxis. In these taxis there is a meter so there is no way a taxi driver can overcharge you since you would pay depending on how far you’re going from the station and the amount of time it takes.
People Helping You Buy Metro Tickets
The ticket machines that are located in all metro stations throughout Paris are confusing at first for a tourist like myself, since they aren’t simple and finding out what ticket you want is more of a hassle than necessary. Even though this scam didn’t happen to me, I witnessed it throughout my stay and thought it was important to mention since you can be scammed out of upwards of €20 or be pick pocketed and lose even more. The scam begins when a local approaches a tourist and asks if they need help with buying a ticket, while the tourist explains where they want to go the local will pick the most expensive option (which the tourist will be oblivious of since it would be in French). The local will then explain that they have found a ticket they need and they should insert their debit or credit card, when the tourist has put in the pin the local will then make sure the payment goes through but explains to the tourist that it hasn’t. Excuses as to why it has been declined will range from it being a foreign country and the card isn’t accepted, which is a big fat lie. The local will then become the knight in shining armour and pretend to pay for the ticket, in which they will first cancel the transaction of this expensive ticket but tell the local it has gone through. The tourist assumes it has gone through and the local grabs the ticket from the machine that they had previously printed out (the expensive one) while placing a cheap one they had previously printed out beforehand in the machine (to look like it had just been printed). The local will then give the cheap ticket (which could be a children's ticket or a single ticket) to the tourist and bid them farewell. The worst part is that the tourist could be caught by a ticket inspector and be placed with a hefty fine or be stuck between stations since the ticket machine may not accept their ticket when they try to leave the station they're travelling to.
Deaf Petition
When walking towards the Eiffel Tower I was approached by a woman with what looked like a petition in her hand, she shouted “SIGN” at me and waved her petition in my face. First of all take me on a date first before you start getting that close to me and in my face these women are scammers since while you sign this petition other people in on this scam will go through your pockets. This petition is completely fake and can be in other forms such as another one I encountered such as signing a petition to help buy food for the starving children in Africa. These people would make you sign the petition and then say “Since you have signed you have to pay” with the money going straight in their pocket. These people are found to be women in plain clothing with no identification that they are there to raise money for charity, clearly indicating that they are fake.
Begging
Begging is not classed as a scam but in a sense it is since the people begging for money weren’t homeless but just trying to get extra money from tourists. Even though the majority of people begging aren’t homeless, I am in no way making fun or disregarding the people that are actually homeless and begging for money to survive. When I got off the Eurostar at Gare du Nord I was approached by a woman asking for money, when I said no I was surprised to see the woman still standing there, I know I don’t speak French but I’m sure people can understand what no means. When me and my friend found directions for our hotel, we had discovered that we had another member to our party since this woman had followed us still begging for money. Throughout the majority of my trip I saw people begging tourists at the stations, especially Gare du Nord, which then led to them being escorted out by security or the police.
Gold Ring Scam
When visiting Notre-Dame I overheard someone saying to a tourist passing by that she had dropped their ring and that he wanted to return it. The tourist replied that she didn’t wear a ring so it couldn’t have been hers so the scammer then begged them to take it since it didn’t fit them (in which they demonstrated), how inconvenient and unfortunate. The scammer then asks for around €20 since it is “real” gold after all and he wanted to sell it on to someone. The tourist seemed over the moon, this was their lucky day, until the scammer had vanished into thin air after the tourist had realised she was taken for a fool since the “gold” is just a brass band made to look like it’s expensive by using a gold paint.
Friendship Bracelet/String Scam
This was the worst scam I encountered and the most unsafe I had felt during my trip to Paris. When visiting the Musée du Louvre a group of men had approached me and asked me to extend my arm, I refused since why should I do anything a stranger tells me, so I had walked away. When I looked round I had seen they had caught up to me and was about to put a bracelet on my wrist, I looked the guy in the face and said if he dared try to touch my wrist he would hate to see what would happen. I admired the dedication of this guy since he still didn’t seem to give up, saying that this bracelet was “free” since it’s in “the spirit of friendship”. As much as there is some good left in the world, there’s none at all in these scammers since if tourists accept these “free” gifts they’ll be hassled until they give money to the men trying to do it. I understand why some tourists may give money to these scammers since they're older and in a bigger group than I was, some may feel intimidated but regardless you should just drop the bracelet and walk away.
