France
Paris
Two of the three airport bus lines you've read about were quietly discontinued in the last 18 months. And ETIAS still isn't live, whatever you've heard.
Contains affiliate links — what that means.
- Entry
- Visa-free for 90 days in any 180 for UK, EU/Schengen, US, Canada and Australia — this is a shared Schengen allowance, not per-country. Other nationalities (India and most of Africa/Asia) need a Schengen visa arranged in advance.
- ETIAS
- Still not live. The EU postponed it indefinitely on 12 August 2026, days before this page was checked. Do not pay any site claiming to process it now.
- Currency
- Euro (EUR). Contactless works almost everywhere, including the metro.
- Getting around
- RER B links CDG to the centre for €14. Two of the old airport bus routes (Roissybus, Orlybus) no longer exist — see below.
Checked 15 August 2026. Prices and visa rules change — tell us if something here is wrong.
Paris is one of the most rewarding cities in the world to get basic logistics right in, because getting them wrong is expensive and common. Two airport bus routes that older guides still describe as running have been cut in the past eighteen months. The EU's long-promised ETIAS travel permit is still not in force, despite recurring headlines saying it's imminent. And since April 2026 every non-EU arrival goes through a slower, biometric border check that older guides don't mention at all.
Entry rules, and the ETIAS confusion
UK, EU/Schengen, US, Canadian and Australian passport holders can enter visa-free and stay up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period — and that allowance is shared across the whole Schengen area, not reset by country. Your passport must have been issued within the last 10 years and stay valid at least 3 months past your planned departure from Schengen.
ETIAS is not live. On 12 August 2026 the EU officially postponed its rollout indefinitely — no firm new date has been set, and 2027 is now considered more likely than any date this year. You cannot apply for it, you do not need it, and nobody should be charging you for it. When it does eventually launch the fee will be €20 (raised from the originally planned €7). The only legitimate future site will be europa.eu/etias — treat every other "apply now" site as a scam.
A separate system, the EU Entry/Exit System (EES), is live — it reached full rollout on 10 April 2026. Non-EU arrivals now have fingerprints and a photo captured at the border instead of a passport stamp, which is adding real time to queues at CDG and Orly. Budget extra time on your first Schengen entry after this change.
India and most visa-required nationalities need a Schengen short-stay visa arranged in advance through the France-Visas portal and a VFS Global biometric appointment — around €90, with processing that can stretch to 4–6 weeks in peak summer season, so apply early.
Getting from the airport
Both of Paris's old airport bus lines are gone. If you're planning around a route called "Roissybus" or "Orlybus," you're reading an outdated guide.
Charles de Gaulle (CDG) — about 25 km out
- RER B train — direct to central Paris (Gare du Nord, Châtelet, Saint-Michel), every 6–15 minutes, roughly 4:50am–midnight. €14 full fare.
- Roissybus was permanently discontinued on 1 March 2026 after ridership collapsed. The current replacement is express bus line 9517 from Saint-Denis–Pleyel (about 30 minutes, standard fare), or the slower buses 350/351.
- Official flat-rate taxi — a government-set fare, not negotiable and not metered: €56 to the Right Bank, €65 to the Left Bank.
- Uber/Bolt operate and are usually close to the official taxi rate outside surge periods.
Orly (ORY) — about 18 km out
- Orlybus was also discontinued, on 3 March 2025, once Metro Line 14 was extended directly into the airport.
- Metro Line 14 now runs straight to Orly Terminal 3, about 25 minutes from central Paris. Single-ticket buyers pay a special airport fare of €11.50; Navigo pass holders pay the standard fare with no supplement.
- Official flat-rate taxi — €45 to the Right Bank, €36 to the Left Bank.
Beauvais (BVA) is not a Paris airport. Budget carriers like Ryanair sell it as "Paris," but it's about 85 km and 1.5 hours away by road. The official shuttle to Porte Maillot runs roughly €10–17 one-way if booked ahead, but it's scheduled around flight banks, not continuous. Land late or delayed past the last shuttle and you're looking at a taxi well over €100, or an overnight wait. Check the shuttle timetable against your actual flight time before you book anything.
Where to stay
| Area | Mid-range/night | Good for | The downside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Le Marais | €120–250 | Central, trendy, boutique shopping | Extremely touristy now; inflated dining prices for the neighbourhood you're actually getting |
| Saint-Germain-des-Prés | €150–300 | Classic elegance, culture | Premium pricing throughout; the famous cafés are tourist-clogged, not "authentic" |
| Latin Quarter | €90–180 | Budget first-timers, students | Rowdy student bar scene at night; further from the big monuments than it feels |
| Montmartre | €100–220 | Romantics, village charm, views | Place du Tertre and the Sacré-Cœur steps are the city's worst pickpocket/scam hotspot; hilly and metro-dependent |
| 7th arrondissement | €140–280 | Eiffel Tower proximity, families | Can feel sleepy after dark; you're paying for location, not necessarily quality |
| Canal Saint-Martin | €80–160 | Younger travellers, a more local feel | More metro time to central sights; parts near Gare du Nord get rougher at night |
Nightly ranges are directional estimates for mid-range hotels — check live rates before booking, since Paris pricing swings hard with season and events.
