Travel insurance for city breaks is something Europesure Travel Insurance has been providing to clients around Europe for decades. Invariably, Paris features highly in city break plans and, in Paris, it’s hard to escape the Paris Metro. But did you know it’s about to turn 125?
To celebrate this and help all who buy our city break travel insurance, we’ve put together a guide to some of the most useful stations on the Paris Metro. This should help you know where to hop off, if you want to visit a major Paris visitor attraction. But it should also help identify a few hidden gems you might otherwise whizz past.
Why you need travel insurance for city breaks in Paris
Just one thing we ought to clarify first. Even if you are an EU or EEA resident, or a British resident, who thinks an EHIC or GHIC health card will help them out on their travels, you will still need travel insurance for city breaks in Europe.
These health cards will only cover necessary emergency treatment in a state-run hospital and to the level a local resident enjoys. If you are taken to a private facility, the final bill will be for you to pick up.
And, should you fall seriously ill, you might need transportation back to your home country through a medical repatriation service. The EHIC and GHIC offer zero assistance with that.
Even a broken leg might leave you requiring special accommodation on a plane home. A medical situation could also lead to you missing your original flight, necessitating new travel plans and maybe additional accommodation. Without travel insurance, you will have to arrange all of that – and pay for the additional expenses – out of your own pocket. Check out some of the eye-watering costs in this blog.
Other reasons to buy travel insurance for city breaks
Travel insurance for city breaks can also protect your financial investment in your holiday, through cancellation and curtailment cover. You may also need baggage protection and cover for your passport and money. How about personal liability cover, in case you inadvertently injure someone else whilst on your city break?
As innocent as a city break to Paris may seem, there’s a lot that can go wrong. Getting your travel insurance policy in place makes great sense.
So what can the 125-year-old Metro offer to you, once you’ve got your travel insurance for city breaks policy? And, by the way, city break cover can be through a single trip policy, bought for the specific number of days you will be away, or through an annual policy.
If it’s the latter, your city break will be one of the many trips you can cover during the year. That’s as long as the trip duration and geographical zone covered is valid, of course. You can’t think you have travel insurance for city breaks to the USA, if you have bought a Europe-only policy! If your city break is more like a long-stay sabbatical, it also may well not be covered. Check how many days’ cover you have.
Now, let’s take a deeper dive into the Paris Metro, to discover some of its attractions.
Overview of the Paris Metro
The Paris Metro currently has 16 lines. There are lines numbered 1 to 14 and then two other lines 3bis and 7bis. The latter were originally branches off of lines 3 and 7. Overall, there are 303 stations and 133 miles (214 km) of track.
1900 was a key year for Paris, hence the reason the Metro was born. Early in the year, the city hosted the Olympic Games in Bois de Vincennes, but it was the staging of The World Expo that gave the Metro vision momentum. It was seen as a key way in which to connect various sites and a Frenchman called Bienvenüe was put in charge of its development. An electric tube tram project had been proposed in 1887 by an engineer named Jean Baptiste Berlier and this influenced some of the thinking. Notably, Bienvenüe’s name was added to the station name of Montparnasse, following his death.
The Metro started to run in time for the Expo and 4 million people took advantage of the opportunity to ride it. The very first passengers stepped on board on July 19. Originally, the Metro had a first and second class. First class finally ceased to exist in 1991.
Key events in its history were a 1903 fire that killed 84 people and the closure of line 11 by the Nazis in 1944. Their plan was to use it as an underground weapons factory.
The lines and key tourist attractions
Line 1 runs East to West, taking passengers to key locations such as the Arc de Triomphe (Charles de Gaulle-Étoile station), Place de la Concorde (Concorde station, also on Lines 8 and 12) and the Louvre (Palais Royale Musée de Louvre).
Travelling to the Louvre and Palais Royale Musée de Louvre station can be by Line 7, as well as Line 1, but Line 1 provides access to the shopping mall connected to the museum. If you fancy a 10-minute walk, you could ride Line 14 to The Pyramids.