Taxis at Gare du Nord
When people get off at the station all they want to do is to get in a taxi and get to their hotel. Even though you might be tired there are two different taxi stands, one being the most popular and official one and the other being the one used to scam unsuspecting tourists. The taxi stand that’s at the front of the station is full of taxi drivers that bump up their prices since they don’t use meters that would calculate a fare from one place to another. I heard stories of people being overcharged since they paid over triple the price in these unofficial taxis since they only went with the price the driver had told them (as they had no idea of the price and nothing to compare it to). Around the corner of the station there is an official taxi service, which can be identified by the metal railing for tourists to queue up with as well as someone directing tourists to taxis. In these taxis there is a meter so there is no way a taxi driver can overcharge you since you would pay depending on how far you’re going from the station and the amount of time it takes.
People Helping You Buy Metro Tickets
The ticket machines that are located in all metro stations throughout Paris are confusing at first for a tourist like myself, since they aren’t simple and finding out what ticket you want is more of a hassle than necessary. Even though this scam didn’t happen to me, I witnessed it throughout my stay and thought it was important to mention since you can be scammed out of upwards of €20 or be pick pocketed and lose even more. The scam begins when a local approaches a tourist and asks if they need help with buying a ticket, while the tourist explains where they want to go the local will pick the most expensive option (which the tourist will be oblivious of since it would be in French). The local will then explain that they have found a ticket they need and they should insert their debit or credit card, when the tourist has put in the pin the local will then make sure the payment goes through but explains to the tourist that it hasn’t. Excuses as to why it has been declined will range from it being a foreign country and the card isn’t accepted, which is a big fat lie. The local will then become the knight in shining armour and pretend to pay for the ticket, in which they will first cancel the transaction of this expensive ticket but tell the local it has gone through. The tourist assumes it has gone through and the local grabs the ticket from the machine that they had previously printed out (the expensive one) while placing a cheap one they had previously printed out beforehand in the machine (to look like it had just been printed). The local will then give the cheap ticket (which could be a children's ticket or a single ticket) to the tourist and bid them farewell. The worst part is that the tourist could be caught by a ticket inspector and be placed with a hefty fine or be stuck between stations since the ticket machine may not accept their ticket when they try to leave the station they're travelling to.
Deaf Petition
When walking towards the Eiffel Tower I was approached by a woman with what looked like a petition in her hand, she shouted “SIGN” at me and waved her petition in my face. First of all take me on a date first before you start getting that close to me and in my face these women are scammers since while you sign this petition other people in on this scam will go through your pockets. This petition is completely fake and can be in other forms such as another one I encountered such as signing a petition to help buy food for the starving children in Africa. These people would make you sign the petition and then say “Since you have signed you have to pay” with the money going straight in their pocket. These people are found to be women in plain clothing with no identification that they are there to raise money for charity, clearly indicating that they are fake.
Accommodation
When looking for a hotel in Paris I was quickly overwhelmed and confused with all the different districts and boroughs (arrondissements). There were so many factors I had to take into consideration such as staying near to a metro station that had good transport links; staying nearby to where my Eurostar would depart from as well as staying in an area that was safe as I would be leaving the hotel early in the morning and coming back at night. When staying in Paris I wouldn’t recommend spending hundreds on a hotel since you will only be in there to sleep as you will be out during most of the day. Regardless you should make sure it meets your standards of what you expect from a hotel. The hotel I stayed at had seemed perfect in reviews and images from various websites but this was unfortunately not the reality which ruined my visit to Paris.
The hotel I stayed in was located near to Gare du Nord but I won’t name the hotel to shame them since I had privately contacted the manager to express how disappointed I was during my stay as well as the lack of amenities considering what had been promised on their website and the overall price I had paid. The hotel made me feel very unsafe in the sense that there was only one lock on the door as well as when arriving at the hotel me and my friend was asked for no identification whatsoever, we could have been anyone, all we gave was the first letter of our last name and they had even told us how long we were staying for (with us then agreeing with them). There was only one form to sign with just a name and a signature, that could have easily been forged if someone had stole my bag which contained the hotel confirmation email as well as my debit cards. As much as people will think Emily now that is extreme, it still could happen. The forums and discussion boards online had deemed Gare du Nord as “generally safe” since it was one of the busiest stations in Europe, admittedly that’s true, but didn’t change the fact I was nearly hit with a glass bottle when walking back to my hotel. During the day I saw people that were drunk early morning come into the restaurants nearby the station, putting me off my food and making me want to leave, since I felt unsafe. The area itself in my opinion as well as the metro station is very run down and chaotic during rush hour.