Hotels in Paris
Filter by arrondissement — the 3rd/4th (Marais), 5th/6th (Latin Quarter/Saint-Germain) and 7th put you in walking range of most sights.
Agoda is often cheaper for the same properties in this region, so it's worth checking both.
Compare on Agoda
Same hotels, frequently different prices.
What things cost
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Metro/RER single ticket (t+) | €2.55 |
| Bus/tram single ticket | €2.05 |
| Navigo Jour (1-day pass, all zones) | €12.30 |
| Paris Visite pass, 1 day / 5 day | €30.60 / €78 |
| Coffee, standing at the bar vs seated on a terrace | €1.50–2 vs €4–5+ |
| Louvre — standard adult ticket | €22 (EU/EEA residents) / €32 (everyone else) |
| Musée d'Orsay — standard adult ticket | ~€16 online, ~€14 on-site |
| Eiffel Tower — stairs to 2nd floor from / lift to summit from | from €3.80 / from €9.20 (ticket tiers vary — confirm on toureiffel.paris) |
Prices dated 15 August 2026. The Louvre's dual pricing is new for 2026 — non-EU visitors now pay roughly 45% more than EU/EEA residents, a change worth knowing before you budget the trip. Note the metro's old paper carnet of 10 tickets was phased out in 2021 and no longer exists.
Should you rent a car?
No, not for Paris itself. Parking is scarce and expensive, streets are narrow and one-way-heavy, and the transit network covers the city well. A car only earns its cost for day trips deep into the countryside beyond train reach.
Paris's low-emission zone (ZFE, Crit'Air sticker required) is officially active, but enforcement is in a no-fines "educational" grace period through the end of 2026 — and France's parliament has debated abolishing the ZFE system entirely, without a final decision yet. Get a Crit'Air sticker from the official government site if you do drive in, since the grace period won't last forever and third-party sites overcharge for the same sticker.
Compare car hire for trips outside Paris
Covers local French agencies the big international sites leave out, and shows the excess before you pay — useful for the Loire Valley or Normandy, not the city itself.
Staying connected
France's main carriers are Orange, SFR, Bouygues and Free. Tourist eSIMs are the easiest option — a 7-day unlimited-data plan runs roughly €25 on the Orange network through providers like Holafly, with smaller capped-data options generally cheaper. Physical SIMs are sold at CDG and Orly kiosks and city phone shops, at similar prices.
Scams and traps to know about
- The petition/clipboard scam — groups near the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame and the Louvre thrust a clipboard for a "signature," using the distraction to pickpocket or pressure a cash donation.
- The friendship bracelet scam — concentrated on the steps up to Sacré-Cœur: a stranger ties a bracelet onto your wrist, then demands payment for it.
- The "gold" ring scam — someone "finds" a ring near you and tries to sell it as gold. It's brass.
- Fake ticket sites — buy Eiffel Tower, Louvre and Orsay tickets only from their own official domains; resale/lookalike sites are a real and growing problem.
- Unlicensed airport taxi touts — only use the official rank or a licensed app; touts who approach you directly at CDG/Orly can charge well over €100 for the flat-rate route.
- Pickpocketing is most concentrated on Metro Line 1 (which runs through Louvre, Concorde, Champs-Élysées, Bastille) and at Gare du Nord and Châtelet.
Laws and things that catch visitors out
- Validate and keep your ticket for the whole journey — throwing it away after tapping in is the single most common tourist mistake, and on-the-spot fines run €50–100.
- Smoking in parks is banned, with a €135 fine (a rule from July 2025).
- Swimming in the Seine outside the specific permitted spots opened after 2024 can carry a fine up to €3,750 — the river isn't a general-access public pool, whatever the post-Olympics headlines implied.
- A taxe de séjour (tourist tax) is added per person, per night, at checkout — from about €2.60 at budget properties up to €15.60 at 5-star/palace hotels. It's not included in the online booking price.
One honest caveat: France has a well-documented pattern of short-notice SNCF/RATP strikes through 2026. Nothing was scheduled at the time this page was checked, but that can change within days — check a live disruption tracker the week before you travel rather than trusting a static claim on this or any other page.