Paris Neighborhoods to Avoid, Part 1
Some places in Paris, France, might make great neighborhoods, but have inconvenient Metro stations that don’t make them worth the trouble. I take the train much more than the bus, so easy access to a Paris train station is high on my list of must-haves. Here are the neighborhoods I would personally avoid in Paris because of Metro hassles.
Paris Mega-Metro Stations
I wouldn’t live near anywhere where I’d have to depend on the huge Metro transfer stations. I can’t imagine having to change trains at Les Halles / Chatelet / Chatelet-Les Halles, Gare du Nord, Gare de Lyon, Montparnasse-Bienvenue (Oh, dear God!), Charles de Gaulle Etoile, or Republique every single time I wanted to go somewhere. These stations are a madhouse, and they require long, hot, crowded walks underground to change lines. I never stay anywhere in Paris that required daily Metro transfers (“correspondances”) within those subterranean mazes. I prefer being close to one or two neighborhoody stations rather than near a main commuter thoroughfare.
Inconvenient Paris Metro Stations
Watch out for the Metro stations that are deep, deep underground, where you have to walk up more than 100 steps from the platform to reach the street. These include Lamarck-Caulaincourt and Butte Chaumont. The Abbsesses metro stop, at the foot of Montmartre hill is notorious. The pretty murals along the walls off the winding staircase are not enough to make you forget that you’re climbing 115 steps. Just imagine doing it with shopping bags, with luggage, or with sore feet. And don’t count on the elevators –if they’re out of service, you’re out of luck. They announce (in French) before you get off the train if the elevators aren’t working, to give you a chance to change your plans. I’m not sure if the elevators have specific hours or not, but I once walked into the Abbsesses station a little after 9 p.m., planning to take the elevators down to the platform, and found them out of service. At least I was going down.
Paris Metro Line 4
Yes, I’m giving it its own category. Line 4 is often standing room only, even at night. It’s the most crowded line because it’s the only line that crosses every other line in the Metro system, and it also services the big RER/regional train stations. Some of my favorite left bank neighborhoods are along line 4, but lucky for me, they’re also accessible by foot from the river (which is important to me), or by Lines 10 or 12. (I wrote about line 4 in my Paris Neighborhood Overview post.)
Before choosing a place to live in Paris, if you plan to use the Metro every day, I recommend you take the closest Paris train station into consideration, and not just the neighborhood.
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Tags: Paris Metro, Paris Neighborhood