The hotel room was very basic and lacked even the most basic of amenities such as toilet paper and enough towels for me and my friend each day. In some cases we had to ring down to reception and ask for them to bring up these essentials, as the maid had not replenished them when she had cleaned the room. Getting to my hotel room, which was on the 7th floor seemed to be the challenge of the trip, with the lift only allowing two people at a time in, which made it hard to fit all of our luggage in even when we went one at a time. It also allowed for some awkward conversation when someone else got into the lift, since I couldn’t help being so close to them. The WiFi was very slow and I was told to connect to it for 45 minutes, disconnect and then connect again since it wouldn’t last longer than that per session. The staff at the reception were also completely against the fact that I wanted to pay the city tax when I arrived at the hotel and argued with me that I should pay it after I leave, why argue with a guest when they would be better off paying it before they left. Online the hotel boasted about its 3 star status but when I was reading the information inside of the hotel pamphlet I found out that it was only a 2 star, nothing wrong with that, but this is false advertising.
When I mentioned that the hotel room was basic, I really mean it, there was no proper wardrobe as well as there being no drawers for us to store our underwear and pyjamas. I travelled to Paris when there was temperatures of up to 30ºC, which meant that all I really needed was an air conditioned room, something the hotel I stayed at couldn’t even deliver. Me and my friend barely slept with us sharing a fan between us that was considered “air conditioning”, with us leaving the windows open this invited other guests into our room such as small bugs and flies. People say cleanliness is next to godliness, well apparently not in this hotel as the shower was filled with grime and hair in the drain hole as well as their being brown marks on the walls and door. I hoped that someone had just been enjoying the delicacy of French chocolate and got excited, but the reality seemed very different and made me gag at the fact that no one had even attempted to clean it.
When booking a hotel in Paris make sure you read the reviews about noise and look up the location of the hotel, I made the mistake of travelling to Paris when France was playing in the World Cup. This made me terrified when I woke up at 11pm and hear what sounded like gunshots outside of my hotel, when I had looked out of the window I was reluctant to see that it was actually people letting off fireworks instead. For the rest of the night I could hear people partying the night away and celebrating since France had won. If your hotel is located on a main street be prepared to hear the road rage of car horns being tooted all the way along the street and people making noise throughout the night.
The hotel I stayed in was located near to Gare du Nord but I won’t name the hotel to shame them since I had privately contacted the manager to express how disappointed I was during my stay as well as the lack of amenities considering what had been promised on their website and the overall price I had paid. The hotel made me feel very unsafe in the sense that there was only one lock on the door as well as when arriving at the hotel me and my friend was asked for no identification whatsoever, we could have been anyone, all we gave was the first letter of our last name and they had even told us how long we were staying for (with us then agreeing with them). There was only one form to sign with just a name and a signature, that could have easily been forged if someone had stole my bag which contained the hotel confirmation email as well as my debit cards. As much as people will think Emily now that is extreme, it still could happen. The forums and discussion boards online had deemed Gare du Nord as “generally safe” since it was one of the busiest stations in Europe, admittedly that’s true, but didn’t change the fact I was nearly hit with a glass bottle when walking back to my hotel. During the day I saw people that were drunk early morning come into the restaurants nearby the station, putting me off my food and making me want to leave, since I felt unsafe. The area itself in my opinion as well as the metro station is very run down and chaotic during rush hour.
The hotel room was very basic and lacked even the most basic of amenities such as toilet paper and enough towels for me and my friend each day. In some cases we had to ring down to reception and ask for them to bring up these essentials, as the maid had not replenished them when she had cleaned the room. Getting to my hotel room, which was on the 7th floor seemed to be the challenge of the trip, with the lift only allowing two people at a time in, which made it hard to fit all of our luggage in even when we went one at a time. It also allowed for some awkward conversation when someone else got into the lift, since I couldn’t help being so close to them. The WiFi was very slow and I was told to connect to it for 45 minutes, disconnect and then connect again since it wouldn’t last longer than that per session. The staff at the reception were also completely against the fact that I wanted to pay the city tax when I arrived at the hotel and argued with me that I should pay it after I leave, why argue with a guest when they would be better off paying it before they left. Online the hotel boasted about its 3 star status but when I was reading the information inside of the hotel pamphlet I found out that it was only a 2 star, nothing wrong with that, but this is false advertising.
