Louvre Hotels, Paris

From Charles de Gaulle

Most transatlantic flights land at Charles de Gaulle, 23km north east of Paris. The airport has two terminals. Taking a shuttle bus the whole distance from the airport to the centre of Paris is the simplest method of getting to the Louvre/Opera district. The Roissybus leaves from both terminals and stops at Opera metro station from where you can walk or take a connecting metro.

From Orly

Orly, 18 kilometres south of the city, is used by charters and many continental flights. Air France Buses run between Orly and Gare Montparnasse. From here you can jump on the metro at Montparnasse-Bienvenüe, taking the dark green metro line 12 (Direction Port de La Chapelle) to Concorde.

From Beauvais

Beauvais lies 70km north of Paris and is mainly used by budget airlines. A shuttle bus leaves from the airport approximately 20 minutes after each flight arrival. In Paris it arrives and leaves from the bus park at Place de la Porte Maillot, which is on the yellow metro line leading to Concorde, Musee du Louvre, Louvre Rivoli and Chatlet les Halles stations.

From Gare du Nord

There is a metro station at Gare du Nord. From here you can hop onto the light green or light blue lines to Chatlet les Halles and either walk or connect from there.

Métro

The métro is is the simplest way of moving around the centre of the city and also one of the cheapest – 1.30 Euros for a single journey anywhere in the city. Many of the métro lines follow the streets above: line 1 for example shadows the Champs-Élysées and rue de Rivoli. The métro runs from 05.00 to around 12.30. Stations are spaced evenly and you’ll rarely find yourself more than 500 metres from one in the centre of the city, though the interchanges can involve a lot of legwork, including many stairs. The lines are colour-coded and designated by numbers. You also need to know the direction of travel – sign-posted using the names of the terminus: for example, travelling from Montparnasse to Châtelet, you follow the sign “Direction Porte-de-Clignancourt”; from Gare d’Austerlitz to Grenelle on line 10 you follow “Direction Boulogne-Pont-de-St-Cloud”. The numerous interchanges (correspondances) make it possible to cover most of the city in a more or less straight line.