Line 2 can also lead tourists to the Arc de Triomphe at Charles de Gaulle-Étoile and also to Sacre Coeur and Montmartre (Anvers). Anvers is actually the closest station to the Basilica but Sacre Coeur can also be approached via Line 3 and 12 (Abbesses station). Abbesses is the Metro’s deepest station and featured in the movie Amélie. Other options for Sacre Coeur and Montmartre are Blanche (Line 2), Pigalle (Line 2 and 12) and Lamarck-Caulaincourt stations (Line 12). Your choice might be dependent on bus travel and Lamarck-Caulaincourt, for instance, connects with bus lines 40 and 80.
Other ways to reach sites
Line 6 is the third logical line to use for proximity to the Arc de Triomphe, again leading to Charles de Gaulle-Étoile.
For Notre-Dame it is Metro Line 4 (Cité station). The other option is to use the RER B or RER C service. RER rapid transit train lines cross the city and tourists can use these in conjunction with Metro services, as they move across the city.
For the Centre Pompidou, visitors need to use Line 11 and should you be in Paris for the Paris Open tennis championships, you need Line 10 (Porte d’Auteuil).
But what of the Eiffel Tower? Well, for that, there is a choice of Line 6 (Bir Hakeim), Line 8 (Ecole Militaire (approach through the parks) or the RER C service to Champ de Mars, which is the closest option at 5 minutes’ walk. However, if you want a great view from across the Seine, travel to Trocadéro on Line 9 and then either hop back on the Metro or walk through the gardens and across the bridge.
No Metro to Disneyland or Versailles
Unfortunately, you cannot take the Metro to Disneyland Paris or Versailles but there are RER services to both. Catch the RER from Nation station for a 35-minute ride to Mickey Mouse. There are various RER line options to Versailles, from stations like Montparnasse and Saint Lazare, as well as via the RER C service. The nearest station to Versailles is Chateau Rive Gauche, which is about a 10-minute walk from the palace.
Metro stations to visit in their own right
Some Paris Metro stations are just worth visiting in their own right once you’ve tucked your travel insurance for city breaks policy away.
The Louvre-Rivoli station has echoes of an antechamber in the Louvre, conveyed through Burgundy limestone. At Bastille station, there is a mural to remind of the French Revolution, whilst yellow lines highlight where the prison once stood. Tuileries station has a touch of the botanicals to delight.
Arguably the most beautiful station is Franklin D Roosevelt, with its gold tiles and works of art. Right on the Champs Elysée, it’s relatively easy to check out.
The other station that could contend for most beautiful is Arts et Métiers, on Line 11. Copper decorative plates soon catch the eye and help create the overall impression of a submarine – abetted by the inclusion of a few portholes. The decoration was originally designed for the 200th anniversary of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers.
Other useful things to know
If you travel along Line 6, which is mostly above ground, you will be treated to a truly picturesque journey that brings the Eiffel Tower into view, not to mention Seine river scenes.
Line 4 is a useful line if you want to visit various Paris markets, including the flower market close to Notre Dame and the Saint Germain market.
But for shopaholics, maybe Line 9 is the one to pick, giving access to the renowned Paris department stores of Les Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann and Printemps Haussmann. Exit the Metro network at the Chaussée d’Antin – La Fayette station (Lines 7 and 9) or Opéra (Lines 3, 7 and 8) for Galeries Lafayette and head to either Havre-Caumartin (Lines 3 and 9) or Chaussée d’Antin for Printemps.
Whatever you choose to do in Paris, the Metro can be your friend, so plan your trip and work out your route between its lines, once you’ve bought your Europesure Travel Insurance policy for your city break. And one more thing. Just watch your bags and back pocket whilst riding the Metro. As with many forms of transport overseas, it can be a magnet for pickpockets and thieves.