When I mentioned that the hotel room was basic, I really mean it, there was no proper wardrobe as well as there being no drawers for us to store our underwear and pyjamas. I travelled to Paris when there was temperatures of up to 30ºC, which meant that all I really needed was an air conditioned room, something the hotel I stayed at couldn’t even deliver. Me and my friend barely slept with us sharing a fan between us that was considered “air conditioning”, with us leaving the windows open this invited other guests into our room such as small bugs and flies. People say cleanliness is next to godliness, well apparently not in this hotel as the shower was filled with grime and hair in the drain hole as well as their being brown marks on the walls and door. I hoped that someone had just been enjoying the delicacy of French chocolate and got excited, but the reality seemed very different and made me gag at the fact that no one had even attempted to clean it.
When booking a hotel in Paris make sure you read the reviews about noise and look up the location of the hotel, I made the mistake of travelling to Paris when France was playing in the World Cup. This made me terrified when I woke up at 11pm and hear what sounded like gunshots outside of my hotel, when I had looked out of the window I was reluctant to see that it was actually people letting off fireworks instead. For the rest of the night I could hear people partying the night away and celebrating since France had won. If your hotel is located on a main street be prepared to hear the road rage of car horns being tooted all the way along the street and people making noise throughout the night.
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Where to visit & What to do
Before travelling to Paris me and my friend had an extensive plan of what we were going to do each day and what attractions were free. Most of the attractions we went to were free for us since we lived in the EU as well as being under the age of 26 with us using our passports to validate this. Even though we got into most attractions for free, the entrance fee wasn't too expensive with it being around €10 for a standard ticket for an adult.
The Eiffel Tower
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Nearest Metro Station: Champ de Mars Tour Eiffel (Line C)
Ticket Prices: Between €9 and €25 depending on whether you want to go to the second floor or to the summit as well as whether you'd like to take the lift or the stairs (Discounted prices for youths & children) - https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/rates-opening-times The Eiffel Tower is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the world as well as being one of the most popular in Paris. As much as the Eiffel Tower prides itself in scenic views of Paris, where you can see landmarks such as The Lourve as well as the Arc de Triomphe, it sadly has the massive queues that go along with it. To get into the area surrounding the Eiffel Tower you'll have to firstly queue up to get past security which is a lot quicker if you have a ticket since there are two queues. The first queue is people trying to get in without a ticket, which when I went the queue was going around the corner whereas the smaller queue for people with tickets moved very quickly. When I finally arrived inside I saw a massive queue of around 200 people lining up to buy tickets, thankfully I was able to walk around for a bit to visit souvenir shops as well as admire the views before my designated time came to go up to the to Eiffel Tower. By the time my designated booking was, which was 1pm, I was left in another queue in the scorching heat along with hundreds of other people who also had the same booking time as me. I was standing in the queue for an hour before I was then faced with another security check. The next step is to wait to get the elevator to the second floor, which was a nightmare since the staff there had the brilliant idea to try and squish as many people as they could into the lift. Regardless of this I was still excited to go up to the second floor and experience the views as well as to then go up to the summit. When arriving at the second floor I was speechless from the spectacular views of Paris but I was mainly praying that I didn't drop my phone while taking pictures of these incredible views. When I went to queue up for the next lift that went up to the summit, I was disheartened when I found out that it was another long queue of people waiting to get up. I decided not to brave the heat anymore and just spent the rest of my time admiring the view from the second floor. When exiting the Eiffel Tower be wary of the people standing right outside of the exits selling small Eiffel Tour souvenirs. I've heard (I'm not saying that this is fact and I could be wrong) that these people are in France illegally and they are ruining business of legitimate souvenir shops. They also don't pay tax on any of their earnings since it's purely a cash in hand business with them being able to take home all of their earnings. The French Government advise people against buying from them since they may threaten the safety of the tourists that buy from them. When I was there I was asked if I wanted to buy something and was then followed for a few seconds as well as these sellers stopping me while I was walking down the street. However, they never posed a threat to me since I simply declined and moved on, these people then moved on and tried to find the next person to ask. Be careful when travelling around tourist areas since if the police arrive then these sellers will be running through the streets and may knock you over or push past you. I also found out this is why these sellers lay out their items on a white sheet - so they can quickly pick it up and go if they see police coming. |
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The Lourve
