Paris1972-Versailles2003

As with all modes of transportation I have used in Europe, France, and Paris, the car as far as I am concern is king. They can find all the alternatives they want but the car is here to stay and whatever form they make it . Now is all kinds from something call hybrid to electrical and else. I have said love the freedom of movement and my road warrior trips in Europe allows to see all the wonderful things these countries and cities have to offer. This post will be on my black and white series, no pictures! I like to bring you on to getting around Paris, by car !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.

I came on trains into Paris at Gare Saint Lazare station, which is officially at 108 rue Saint Lazare 8éme arrondissement or district, and is about 1.1 km from my place of work. Also, if heavy rains took the metro line 1 or 12 at stops Tuileries or Concorde. I, also, walked from the Gare Saint Lazare along the Grand Magasins into rue Tronchet and the Place de la Madeleine into rue Saint Honoré/Rue Cambron and into Rue du Mont Thabor! About 18 minutes marvellous ! The New York garage now is private so the new alternative if coming by car is at the parking Saemes Louvre-Pyramides ,15, rue des Pyramides 1éme Arrondissement. Let me tell you about the street where the parking was and just corner with the entrance to work at rue Rouget-de-L’Isle . The rue du Mont Thabor starts at rue Mondovi all the way to rue d´Alger, the whole is parallel to rue de Rivoli next to the jardin des Tuileries and rue Saint Honoré. In all a very chic part of Paris.

Lately, in moving to Morbihan dept56 in Brittany took the trains from Auray and then Vannes to the Gare Montparnasse in Paris. The Gare Montparnasse, 17 Boulevard de Vaugirard is the head of the line Paris-Versailles on the Versailles Chantier station,which long ago used to take it too from Versailles. You have entries at Montparnasse 1 – Hall 1, 17 Boulevard de Vaugirard, Montparnasse 1 – Hall 1, Place Raoul Dautry, (mine) Montparnasse Tower forecourt, Montparnasse 1 – Hall 1, 7 Rue du Commandant Mouchotte, Montparnasse 2 – Hall 2, Above the platforms – 5 Rue du Pont des 5 Martyrs du Lycée Buffon, Montparnasse 2 – Hall 2, Access via platform 24 from Hall 1, Montparnasse 3 Vaugirard – Hall 3, Between Rue du Cotentin and Place des 5 Martyrs du Lycée Buffon – at the end of platform 24, level 2 of the station, You have elevator or lift C “Cœur de Gare”, Hall 4 – Level 0, and Panoramic elevators/lifts A-B, Access from the forecourt (level 0) facing the Montparnasse Tower, main entrance, left-hand doors, The best parking here all taken by yours truly are Gare Montparnasse Océane Parking EFFIA at 30 Avenue du Maine ,and Maine Parking Gare Montparnasse at ·50 Avenue du Maine,

I came to Paris for meeting friends and others zombies of the night scene and darn those public transport quit at 12h47 at the time, so how to get back home!!!  The car, always the old reliable car, and an American friend living in Paris, remind me about we are use to drive coming from the USA. So, I tried the car to Châtelet to meet some friends at a brasserie; and that was the last time came on public transport to Paris, almost 12 years of car driving. And now since 2011, visiting by car and love it as well.

In 2019, Airparif, the Association Agréée pour la Surveillance de la Qualité de l’Air (AASQA), monitors air quality in urban places such as Paris. The Low Emissions Zone (ZFE), such as there are nearly 250 in Europe and in other cities around the world (ADEME Report – Sept. 2020), aims to limit the access of the most polluting vehicles in the center of urban areas. For coming you need a sticker (vignettes) showing the pollution potential in your car from 5 to 1 and then electric. Any day in weekday or working days from 8h to 20h you have to see the year of your car and when can you come to Paris. The trend is to continue to finally phase out cars from Paris by 2030. 79 towns located in the A86, have Crit Air July 4, 2022 crit air 3, January 2024 crit air 2, 2030 objective of 100% clean vehicles. My car still is crit air 2 and have the vignette !Do not hesitate to search the Internet for the car park closest to your point of arrival, paying ahead online ,you can enjoy a price reduction of up to -70%. A significant advantage, while parking spaces in Paris and other major cities are becoming increasingly rare and more and more expensive … In the city limits, all street parking is payable Monday through Saturday from 9h to 20h, and you pay per hour. Sundays and public holidays are free parking days. You ,also, can escape at lunch time usually between 12h and 14h, 

Remember, these additional points, not exhaustive but the most obvious ok, The right of way in France, and in Paris, you must always yield to vehicles on your right. This is known as priorité à droite in French. This means if you’re on a main boulevard, and another vehicle wants to enter your lane of traffic from a street on your right, you must yield to let them in , In Paris, the speed limit on large avenues and most boulevards is now 30 km per hour (around 18 mph !!) and, there are reduced speed areas throughout the city. New reg points to speed limits of 50 km per hour on the beltway around Paris or BP=boulevard périphérique. In Paris, you must stop at every red light, and you cannot turn either direction until the light turns green. Then you must yield to oncoming and through traffic.  Roundabout  or traffic circles are those huge places which connect multiple large boulevards and smaller streets. You must yield to vehicles entering the roundabout. Be aware. Check your mirrors and blind spots

I saw an older post on one of my nearest parking to work in Paris, which sometimes I dare drop public transport and come by car, my favorite travel tool. There is no longer a parking there as the folks change to do more garage repairs work but here for the memories. The former New-York Garage, 38, rue du Mont-Thabor ,1éme! (see post) .Another parking with a nostalgic twist now is at Parking de L’Église above ground by the Church of Pantin (see post) located at 147 Av. Jean Lolive, on city limits of Pantin in Seine Saint Denis dept 93 I used to come early on with my dear late wife Martine, and her VW Golf car and parked here so we can take the public transports into Paris, as she was not apt for that, me later on did started driving in Paris for the better, The other above ground parking we used was at 3 Pl Joffre by the école militaire wonderful spot to move about and visit friends in Paris. Of course, there were many on the street parking over the years all over, never a problem for me the road warrior.

