My Best Tips for Taking Public Transit and Staying Safe in Paris, France

We spent a lovely day at Walt Disney Studios Park with our friend Maria and we had the best time finally getting to meet up and hang out in real life after being Instagram friends for so many years! We instantly clicked and it truly felt like we’ve known each other forever.

The park itself reminded me a lot of Hollywood Studios and it made me so happy to see that they still kept a bit of the original Studio Tour Tram (although the route has been heavily shortened and rebranded to a Cars theme).

However, before we met up with Maria, we had a bit of a scare at the train station so in this post, I wanted to share a few tips to getting around with public transit and staying safe while in Paris.

Bonjour RATP App
Download the “Bonjour RATP” app before you arrive in Paris! You’ll still need to go to an actual kiosk at the train station to purchase a Navigo tap card, but you can use the app to figure out your routes as well as reload your card each day.

Buy Your Train Ticket in Advance If You’re Visiting Disneyland Paris
If you’re coming from the main part of Paris to Disneyland Paris, make sure to buy your train ticket in advance to the Marne-La-Vallée-Chessy stop (which should only be €5 per person one way). We thought we could use our Navigo tap card (which we used around the city) but that’s what got us stuck in a situation at the train station where someone tried to hustle us for €28.50 per person (as the DLP stop is outside the Metro’s main city zone and uses a different ticket).

Beware of Pickpockets
In general, don’t talk to anyone you don’t know on the train or at the station unless the person actually works for the Metro. There are sketchy pickpockets in Paris who swipe stuff quickly and also work in pairs to distract you (and when you’re traveling with luggage, you become an easy target), so don’t put anything in your pockets and stay vigilant!

Be Prepared to Carry Your Luggage
Many of the train stations in Paris do not have escalators or elevators (the general inaccessibility of the Metro is one of the few things I dislike the most about the city), so be prepared to carry your luggage up many flights of stairs.

Bookmark this post if you found it helpful so you’ll have it handy when you plan your next trip to Paris!

Huge thank you to Maria for taking care of us during our visit!

xo,
Keshia