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Nearest Metro Station: Palais Royal - Musée du Louvre (Line 1 & Line 7)
Ticket Prices: €17 for an adult (online) or €9 on the door. Free admission for visitors include people aged under 18 & people aged between 18 and 26 that live in the EU - https://www.ticketlouvre.fr/louvre/b2c/index.cfm/home Even though I was able to get into The Lourve for free, it did come at a price, this price was sadly standing in the sun for at least an hour before I was even able to get into the museum. If standing in the heat was bad enough people were walking down the line selling bottles of water for €1 (which were being kept cold by water they had collected from a fountain nearby). Before setting foot into The Lourve you must go through a set of security scanners before then making your way into the museum. Once past this you are then free to explore all the different areas of the museum, if you have free entry then all you need to do is show your passport to the people guarding each entrance as well as being able to skip the lines. I would advise getting a Nintendo 3DS which is used as an audio guide in the museum which is only €5 to rent for your visit. There are three different wings that make up the majority of the museum: Sully, Richelieu and Denon. The Sully Wing features Greek and Roman antiquities as well as a focus on French paintings that are from the 17th, 18th and 19th century. The Richelieu Wing also features paintings from France as well as Northern Europe, this wing also features antiquities that date as far back as 5000 BC. The Denon Wing, which is found to be the most popular, features the paintings from Italy (notably the Mona Lisa) as well as an in depth focus on Egyptian and Islamic art. Since I had arrived at The Lourve a little later than I had expected my goal was to get up close and personal to the Mona Lisa before the crowds arrived. When I finally found where the Mona Lisa was, which took around 20 minutes to walk to as well as having to push through the crowds that lined up around the entrance as well as the large groups of schools. The Mona Lisa is featured alongside with other paintings but there is dedicated security and bullet proof glass that also protects the painting from heat and humidity to preserve it. To be up close with a painting that I have seen in films for the majority of my life as well as being talked about for centuries felt incredible. I had to wait for a few minutes to actually get to the front, I'm glad people were civilized enough to take their turn at the front, take a few pictures and then swap places with the person behind them. It also felt as if her eyes followed me around the room, something I had heard from my Grandma and she was glad to know that it was true when I had told her. After admiring the Mona Lisa I was able to explore the rest of the museum, considering I was able to get in for free I was astounded and the sheer amount of objects available on display. I thoroughly enjoyed the Egyptian antiquities and art mainly since I'm fascinated by Egyptian history but mainly because there was so much to see. All aspects of Egyptian life from different periods of time were featured, with even the smaller items of life there such as bowls, which were perfectly preserved even though they had been made thousands of years ago. I enjoyed the sculptures from Europe and had my fair share of a laugh since apparently I'm an immature child. You're also able to visit The Carrousel and Tuileries Gardens with your ticket from The Lourve, these boast beautiful and elegant flowers as well as some history since it's laid out around the triumphal arch of Napoleon I. A 15 minute walk will then take you to Musée-Eugène-Delacroix, which is the place where Eugène Delacroix had spent the last years of his life. The famous painters works of art are displayed as well as letters and memorabilia relating to him and his life. |
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Disneyland Paris
Nearest Metro Station: Marne-la-Vallée (Line A)
Ticket Prices: Ticket prices depend on what parks you're visiting (Disneyland or Walt Disney Studio Parks) as well as how long you're planning to visit these parks for. Ticket prices start at £56 currently for 1D/1P (1 Day, 1 Park) as Disney have a special ticket offer at the moment but some of these tickets can cost upwards of £150 for 4D/2P (4 Days, 2 Parks) - http://www.disneylandparis.co.uk/
When booking up my Disneyland ticket I picked the option to which I would be picked up from a designated point at a certain time since getting the metro from Gare du Nord early in the morning would've been an absolute nightmare. At 8:20am I was picked up from Gare du Nord by coach and was given all the information regarding the park as well as the pick up time from a designated area in the car park. It only took around an hour by coach to get to Disney, which would've taken even longer by metro considering I would've had to change at one of the stops. The one thing I wasn't warned about was the amount of walking I would have to do before I even got into the park as it was around a 20 minute walk from the car park to the actual entrance of the park. Since me and my friend were only visiting Disney for one day we only bought a ticket for one park, which was ideal since we were able to get everything done and even left earlier than we had planned. I would recommend researching the different rides you'd like to go on since I arrived at the park around 9:30am and I went on my first ride at 10am (with no wait) and by the time I had gotten off there was a 40 minute wait for it as it was very popular. With your ticket you are allowed to get fast passes, in which allow you to scan your ticket at a specific ride with the FP (Fast Pass) logo on and get a designated time to come back and skip the queues. Getting there early meant that with most rides I was able to walk straight on or have to wait less than 10 minutes.