However, over the years I have used many underground parkings in Paris, all over ! I took it as a homework to try to remember, them all and do a post on them, I guess I am been nostalgic but me think worth it for the good memories and a repeat soon. Hope you enjoy the list and can use them in your travels. Oh yes you can drive in Paris, well posted no problems and guide yourselves by the Seine river, remember rive gauche or left bank and rive droite or right bank, Happy motoring folks !

I will list them in no particular order just jotted down as I remembered them. The one stop parking webpage onepark is very good as it gives you districts and sights with parkings nearby in English ; however, there are plenty of others such as the individual parking management companies such as Saemes ,Effia or Indigo, etc. Do check for updates when coming over ok.

Indigo Etoile Wagram, 22 avenue de Wagram, 8éme. webpage: https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6124-indigo-etoile-wagram-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=240003003

Saemes Parking Rivoli-Sébastopol, 5 Rue Pernelle, 4éme webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/5914-saemes-rivoli-sebastopol-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239050054

Indigo Pont Marie, 48 rue de l’Hotel de Ville 4éme webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6222-indigo-pont-marie-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239049599

Saemes Quai Branly-Tour Eiffel , 25 Quai Jacques Chirac, 7éme, webpage: https://www.onepark.co/parkings/42-saemes-quai-branly-tour-eiffel-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239039377

Indigo Place de la Concorde, webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6164-indigo-place-de-la-concorde-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239039755

Saemes Madeleine Tronchet, 21 Place de la Madeleine, 8éme, webpage: https://www.onepark.fr/parkings/5722-parking-public-saemes-madeleine-tronchet-couvert?offer_id=239040062

Indigo Vendôme, 28 place Vendôme, 1éme,webpage : https://www.onepark.fr/parkings/6357-parking-public-indigo-vendome-couvert?offer_id=239040908

Indigo Alma George V, 19 avenue George V, 8éme webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6144-indigo-alma-george-v-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239042391

Saemes Hôtel de Ville, 6 quai de Gesvres, 4éme webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/3480-saemes-hotel-de-ville-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239043192

Indigo Champs Elysées, 64 avenue des Champs Elysées 8éme webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6119-indigo-champs-elysees-public-car-park-covered

Indigo Bourse, 31 rue Vivienne, 2éme webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6337-indigo-bourse-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239043714

Indigo Place Saint Michel, 25 rue Francisque Gay 5éme : webpage: https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6358-indigo-place-saint-michel-public-car-park-covered

Official Forum des Halles, Rue de Turbigo 1éme webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/32-forum-des-halles-official-car-park-covered?offer_id=239044377

Indigo Bastille, 53 Bd de la Bastilles 12éme webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6210-indigo-bastille-public-car-park-covered

Indigo Gare de Lyon, 191 rue de Bercy 12éme, webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6363-indigo-gare-de-lyon-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239045709

Indigo Soufflet Panthéon, 22 rue Soufflort, 5éme, webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6376-indigo-soufflot-pantheon-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239046012

Official Effia Gare Saint Lazare, 29 rue de Londres, 9éme, webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/2677-effia-gare-saint-lazare-official-car-park-covered?offer_id=2695

Indigo Haussmann Galeries Lafayette, 48 bd Haussmann, 9éme webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6105-indigo-haussmann-galeries-lafayette-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239046663

Indigo Méridien Etoile, 9 rue Waldeck Rousseau, 17éme, webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6156-indigo-meridien-etoile-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239047055

Saemes Anvers, 41 bd Rochechouart, 9éme, webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/3118-saemes-anvers-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239047550

Official Effia Gare Montparnasse Pasteur, pl des 5 Martyrs du Lycée Buffon, 15éme, webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/2692-effia-gare-montparnasse-pasteur-official-car-park-covered?offer_id=2744

Indigo Louvre, 1 Avenue du Général Lemonnier, 1éme webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6251-indigo-louvre-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239050758

Indigo Place de la Concorde, pl de la Concorde 8éme webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6164-indigo-place-de-la-concorde-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239051578

Parc Saint Dominique, 133 Rue Saint Dominique 7éme, webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/2-parc-saint-dominique-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239052868

Berger Les Halles, facing 12 rue de Turbigo or 21 Rue des Halles, 1éme, webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/4036-unibail-berger-les-halles-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239053490

Saemes Meyerbeer-Opéra, 3 rue de la Chausée d’Antin, 9éme, webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/3094-saemes-meyerbeer-opera-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239053954

Saemes Odéon, 21 rue Ecole de Médecine, 6éme, webpage : https://www.onepark.co/parkings/39-saemes-odeon-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239054846

Indigo Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, 61 bd Macdonald, 19éme, webpage :https://www.onepark.co/parkings/6169-indigo-cite-des-sciences-et-de-l-industrie-public-car-park-covered?offer_id=239055095

There you go folks, do not be afraid of driving in Paris regardless of what so call expert travel publications tells you; remember, I went thru the same, came first visiting and then residing. Paris is eternal and thanks to Mr Haussmann , a great place to drive into not around mind you, but in and out , the best. Unless things gets worse thanks to the socialist mayor of Paris! Again, hope you enjoy the post on getting around Paris, by car !!! as I.

And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!