Since it was my 19th birthday on the day we visited Disney I was able to get a free badge from City Hall in which had a birthday celebration and my name. Throughout the day I was being greeted with "Happy Birthday Emily" I thought these people were physic by knowing it was my birthday and my name, the fun was over at the end of the day when I look down and sighed when I saw the badge. My friend was even able to get a badge since it was her first time visiting Disney, which is a cute keepsake and something to remind her of her first time at Disney. A few of my favourite rides when I went were Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, since even though the ride broke down about 3 times, I was able to sit in front of the targets and keep on shooting them to get points. My friend didn't realise this and she only ended up with around 10,000 points while I ended up with nearly 60,000. Even though this isn't a ride I enjoyed walking through Alice's Curious Labyrinth since I love Alice in Wonderland and have done since I was a kid. There are characters walking around the park and dedicated areas for characters to meet people, I saw characters such as Mickey Mouse pass me while I was sitting down and enjoying lunch. If you do want to meet the characters I would recommend staying central and just being ready to jump at the chance to meet a character. I was pushed past several times my parents dragging their children to meet characters since these characters would only meet a certain amount of people before going back.
When in Disney I was trying to pack as light as possible so forgot to bring food with me which meant I had to unfortunately pay the silly prices in the park for food. I bought a hot dog and a drink, since it came as a meal deal, which was €11 (something which could have bought me a main course in a restaurant in Paris). I did bring water with me, which I would recommend, since all the walking around and waiting in line can make you dehydrated very quickly. Especially during the summer temperatures soar and I've heard horror stories of people's trips being ruined due to feeling faint or physically fainting due to dehydration. Another thing I would recommend is wearing a hat or a cap to protect your head from getting sun burnt, which can happen really quickly when being directly in the sun for hours. I bought a cap from Primark, which was only £5, which featured Minnie Mouse ears. This meant I could look fabulous as well as stay protected from the heat.
Me and my friend had seen everything we had wanted to and done everything we had planned before our pick up time (9pm) so we left the park around 4pm. When exiting the park we were approached by people asking to buy our ticket, I declined and thought nothing of it until I got back to my hotel and researched into it. Apparently these people ask to buy tickets using cash so they can enter the park under someone else's name to pick pocket unsuspecting tourists. If they were caught by security or police would use the cover of my name on the ticket rather than theirs.
Ticket Prices: Ticket prices depend on what parks you're visiting (Disneyland or Walt Disney Studio Parks) as well as how long you're planning to visit these parks for. Ticket prices start at £56 currently for 1D/1P (1 Day, 1 Park) as Disney have a special ticket offer at the moment but some of these tickets can cost upwards of £150 for 4D/2P (4 Days, 2 Parks) - http://www.disneylandparis.co.uk/
When booking up my Disneyland ticket I picked the option to which I would be picked up from a designated point at a certain time since getting the metro from Gare du Nord early in the morning would've been an absolute nightmare. At 8:20am I was picked up from Gare du Nord by coach and was given all the information regarding the park as well as the pick up time from a designated area in the car park. It only took around an hour by coach to get to Disney, which would've taken even longer by metro considering I would've had to change at one of the stops. The one thing I wasn't warned about was the amount of walking I would have to do before I even got into the park as it was around a 20 minute walk from the car park to the actual entrance of the park. Since me and my friend were only visiting Disney for one day we only bought a ticket for one park, which was ideal since we were able to get everything done and even left earlier than we had planned. I would recommend researching the different rides you'd like to go on since I arrived at the park around 9:30am and I went on my first ride at 10am (with no wait) and by the time I had gotten off there was a 40 minute wait for it as it was very popular. With your ticket you are allowed to get fast passes, in which allow you to scan your ticket at a specific ride with the FP (Fast Pass) logo on and get a designated time to come back and skip the queues. Getting there early meant that with most rides I was able to walk straight on or have to wait less than 10 minutes.
Since it was my 19th birthday on the day we visited Disney I was able to get a free badge from City Hall in which had a birthday celebration and my name. Throughout the day I was being greeted with "Happy Birthday Emily" I thought these people were physic by knowing it was my birthday and my name, the fun was over at the end of the day when I look down and sighed when I saw the badge. My friend was even able to get a badge since it was her first time visiting Disney, which is a cute keepsake and something to remind her of her first time at Disney. A few of my favourite rides when I went were Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, since even though the ride broke down about 3 times, I was able to sit in front of the targets and keep on shooting them to get points. My friend didn't realise this and she only ended up with around 10,000 points while I ended up with nearly 60,000. Even though this isn't a ride I enjoyed walking through Alice's Curious Labyrinth since I love Alice in Wonderland and have done since I was a kid. There are characters walking around the park and dedicated areas for characters to meet people, I saw characters such as Mickey Mouse pass me while I was sitting down and enjoying lunch. If you do want to meet the characters I would recommend staying central and just being ready to jump at the chance to meet a character. I was pushed past several times my parents dragging their children to meet characters since these characters would only meet a certain amount of people before going back.
When in Disney I was trying to pack as light as possible so forgot to bring food with me which meant I had to unfortunately pay the silly prices in the park for food. I bought a hot dog and a drink, since it came as a meal deal, which was €11 (something which could have bought me a main course in a restaurant in Paris). I did bring water with me, which I would recommend, since all the walking around and waiting in line can make you dehydrated very quickly. Especially during the summer temperatures soar and I've heard horror stories of people's trips being ruined due to feeling faint or physically fainting due to dehydration. Another thing I would recommend is wearing a hat or a cap to protect your head from getting sun burnt, which can happen really quickly when being directly in the sun for hours. I bought a cap from Primark, which was only £5, which featured Minnie Mouse ears. This meant I could look fabulous as well as stay protected from the heat.
Me and my friend had seen everything we had wanted to and done everything we had planned before our pick up time (9pm) so we left the park around 4pm. When exiting the park we were approached by people asking to buy our ticket, I declined and thought nothing of it until I got back to my hotel and researched into it. Apparently these people ask to buy tickets using cash so they can enter the park under someone else's name to pick pocket unsuspecting tourists. If they were caught by security or police would use the cover of my name on the ticket rather than theirs.
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Other places I visited but never went inside!
Notre-Dame
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Nearest Metro Station: Saint-Michel - Notre-Dame (Line B & Line C)
Ticket Prices: N/A - Notre-Dame allows free admission for everyone however there is a very big queue to get inside because of this - http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/en/visites-2/ Notre-Dame was built in 1163 but only saw completion in 1345. Since then it has been under construction at various times but most importantly when it had suffered desecration during the 18th century from the French Resolution. It's architecture is mainly famous due to it being one of the first buildings in the world to use a flying buttress. I did indeed laugh too when I first heard this. Notre-Dame has very intricate details along the exterior of the building with the most notable being the original 102 gargoyles, in which since being built some have fallen off. The idea behind these gargoyles was that they were placed on the exterior of Notre-Dame to scare away evil spirits from such a religious and pure institution. If you do decide to visit Notre-Dame it's important to remember that this is a religious institution where Christian's worship. Even though there is no dress code it is recommended to dress moderately as this shows respect to the place of worship. |
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Palace of Versailles
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Nearest Metro Station: Gare de Versailles-Chateau-Rive-Gauche (Line C)
Ticket Prices: €18 for entry to the Palace, temporary exhibitions, the Gardens & the Coach Gallery OR Free Admission to people aged under the age of 18 or under 26 who are members of the EU - http://en.chateauversailles.fr/plan-your-visit/tickets-and-prices The Palace of Versailles dates back to the 17th century when Louis XIII used it as a hunting lodge, which in turn pleased his father Henry IV. It was then used by Louis XIV who then changed the architecture of the building as it went from a hunting lodge to a place where parties and other forms of entertainment would be held. Its use then changed to being used as the main residence for the French Court. By the end of the 18th century it had been abandoned by the court but was then turned into a museum that would be dedicated the glorious events in France during the centuries. I would strongly recommend getting here early since I arrived at 11am and the queue had 300 people in it, there were about 5 rows of queues of people waiting to get into the Palace. The queue for security was also horrendous with me and my friend being pushed from pillar to post to get through the gates. When coming back from the station I had tried to use one of my 10 metro tickets I had bought from a ticket machine at the metro station and they never worked. The woman told me I would have to buy another ticket which cost around €3 so I could get back into the centre of Paris. |
Travel
The Metro
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Before travelling to Paris I had planned out everything I wanted to see and how I would get to these through use of the metro. When I booked up my hotel, which was situated next to Gare du Nord, I was able to see how many metro tickets I would need and what option would be the cheapest for me.
This is the list of the metro & bus passes available - https://www.ratp.fr/en/titres-et-tarifs:
Since I was in Paris for 5 days I invested in a pack of 10 tickets to use when doing the majority of my travelling around the city. When I had used all of these up, which was towards the end of my holiday, I resorted to buying single tickets since it wouldn't be worth me spending another €15 on a pack of 10 tickets when I only needed three or four. These tickets were bought from a ticket machine at Gare du Nord, which was confusing at first to find but I was able to do it with some help from my friend and the staff there. There are a lot more metro passes available but the ones I listed are the main ones that tourists would use since they are more practical to use throughout a stay in Paris. |
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Transfers to and from the Airport/Eurostar
There are two options when travelling to and from Paris: taking the Eurostar or flying from the two airports in Paris. There are a lot of options to get to the Eurostar/Airports from your hotel or accommodation:
The Eurostar
The Airport
The Eurostar
- The Metro - Gare du Nord is where the Eurostar departs from as well as being used as a metro station. The station connects to 6 different lines (Line 4, Line 5, Line B, Line D, Line H as well as Line K), this making it accessible to nearly every station and there being less chance of you having to get more than one train. These metro tickets, as mentioned before, can be bought for as little as €1.90 (depending on what station you're travelling to or departing from).
The Airport
- RoissyBus - This is a shuttle bus that travels from Opéra to Charles-de-Gaulle Airport for €12 with it just taking just over an hour. This service also travels to Orly Airport which departs from Place Denfert-Rochereau for only €8.30 which takes just under half an hour. Both of these services are very frequent with shuttles coming every 20 minutes at the most. However, traffic may be a problem if travelling later in the day, so that would need to be accounted for if using this service.
- Bus - The bus 350, which costs €6, travels from Gare de l'Est to Charles-de-Gaulle Airport with the journey taking just over an hour. The bus 183, which costs €2, travels from Porte de Choisy to Orly Airport with it taking around 40 minutes. Even though both of these options are cheap there is no exact time to which you can hold the bus to arrive to since it may be stuck in traffic or in worst cases the bus may break down, which then leaves you stuck.
- RER B - This is a form of transport which prides itself on being rapid, there are numerous RER B stations that can take you to Charles-de-Gaulle Airport at a price of €10.30. This form of transport only takes around half an hour at most.
- Metro - The cheapest option to get to Orly Airport would be to use the tramway service from Villejuif-Louis Aragon (Line 7 & Line T). The price of this is €1.90 - which is the standard price of a metro ticket which takes just over half an hour to get there.
- Welcome Pickups - A private taxi transfer service that can be arranged before travelling, when you get off at the airport your driver will be waiting for you outside of arrivals with a sign with your name on it. If you're travelling from Charles-de-Gaulle Airport it would be around €60 but if you're travelling from Orly Airport it would be around €45 to travel into the centre of Paris.
- Taxis - As mentioned before, it's important to make sure that you're getting into a licensed and official taxi to prevent being scammed out of money. These prices cannot be predicted since they are charged by the time and distance to where you're travelling to. Usually these journeys would cost around €40 but are dependent on time, traffic and where you're travelling to or from.
Apps to Download
Paris Metro
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This was the app that I used the most during my time in Paris since I was quickly able to navigate my way through the metro system. Even though the metro system is very confusing, this app helped me by showing me where the train was terminating at (which helped me decide what platform I needed to go to).
This app was free with the only downside being adverts shown when you're using it. However, this isn't a problem since all the adverts do is sit there (they're not pop-ups). This app shows you how long the train will take as well as showing the price for an Uber as an alternative to using the metro. |
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Learn French Phrases
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There was a huge language barrier presented in France since even at popular landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower I asked people if they spoke English and they said they didn't. This made getting around and finding out where to go a lot harder.
However, with this app I was able to search through key phrases that helped get past the language barrier. One phrase was all it took for people to get the idea of what I was trying to explain and then they're able to help. Even if you don't think you'll need this it's free to download so what's the harm of keeping it since you don't know when you'll use it. |
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Disneyland Paris
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Since I would be spending the day in Disneyland I downloaded the Disneyland Paris app, which had a range of information including the park hours as well as how long wait times were for each ride. The day before I went to Disneyland I was able to plan out what rides I wanted to go on and estimate roughly how long I'd be waiting.
The best function that the app had was an interactive map that shows your location on it. This making it easier to see if you're near any rides as well as being able to locate different shops as well as restaurants. I was able to use the free WiFi provided by Disneyland to use this app, which saved me using all of my monthly data up . |
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